View Full Version : Gear critique
I wanted to get a critique of my gear for a thru hike, see if I can lighten up or am forgetting anything:
WEARING
Running shorts
Running shirt
Smartwool padded cycling socks
The North Face Plasma XCR Boa
ULA conduit pack
CLOTHES
Montbell U.L.Down Inner Parka
Montbell U.L.Down Inner Pants
Golite whim pants
Golite whisp wind shirt
Smart wool padded cycling socks
Golite base ball type hat
Thermal head band
Capilene 1 LS shirt
Capilene 1 pants
Patagonia Heavyweight Glove Liners
Therma rest fleece lined stuff sack
SHELTER
Golite Lair
Golite ground cloth
No stuff sack
SLEEPING
Montbell U.L.SS.Down Hugger #7 Long
½ of a z-lite pad
Ear plugs
Mylar blanket
2 Sea to summit UL dry sack one for clothes and sleeping bag, one used as food bag at night and everything else will go in while moving except sleeping pad and shelter
COOKING
Evernew 0.9L pot no handles floral wire loop
MSR pocket rocket
½ Titanium spoork
Small BIC lighter
Small scrub pad
SteriPEN Adventurer Water Purifier
Bear line
2 big slam type soda bottles with duct tape
In a medium Outdoor Research UL stuff sack
Hygiene
Travel tooth paste
½ a tooth brush
Travel deodorant
Roll of TP
3-4 wet wipes
4oz nalgene with DR. Bonners
MSR towel wash cloth size
Small spray bottle of DEET
In a small Outdoor Research UL stuff sack
1st AID
A few tumms
Chap stick
Gauze
A few Advil
Small small bottle of iodine
A few Imodium
Tube of desitin
2 band aids
In a small Outdoor Research UL stuff sack
EXTRA
Gerber Ultralight L.S.T nife with 1.96” blade
Cell phone
Cell charger
Small nickel size compass
Small Bic lighter
Camera
Relevant map and copied hand book sheets
TIKKA head lamp
1 lithum AA
1 lithium AAA
In a medium Outdoor Research UL stuff sack
SGT Rock
10-24-2007, 12:35
Lose the scrub pad and use a plastic spoon instead of Ti.
Man that is nit-picky.
Appalachian Tater
10-24-2007, 13:05
What he said about the spoon. Also, you may not need the down pants. Ear plugs come in handy. You need some way of cutting your fingernails. Four ounces of Bronners is too much. One or two ounces is plenty, you can fill up from hiker boxes or from bottles left in hostels.
Start saving your partial rolls of toilet paper now. If you flatten them, the cardboard will come right out. Keep it in a small freezer ziplock and pull it out from the center of the roll. You can keep a small bottle of hand sanitizer in the same freezer bag. Sometimes you will have to use it in the rain and if it the roll gets wet, it's only good for one use! You can fill the hand sanitizer from hiker boxes as well. You don't want to get the diarrhea and vomiting that goes around every year.
You may also want some way to carry more water if need be and to be able to drink while walking, without stopping. I won't criticize your choice of water treatment because there is no perfect method.
Skip the deodorant, it won't work. Instead, take more baby butt wipes and add rubbing alcohol to them and use one on your face and under your arms at night and on all your private parts when you have a bowel movement. You still won't smell good but you'll be cleaner. No matter what you do, you won't smell good. Stop worrying about it.
Am I missing your rain protection? Use it for wind protection, too, you don't need a separate wind shirt.
If you tend to burn and are starting in the early spring, remember there are no leaves on the trees.
Flush2wice
10-24-2007, 13:31
What they said. My 2 other cents- I don't see a warm hat. I wouldn't take 2 soda bottles. 1 is plenty but maybe a bladder to fill at camp. When are you leaving?
no cold weather hat, head band, like a light thermal ear band, and base ball hat, down jacket had a hood for sleeping. im planning on starting north late june
i planned on using a bounce box so nail clippers and what not will be there, i sweat when i hike doesent matter if it 20 or 90 thats why i went with a UL wind shirt i wont be dry but it will hold in some heat
ChinMusic
10-24-2007, 13:42
I'd suggest a few Micropur tablets as back-up just in case your Sterpen fails or you are forced to use turbid water.
Appalachian Tater
10-24-2007, 13:52
no cold weather hat, head band, like a light thermal ear band, and base ball hat, down jacket had a hood for sleeping. im planning on starting north late june
What exactly is your plan, to go all the way to Katahdin fast? Or only part way? A lot of people thru-hiking leaving in June go south from Maine or maybe flip-flop or something fancy.
A good knit wool hat like one of the Smartwools is the easiest way to regulate your body temp, you can take it on and off and stick it in your pocket without stopping. For instance, you're chilly when you go to bed, so you wear your hat. Once you warm up, you take it off. You wake up chilly in the middle of the night and need to pee, so you put it back on. When you wake up in the morning it's still chilly but you know if you wear a lot of clothes you're going to have to stop and take them all off in ten minutes, so you just keep your hat on and are a little bit chilly but okay and then you take it off in fifteen minutes. You stop for water and a snack for a few minutes, and you don't want to get chilly, but you don't want to open your pack, so you stick your hat back on. You get the idea.
You still need a way to keep cold wet rain off even if you sweat a lot. It's better to be wet from warm sweat than cold rain. You won't always be hiking, anyway.
Moose2001
10-24-2007, 13:54
I'd suggest taking a thermal hat rather than the headband. You'll find it much more useful. Easier to sleep in than the hood on your jacket.
You'll NEED rain gear. Don't depend on that wind shirt.
How about some needles? Good for draining blisters and fixing things. Couple yards of heavy duty thread as well.
What's the temp rating on your sleeping bag?
You don't want to use your sleeping bag to store food in. Puts food smells into your sleeping bag. Too tempting for the varmits!
dessertrat
10-24-2007, 13:56
Ditto on a knit hat and a light pair of gloves.
Also, I see your MSR pocket rocket listed, but no fuel? It would suck to have a stove and no fuel!
What does all that weigh, by the way, including pack weight?
Flush2wice
10-24-2007, 14:09
Late June? You won't need all those clothes. Dump the down pants and parka. You probably won't need the capilene long johns unless you are very cold natured. The golite top and bottom will keep you warm enough. No gloves either. I think 2 shorts, 2 t-shirts 2 pairs of socks, your golites and a hat is plenty.
Flush2wice
10-24-2007, 14:12
It's hot in Georgia and NC in June and July. If it rains you get wet. You'll be soaked from sweat anyway. Put on dry clothes at camp.
You probably won't need the capilene long johns unless you are very cold natured.
I never head deep into the woods without a polypro (or capilene or equivalent) base layer. And if it's the Whites, I always bring some sort of hat and gloves as well. Even in the dead of summer.
Appalachian Tater
10-24-2007, 14:21
I never head deep into the woods without a polypro (or capilene or equivalent) base layer. And if it's the Whites, I always bring some sort of hat and gloves as well. Even in the dead of summer.
Me, too, light long underwear and a hat always. For comfort and safety.
well the plan is Katahdin fast i usually like to hike atleast 35-40mi per day pretty much all day, two years ago i spent 20 days on the trail and after afew days i got tired of the "whats your pack weigh?", "how many calories are eating?", conversations. so i found i enjoyed myself more just jogging and hiking. the bag is only 50 degree bag. im not storing food with the sleeping bag 1 dry bag for clothes and sleeping bag and another dry bag for food and to hang at night and everything else will go in this bag while moving
well the plan is Katahdin fast i usually like to hike atleast 35-40mi per day pretty much all day...
Good luck with that plan on the AT. ;)
Appalachian Tater
10-24-2007, 14:34
well the plan is Katahdin fast i usually like to hike atleast 35-40mi per day pretty much all day, two years ago i spent 20 days on the trail and after afew days i got tired of the "whats your pack weigh?", "how many calories are eating?", conversations. so i found i enjoyed myself more just jogging and hiking. the bag is only 50 degree bag. im not storing food with the sleeping bag 1 dry bag for clothes and sleeping bag and another dry bag for food and to hang at night and everything else will go in this bag while moving
U da man! I usually try to hold it down to 30 miles a day myself. I can only sustain a pace of 35 to 40 miles a day for a couple of weeks. Then I find myself having to take breaks and wanting to stop for meals, etc.
i did from clingmans dome in GSMNP to hot springs in a bit less than 4 day, easy, and would have gone faster if my buddy had listened to me and put duct tape on his feet the first day and didnt wear cotton shorts
nothing engraved in stone but I'm working on my degree and thats all the time i have so if i can hit the trail in good shape and be in trail shape in a few weeks with a light load i think its totally possible im only running 10-15 miles and riding 75-100 miles per week right now but when the spring rolles around i'll start to push myself
Appalachian Tater
10-24-2007, 14:45
If you can't do 50 on a track you can't do 35 in the mountains. You need to be doing 50 every other day, at least. 10-15 around the neighborhood just doesn't cut it. Hope you're wearing some weight, too.
Clingman's to Hot Springs is something like 75 miles, isn't it? If so, I'm thinking that 4 days would be about 19 miles a day.
I definitely agree with the wool hat. I read somewhere that most body heat is lost through the head, and a good wool hat would be about the lightest thing you could carry that will keep you warm.
yep and like i said it was easy i was bored i would run up the hills drop my pack run back down grab my friends and run back up just to have a game to play
hopefulhiker
10-24-2007, 17:19
Considering the drought this year, you might want to take an extra water bottle...
Appalachian Tater
10-24-2007, 17:26
yep and like i said it was easy i was bored i would run up the hills drop my pack run back down grab my friends and run back up just to have a game to play
That's called a "sherpa".
Flush2wice
10-24-2007, 18:19
well the plan is Katahdin fast i usually like to hike atleast 35-40mi per day pretty much all day, two years ago i spent 20 days on the trail and after afew days i got tired of the "whats your pack weigh?", "how many calories are eating?", conversations. so i found i enjoyed myself more just jogging and hiking. the bag is only 50 degree bag. im not storing food with the sleeping bag 1 dry bag for clothes and sleeping bag and another dry bag for food and to hang at night and everything else will go in this bag while moving
nothing engraved in stone but I'm working on my degree and thats all the time i have so if i can hit the trail in good shape and be in trail shape in a few weeks with a light load i think its totally possible im only running 10-15 miles and riding 75-100 miles per week right now but when the spring rolles around i'll start to push myself
yep and like i said it was easy i was bored i would run up the hills drop my pack run back down grab my friends and run back up just to have a game to play
This is starting to sound like BS
you know i heard this about this board that if you werent a stop and smell the pitiful people type of hiker you people would just talk ****. i fly past people like you every time i hike, **** this board im out. hike your own hike but only if its 10 miles per day
Lone Wolf
10-24-2007, 20:15
you know i heard this about this board that if you werent a stop and smell the pitiful people type of hiker you people would just talk ****. i fly past people like you every time i hike, **** this board im out. hike your own hike but only if its 10 miles per day
goodbye son.:D
take-a-knee
10-24-2007, 20:23
Ditto what Wolf said.
ChinMusic
10-24-2007, 20:24
I agree Flush. From post #26 it is no loss if it's not.