'08 NOBO Gear List!

[tlw08]

So...I think this is it!!! :) :) :eek:


I'd love to hear what you all have to say.



Departing the first week of March. :banana

Some of the below weights are generous estimations (more weight than might exist)



Worn Clothing (4.40lbs)

Upper Base Layer: Under Armor Lightweight (Small) – 6oz
Upper Base Layer: Patagonia Capilene 3 Zip (Small) – 8oz
Lower Base Layer: Patagonia Capilene 2 (Small) – 6oz
Upper Wind Shirt: Marmot Original DriClime (Small) – 10oz
(Winter) Pants – Some quick-dry zip-off knockoffs – 10oz
(Summer) Shorts – A swimming suit – 7oz
Bandana: 0.5oz
Shoes: Columbia Zephyr – 24oz
Insoles: Superfeet Custom Greens – 4oz
Hiking Socks: Bridgedale Trekker – 2oz

Other Clothing (3.58lbs)

(Winter) Insulator: Patagonia Micro Puff Hooded (Extra Small) – 20oz
Upper Rain Layer: Frogg Toggs Pro Action (Small) – 10oz
Lower Rain Layer: Frogg Toggs Pro Action (Small) – 8oz
Gloves: Thrift store Thinsulate Wool Gloves – 5oz
Hat: Thrift store Wool Hat – 7oz
Mosquito Head Net: <0.1oz
Rotational Pair of Hiking Socks: Bridgedale Trekker – 2oz
Camp Socks: Heavyweight Wool – 2oz
Camp Sandals: Some cheap crap pair – 3oz
Sleep Stuff: Ear Plugs – <0.1oz

Basic Gear (9.68lbs)

Pack: Granite Gear Nimbus Latitude 3400 – 48oz
Pack Cover: Granite Gear Cloud Cover – 3.9oz
Tent: Sierra Designs Lightning Fast Pack (Poles+Footprint+Tarp) – 33oz
Stakes: 6x Aluminum – 3.0oz
Bug Bivy: Outdoor Research Bug Bivy – 16oz
Sleeping Bag: North Face Cat’s Meow 30* – 36oz
Sleeping Pad: Thermarest ProLite 3 Short – 12oz
(Winter) Vapor Barrier: Space Emergency Bag – 3oz

Cooking/Hydration (1.97lbs)

Stove, Pot, Lighter, Stuff Sack: Pepsi Can Alcohol Stove / Evernew Ti 0.9L / Bic / Mesh Stuff Sack – 4.5oz
Fuel: Bottle of Denatured Alcohol ~ 12oz
Water Purifier: Katadyn Hiker Pro – 12oz
Water Reservoir: 2L Platypus – 1oz
Water Bottle/Mug: 16oz Nalgene Narrow Mouth – 2oz

Paper Stuff (0.94lbs)

Section ATC Maps: ~ 3oz
Section Data Book Pages: ~ 1oz
Book: ~ 8oz
Writing: Pen, Paper, Envelopes, Stamps ~ 3oz

Other Gear (2.44lbs)

Vision: Prescription Sunglasses, Glasses, Case, Cleaning Stuff – 7oz
Headlamp: Petzl Tikka – 3oz
Knife: Kershaw Knife – 4oz
Sanitation: Purell – 1oz
Hygiene: Nail Clippers, Tooth Brush, Tooth Paste – 3oz
Waste: Orange Trowel (2oz), Toilet Paper (6oz)
Food Bag & Bear Rope: 6oz

First Aid & Gear Repair:
Tweezers, Ibuprofin, Neosporin, Bandaids, Superglue, Tums, Duct Tape, Chapstick, Alcohol Wipes, Nylon Rope – 6oz
Less Important Stuff: Driver’s License, Check Card, Cash – 1oz

Electronics (2.08lbs)

Camera: Panasonic FZ18 w/Battery – 12.7oz
Memory Cards: Sandisk Ultra II 4GB & 1GB SD – 0.5oz
Camera Batteries: Panasonic CGR-S006A (x2) – 3.4oz
Battery Charger: Panasonic Charger – 2.4oz
Camera Case: Lumix DMWCHFZ8 – 7oz
Emergency Cell Phone: Nokia 6030 – 3.2oz
Cell Charger: Nokia ACP-12U – 4oz



Before Food & Water

Pack Weight (Winter): 20.69 lbs
Total Weight (Including Items Worn): 25.09 lbs

[tlw08]

Some weird bolding going on. Not sure how it got there.

[bigcranky]

Good list. Should be fine on clothing and gear for a March start. The combo of a tarp and a bug bivy is a versatile one -- you may find yourself using the bug bivy inside shelters, or to sleep out under the stars.

Have you done a lot of multi-day hiking with this gear?

[HighlanderII]

I don't normally comment on people's gear as it seems to be a very personal thing which they've put a lot of time in choosing, but since you asked...

First let me compliment you on a pretty reasonable base weight. You seem to have kept the big three down in the right range -- there is lighter stuff but you already have the stuff (its not like you've got a 7lb backpack or 6 lb tent to contend with). I would calculate about a 33lb pack weight at Amicola Falls assuming 4 days to get to Neels Gap with 2L of water.

I'm assuming you're planning on everything in your list at the start. In that case I would get the bug bivy and head net sent ahead so you get it in about late April/early May. In March you won't need either unless the weather is really freaky for a long period of time. I only could have used a head net in ME in late June/early July when the mosquitoes were horrible all day long (I didn't have one). The rest of my hiking time didn't really even require bug repellent.

I would leave the orange trowel home and use either you hiking poles (I assume you're going to have one or two poles -- they will help save you knees on the downhills) or your boot heel or a dead stick broken off in the area of your cathole.

I would personally not carry camp shoes or camp socks but I usually hike all day so my hiking sneakers work fine for the little time I'm not hiking.

I'd leave the pot mesh stuff sack home and put the lighter and stove inside the pot and the pot in your pack. I don't see a pot stand so depending on the stove design, this may be an issue. I'd make sure that the stove worked as planned while still at home. I don't see a spoon -- are you going to carry one?

1 Liter soda bottles are about 1/2 the weight of your mug/water bottle so I'd swap that out -- if you really need a cup for hot liquids, use your pot as you're the only person using it and who cares if it looks a little weird. Less weight = happy thru-hiker.

A ridgerest/z-rest foam pad is about 1/2 the weight of a thermarest if you cut it down to size (neck to butt long, slightly wider that shoulders).

That is one big knife. You should be able to get a much smaller and lighter one for cutting small stuff.

I'd add moleskin and/or a Spenco blister kit and leave the neosporin home unless you're carrying a sample size.

I don't see what the camera case is for -- I just put the camera in a ziplock and put it in my pack and/or side pocket of the pack.

I'd leave the glasses cleaning stuff home and just use a piece of TP. If it rains like it did in 2003 you won't need sunglasses for the whole trail.

I would add a pencil stub to your writing stuff as they never freeze, and never stop working.

If you swap out the Al tent stakes for Ti tent stake you'd save about 1.8 oz (.2oz/Ti stake).

I would swap out the wool hat for a lighter synthetic one and/or replace it with a polypro balaclava in mid/late March.

For me personally, I wouldn't carry the vapor barrier after it warmed up enough. I also wouldn't carry the Purell, cell phone, a camera that requires rechargeable batteries. But that's just me...

If you were to take out and/or swap everything I've mentioned I calculate a net savings of 54.6oz or 3.4125lbs which would put you at about 29.6lbs starting at Amicola Falls.

Good luck with you hike! I wish I were able to get out there this year too...

[quasarr]

Hello!

I noticed you have both a wind shirt and a rain jacket. You could leave the wind shirt at home, because a rain jacket blocks wind just as well!

And if you're going to use the cell phone for emergencies only, it might make sense to leave the charger at home. Charge your phone before you leave, and never turn it on unless there is an emergency. To talk to friends & family, get a prepaid card for pay phone calls in town.

hope this was some help! :)

[mountain squid]

Looks pretty good. Some observations:

shouldn't need the bug bivy in Mar as HighlanderII noted
30F bag may not be warm enough
leave the book at home until you are used to walking all day/every day
is your data book the Companion (https://www.atctrailstore.org/catalog/iteminfo.cfm?itemid=604&compid=1)/Handbook (http://www.trailplace.com/hb_2008edition.html)/Appalachian Pages (http://www.appalachianpages.com/)? (you'll need town info, which these provide)
consider bouncing the chargers
whistle
needle for draining blisters
keep the hand sanitizer and use it often
sun screen (no leaves on the trees)

See you on the trail,
mt squid

[Appalachian Tater]

What everyone said is exactly what I would have said. I am also partial to carrying baby butt wipes with added alcohol. My experience with the GG pack cover is that you should use a heavy-duty garbage bag liner in addition to it.

[Blissful]

Cat's Meow is usually rated 20 degrees and should be good (my son used it on March 5th) but carry a silk liner for when the temps slide and leave the vapor barrier at home (I'd think a space one would rattle like crazy, not sure if it is like a space blanket).

You won't need any mosquito equipment until May.

You don't need your sunglasses (I thought I would but left them at home to save weight. Didn't need them). Recommend a marmot precip bb cap to keep rain off your glasses (Campor used to sell them cheap). Also, make sure you have a copy of your glass prescription with you (mine broke on day one).

I'd bounce the chargers. Or bounce the phone charger which won't cost much (cell phones die quick in cold weather and when searching for signals) and get batteries in town for your camera. You don't want to carry the weight unless you need to.

Boy, Id' think a 4 gb memory card would be plenty. Unless you plan to take videos or something. Even 1 GB is probably good.

Plenty of books at shelters and hostels.

[tlw08]

bigcranky, highlanderii, quasarr, mtn squid, appalachian tater, blissful; thank you for your thoughts!!!


a few quick things-

the 2 memory cards are for bouncing 1 at a time back home for uploading

the pot combo included an aluminum wind screen, i (currently) use 3 of my tent stakes as a pot stand

the north face cat's meow is indeed rated to 20* - it's been my opinion in my years that this is an ambitious rating. the vapor barrier is for temperatures under 30 adding about 15 degrees of comfort.

the camera case is for a very nice camera. the batteries are an unfortunate reality of that camera

i'll likely have some leki ti poles

& i don't use sunscreen :sun


(everything else i'm going to have to take a look at!)

once again i wanted to say thanks to highlanderii - that was a pretty well-thought out response dude. thanks.

[quasarr]

Word of warning, stakes as a pot stand can be a big pain. Trying to get them level in rocky ground when you're really hungry can be very frustrating!

I made a pot stand out of a piece of coat hanger wire and it weighs 0.3 oz. I'm all about multi-use gear but this one isn't worth it IMO. I'd rather carry the 0.3 oz!!

[HighlanderII]

That is a nice camera -- hopefully you'll get some nice pictures.

One other thing you could do is swap the alkaline batteries in your headlamp to lithiums (if you haven't already) -- its a 40-50% savings and lithiums to last longer and work better in the cold. Yes they cost more but the percentage savings is high.

I didn't even see the book in the list -- as others have said I'd leave that home until you've figured things out. I carried a book later during my hike in '91 but didn't carry one in '03 (I hiked all day in 2003 and not nearly as much in '91).

[Montego]

According to the Petzl site, you are not suppose to use lithium batteries in the Tika Headlight. Could cause the light to fail.

[HighlanderII]

I don't know exactly what Petzl's concern is unless they are thinking someone would put 3.6V Li AAA form-factor batteries in a headlamp (that is a pretty stupid thing to do and these would most likely burn out the LEDs pretty quickly).

I wouldn't expect that their design margin is so close that the LEDs in the headlamps cannot handle disposable 1.5V Li AAAs which have a slightly higher peak voltage before they are loaded (1.8V) versus the 1.6V peak voltage of alkalines. The nominal voltage for both is still 1.5V which means the same current through the LEDs and thus the same amount of heat generation.

I would have to guess that they are just doing a boilerplate CYA statement. Someone probably used the higher voltage AAAs and sued them because they were in a cave somewhere and couldn't get out because their headlamp died...

I'll be using disposable 1.5V Li batteries in my Petzl headlamp. Others can determine for themselves whether they think it is an issue or not.

[Appalachian Tater]

I don't know exactly what Petzl's concern is unless they are thinking someone would put 3.6V Li AAA form-factor batteries in a headlamp (that is a pretty stupid thing to do and these would most likely burn out the LEDs pretty quickly).

I wouldn't expect that their design margin is so close that the LEDs in the headlamps cannot handle disposable 1.5V Li AAAs which have a slightly higher peak voltage before they are loaded (1.8V) versus the 1.6V peak voltage of alkalines. The nominal voltage for both is still 1.5V which means the same current through the LEDs and thus the same amount of heat generation.

I would have to guess that they are just doing a boilerplate CYA statement. Someone probably used the higher voltage AAAs and sued them because they were in a cave somewhere and couldn't get out because their headlamp died...

I'll be using disposable 1.5V Li batteries in my Petzl headlamp. Others can determine for themselves whether they think it is an issue or not.

Some of the Petzl models can handle the lithiums and some can't. It's not just a CYA. Someone called them, it's not B.S. There's something about it on their website as well.

[HighlanderII]

I looked at their website and there was no technical explanation there and I looked at the specs for Energizer alkaline and Energizer 1.5V Li batteries. Like I said, I find it hard to believe that they would design the headlamp so close to the specs of alkaline batteries that they would fail with such a small difference in loaded voltage.

Maybe if I get some time I'll actually measure it with both types of batteries...