2012 PCT Gear List

[DBRIGGS9]

After a year or two of dreaming, I decided today that I am going to do the PCT in 2012. I've got another year to save some cash and buy the remaining gear I'll need. I do want to post my gear list to receive some feedback on whether or not I'll be warm enough with everything, and any other things to nitpick at.
Parts with "*****" by them are items I don't have yet.


Packing:
ULA Ohm 23oz *****
Sitpad 1oz
GG Pack Liner 1.36oz
25.6oz

Shelter:
Gossamer Gear Siltwinn tarp w/stakes and poles 14oz *****
Mountain Laurel Designs Superlight Bivy 6.5oz *****
GG 3/8 Thinlight 3.81oz
Neo Air 12.33oz
Nunatak Arc Alpinist quilt 23oz *****
59.64oz

Packed Clothing:
Montbell UL Down Inner Jacket 7.65oz
Capilene 1 top 5.58oz
Capilene 1 bottom 5oz
Sleep socks 2oz
extra lightweight running socks 1.4oz
Balaclava 2oz
DriDucks Jacket 5.75oz
Lightweight wool gloves 1.98oz
31.36oz

Cooking:
Starlyte Stove w/accessories 1.25oz
Spork .64oz
Pot w/lid 4.2oz
Fuel Bottle 1.17oz
7.24oz

Accessories:
Aquamira 2oz
Ziplock Bag .13
Headlamp 2.71oz
Duct Tape 0.27
First Aid 1oz
Maps .5oz
Toilet Paper .5oz
Toothbrush/paste 1oz
Lighter .4oz
Bear Line/Food bag 3.4oz
Cash/Credit Cards .5oz
Bandanas 3oz
Water Bottles/Bladders 7.07oz
Camera w/accessories 5.73oz
28.21oz

Base Weight for Southern California:
152.05oz
9.5lbs

For the Sierra I'll add and lose some water storage:
Bear Vault 450 37oz

Base Weight for the Sierra
186.05oz
11.62lbs

For Oregon and Washington I'll replace my down jacket with a synthetic hooded jacket and add rain pants.
Montbell Thermawrap Parka 13oz
Golite Reed rain pants 6oz

Base Weight for Oregon/Washington
159.16oz
9.95lbs



*****
My current gear that I'm planning on replacing for the PCT were marked by five asterisks. Here's what I'm switching from and why:
Pack
Gossamer Gear Gorilla- not enough volume for a long hike, especially not with a bear canister.
Shelter
Tarptent Contrail- to save weight, and because I fully intend on cowboy camping in my bivy as much as possible.
Quilt
Golite Ultra 20- more like an Ultra 30, not warm enough.


Will I want/need a bigger pack than an Ohm, especially with a bear canister? I've never carried, or even seen a bear canister before.

What am I forgetting?

Thoughts?
Suggestions?
Comments?

Thanks,
Dan

[knicksin2010]

It's a pretty good and well-thought out list.

A few things I didn't see listed: compass, sunglasses, sun hat, snow traction, trekking poles

It looks like you want to go very light. Have you considered cuben fiber? http://www.zpacks.com/

It's a good idea to test your pack with the bear can and see how comfortably it carries for you.

It's hard to say if you'll be warm enough. A 20 degree bag and down jacket is common, but some people from Florida have different perspectives on cold.

I think .5oz for maps is optimistic. 7oz for water bottles seems heavier than it could be.

[DBRIGGS9]

Yeah, sorry about the incomplete list Knicksin. I really just copied my 3-season AT list and made the few changes I knew I had to off the top of my head.
Compass would be a very good idea.
Snow traction I've thought about, but will greatly depend on the snow levels next year. Unless everyone carries snow traction through the Sierra, that's not my understanding, though. Assuming there's a lot of snow after my May 1st start I'd add Kahtoola Microspikes and an iceaxe.
I didn't list sunglasses or a sun hat because I'm really not sure what I'm doing for my worn clothing yet. Perhaps shorts and a button down long sleeve shirt and a wide brim hat. Maybe running shorts and a t-shirt and an umbrella. I've done almost all of my hiking in the Southeast, so I'll be a newbie to desert hiking. Need to think about my worn clothing some more.
Thoughts on this?
I don't use trekking poles, I'll my tarp up with folding tarp poles for about 3oz.
Yes to Cuben Fiber. I keep going back and forth between Cuben, Spinnaker and Silnylon. Zpacks using .51oz cuben, which really isn't that strong compared to .74oz cuben and Silnylon. Though, .51oz cuben is much cheaper than .74oz and if I'm only going to be setting up my shelter a handful of times then I'm not all that worried about the .51oz being insufficient. I think that is what I'll do. a 7x9 cat cut cuben tarp from Zpacks. Only $200.
Yeah, I'm kinda worried about the warmth. But I haven't ordered my new quilt yet so I have the opportunity to have it overfilled. The Arc Alpinist is already rated very fairly from what I understand, so an ounce or two of overfill in a 20 degree quilt, in a bivy, with my down inner jacket and pad combo should take me down to at least 15 degrees. And we certainly do have a different perspective on cold. I am originally from Vermont, so hopefully I can handle a little chill.
And I agree, the maps are optimistic for the PCT. That was also just copied and pasted from my 3-season AT list. The 7oz for water bottles was a complete guess. I usually carry two one-liter bottles on the East Coast for a total of 3oz. For the start of the PCT I'll be carrying enough to hold 6-7 liters. That 7oz figure is just a guess until I'm actually able to weigh the bladders/bottles I use for SoCal.

Thanks for the feedback. Greatly appreciated.

[leaftye]

It always amazes me how little tp some people use. I'm a tp hog. I need something like 70 squares a day.

[lori]

How much food were you going to expect to carry between resupplies? The Bear Vault 450 is not that big. I can fit maybe six days in if I live on dry soups and rice meals. I've seen lots of folks have difficulty using it for four days.

Bearikade Weekender is the bomb - less weight, more room.

Also be aware that there are bear boxes at regular intervals for PCT thrus in the worst bear areas along the JMT. Many maps have those marked.

[sbhikes]

Many people do wear shorts in So Cal but I've found I am more comfortable with long pants, long sleeved button shirt, broad-brimmed hat and sunglasses. I don't like to use sunscreen. It's too greasy and I feel I need to let my pores breathe so I just cover up with clothing. If it is hot I can roll up the sleeves or dip my hat and shirt in a creek.

The umbrella is nice but it can be annoying. It blocks your view a bit on the uphills and sometimes you just get tired of being inside of it, as if you are indoors or something. Plus So Cal is really windy. I do like my umbrella though and think it's a great piece of gear.

Don't underestimate San Jacinto. You'll reach it in 150 miles or so. You may need traction aids or an ice axe.

Many people do use the DriDucks but some find it to not be very durable. You might have better luck with more durable rain gear or just have some extras ready to be sent.

[BrianLe]

Tent vs. tarp: I used a poncho as raingear and shelter for the first 700 miles, as there's little rain and few bugs, but after that I liked having my contrail --- for the bugs more than the rain. Some folks are find with just a headnet at night, but I was much happier when the bugs were fierce to get into a reasonable sized bug-free environment in which I could eat, sleep, and just stay until leaving in the morning.

"For Oregon and Washington I'll replace my down jacket with a synthetic hooded jacket and add rain pants."

I suggest that you don't bother with rain pants; maybe a rain skirt if you want one (my poncho filled that role for me). Thermawrap parka rather than down inner jacket: I don't think I would bother to switch. Assuming you're never wearing it while actually walking, either one will do you fine IMO. I had a thermawrap jacket that was good for me throughout, but if doing it again I'd go with a very light down jacket to save a little weight.

I'm not seeing a separate wind shirt; if you use the dri-ducks jacket for that too, then I do think that it won't last. On the AT last year I used a dri-ducks jacket for a relatively short while until zipper problems caused me to replace it with whatever I could buy in Gatlinburg.

I found that I wore my wind shirt a lot on the PCT, whereas rain protection (a poncho for me throughout) I think I might have never put on until WA state. YMMV somewhat there, of course, but still.

[sbhikes]

Yeah, I had no rain jacket at all the entire way. In Washington I had a wind jacket, rain chaps and an umbrella and mostly just froze and cursed the rain while being soaking wet. I'm probably the last person to give advice on rain, that's for sure.

[DBRIGGS9]

I need to research my bear canister options some more. I'll definitely check out the Bearikade.
For clothing I may do shorts with a long sleeve button down, wide brim hat and my trail runners. No umbrella.
I've been using Driducks for a little while now with no complaints. Pretty set on that. I will add a wind shirt, probably a houdini. I might also go the rain skirt route.
For my shelter I'm definitely doing a tarp/bivy. Can't decide between an MLD Superlight or an SMD Meteor though. The roominess of the meteor would be nice, but I don't know how I'll fair in it on the colder/rainy nights.

[BrianLe]

"Can't decide between an MLD Superlight or an SMD Meteor though. The roominess of the meteor would be nice, but I don't know how I'll fair in it on the colder/rainy nights."

You're carrying a tarp that's sized for two people --- I wouldn't worry about how much your bivy will handle rain, particularly (again) on this particular trail.

Cold? Your 20F rated quilt will be plenty for the whole trail, and in fact more than you need for much/most of it. I used a 20F rated WM bag for the first thousand miles, switched after the Sierras to a 32F bag and was fine.

I would definitely go for the 7 oz SMD Meteor bivy --- light, helps some against blown-in stuff, and looks to be better than most bivy's for creating that bug-free environment.