My gear list????????? i know im over doing it already lol?

[OneStepCloser]

okay okay so i know a lot of the stuff im brining is overkill but i plan on sending some stuff home or just bouncing it up. Basically i know im hitting the trail March 7th full throttle.. im fit and athletic and could easily hike 20 miles a day(no BS im tough especially mentally but also physically)
okay so heres a list

1. osprey backpack
2. western mountaineering 20 degree alpinelite(MMMM good bag)
3. fleece pants by marmot
4. convertible mesa pants by mountain hardware(LOOOOOVE THESE)
5. salomon 4d goretex boots expensive 200 bucks but realyy hardy
6. marmot solar flair fleece LOVE IT
7. marmot oracle rain jacket
8. Marmot zeus downjacket
8. smart wool long underwear bottoms
9. long underwear top half zip warrrmm
10. and 11. short sleeve and long sleeve polyester shirt
11. marmot rainpants
12. 3 pairs of socks hiking socks lightweight and midweight
13. cook pot with spork
14. MSR whisperlite multi fuel stove with fuel
15. balaclava
16. marmot fleece hat and marmot precip sun hat
17. mountain hardware gloves and glove liners
18.2 undderarmour underwear breifs
19.camelback 3L water resivoir
20. msr hyperflow filter
21.hearlamp LED
22.first aid kit nice world travel one from backcountry.
23.gaitors for my legs
24. water bottle
25. 50ft parachute cord and carabiners to hang food
26.. stuff sacks for clothing and food
27.pocket towel large size
28. polarized sunglasses to keep wind, rain and snow out of my face
29. headnet for bugs
30. tick treatment/ insect repellan
31. prolite plus sleeping pad self inflating
32. big agnes 1 person seed house tent
33. trail trekking poles
im thinking thats all unless i missed a little thing like extra batteries.. or thru hikers companion.. i know this is over kill but im starting in early march so it will be cold i plan on sending home most of the stuff or bouncing it up north. im using the same sleeping bag the entire trip to save money. umm oh yeah and a small digital camera that i have not bought yet.. cant decide should i just use a disposable one or a nice one? anyway what are yoour thoughts? to more experienced hikers and thru hikers.. this is my first real big hike.

[Hosaphone]

19.camelback 3L water resivoir

Weight on this? My 3L camelback bladder weighs like 8oz. I picked up a 3L platypus that weighs ~2oz for $20 (not even on sale, either). Pretty easy and cheap way to save almost half a pound.


20. msr hyperflow filter

Aqua Mira for me.


22.first aid kit nice world travel one from backcountry

Weight on this, and what's in it? I'm all for being safe, but a "nice" first aid kit sounds like it may be overkill.


24. water bottle

1L gatorade or powerade bottle works well.


25. 50ft parachute cord and carabiners to hang food

Weight? You can get line that weighs 2.75oz per 50ft (http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___23162) for 5 bucks at campmor if it's the heavy kind of para cord.



229. headnet for bugs
30. tick treatment/ insect repellant

Probably won't be necessary in early March.




Looks pretty good to me. Some stuff is probably overkill but you can easily swap it out on the trail. Better to start off with the stuff and mail it home after a week than to freeze for a week and have to buy something at the first town.

[Kookork]

Clothing is too complicated for me but i did not find a multi tool or knife in your list.
disposable camera is not what you may find practical. Digital camera is not just for taking photos but by referring back to your pictures you can review what you have done before and is a great tool as a portable memory of your entire trail. by the time you reach to the 3rd week you have already forgtten a lot offirst week , let alone third month so camera keep your memory fresh

[Spokes]

1+ on what Hosaphone said. Oh, 2mm cord is all you need to hang food or dry out wet clothes. How you gonna keep all that stuff dry? Most thru's just use a trash compactor bag.

Have you seen the "Mountain Crossings Method Gear List"? It's tried and true.

http://www.backpacker.com/november_08_pack_man_/articles/12659?page=4

[Colter]

It would be great to take that gear and spend a week or ten days on the AT in cold weather and crank out those 20 mile days every day and see what you needed and what you didn't. Gear is subjective.

You have six tops it looks like. I'd drop one or two of them. Personally I'd definitely dump one polypro shirt.

I'd ditch the Whisperlite and go to an alcohol stove. Personally I'd get rid of the pack towel and just carry a multi-use cotton bandana and wring it out as necessary.

I'd get rid of the insect stuff for early in the hike and I would also use Aqua Mira.

I'd suggest a small, decent digital camera.

I have never carried carabiners while thru-hiking.

+1 on the trash compactor bag.

[mountain squid]

Some observations:

fleece pants - will you wear while hiking? if not, might be unnecessary
3 jackets - will you ever wear at same time? if not, might be too many
camp footwear
needle for draining blisters
bandana/buff
hand sanitizer
lighter
maps
Companion/Guidebook
TP (of course)
tooth brush/paste
sunscreen
pencil
notebook
ear plugs
duct tape

Concur:
alcohol stove




Not to doubt your abilities, but unless you have already experienced 20 mi days with a full pack up a mountain, you are probably being over confident in yourself. Most hikers probably don't have consistent 20s until VA or so. Suggest starting off with low mileage days until you are comfortable hiking all day, every day.

Good Luck and Have Fun!

See you on the trail,
mt squid

how to hike
(http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?73587-how-to-hike)observations (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?14493-observations-from-fs42-(advice-for-first-week-on-trail))

[Miami Joe]

Leatherman goes everywhere with me.

[Leanthree]

Also concur on swapping alcohol stove for the whisperlite. I love my whisperlite but for one person (or two...) it is overkill. If you don't like alcohol stoves then go for a jetboil. If jetboil is too expensive then learn to love alcohol stoves.

[OneStepCloser]

okay so i ended up returning some things and exchanging to cut down on weight.... first the stove i bought a cheap alcohol stove the miniatomic 2 https://www.minibulldesign.com/ProductCart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=73&idcategory which was recommended by a thru hiker on youtube. also i returned the long underwear top which is heavyweight and im getting a smartwool NTS crew top which actually feels better. i also ended up upgrading my boots from the 4d quest to the 4d cosmic which is half the weight but pretty much the same shoe for an extra 30 bucks cant beat that)

[Jim Adams]

...too much clothing, too much first aid (do you know how to use everything in it?), too much stove weight with the MSR, ...can probably cut 1/3 or 1/2 of what you have....example-gloves and glove liners? if it is that cold to need both either get into your sleeping bag and wait a day or two for better weather or head to town...too much redundency.

geek

[Gaiter]

ditto too much clothing, you have a long sleeve underwear top and a long sleeve shirt, pick one of the two,
be prepared to ship most of your clothes home when it warms up
i don't know about the balaclava and the sun hat, the fleece hat and a bandana will be good, then ship the fleece home

goretex boots are nice when there is snow on the ground, but when it warms up they are hard to dry out once wet

even though you got a big nice first aid kit, you can probably just use stuff from it, but you don't need the whole thing
read the safety guide but probably won't need to bring it, from the kit i would keep:

2 safety pins,
[1 x 3in Bandages] 2; [Knuckle Bandages] 4; [2in Gauze Bandages] 1; [Small GlacierGel Blister Pad] 1; [Pre-shaped Moleskin Pads] 4 Infectious Control: [Antiseptic Wipes] 6; [.5in Tape Roll] 1; [Benzoin Tincture] 1; [ Antibiotic Ointment] 3;
Medication: [500mg Acetominophen 2 Pack] 4; [Antacid 2 Pack] 4; [Antihistamine] 4; [10g Rehydration Salts] 1; [50g Rehydration Salts] 1; [200mg Ibuprofen 2 Pack] or if you can send it back get a smaller one like this, http://www.backcountry.com/adventure-medical-ultralight-watertight-.3-first-aid-kit

I'm also a big fan of a small tube of super glue, its multi purpose for both first aid and repairing gear

camera: disposable isn't a bad choice, its lightweight and available everywhere, if you have support back home, mail your camera back when finished, most film developing places give you an option to put the pictures on a cd, downsides you are limited to usually 24 pics per camera and cost of shipping, but with a digital point and shoot you can have gb's of photos, don't get an expensive point and shoot though...

my disagreements with other comments:
chemical water treatment isn't for everyone, personally i like my filter and don't mind the weight
one carabiner is usually all thats needed, especially if using the pct bear bagging method...

[QiWiz]

Some specific suggestions, if you want to be lighter . . .

fleece pants by marmot AND smart wool long underwear bottoms - long underwear probably enough, and lighter
marmot solar flair fleece AND Marmot zeus downjacket - probably don't need both
short sleeve and long sleeve polyester shirt - pick one
3 pairs of socks hiking socks lightweight and midweight - two pairs enough
balaclava AND marmot fleece hat - pick one
camelback 3L water resivoir - 2 large platypuses are lighter
msr hyperflow filter - substitute Aqua Mira
big agnes 1 person seed house tent - could save weight with a tarp

[Feral Nature]

1+ on what Hosaphone said. Oh, 2mm cord is all you need to hang food or dry out wet clothes. How you gonna keep all that stuff dry? Most thru's just use a trash compactor bag.

Have you seen the "Mountain Crossings Method Gear List"? It's tried and true.

http://www.backpacker.com/november_08_pack_man_/articles/12659?page=4

Spokes, thanks for posting this. I have been confused on what clothing to bring and this list makes sense to me.

[sbhikes]

Yeah, if you are walking for 20 miles a day you won't have enough time to sit around wearing all those clothes.

And if your first-aid kit has anything in it that you don't know the name of or don't know how to use, you have too much first aid. All I've ever needed is bandaids and neosporin, but I carry around a few doses of travel meds (antibiotics and vicodin) just to help me get to civilization and proper treatment.

[hikerboy57]

Yeah, if you are walking for 20 miles a day you won't have enough time to sit around wearing all those clothes.

And if your first-aid kit has anything in it that you don't know the name of or don't know how to use, you have too much first aid. All I've ever needed is bandaids and neosporin, but I carry around a few doses of travel meds (antibiotics and vicodin) just to help me get to civilization and proper treatment.+2 on this, you're not going to be doing major triage on the trail. i carry an assortment of bandaids, couple of gauze pads, neosporin and some moleskin.If you're heading to isolated backcountry, you need to be well versed in first aid. On the AT its a good idea, but not mandatory.

[AndyB]

" im fit and athletic and could easily hike 20 miles a day(no BS im tough especially mentally but also physically)"


I started in March and what I remember is it still gets dark early. You really don't have too much daylight that time of year. Tack on frozen mud, wet mud, snow and rain.......20's are tough in Georgia..

Andy
once I sent my cold weather stuff home, that;s where it stayed, never needed it again

[Smooth & Wasabi]

Lots of good ideas here. I think a long shakedown cruise is the best advice you got. Peruse the ultra light forum here, BackpackingLight, and maybe buy Mike Clellands new book first. I'm no super ultralight zealot but less is more and I have lots more fun when backpacking when I lighten my pack.

[Stir Fry]

Gear list needs to have the weight of eash item if it to be of use.