All My Gear
The Search For Perfection
The gear used on a long distance hike is important, but probably no more so than proper training, a good attitude and state of mind, and general planning and preparation. Unfortunately, I’m a newbie and probably spent far too much time researching equipment, attempting to find perfection, when there are often many alternatives with similar qualities. Nevertheless, the job is done, the time is wasted, but the results are in and shown below.
The Big Three
- My Big Agnes Tiger Wall 2 Tent with the footprint, comes in at 2.5 pounds. Tents come considerably lighter, but not roomier. Since I plan to be hiking up to 150 days, I wanted a spacious tent that isn’t going to have sticky condensation issues. Big Agnes is a 2 person, double walled tent. I’m very happy with it.
- I love the Zpacks company and purchased many items from them, including my Arcblast pack. It’s made with waterproof Dyneema fabric and super light.
- My sleep system consisting of the Thermarest Hyperion 20 degree bag and Thermarest Neoair sleep pad come in at just over 2 pounds.
The Rest
A few comments on the products I think are understated:
- You can purchase an $80 puffy jacket from Decathlon that is equivalent to $400 jackets at other manufacturers.
- I love my silk sleeping bag liner. It adds a couple of R-value on cold nights, and keeps my bag free of my daily dirt and stink.
- I also love my merino wool neck buff. When hiking in 30-40 degree weather, it helps keep me comfortable with only a 5 ounce fleece. It can cover my head in place of a beanie, and acts as a pillow at night when wrapped around some clothes.
- I’m a bit paranoid about my body odor, but don’t want to carry the weight of a deodorant stick. Instead, I squeezed some gel into a small plastic bag that I’ll dip into each day. Same for foot powder.
The list below shows the weight of each item. To calculate my total base weight, I made a reduction for those items I’ll typically be wearing. All told, I come in around 15 pounds.
Tom’s Gear List | Redux for | ||
Lbs | Ozs. | Wearing | |
Big Four | |||
Backpack – Zpacks Arcblast | 1 | 6 | |
Accessories(pouches, etc.) | 2 | ||
Tent (Big Agnes Tigerwall 2) | 2 | 0 | |
Footprint – Big Agnes | 6 | ||
Stakes | 4 | ||
Sleeping Bag – Thermarest Hyp 20 | 1 | 9 | |
Sleep Pad – Neoair | 11 | ||
Clothes | |||
Shoes – Brooks Cascadia | |||
Shorts – 2 pair generic nylon | 10 | 5 | |
Hiking shirt – Merino Wool | 6 | 6 | |
Fleece – KUIU Peloton 97 Fleece | 5 | 5 | |
Puffy coat – Decathlon 23F | 10 | ||
Socks (3) Smartwool | 6 | 2 | |
Sun Hat | 2 | 2 | |
Bandana | |||
Gaiters – Dirty Girl | 1 | 1 | |
Towel | 3 | ||
Neck buff – Merino Wool | 1 | ||
Eye Glasses | 1 | ||
Sunglasses | 1 | ||
Reading glasses (w/ contacts) | 1 | ||
Contact lenses – 30 days | 5 | ||
Wallet – Zpacks minimalist | 1 | ||
Sleeping | |||
Base Bottom – REI Merino Wool | 6 | ||
Base Top – REI Merino | 6 | ||
Camp shoes – Homemade | 2 | ||
Waterproof socks | 2 | ||
Socks – Smartwool | 2 | ||
Hot hands (1 Emergency) | 1 | ||
Sleep liner – Tioga Silk Liner | 4 | ||
Pump – Flextail Tiny | 4 | ||
Rain Gear | |||
Rain pants – Montbell Tachyon | 2 | ||
Rain coat – Montbell Versalite | 7 | ||
Warm gloves – Zpacks possum | 1 | ||
Rain gloves – Zpacks | 2 | ||
Rain kilt – Zpacks DCF | 2 | ||
Umbrella – Zpacks | 7 | ||
Pack Cover – Zpacks | 1 | ||
Poncho – cheap disposable | 1 | ||
Cooking | |||
Cooking System – Jetboil Stash | 8 | ||
Fuel | 7 | 7 | |
Spoon | 0 | ||
Cup – Sea to Summit collapsing | 3 | ||
Lighter 2 | 1 | ||
Bear Kit – Zpacks | 3 | ||
Cosmetics | |||
Trowel – tentlab | 1 | ||
TP | 1 | ||
Sunscreen – Badger stick | 1 | ||
Ear plugs | 0 | ||
Toothbrush | 0 | ||
Toothpaste | 1 | ||
Floss | 0 | ||
Rubber tip | 1 | ||
Soap – Dr. Bonners | 2 | ||
Sanitizer | 2 | ||
Moist Towelettes | 3 | ||
Deodorant | 0 | ||
Lib balm/vaseline | 1 | ||
Body glide | 1 | ||
Foot powder | 1 | ||
First Aid | |||
Medical Tape | |||
Stretch Tape | |||
Antiseptic wipes | |||
Ibuprofen | |||
Pepto Bismall | |||
Benadryl | |||
Imodium | |||
Needle | |||
Band Aids | |||
Tenacious tape | |||
Mosquito net | |||
Total First Aid | 4 | ||
Water | |||
Water Filter – Katadyn BeFree | 2 | ||
Water container – Smartwater | 1 | ||
Aqua mira purification drops | 3 | ||
Electronics | |||
Power Bank – Anker 10k | 5 | ||
Phone | |||
Head lamp – Nitecore | 2 | ||
Cords | 2 | ||
Ear Buds | 2 | ||
Other | |||
Poles – Zpacks | 14 | 14 | |
Sit Pad – Zpacks | 1 | ||
Multi-Tool Knife – Zpacks | 1 | ||
Whistle – Zpacks | 0 | ||
Compass/thermometer – Zpacks | 1 | ||
Pens 2 | 1 | ||
Compress Bags and sacks | 2 | ||
Lbs | Ozs. | Wearing | |
4 | 219 | 42 | |
Base Weight | 15.1 |
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Comments 1
I got that zpacks wallet and loved it so much that I use as my main every day wallet. Very nice balanced gear list that’s plenty light and probably plenty comfy.