Gear List - NOBO Thru-Hike - Starting April 1st - I have some questions!

[BradyCycler]

Hello everyone, in 10 short days I will be on the AT! I wanted to post my gear list and get some suggestions on a couple things I'm still up in the air on taking...

First, the list!



AT Gear

Weight (oz)







Backpack
ULA Circuit
39







Sleeping




Tent
TarpTent Notch
26


Sleeping Bag
Mountain Hardware ExtraLamina 20
47


Ground Pad
Thermarest NeoAir Xlite
12


Ground Cloth
Polycryo Ground Cloth
1.6


Pillow
Thermarest Neoair Pillow
3







Cooking




Pot/Stove
Caldera Sidewinder System
10


Pot Scraper
GSI Compact Scraper
0.4


Spoon
Optimus Titanium long spoon
0.7


Fuel
6oz Alcohol bottle – full
6







Water




Water Bag
Platypus 2L Bottle
1.3


Water Purification
Aquamira Bottles
3


Camelback Bag
Platypus Big Zip SL 3L
5.8


Filter on CB Bag
Sawyer 3-Way Inline
2







Footwear




Socks
2x Darn Tough Boot Socks
?



2x Injinji original weight crew socks
?


Gaiters
eVENT Shortie Gaiters
2.5



Dirty Girl Gaiters
1


Boots
Marrell Moab Mids w/ Superfeet inserts
31


Trail Runners
Marrell Barefoot Trail Glove
12







Other Stuff




Headlamp
Zebra H51 Headlamp
3


Back-up Light
LRI Photon LED Keychain Light
0.5


Poop Trowel
Coghlan's Backpackers Trowel
2


Knife
Swiss Army Classic
0.8


Food bag
Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Dry Sack 20L
1.7


Rope
25ft Paracord
?







Toiletries




Oral Hygiene
Toothbrush, 1oz toothpaste, dental floss
?


Glasses
Glasses w/ case
?


Contacts & Solution
Contact case, extra set of contacts
?


Contact Solution
4oz Contact solution bottle
4


First Aid
0.5oz Neosporine, Moleskin, advil, bandages, etc
?


Bug Spray
1oz Sprayer
1







Electronics




Phone
HTC Incredible 2
5


Camera
Panasonic Lumix TS4
7


Mini-Tripod
GorillaPod Micro 250
0.9


Batteries
Extra phone & Camera batteries
2


Charger
Powergen Charger
2







Clothes




Shirt Base Layer
Stoic Breathe 150 Long Sleeve
?


Legs Base Later
Stoic Breathe 150 Bottom
?


Fleece
Northface Fleece long sleeve
?


Pants
North Face Paramount Peak Convertible Pants
17.6


Down Jacket
Mountain Hardwear Nitrous Down Jacket
12


T-shirt
North Face Reaxion Crew Top
?


Shorts
Generic gym shorts
?


Rain Stuff
Frogg Togg DriDucks
16


Underwear
2x ExOfficial Briefs
5


Gloves
North Face winter runner's gloves
?


Bandana
ExOfficio Sol Cool
?


Buff
AT Buff
2.9


Beanie
Seirus fleece beanie
?







Total

287.7




(17.98 lbs)







Never in Pack




Hiking Poles
Black Diamond Carbon Cork
13












Extra/Backups




Rain Jacket
Mountain Hardware Stretch Typoon
12


Rain Pants
Stoic Vaporshell 3L Pants
10.75


Sleeping Bag
Eureka Silver City 30 Degree
36


Ground Pad
NeoAir Trekker – Large
26



I have a feeling my base pack weight is going to be right around 20 lbs, I've included everything except my poles in the weight calculation above, so some of that I'll be wearing but a number of other things I don't have weights for yet.

For footwear, I'll be wearing either the Moab Mids w/ Injinji toe socks -or- the Barefoot trail runners w/ Darn Tough socks. Those are the show/sock combinations that work best for my feet. I picked up the eVent gaiters to try and keep the rain out of my Moabs, but I think I might not need them if I'm wearing DriDuck pants. The Dirty girl gaitors I want to wear with the trail runners just to keep debris out.

With that out of the way, on to my questions:

#1 - Am I bringing too much clothing? I'm not sure if I need a fleece long sleeve shirt in addition to the down jacket? The gym shorts would be nice to have as a sleep set/swim trunks, but they're kind of redundant due to the convertible pants. Do I even need convertible pants or would a leg base layer & shorts be fine, throwing on the Driduck pants if I get cold?

#2 - Hydration. The 2L Platypus is for camp water. I was originally going to drink out of 2x 1L smartwater bottles while hiking, but I found that I just can't reach them well when they're in the side pockets of my ULA Circuit. This means I would have to remove my pack every time I wanted a drink. So I added in a 3L Platypus Big Zip camelback so I can drink from that while hiking, and then decided for another 2 ounces I could add a Sawyer 3-Way inline filter to it so I could fill it up with stream water and not have to use Aquamira on it. Probably will only hike with 2L of water in it, but it's nice to have the capacity if needed and the weight gain is only 0.3 ounces over the 2L version. I'll probably still carry an empty 1L Power Aid bottle to use for mixing or anything else. Does this sound decent or overkill?


I really wanted to go ultralight on this and as I was starting to put together everything it looked like I might be able to hit the 15-16 lb mark but all the little things started creeping in and pushing the weight up!

Thank you for any insight you can provide!

[BradyCycler]

Forgot #3 - Could start my trip with my 30 degree bag and save 11 ozs weight, or would a 20 degree bag be safer to start with?

[grayfox]

Don't forget that as a nobo you will have an outfitter placed in a very few days of starting where you will be able to make changes to your kit. Most people send stuff home at that point. Perhaps you could send things you are unsure about TO a mail drop there so you could trade items as you find necessary at that time. I wouldn't sweat the small stuff but if a big ticket item, a sleeping bag or pack, were in question then the postage might be worth it. My plan was to start out with the smallest kit possible and add to it with mail drops as my comfort with the weight of my pack got better rather than begin with a crushing load and hating every minute of the walk--even a light load feels heavy for a few days till you get used to the weight. This proably has more to do with learning how to rebalance your body than the actual weight of your pack. YMMV Have a great hike

[oroy38]

I'm not a thru-hiker so maybe what I say won't mean much, but there are a few things that seem odd on your list, and I'm merely asking why rather than telling you not to bring them.

2 sets of rainwear? If anything, I would just bring the hardier set, and not have to worry about the durability of the frog toggs.
Trail runners AND boots? Maybe you plan on mailing one pair out for seasonal purposes, but not carrying both?
Poop trowel? A stick works just as well.
Why 2 pairs of gaiters?
Water: Sawyer inline filter AND aquamira. Why not just choose 1?
Camelbak: My personal opinion is to ditch it. I like them for day hikes, but found that they can get scummy after a while without maintenance on longer trips, or maybe I've just had bad luck. I'd just stick to the Platy bottles and a Sawyer Squeeze, and leave the Aqua Mira at home.

These are just small things, and you may decide to keep or ditch them. Whatever works for you!