If I were to buy my gear today I would buy

[gracebowen]

Stuff to make apex blanket 25 deg $70. 1.5. lb
Poly tarp. I know its poly. 7. 1.12. Lb
Stakes etc. 16. 1
Trowel. 2. .5
Sleeping pad. 17. 1.9
Travel air pillow. 5. ?

Keen sandals. 35. 2

I cant decide between the
One pack 50l backpack. 2.3 lbs. $35 and the
Mountaintop 40l. 2.1 lb and $35

So for numbers I used the heaviest most expensive.

So far im at 12 lbs and $185
Im fairly certain I have most of the other stuff I need floating around the house.
As ive been dreaming for the last year ive bought non cotton clothes I thought would work well on the trail.

I have used a poly tarp for shelter before on a cold night it rained and stayed dry. I also felt noticably warmer in my shelter.

https://hikingreviewed.com/best-hiki...cks-under-100/

I liked the teton sport scout the best but it was so heavy.

Open to suggestions except to ditch poly tarp and get a real shelter. I dont want to spend more than $300 on initial gear.
Yes you may think I wont finish due to lack of funds.
I may not finish for any number of reasons but at the very least I will have a nice section hike.

[gracebowen]

Well it didnt look like that when i pushed submit.
First number is price. Second is weight in ounces.

[Uriah]

...a sewing machine.

[gracebowen]

Forgot to add that I have 2 friends who already volunteered to make the blanket for me. Ive seen clothes they make and they are good. One even made her daughters wedding and bridesmaids dtrsses. The likelihood if them being around in 2 years is high. Ive known them both for over 10 years. Also my mom can help me. She sews ok.

[Slo-go'en]

Go with the 50L pack, there is still a lot of stuff you need to add. Food takes up a lot of space too.

Get a real tent. Let me repeat, get a real tent. Unless you plan to become a shelter dweller.

[Huntmog]

Don't get the mountaintop. I have a larger version as my loaner pack. I bought it when I was getting back into backpacking and can't imagine using on a thru. I'd also argue the weight is not accurate... unless they've really cut down.

[SwathHiker]

Grace, you might look at a Kelty Redwing. Go over to Amazon and use that Honey extension - add it to your Chrome browser and then set alerts to notify you of price drops. That's not too heavy. Another good one is the Osprey Talon 44 mens pack (little bigger than the womens). I used that no problem and it's on sale for $116. It's 2 pounds and 3 oz for the short torso which is what I use.

Look on GearTrade.com to collect up the stuff you need and get it used. You can get a great Klymit 20 degree down bag on Amazon for $149.

And there's nothing wrong with being a shelter dweller. Just bring a shower curtain to cut the wind chill like Grandma Gatewood (look her up). I've see many a thruhiker blow thru with nothing at all but the clothes on their backs begging for us to throw them oatmeal packets and energy bars as they ran by. Or stopped to stink the place up for a few hours in the night. Whatever. Get a good sleeping back and a pack you can carry. And a warm down jacket. Uniqlo has them super cheap. Uniqlo.com - I've used those before hiking. They are freezing without a rain shell over them but with a shell over them they are toasty and fine. Pick up an OR Helium II rain shell on clearance (last year's color) and some trail runners and the foregoing and you can grab some other stuff here and there out of hiker boxes, especially the ones down in the south from the people who drop out.

[SwathHiker]

Look at Uniqlo's jackets for certain as they have sales and you can get a decent ultralight down for $49.

[SwathHiker]

You can also get "dance pants" - nylon pants on amazon for $20 to stay warm over your regular pants but I'd skip that and look for OR Helium rain pants on clearance (last season colors)

[SwathHiker]

I also hiked about 800 miles in Keen Whisper sandals and really liked them but in April and May down south your feet will freeze in that icy water and muddy cold ground. Or are you going to change into those later? You don't want to carry them, they are crazy heavy. But you can put them in a bounce box and send it to yourself Priority Mail and as long as you don't open the box you can keep bouncing it further up the trail to yourself for free each time until it warms up. Or maybe you can buy some waterproof socks but then you might as well buy sneakers for the cost of those. REI Garage is the place to buy trail runners. Right before you go get them on clearance and you can return them if they break, and also the manufacturer will replace them along the trail for you if they break.

[StichBurly]

I also hiked about 800 miles in Keen Whisper sandals and really liked them but in April and May down south your feet will freeze in that icy water and muddy cold ground. Or are you going to change into those later?

Depends on the weather that year2014 Start April 8 - Oct 25th Wore Chacos the whole way. No frozen feet.
2016 Start May 1- Oct 28 Wore Chacos until the Whites. No frozen feet. Switched to LonePeaks for the finish.

[gracebowen]

Im hoping to start Harpers Ferry late April 2020.
N to Katadin (sp)
Flip back to HF
S to Springer.

[gracebowen]

Im not set on shoes. The keens I looked at appeared tolerable. If I didnt need shoes to protect my feet I would rather be barefoot.

[Venchka]

Im not set on shoes. The keens I looked at appeared tolerable. If I didnt need shoes to protect my feet I would rather be barefoot.

Buy larger than you normally wear. At least a half size bigger. A wider width helps too. Your feet will grow. They need room.
Wayne


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rocketsocks]

I commend you on dirt baggin' it, ya don't need top o' the line gear, unless you plan on going again and again and again, then I'd consider some upgrades.

[Slo-go'en]

The rocks of PA can really do a number on your feet, especially when your just starting out from HF. Many hikers complain how bad their feet hurt in PA. Trail runners with soft and flexible soles will kill your feet and likely result in stress fractures. If you get a boot which is too wide, your feet can roll inside the boot on those rocks and that is not good. I have narrow feet and that is a real issue with me.

When I left HF last year in late April, we had nice weather for a week or so. Then for most of PA it was cold and rainy. This year we had a horrible spring and it was cold and wet all the way into June. Of course, who knows what it will be like in 2020, but it's usually cold and wet in April and May along the east coast.

The good news is there won't be too many others on the trail that time of year so there's not much competition for shelter space. Last year I was part of a group of 4 going through PA and we stayed in a shelter nearly every night (usually just the 4 of us) which saved our butts. Having to camp in the rain every night after walking in it all day would have been a real pain. Between HF and NH, I rarely used my tent. I was rarely dry for long too.

I left HF with about 20 others from the Flip Flop festival on Sunday. With in a day or two, four of us were ahead of the pack and stayed ahead of everyone. The occasional fast thru hiker would catch up and pass us, but that was it. Probably half of those who left HF from the festival quit after a week. The rest stumbled along slowly behind us.

Our little group of four broke up at the Delaware Water Gap. The one lady in the group developed a stress fracture in one of her legs and could no longer walk. She could hardly even stand. The "Kid" in the group (it's sad with a 30's something is the kid in the group) wanted to meet up with his girl friend and had to start cranking out some big miles to meet her at the agreed time and place. I took a couple of zero days to visit my sister who lives near the water gap. That left the last guy in the group to continue on alone.

[nsherry61]

FWIW, I love poly tarps! Way to go. Make sure to use some rubber bands on one end or the other of your guy lines and the poly tarp will last a lot longer and be much quieter in heavy winds. Even if the poly tarps need to be replaced a couple times, they are still dirt cheap and work quite adequately.

Cheap backpacks are a disaster waiting to happen. If you read the reviews of most all of them, a disconcerting number, especially ones by people that have actually used the bags, have a lot of seam and zipper failures. Not what you want in the backcountry when a working backpack is central to the success of our trip. You can get all kinds of creative and keep yourself safe and mostly dry in a failed tarp. Heck, maybe a friend can even share a shelter with you. But, it's really hard to hike out two days with a backpack with split open seams or torn off shoulder straps.

Have fun!

[DownEaster]

I'd get the Primus OmniLite Ti stove with silencer head. The standard OmniLite Ti is an expedition-grade stove which facilitates real cooking, but with its simple 3-pronged flame spreader the stove sounds like a jet engine.

[Time Zone]

Trekking pole supported tent, probably. 20/20 foresight would lead me to know I'd be hiking with poles anyway - might as well save the weight of tent poles, plus it makes the rest of the tent more stuffable in the backpack. Only hesitation: the hybrid single-wall/double wall, how well does it do in heavy rain. Full inner tends to diffuse condensation drops that get knocked off the fly by heavy rain. That won't be the case with a hybrid tent that has the single wall over your head and double on the sides.

[MtDoraDave]

Trekking pole supported tent, probably. 20/20 foresight would lead me to know I'd be hiking with poles anyway - might as well save the weight of tent poles, plus it makes the rest of the tent more stuffable in the backpack. Only hesitation: the hybrid single-wall/double wall, how well does it do in heavy rain. Full inner tends to diffuse condensation drops that get knocked off the fly by heavy rain. That won't be the case with a hybrid tent that has the single wall over your head and double on the sides.

Look at the Tarptent Notch. Completely rainproof in my experience. (I've only used one for 2 hikes, but my hiking partner has used his for the 3 years we've been doing this) If that's too tight a fit for you, the Stratospire 1 is considerably larger and the vestibules are larger - with the penalties being that it weighs more, takes a bit longer to set up, and costs a bit more.