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View Full Version : Concerns (and questions) regarding rain gear and food/stuff sacks for SOBO thru hike!



Groundsound1
04-19-2014, 16:22
Hey whiteblaze,

I’m currently buying some leftover gear I need for my APT Thru hike starting early July. My concerns are in raingear and food bags.

I have Patagonia capilene 3 base layer bottoms, synthetic pants that zip off into shorts, one synthetic starter shirt, another long sleeve synthetic starter shirt, and a Patagonia capilene 4 hoodie. Those are my layers for now, and my final layers WERE going to be a rain jacket and rain pants over the cap 4 hoodie if it got too cold. But seeing as though rain pants and a rain jacket will be pretty expensive, I came across a Frogg Toggs Bi-Laminate Rain Suit With Pants. Is this a sufficient substitute for rain jacket and rain pants to keep me dry? Here is a link to the item:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001QH5Z7O/ref=asc_df_B001QH5Z7O3100255?smid=A1FWOG4NHCL26V&tag=pgmp-338-97-20&linkCode=df0&creative=395109&creativeASIN=B001QH5Z7O

If those are not sufficient, what would be a good rain jacket and rain paints that you would suggest to carry the whole thru hike for optimal dryness?

Also, for food bags I am starting to get confused. I wanted to get carbon fiber bags for everything so that nothing gets wet, but that seems pretty expensive, so I was just going to ziplock everything and line my bag with a trash bag. But I do need a food bag to hang, and what has confused me is what size I will need. I’m going southbound and will hit the hundred mile wilderness, so I will need to carry at least 11 days worth of food just in case, and im not sure how I can make that fit in one bag. Will I need to get two 60L to accommodate all of the food? Would you suggest buying waterproof stuff sacks for all of my items or is the ziplock/trashbag technique a cheap technique that will suffice? Here is a link to the 60L bag I was reffering to. http://www.amazon.com/SealLine-Storm-Sack-60-Liter-Dry/dp/B001QWKSQW

Please let me know what you think and of course any tips or info is hugely appreciated.

Kind regards.

Slo-go'en
04-19-2014, 17:54
A 60L bag is as big as most packs! I can't imagine carrying two of those full of food! I use the green dry sack from the Walmart selection which holds about 5 days of food. You could probably get away with that plus the other two bags in the package. Everything goes into ziplocks, regardless of the sack you put it all in. Repackageing all your food into zip locks reduces the volume it takes up and eliminates most of the waste you have to pack out. That and some careful food selection should get you through.

The Frogg Toggs are okay, but not very durable. Be sure to bring a lot of duck tape to repair all the tears you'll put in it. Much of the trail in Maine is overgrown or narrow, so you'll be snaging on branches sticking out into the trail often enough and there are bound to be a lot of blown down trees to get around.

MIA
04-19-2014, 18:34
Frog Toga are lite and water proof. The pants will shred but the jacket lasts forever. I would wear gators with the pants! Use an Equinox Bear Sack as your food bag. It's waterproof, durable, hangable and comes with a rope for hanging. It has plenty of room for 10 days of provisions and your stove.

Groundsound1
04-19-2014, 18:43
Okay cool so I suppose I will go with those three sacks, I've heard mixed things about them though.. Should I buy separate sacks to keep my other items (clothes, at guide, cooking supplies, wallet ect) in aswell with the ziplocks? Or should I just have the three sacks full of food (at least through the 100MW) and then just ziplock and throw them in my ula catalyst that's lined with trashbag? I feel as though the 3 pack of those sacks (the biggest used for food) would not be enough to hold all of my items. Should I just buy more sacks?

And so you suggest to use the rain suit and duct tape, no rain jacket? I think I'll be fine Atleast for 2/3 of my trip as far as warmth is concerned with my synthetic long sleeve and Patagonia cap 4 hoodie for upper body warmth. Lower body I was just going to use some underwear and pants/shorts when hiking, for sleeping I was jus going to use the Patagonia cap 3 base layer bottoms. A lot of people suggested taking a rain jacket and rain pants for optimal rain protection as well as extra warmth when needed, but if I can get away with this cheap rain suit and pancho I would enjoy that!

Slo-go'en
04-19-2014, 21:54
Dedinately have a rain jacket. At first, you'll need it more for the wind then for the rain. A rain jacket (shell actually) is something I never leave home without. It's your first line of defense against bad elements.

Ponchos are pretty much useless in New England. The rain pants are optional, I never use any. Early July your not going to need rain pants - at least not for a while. You might want to get rain pants later in the fall when it starts to rain a lot again.

You need a selection of stuff sacks - or at least I do to keep things orginized. Clothes in one bag, food in another, odds and ends in a third. Cook pot has it's own little sack. Tent and sleeping bag already have thier own sacks, altough I replaced the sack which came with my sleeping bag with a dry sack. Can't have too many layers of protection. Additional zip locks for little things which need to be kept dry, like electronics.

As far as food goes, remember your probably not going to be exceptionally hungry the first few days out, so you can skimp a little here. Basically, you'll have to just buy the food you think you'll need for the 11 days and see how big and heavy a pile you have. From there you can figure out what it will take to carry that load, at least for the first few days. If the pile is too big and heavy to carry realisticly, you'll have to make some tough decisions as to how to adjust.

Groundsound1
04-19-2014, 22:49
Dedinately have a rain jacket. At first, you'll need it more for the wind then for the rain. A rain jacket (shell actually) is something I never leave home without. It's your first line of defense against bad elements.

Ponchos are pretty much useless in New England. The rain pants are optional, I never use any. Early July your not going to need rain pants - at least not for a while. You might want to get rain pants later in the fall when it starts to rain a lot again.

You need a selection of stuff sacks - or at least I do to keep things orginized. Clothes in one bag, food in another, odds and ends in a third. Cook pot has it's own little sack. Tent and sleeping bag already have thier own sacks, altough I replaced the sack which came with my sleeping bag with a dry sack. Can't have too many layers of protection. Additional zip locks for little things which need to be kept dry, like electronics.

As far as food goes, remember your probably not going to be exceptionally hungry the first few days out, so you can skimp a little here. Basically, you'll have to just buy the food you think you'll need for the 11 days and see how big and heavy a pile you have. From there you can figure out what it will take to carry that load, at least for the first few days. If the pile is too big and heavy to carry realisticly, you'll have to make some tough decisions as to how to adjust.

Thanks for all the help guys. What kind of stuff sacks did you use? ^^

Slo-go'en
04-20-2014, 11:36
Thanks for all the help guys. What kind of stuff sacks did you use? ^^

Since I've been collecting gear for nearly 30 years, I have a large assortment of stuff sacks. Some are the cheap walmart dry sacks, most are basic nylon. I don't find a need to spend a lot of money on uber light stuff sacks to save an oz or two.

Nick P
04-20-2014, 11:45
My only sack of any value is a z-pack blast made of cuban fiber (it's 2L) for $20, as it's said to protect food against rodents somewhat.

Wise Old Owl
04-20-2014, 11:48
The Frog Toggs you referenced had several reviews and most mentioned - they wont last. Recently my office ordered a golf style and had them monogrammed with the company logo... last week I wore them in a downpour and I got soaked. I am not a fan of bilaminate Since one I bought fell apart quickly in areas that I needed it the most, I wrote about that last year here.

I suggest you grab a family member put them on and test them with a garden hose or go hiking in a downpour and make up your own mind. Would it surprise you to know some tents are tested by fire departments? Anyway - weigh it and I agree you don't need the pants unless you are going to wear them in the Laundromat.

Malto
04-20-2014, 12:24
I suspect you are freaking out a bit too much over the "hundred mile wilderness". A hundred mile resupply is not a long leg when you look at other long distance trails. (My average resupply on the PCT was over 100 miles.) second, 11 days of food is a long carry. I personally wouldn't carry for that long if there any options to avoid it. But combine these two points together, a 11 day carry for a 100 or so mile leg is a fairly slow pace. As such, you wouldn't be burning nearly the calories per day as say a five day carry over the same distance. I would look careful at your food for this leg to ensure you aren't carrying too much especially at the beginning of your hike. Also, if you have a few extra lbs to spare then use them for this leg to supplement your food for energy.