Ok, so I've been wanting to contribute to the site ever since I spent a month digging through old posts and gear lists to put together my own through hike which I completed NOBO this year. So the thought is that I'm going to post my gear list from the start at Springer and then notate the list with what I ended up with on Katahdin.


Pack, Osprey Atmos 50 Liter, Perfect size, most used 60-65 liters however with no lids
Pack, Pack Liner, Compactor bag, a MUST
Pack, Pack cover, seems redundant but I chose to get one in Franklin

Shelter, Tarptent Contrail, 696g, LOVED IT
Shelter, 4 X Nobendium Stakes carried one extra
Shelter, 3 X GoLite Y - Stake ditched two and used one, (will explain below)
Shelter, Tyvek or silnylon floor coating, I coated INSIDE of floor 5-1 alcohol silicon mix

Sleeping, Bag, Mont Bell Down 25 degree
Sleeping, 3/4 closed cell foam pad switched to thermarest womens 3/4 at Neels Gap

Footwear - Montrail Hardrock 08 Trailrunners loved them, 3 pair for trip
Footwear - Superfeet Green Insoles - (green for trailrunners, orange for boots)
Footwear - 3pr Smartwool Trekking Socks would use Dahlgren Alpaca socks instead
Footwear - (around camp), Crocs try out next size down mine were huge

Clothing - Base, Cap 2 Midweight bottoms
Clothing - Base, Cap 1 lightweight Long-Sleeve ditched for second tee in VA
Clothing - Base, UnderArmor Compression Shorts 2pr critical to prevent chafe
Clothing - Base, Cotton boxers allowed some air down there at night

Clothing - Midlayer, EMS Men's Core SYNC Jacket, 700g, ditched at Neels Gap for down jacket, best decision ever
Clothing - Midlayer, Convertible pants, ditch after VA highlands for lighter shorts
Clothing - Midlayer, Wicking Tee, 140g

Clothing - Shell, Patagonia rain top
Clothing - Shell, Frog Togs bottom, accident in dryer after smokies, never really needed them

Clothing - Misc, Baseball cap

Winter Gear, Fleece hat, 20g (doubles as pot cozy), bounce or ditch after VA Highlands
Winter Gear, Balaclava, Unecessary
Winter Gear, Gloves - worn 3x on entire hike, (I have warm hands usually) ditched

Hydration, Water Bottle, 2 Powerade Bottles, usually empty while hiking
Hydration, Water Bladder, 2 Liter Platypus Hiked with 1 - 1.5 liters

Tools, Leatherman Micra (scissors), useful but didn't use much
Tools, P-38 can opener, used once
Tools, Headlamp,Petzl TikkaPlus, MUST HAVE RED LIGHT (shelter etiquette)
Tools, Small Packtowl, sham wow is way better, cut a chunk
Tools, Photon X-Micro light, 7.8 g, never used, carried whole way

Kitchen, Bear bag line 60' rather than 50' of para cord
Kitchen, Food Bag - Granite Gear Zip Sack 18L Best food bag IMO see all contents without dumping
Kitchen, Food Bag - caribeaner
Kitchen, two 4oz nalgene bottles for alcohol, kept inside pot
Kitchen, small juice bottle, 10 oz, Denatured Alcohol usually empty but used for long stints
Kitchen, Lighter, BIC mini, one lighter lasted entire trail
Kitchen, Pot, 1 liter titanium
Kitchen, Scrubbie, Green, cooked in freezer bags, no pot cleanup
Kitchen, Lexan spoon broke, get a Ti spork for $10
Kitchen, Alcohol Stove, Super Cat Alcohol Stove nothing lighter than this
Kitchen, Windscreen, cut strip from disposable cookie sheet, fit inside pot

First Aid/Repair, ANTIBIOTICS, MUST HAVE WEEK SUPPLY FOR LYMES
First Aid/Repair, 10 Ibuprofin, 6g
First Aid/Repair, Pepto Bismol Chewables 3g
First Aid/Repair, Dental Floss, 2'
First Aid/Repair, Sewing Needle
First Aid/Repair, Duct Tape 4' or so, athletic tape worked better
First Aid/Repair, Moleskin, 1 - 2 sheets
First Aid/Repair, Sunblock only got burnt first few days, ditched
First Aid/Repair, Neosporin, heals while lubricates for chafe

Hygiene Group, Aquamira
Hygiene Group, Baby Wipes, (just a few) Nice to have in ziplok with TP
Hygiene Group, Hand Sanitizer
Hygiene Group, Toilet Paper, 29g (partial roll field stripped in ziplok)
Hygiene Group, Toothbrush, Sawed-off, 5g
Hygiene Group, Toothpaste, .85 oz. Tube, 28g
Hygiene Group, Gold Bond Powder I never used, some swear by it

Trekking Poles, Black Diamond Carbon Fiber lasted entire trail

Miscellaneous, Ear Plugs, MUST HAVE
Miscellaneous, Glasses, w/ case, 77g
Miscellaneous, a few safety pins, 5g for drying socks on pack etc...
Miscellaneous, ID, Phone card, ATM card, etc... 5g

Navigation, Guide, Appalachian Pages data book, best one out there
Navigation, Map, never got them, never needed them
Navigation, Keychain Compass

Luxury Group, Camera, Digital, Canon G9 bit large but shoots RAW and HD vid
Luxury Group, Small leather journal, very glad I have it now
Luxury Group, Amod AGL3080 GPS Data Logger, 50g (not icl. 3xaaa batt)
Luxury Group, StickPic - Hiking Pole Camera Mount, its tiny and great
Luxury Group, Silva Solar 4 Battery Charger totally unnecessary
Luxury Group, Original iPod shuffle music helped on hard days
Luxury Group, Crazy Creek - Hexalite camping chair kept it the whole trip
Luxury Group, Granite Gear, Pillow stuffsack 14.5x7.3.5 thing is great
Luxury Group, Battery, Spare, AAA Quantity 9 - 12 used for GPS Logger, 5 days