Gear Question-fusteration

[flemdawg1]

I bought my pack at Walmart (not the best pack but great for my 3-4 a day hikes for now, until I decide what I want to upgrade too, as I have hiked a lot but I am not up on the gear thing totally yet, I am on a STRICT budget so I have to choose my gear carefully) I am not sure the model but the diamensions are 15" across, 27" tall, 10" deep. The sleeping bag is Coleman.

This is what I pack:

1. All my food for the entire hike has to fit in a quart sized zip lock bag
2. 1 2 liter bottle of water (clipped on the outside of my pack)
3. 1 change of clothes
4. First Aid kit that fits in a quart sized zip lock bag
5. 1 extra pair of socks
6. Purification pills
7. 10 cotton balls with vaseline for fire starter
8. Tent (straps on the outside of my pack)
9. Camp pot

Ok, see anyting I don't need?

1. All your food in a qt bag? why? Is it food you like? A couple of my friends take 4 power bars and a Mtn House meal per day. To me that's no way to live. Just make sure you like your food.

2. a single 2-L bottle maybe very cumbersome to fill.

3. Rain gear, cold weather gear?

5. I like 2 extra, esp when your 1st pair doesn't dry out fast due to cold/humidity.

9. Stove, utensils?

My experience w/ Coleman bags are they are usually too heavy and/or not compressible enough to backpack with. YMMV. I have a Tru Temp 20 from Coleman I like for car camping, but it won't compress enough to fit my pack either, so I found a used EMS LT 20 bag on eBay.

[russb]

1. All your food in a qt bag? why? Is it food you like? A couple of my friends take 4 power bars and a Mtn House meal per day. To me that's no way to live. Just make sure you like your food.

If I need to save volume and weight I can get a days worth of food in a quart ziploc. I use my own home-dehydrated meals. Each meal is less than a cup dried (dinner might be slightly more). Since 1 qt = 4 cups, That leaves a little more than a cup for snack and/or powdered drink mix. Of course I usually am not trying to get my weight and volume for food that low, but it can be done easily with very good tasting food.

[Erin]

At one time I could not get my sleeping bag into my pack compartment on the botom back. Hand me down gear or cheap gear and no money. Until I could afford a new bag, I got a stuff stack, put sleeping bag in garbage bag, then inside stuff sack and strapped it on back bottom part of pack with straps. Cost minimal. Works just fine on a short trip. I still do it on my exterior frame pack. The tent that goes on the outside of your pack may fit in your pack. Mine did. Don't worry about cheap gear. We have all been there and it will not make a bit of difference in your fun...as long as you are warm
PS. Shop thrift. You will be amazed at what nice stuff you can find used when you start looking.

[2011_thruhiker]

I don't usually eat much when I am on the trail. Most often, I am too tired to eat more than a 1/2 cup of rice. So the quart sized bag full of uncooked rice or whatever I choose to bring out with me works well. Sometimes I will add a oatmeal mixed with flavored creamer and bring that too. I found if I pack more food than that, I tend not to eat it. However, I do drink a lot of water.

Cold weather gear is nylon running tights under my pants and a Northface jacket that is waterproofed as well. Both are light weight and are very warm.

I am looking into the Vargo alchol stove-this stove seems to be what I need, but for right now I am using cotton balls with vaseline and tent it at the shelters so I can start a fire in the pit.

I am beng ultra economic, however, I think this tends to bring out my survival skills:-)!

[flemdawg1]

I'd be sure to do a couple of shake-out hikes w/ that setup before committing for a longer hike. If it works out for you, great!

[Pootz]

Oh forgot, to add, the Coleman sleeping bag was given to me, so my budget for another bag is 100.00. Can you suggest a good bag for that price? I need it to be lightweight and pack well....My budget for a pack is 250.00 anything you can suggest? Anything you see from the stuff that I can forgo? I really need the advice, lol. Thanks!

$250.00 is plenty of money for a pack. I would buy your pack last. Once you have all of your other gear take it to a local hiking store and find a pack youlike that holds all of your stuff. And on the sleeping bag and other gear, no cotton.

[JAK]

If I was to spend $100 for one and $250 for the other it would definitely be $100 for the pack and $250 for the bag.

[GlazeDog]

I'd recommend utilizing your budgeted money differently. I'd spend $200 on the sleeping bag and $150 on the backpack. Good backpacks can be made cheaper, but a quality sleeping bag is hard to cut corners on.

[bfitz]

Don't spend any money now. Come to trail days next may and camp in the campground. Talk to other people and see how they do things. There's a million different ways to skin a cat and everyone at trail days will be eager to tell you their favorite way. Pick and chose what you think would work for you and start experimenting from there. Until then, read the articles on this site and try to plan a section hike for after trail days next summer.

[budforester]

Please look into food and nutrition... lots of threads and articles are avaialble on WB. Consecutive days of hiking will demand better fuel than a bag of uncooked rice. If you are too tired to eat, better grub may help. Maybe re- balance hiking distance vs. camp time, too. And it's fun to try new recipes and techniques.

[Bob S]

Get an external frame pack for winter use and bungee it on the bottom. External frame packs can be had for a very good price. I see them all the time at The Good Will and garage sales for under $5.00

You can never have too many packs to pick from.

[budforester]

Get an external frame pack for winter use and bungee it on the bottom. External frame packs can be had for a very good price. I see them all the time at The Good Will and garage sales for under $5.00

You can never have too many packs to pick from.

I second Bob's suggestion!

[flemdawg1]

WOW! Suggesting a Ext frame in the UL forum, that's gotta be breaking some kinda rule. :-D

And yeah you can't go wrong having multiple packs of different types/sizes. I've got 6.

[Bob S]

WOW! Suggesting a Ext frame in the UL forum, that's gotta be breaking some kinda rule. :-D

And yeah you can't go wrong having multiple packs of different types/sizes. I've got 6.

What may be heavy in the summer may not be so heavy in the winter when conditions are much harsher. Clothing, bags, more fuel needed for the stove. It all can be minimized in the summer, but going UL in the winter can be dangerous.

A good external frame pack will allow for a lower temp (bulkier) bag to be strapped on to keep you warm and alive.

[jonathanb23]

Wow I am oficially scared!!! What is your pack weight??? I don't care if it is winter...if we are talkin 3 or 4 days I consider this way past reasonable under a light weight forum. I believe in hike your own hike, but are you trying to turn the guy off from backpacking? Not to mention I would consider $350 budget VERY capable of a great lightweight set up...they call it used gear. My only real issue here is that this is a light weight forum and external frames are really only worth the extra weight IMO if you are carrying more that 50lbs. Maybe I'm crazy....or maybe THIS IS NOT LIGHTWEIGHT!

cheers!

[JAK]

As long as the fellow gets a different sleeping bag his current pack is fine.
His pack is about 4000ci. His sleeping back packs to 2000ci !!!

[Franco]

Yes, getting a stronger/bigger backpack is not going to be the solution, it will be just another problem. Most focus only on the weight but a 2000ci bag for non Arctic hikes is just not practical. BTW, there are nice S/H bags to be had for not very much. Washing a down bag needs some care and attention but even I have done that successfully a few times (using my bath tub/ and a drier called sun, it takes time but is cheap)
Franco

[yaduck9]

Here are some links that may ( or may not ) help.

For inspiration you may want to go to the library and see if you can get any book authored by Ray Jardine. Some folks think highly of his ideas, some don't. But they do make you think of what is possible.


Good luck.



http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...678#post206678

http://www.backpacking.net/makegear.html

http://www.rayjardine.com/index.shtml

[JRiker]

Check out a gearskin for the pack (180). Also, look at sierra trading post for good deals on a down bag. I bought a 30 degree bag for 80 bucks and just add an emergency blanket on top in the winter. Not those crappy emergency blankets, one of the good ones...

[kayak karl]

this site has some good deals on bags. ive ordered from them. shipping is slow, but free. http://www.topsleepingbags.com/

this is a good pack http://www.backcountrygear.com/catal...ail.cfm/EQ2010 to add to YOUR gear-frustration

welcome to the club