Yet another Gear List to tear apart

[hurryinghoosier]

Please look this over and give me feedback.
Gear List
*****Indicates items I have not purchased

Total on warm day 36 lb 4.6 oz

Total on cool day 35 lb 12.1 oz

Big 4
Big Agnes Insulated Air Pad 20x78x2.5
1lb-12.2oz
Backpack--Granite Gear Nimbus Ozone
3 lb 0 oz
Tent- Tarptent Rainbow
2lb 10oz
*****Sleeping Bag Montbell UL #1 Lng Left Zip
2lb 7 oz
Total for Big 4---91b 13.2oz


Base Camp Cold Weather Clothing
Balaclava Mountain Hardwear Power Stretch 1 oz
Socks-Wool Heavy Red Wings 3.6 oz
Long underwear top Polartec 100 (Gander Mountain) 10.8oz
Long underwear bottoms Under Armour Base 3.0 9.1oz
Nylon shorts with liner Hind 89% Polyester 11% Spandex (Gray) 5.3oz
*****Crocs for campwear 12.9 oz
*****Mont-bell UL Down Inner Jacket 6.9 oz
Short sleeve base shirt Champion cheapo--polyester 5.3 oz
Warm Gloves- Thinsulate Nylon Shell, Polyester lining Glove 4.7 oz
Total for Base Camp Cold Weather---3lb 11.6 oz

Rain Gear
Waterproofs Rain Trousers-Nike Clima-Fit 9.3oz
Jacket- Marmont Zip-pit 14.3 oz
Pack cover-Sea to Summit Siliconised Cordura medium 3.9oz
Total for Rain Gear 1lb 11.5 oz

Cooking
Pot SS 1.5 liter, with handle and lid 8.8 oz
(Might Replace with Evernew Ultralight Titanium Pot - 1.3-liter which is 6 ounces)
Alcohol 12 fl. oz. in Nalgene Flask 11.7 oz (Will carry on outside of backpack)
Alcohol Stove .4 oz
(Might replace with pocket rocket 3.7 and fuel 8 oz)
Stuff sack for pot 1.9 oz
(Might eliminate the stuff sack and store with food)
Utensil- Sporke .3 oz
Total Cooking 1lb 7.1 oz


Food
5 days food 10 lb 0 oz
*****Food stuff sack
With large zip lock bag 4 oz
50' Bear Rope 2.8 oz
Total Food 10 lb 6.8 oz

Water
Water Bottles (2-l liter soda bottles full 4lb 11 oz
*****Water bag for camp 3 oz
Total water 4lbs 14 oz

Cool Weather Hiking Clothes and equipment---NO WEIGHT except as noted below
New Balance Trail Runners
Hiking Poles- Leki Super Makulu Ergometric AS longgrip 1lb 3.7 oz
Hat- Baseball 2.4oz
Watch
*Base Top- Russell Athletic Dri-Power 100% Polyester lightweight Reg Neck Long Sleeve 8.1 oz
(Will be wearing this or the short sleeve shirt)
*Base Pants-Lightweight Tights Bottoms Cheapo (Dicks) 75% Polyester 25% Spandex 7.6oz
Socks Wool Lighter Wigwam 3.0
Unlined walking shorts Cheapo from Dicks 5.6 oz
*Mountain Hardwear headband .6 oz
*Mountain Hardwear Butter Liner Thin gloves 1.1oz
Bandana 1.1
*-On a warm day these four items will be in my backpack 1lb 1.4 oz

Warm Weather Hiking Clothes and equipment
NO WEIGHT except as noted below
New Balance Trail Runners 810s
Hiking Poles- Leki Super Makulu Ergometric AS longgrip 1lb 3.7 oz
Watch
Hat- Baseball 2.4oz
*Boxer Shorts- Under Armour Boxers briefs 3.6
*Short sleeve base shirt Champion cheapo--polyester 5.3 oz
Unlined walking shorts Cheapo from Dicks 5.6 oz
Socks Wool Lighter Wigwam 3.0
Bandana 1.1
*-On a cool day these two items will be in my backpack 8.9oz


Extra Clothing
Socks Wool Lighter Wigwam 3.0 (This makes 3 pair of socks)Total Extra Clothing 3.0 oz

Items in first Aid Kit and other essentials
These will be in one zip lock bag
Hand Sanitizer
Vitamins 30 day supply
Knife- Swiss Army Swiss army classic,
Tooth Brush/Paste/Floss
Lighter
Soap--Dr Bronner’s
Ear plugs
Bandaids
Athletic Tape
Alcohol Wipes
Blister Treatment Triple Anti Bacteria Ointment
AquaMira
Chapstick
Pencil/Duct tape
4 Safety pins
Sewing needle
Aleve
Total Items in first aid kit and other essentials
1lb 1.3 oz



Items I need and will be in a stuff sack or used as a stuff sack for other items
Headlamp Petzl Tikka Plus LED 2.7 oz
Drivers Lic, Credit Card, Insurance Card, Cash in zip-lock 1.1 0z
2 Garbage Bags 2 oz
Zip Lock Bags 2oz
Toilet Paper 2 oz
Camera 13.4 oz
Phone and Charger 5.9 0z
Extra Large HD Zip Lock Bag for clothes 2.6 oz
Stuff Sack Blue 2.0 oz
Total Items I need and will be in a stuff sack
2lb 1.7 oz

Does not include these items
*****Maps
*****Thru Hiker's Companion - Edited by ALDAH, published and sold by ATC
*****Thru Hikers Handbook
*****Data Book

Not sure about these items
Bug Lotion in zip lock 1.7 oz
(Pick this up later)
Spare Batteries----------------------
(Might not bring these)
Gaiters
(May not bother with Gaiters)
Tyvek Ground Cloth 6.8 oz
(Might eliminate this)
Compass 1.6 oz /*****thermometer
(Might eliminate this)

[mountain squid]

Is this for a 'thru-hike' attempt some time in the future? You seem to have most everything covered, albeit a little on the heavy side. Some observations:

do you really need 2.5" of sleeping comfort?
Dr B's will last a long time, so don't take too much
notebook
maybe bounce the phone charger
don't really need the data book if you have the Companion/Handbook
sunscreen (no leaves on the trees in Mar/Apr)
whistle
radio/mp3 player
personally, I don't use rain pants, gaiters or a ground cloth

See you on the trail,
mt squid

[hurryinghoosier]

Yes I plan to thru in 09. I am getting my gear together to do some shake downs. I have been carrying 36 lbs in the southern Indiana hills every weekend. 10-13 miles. If you notice I have packed for cold weather. I can swap the long johns, heavy sleeping bag, gloves, etc. for lighter stuff during the warm part of the thru. This also includes 10 lbs of food and 4 1/2 pouunds of water. 36 lbs does not seem like its too heavy but any suggestions how I can cut the weight. The sleeping pad is a good suggestions. I can also bump the charger up the trail. Any others? I plan to use either a blackberry or Treo for journals, getting weather reports, and communicating back home. The Treo 755 (which its my understanding is not out yet also has a camera. This might eliminate the camera) I will carry only one of the information books and maps but then will only carry what pages I need for a particular section. I can have the rest mailed to me on the trail. I plan to use

[wrongway_08]

forget the charger, bring alaong a wind up charger, weighs about the same and you dont have to worry about postage. Should be able to use it with other electrics also.

[Sly]

I have the MB #1 and it's actually too warm for most uses. You could probably get by with a #2 or #3

[Appalachian Tater]

Pretty darn good list. I agree the pad is excessive. A short ProLite 3 is fine. Either get the windup charger or just carry it unless you have other stuff you must bounce, it's just not worth the hassle and expense. You will need a lighter bag in the summer. You're not bushwacking so you don't need gaiters although a very vocal minority has a very strong desire for them.

[Dirtygaiters]

If you are looking to drop some weight, you could swap you "big 4" for UL items...

Big 4
Big Agnes Insulated Air Pad 20x78x2.5 ->> you could replace with a ccf pad like the Gossamer Gear Nightlight (8oz), or the torso-length Nightlight (4oz), or a combination of the Montbell UL 90 inflatable pad (10oz) and Gossamer Gear 1/4" Thinlight (4oz). For temps down to 32ish, a Torso-length Nightlight under your torso and your backpack, or a section of 1/4" ccf under your legs should be warm enough.
1lb-12.2oz
Backpack--Granite Gear Nimbus Ozone ->> This is hard to nitpick because backpack choice is dictated by the other gear you want to bring. However, a comparably sized frameless pack in general will be lighter than the Nimbus Ozone by about a pound and a half (you need to get your total pack weight down below 25 lbs to use a frameless pack comfortably, though).
3 lb 0 oz
Tent- Tarptent Rainbow ->> Another largely personal choice (but what isn't?)...the Tarptents provide lots of floor space that are protected from weather and bugs. However, for under a pound, you can get a solo silnylon cat tarp and a DWR bivy. As an example for comparison: the Mountain Laurel Designs Grace Solo tarp, 8.8oz; and an MLD bug bivy, 5.3oz-for warmer weather-or an MLD Superlight bivy, 6.2oz-for cooler weather would be a lot lighter and imo just as functional.
2lb 10oz
*****Sleeping Bag Montbell UL #1 Lng Left Zip --> Good for cooler weather, if not overkill, but you could get a lightweight quilt or a summer-weight bag for warmer weather and easily lose a pound from this part of your pack list. Another advantage to a summer-weight bag or quilt is that they pack much smaller than winter bags so you don't need such a large backpack to carry everything. I guess it doesn't need to be said that smaller backpacks tend to weigh less than bigger ones, and all pounds feel the same to the shoulders and spine, no matter if they're pounds in your sleeping bag or pounds in your backpack's frame.
2lb 7 oz
Total for Big 4---91b 13.2oz

[Dirtygaiters]

Some other thoughts...
Baseball caps tend to be 100% cotton, which absorbs water and stench when wet. I swapped out mine with an Outdoor Research Tracer cap, which hardly absorbs any water and is very lightweight.
You could probably get your rain gear weight a lot lower by switching to (in order of descending price): Goretex Paclite or Frogg Toggs or Dri Ducks. I find waterproof backpack liners to be more waterproof than pack covers but a lot of backpacks (Granite Gear packs especially) tend to be made of very water resistant materials and most of the time the pack cloth itself will be a good enough barrier.
In colder weather, it's possible bring more high loft insulating clothing and bring a lighter sleeping bag. The weight of sleeping bag + sleeping clothing isn't necessarily less, but when you have warm clothing already integrated into your pack list, then it's easier to bring a lot less extra warm clothing for around camp use.

[hurryinghoosier]

Thanks,
Keep it coming. I am open to any suggestions.

[Panzer1]

Water Bottles (2-l liter soda bottles full 4lb 11 oz

I don't really care for narrow mouth soda bottles. Can you replace them with a wide mouth gator aid bottle?

Panzer

[LIhikers]

Maybe I just didn't see it but how about a headlamp or other small light?

[Alligator]

You could eliminate the stuff sack for the pot and store it in a cozy. This would help you save fuel.

If you don't have the water bag already, I'd switch it to a platypus or soft Nalgene. You can carry water to a dry camp that way. Hard to do with a water bag.

These suggestions don't save you any weight though, probably nearly equal.

[Dirtygaiters]

A neat water tote idea (for carrying water to a camp) that I just heard about is to use a gallon-sized Ziploc bag in conjunction with a plastic grocery bag. Total weight is about a third of an ounce. Of course, if you opt for a big Platypus, it could always double as a water reservoir when hiking dry stretches of trail.

[Dirtygaiters]

Cooking
Pot SS 1.5 liter, with handle and lid 8.8 oz
(Might Replace with Evernew Ultralight Titanium Pot - 1.3-liter which is 6 ounces) ->> Titanium is definitely cooler than everything else. You might also check out the Firelite pots over at backpackinglight if you're thinking of upgrading. Personally, I prefer a 2 cup mug with an aluminum foil lid because it's really light and packs much smaller than a 1 L pot. For cooking a meal for myself, or for boiling water to rehydrate dehydrated meals, I rarely need more than 450 mL of water at a time. Check out the IMUSA mug. They sell it at Walmart for about $3. It weighs about 2.4 ounces and holds 600 mL.
Alcohol 12 fl. oz. in Nalgene Flask 11.7 oz (Will carry on outside of backpack) ->> I don't understand...you're carrying your alcohol in an 11.7 ounce (weight?) Nalgene bottle? If you're going to carrry so much, why not use a soda bottle or a Platypus and then your fuel bottle wouldn't weigh more than an ounce or so. If on a thru, you might consider carrying less volume and resupplying more as alcohol fuels are relatively abundant.
Alcohol Stove .4 oz
(Might replace with pocket rocket 3.7 and fuel 8 oz) ->> For thru hiking, alcohol stoves have an advantage because you can pick up useable fuel at most gas stations, hardware stores and grocery stores; whereas those iso butane fuel canisters aren't always so easy to find. Canister stoves are more reliable and burn hotter, though.
Stuff sack for pot 1.9 oz ->> That does sound pretty heavy. You can make a stuffsack out of noseeum netting and use a lightweight cord like spectra 1 and have your stuffsack weigh as little as 0.4 ounces
(Might eliminate the stuff sack and store with food)
Utensil- Sporke .3 oz
Total Cooking 1lb 7.1 oz

[Alligator]

A neat water tote idea (for carrying water to a camp) that I just heard about is to use a gallon-sized Ziploc bag in conjunction with a plastic grocery bag. Total weight is about a third of an ounce. Of course, if you opt for a big Platypus, it could always double as a water reservoir when hiking dry stretches of trail.That's a decent idea too.

[copythat]

forget the charger, bring alaong a wind up charger, weighs about the same and you dont have to worry about postage. Should be able to use it with other electrics also.

tell me more ... :-?

[FanaticFringer]

Some other thoughts...
Baseball caps tend to be 100% cotton, which absorbs water and stench when wet. I swapped out mine with an Outdoor Research Tracer cap, which hardly absorbs any water and is very lightweight.
You could probably get your rain gear weight a lot lower by switching to (in order of descending price): Goretex Paclite or Frogg Toggs or Dri Ducks. I find waterproof backpack liners to be more waterproof than pack covers but a lot of backpacks (Granite Gear packs especially) tend to be made of very water resistant materials and most of the time the pack cloth itself will be a good enough barrier.
In colder weather, it's possible bring more high loft insulating clothing and bring a lighter sleeping bag. The weight of sleeping bag + sleeping clothing isn't necessarily less, but when you have warm clothing already integrated into your pack list, then it's easier to bring a lot less extra warm clothing for around camp use.

Great point about the 100% cotton baseball cap. Something like this would work well www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=39328083&memberId=12500226&storeId=226&catalogId=40000000226&langId=-1

[hopefulhiker]

I used the Big Agnes insulated mummy mattress the whole hike.. I would carry more water bottles next year because of this drought.. I ended up actually eating bunches of ibuprophren. Also you might consider taking Glucosamine now to build up your joints a few months before the hike.. A lot of people, including doctors believe it works...

[hurryinghoosier]

Thanks for all the information and for helping me with my gear. Your suggestions, along with some of my own, that I will implement have so far cut my weight by 56 ounces. Hard to believe. That means I have cut a cold weather, full pack ,with 5 days of food and 2 liters of water, down to 32lb 4 ounces, not counting the maps and handbook. I think I can handle this. One thing I will eliminate is the camera since it will be on the phone.
To LIhikers I did include a Petzl Tikka Plus LED.
Panzer1 thanks for the Gator Aid idea. I am switching to the wide mouth bottles.
mountain squid I will be switching to a lighter pad---something that will weigh no more than 8 oz. I will also cut my Dr B's way down--it is very concentrated. I will add a small notebook, whistle, and sunscreen for the early part
Dirtygaiters For now the gallon zip lock bag combined with a grocery bag is my choice. I also now have a nylon baseball hat--very light and I just love it. Also my 12 fl oz of alcohol and the nalgene flask weigh a total of 11.7 oz. I didnt make that clear in my gear list. I could probably cut this down a few fl oz. Also the stuff sack for my stove, pot etc will now be a noseeum mesh sack. I will also consider the IMUSA mug or some other smaller ultralight pot.
Sly and Dirtygaiters I am now looking at the MB SS UL #2 instead of the#1. Saves lots of ounces.
hopefulhiker Ibupropren for me---I will also study the Glucosamine

Again,
Thanks to all

[whitefoot_hp]

not like i have to tell you, but the BA pad is well worth the wieght.