A Backpack With Wheels?

A backpack with wheels and the other backpackingfire-starters, since wax paper will usually burn even
gear ideas it inspired.when wet.
I wouldn't have thought a backpack with wheelsPillow/Waterbag
would actually work for backpacking, but when I sawWhen I need to carry more water I use the plastic
the web site for the "Wheelpacker"(TM), I wasbladders from boxed wine. They are light, strong, and
impressed. You wear a frame that attaches you to aI inflate the bag with air to use as a pillow too. To
wheeled pack. It can even go over logs and rocks. Itmarket a dual-purpose water container/pillow, it just
started me thinking about what other backpackingneeds a soft removable covering of some sort.
innovations are just waiting to be marketed. Here areJacket Backpack
a few of the things I came up with. Steal theseWhy not a frame-less backpack with a jacket that is
ideas, please.a part of the pack? It can be folded out of the way,
Inflatable Frame Backpackand the pack would have normal shoulder straps.
With frame-less backpacks we often put foldedWhen wearing the jacket, though, it would stabilize
sleeping pads in the pack for cushioning against ourthe pack, keep you warmer, and make it easy to
backs and some support for the load. Why not justpush through heavy brush, because it wouldn't catch
have the part of the pack that rests against theon things as easily. It is something like wearing a large
user's back inflate. With the same technology usedjacket over a backpack, but with the weight-savings
for lightweight self-inflating sleeping bag pads, it wouldand stability that come from combining them. It could
only add about six ounces. The backpack could thenbe called a "Jacket Pack-it."
double as a foot-bag/pad for sleeping.Backpacking Game
Taking this idea further, I imagine a self-inflatingPrint a chess/checkers board on a jacket or
backpack that folds out into a sleeping pad. Thebackpack, and you have a carry-along game that
backpack "frame" would be the pad, in a "U" shapeweighs nothing extra. Great for spending hours in the
for some rigidity in the pack. Self-inflating sleeping bagtent waiting out the rain. If you don't carry the
pads are as light as 14 ounces now, and frame lesspieces, stones or pine cones could work as checkers.
packs 12 ounces, so the combination could probablyBackpacking gear ideas and innovations keep popping
be made to weigh just 20 ounces.into my head as I write this. Most are based on the
Wax Paper Food Bagsidea of "dual purpose" items. They may work, some
Put backpacking food in wax-paper packaging insteadmay not, but it is an entertaining dose of inspiration
of plastic. The packages then double as emergencyfrom a backpack with wheels.