No, seriously.

I was more than excited as we made our way up to PiPi Valley, a campground nestled in the woods above Pioneer, CA. I had prepared, as I always do, except this time with a little less luster, and I got careless. Arriving at our campsite, we had everything set up. The tent was good to go, food and ice chests were opened up and spilling over with the feast we were about to enjoy during the weekend. But wait, where are the pots and and cooking stove? Utensils? Bottle opener?!

Shit, I forgot my cooking box at home.

After a good 10 or 15 minutes of trying to figure out if we should bail and go home, or try and rough it, options started to make sense. We had basics like foil, an old-school percolator, even skewers, but no utensils except for one. A Kershaw pocket knife, the Shuffle II. In short, I used this tough little knife for more this past weekend than any of my other everyday carry knives. I used it to cut vegetables, fruit, limes, bread, foil, chip away at rock-hard ice, open beer bottles, and whatever manner of odd job could throw at it. Weird how life works out, and even weirder that I had this trip saver on me.

My camping trip surely would have been a lot messier, and maybe impossible, if it had not been this pocket knife. A full review is coming later, but I thought a testament to the Shuffle’s versatility was well due.