Man isn’t meant to stay indoors — our weekly “Trekking” column can attest to that. It’s a column dedicated to the adventurer inside of all of us, the one pining to ditch the office humdrum for a quick surf session or seven-week jaunt in the Grand Tetons. One day we may highlight an ultra-light stove and the next a set of handmade canoe paddles. Life doesn’t just happen inside the workplace, so get outside and live it.
The late Teddy Roosevelt once said, “speak softly, and carry a big stick.” While the famous most certainly dealt with the former president’s approach to foreign policy, it could just as easily be applied to how we should all go about our time in the woods. However, although the classic walking stick is often one haphazardly whittled out of the right piece of wood, 21st-century advancements have led the way to a more versatile tool for backcountry excursions — case in point, the industrious Zubin Axe ($320)
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Comprised of a single piece of natural hickory wood and featuring a two-bolt interchangeable head, the Zubin Axe offers more than just a serrated blade. Though the jack-of-all trades device comes outfitted with a standard compass, its clever system allows you to quickly swap between five, distinct interchangeable heads made of 440C stainless steel. Whereas the compass might aid you with your journey north and the saw blade with cutting that high branch above your head, the multiple hunting spears will allow you to to try your luck at hunting fish and medium game. The axe even touts a slingshot head for shooting squirrels and small game that would otherwise be difficult to capture, while the coupled axe attachment gives you a means for chopping wood akin to a hatchet.
The Zubin Axe doesn’t add a great deal of weight, either, especially given you’ll never house it in your pack. You simple need to carry the staff on the trail, outfit it with the head of your choice using the bundled allen key, and channel your inner caveman.
Check out the Zubin Axe online for more information or to make a purchase. Also, if you prefer, you can buy merely the staff and the various heads of your choice.
