Originally Posted by
Montana AT05
1. No matter what you start with, you'll switch it in and out at least once on your trip. So don't worry about dialing everything in at the start.
2. All you need is the small knife show in a post above. Also, I advise carrying a few safety pins to lance blisters. Unless you're a non-blister person in which case I am giving you an undeserved dirty look!
3. Consider trail runner shoes instead of boots. Footwear is HIGHLY personal--everyone has differently shaped feet, sweat differently, they carry weight on their feet differently, etc, but trail runners are: 1) lighter, 2) easier on the feet, 3) dry faster. I cringe at the heel blisters I see on boot wearers who are out on their first long distance backpacking trip (not sure if this will be your first).
Also, nothing will keep your feet dry. Nothing. Well, except a car. Don't go there even once or you will go there often! If your feet are prone to pruning in wet conditions, consider the pricey but helpful Hyrdopel cream (body glide, too, if you prefer, it works on thigh chaffing and I carry both).
4. Ditch the pack towel. If the inside of you tent is wet, oh well! Wait for a time to dry it out. A thru hiker gets dirty--I like to minimize that but find pack towels don't really help.
5. For personal hygiene--consider wet wipes. I am a late convert to wet wipes and umm...when I started using them, a certain chaffing in a certain area after a certain daily donation to Mother Gaia, went away. I love me my wet wipes now.
6. Aqua Mira over filter. Filters are volume and weight and effort. I carry an extra mixing cap so I can brew up two loads of purification at the same time.
7. Ditch the nalgene. Gatorade bottles (or your brand of choice) are the way to go.
8. Sleep systems are highly personal too, some folks need more than others. I know this past year I found the AT shelter floors very hard on me whereas five years earlier, I had no problems with them--so my ground padding went UP in weight and volume.
9. Oh--almost forgot: FOOD. Pack less than what you think for the first 3 or 4 days. Almost everyone overpacks food. Your food bag is often the heaviest thing in your pack, don't stuff it full to start. Please please trust me on this one!
Generally speaking, minimize everything you can, not just for weight reasons. The less you take, the less you worry about, the less you keep track of, the less you sort through, the less you unpack and the less you pack back up. It's also less volume which means your pack fits and moves better.
Fight the thought process that says, "You'll be in the woods, you won't have access to things you might want or need, so you had better bring everything, and two of many of those things."
The only time that thought process will come true is when you run out of your favorite candy bar and are left with only mud-and-sand health bars and the same old rice-pasta side dish selection.
As you look and parse through your items, remove everything NOT essential (this means comfort items too) and put them in a bounce box. Bounce that box up trail maybe 4 days. See how those days go. If you need something, put it back in your carry kit.
And rest easy! No matter your initial gear selection, you'll change things around as you go. As you start hiking, focus more on your goals--your daily and ultimal goal. Then move from one daily to the next.
Have a good hike.
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, I think your philosophies might be better matched outside of the UL Forum, no offense. A 19+ LB base weight isn't very ultra light and it's not so much the gear differences as the philosophy behind the choices. I guess my point is that you are asking the wrong people. The UL people who don’t mind going without, just going with a little less comfort, or are perfectly comfortable with less might not be the best place to get gear list help.
