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If I’d only had a multitool when…

I was talking with friends recently about whether a multitool has a place among camping gear essentials, and it dawned on me that it seems everyone has at least one story of pulling a MacGyver and achieving the impossible without the aid of one of these versatile tools – and then buying a multitool shortly after.

One such story came from my good friends who were section hiking the AT through Virginia. After a week of using their Whisperlight and struggling get it lit, they attempted to make a homemade alcohol stove – what seems like an easy feat to anyone who’s watched enough YouTube videos.

But after prodding at a can with a small knife, attempting to bend it into the right shape with various tools and nearly slicing their hands to bits, the duo found the final product was a sad sight and hardly effective, forcing them to turn back to their finicky gas stove.

Had a multitool been around, it would have been a breeze to shape one of these lightweight stoves, thanks to the pliers, knives, screwdrivers and can openers often found inside them.

So be sure to throw a multitool in your hiking backpack and give yourself a leg up on the trails.

Chris Davis

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Although Christopher Dodge Davis grew up wrangling the copperheads of the East Texas woods, he's now made Boston his new home, and is determined to conquer the peaks of the East. Since moving, he's enjoyed hiking any trail within a weekend's drive, bouldering in the New Hampshire woods and backpacking sections of the AT, the Long Trail and other must-do hikes. Armed with a degree in English, you'll often find him sitting atop a peak, pencil in hand, unabashedly trying to channel the likes of Thoreau and other long-winded New Englanders.