2014 Gear List

[michaelosborne]

Here's my gear list for my upcoming 2014 thru hike. This is everything that will be on my back minus consumables like food/water/fuel, and does not include clothing worn or trekking poles. Any suggestions would be great! I do plan on maybe getting a lighter weight down jacket. But anyways let me know what you think!

http://www.geargrams.com/list?id=14903

[moldy]

You have about 13 pounds of stuff. Add up to 5 pounds of food and water and you will be heading North with less than 20 pounds. That's very good. You will make it without changing a thing.

[flemdawg1]

Looks like you're pretty well dialed in, and the weight is good and light. The only thing I see is doublecheck the multitool weight, 0.8oz seems abit too light for reality.

[michaelosborne]

Looks like you're pretty well dialed in, and the weight is good and light. The only thing I see is doublecheck the multitool weight, 0.8oz seems abit too light for reality.

0.8 was the correct weight, it's the leatherman style which is all i really use for backpacking. It's got a small knife, scissors, little screw driver, and tweezers.
http://www.leatherman.com/23.html

[CarlZ993]

Nice list. I got to really stretch to find some suggestions. But I found a couple.

You could drop a little weight (1 oz or so) on your headlamp. You can determine if you need both the beanie & the balaclava. You might be able to suffice with just one. The NeoAir Trekker can be improved upon. The NeoAir X-lite is lighter (~12 oz) & has a higher R-Value (warmer). I used it on my thru this year & it held up great on some nights that were around 15 deg or so.

I used the same multi-tool as you listed. The scissors didn't work very well on my monthly mustache trimming. The Swiss Army Knife classic (weighs a hair more) had better scissors. I'm switching to it next time.

I used the same tent. I used the shelters mostly. I switched it out to a free-standing 1-person tent just before I got to the Whites (EMS Velocity 1). To be honest, I liked the versatility of the freestanding tent even though it resulted in a weight penalty.

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful hike.

[Sailing_Faith]

When I click the link I get this error;

Alternate HTML content should be placed here. This content requires the Adobe Flash Player. Get Flash

can someone copy and paste the content to the thread?

thanks,

[michaelosborne]

Great suggestions! I was thinking my sleeping pad was a little on the heavy side so if i switch to a lighter one that has an even better R value its a no brainer

[bfayer]

You are 21, unless you have back problems you are better off (in my opinion) going with something like a z-rest and cutting it to the length you need.

CCF is a much more usable option when you are on the trail for any significant length of time and unless you let it blow away, it will never let you down, and it features instant set up.

I didn't come off my ridge rest until I was in my 30s. No way I could use one today however.

[CarlZ993]

You are 21, unless you have back problems you are better off (in my opinion) going with something like a z-rest and cutting it to the length you need.

CCF is a much more usable option when you are on the trail for any significant length of time and unless you let it blow away, it will never let you down, and it features instant set up.

I didn't come off my ridge rest until I was in my 30s. No way I could use one today however.

I was in my 50s when I came off CCF pads. I was mainly concerned about the weight. When comfy inflatable pads got to comparable weights, I switched. When I did, I thought 'This is great... just don't get a hole in it.'

[Hill Ape]

i love pie! man thats the best speadsheet i've ever seen, you're gonna be fine, just go hike

[QHShowoman]

Do you need both the iPhone and the camera?

Edited to add: But kick ass list.

[Nooga]

Looks good. The only thing that I don't see is alcohol for your stove.

[bfayer]

Looks good. The only thing that I don't see is alcohol for your stove.

The op said it did not include consumables.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[English Stu]

Consider Awols book by only carrying sections and putting others in mail drops, or make smaller/lighter,the maps have enough information

[quasarr]

The Sawyer Squeeze weighs 3oz, but you have 7.5 oz "w/ bags." More than one squeeze bag is not necessary IMO. The 1-liter works the best, for some reason it is much easier to use than the 2L. Also I have seen many of the Sawyer bags springing a leak. It helps if you are patient and don't squeeze too hard.

Also with a shallow water source it can be really difficult to fill a water bag. (or a bottle as big as the Smart Water) So you might consider adding a cup, or cutting one of your Sawyer bags in half to use as a scoop.

And to save some weight, you can switch to bleach or Aqua Mira.

[flatfeet]

same as others have said. Iphone and a camera? Balaclava and a beanie? Food and water, yeah around 20lbs.

The only thing I would ditch outright would be your contacts. You want to be putting those things in your eyes when you have no real access to soap and a sink?
Get a pair of Rx sunglasses. Otherwise great list.

p.s Are those the sea to summit ultra-sil? heard those had serious misting issues.

[michaelosborne]

As far as iphone vs camera you guys really got me thinking to drop the camera and go with the iphone. Less weight of the camera, charging cable, and spare batteries. But will my image quality suffer too bad? I have the iphone 5 and it takes pretty decent photos but would it be decent enough to sacrifice a point and shoot camera with better quality. This is one of those trips where you want to capture a lot of good moments and when I look back I want those moments to look nice

[Mumbles_2014]

I don't have everything for my thru hike yet, but I think my gear will weigh about the same give or take a pound.

[TOMP]

break up the guide book and send it to yourself in portions if you really really want to save anymore weight or if you are already doing food drops anyway. If not dont bother and youll be fine. Use a black heavy duty trash bag instead of the pack liner you have and return the pack liner and get your money back.

[Just Bill]

As far as iphone vs camera you guys really got me thinking to drop the camera and go with the iphone. Less weight of the camera, charging cable, and spare batteries. But will my image quality suffer too bad? I have the iphone 5 and it takes pretty decent photos but would it be decent enough to sacrifice a point and shoot camera with better quality. This is one of those trips where you want to capture a lot of good moments and when I look back I want those moments to look nice

Practice now- but that is one suggestion I would make. I am happy enough with the Iphone 5 camera for my pics- but I am not super picky. The panorama feature is nice- on the flipside- you could get caught uploading photos in town as you eat up space and it's easy enough to swap out flash cards to send photos home. Although you occasionally hear the horror stories about lost/damaged cards in the mail. I find using dropbox or similar over Wi-Fi to be fast enough to dump pics and enjoy only having one thing to plug in. I use the energizer phone charger for iphone with a 30 pin to lightning connector. LI batteries give you 2-4 charges.

depending on your funds- I wouldn't spend money on a down jacket upgrade as you won't need it for large portions of your trip. I don't see a lighter weight bag on your list for when it warms up. You'll be miserable with a 10 degree for the warmer months- consider a 30/40 degree quilt for the warm weather. Neo Air trekker is overkill- if you're not tall the women's neo-air is 11 ounces, mens regular is 12. You'll save more weight on that swap than on a down jacket. One more pair of socks. Didn't see a container for your alcohol. A trash compactor bag is lighter than your pack cover- but you already own it so...

Take the whole light load towel- you don't have a bandana. Do you need the nail clipper with the Leatherman? Test the leatherman out- the scissors on my style broke after a few days out- bad metal in the handle. Got a replacement with no problems but kinda pissed me off.

I also like the smartwater bottles and use them. Buy a slightly dumber bottle though in one liter size, cut off the top and store it with your SM bottle so you have a scoop as others mentioned. 30ml dropper bottle with Doc Bronners (or some type of soap) is missing.

Great list- enjoy your hike!