Gear

Little Red Riding Hood: Into the woods To Grandmother’s house–

Wife: You’re certain of your way?

Little Red Riding Hood: The way is clear, The light is good,

I have no fear, Nor no one should.

The woods are just trees,

The trees are just wood.

I sort of hate to ask it, But do you have a basket?

— from “Into the Woods” by Stephen Sondheim

I have been camping and backpacking for years. I don’t usually carry a basket, but that doesn’t mean everything I usually carry is completely appropriate for a long solo trek.

Most of my trips are leading youth groups. I joke with the parents that it is still an “A” if I return with 90% of the youth I started with. But, in reality, I take extra precautions to ensure that all the youth are safe and that we really do return with all of them. That translates to, “If it might be important, then it probably ends up in my pack.” And doing things as a group often means different equipment. For example, group cooking typically means a couple larger pots and stove like a whisperlite that can accommodate them. Those things can be split among group members to keep each person’s weight low. Using things like smaller pots, that can still work for shorter solo trips, but would put a lot of strain on my legs over 2650 miles.

So I’ve been looking at other thru-hiking gear lists, comparing with my current gear, and trying to figure out what will work well, what is okay, and what I should replace. Rather than just present a list of my gear and its weights, I instead want to focus on my decisions.

Meal Preparation

Replacing the large pot with a small one still left my whisperlight setup at 700g or so. Not carrying a group tarp also means that I am more likely to use my stove fairly close to my tent. The occasional fireball created when priming my Whisperlight provided another reason to swap it for a canister stove.

Stove: Soto Windmaster – Not the lightest, but I chose it for its regulated control and usability in windy conditions. To me, it is fun to see what kinds of food I can make that most people don’t associate with backpacking (or even camping). Baking little pies is a fun challenge, even if that isn’t my focus on this trip.

Pot: Toaks Ti 650ml – This decision was entirely based upon internet reviews. I have constructed a cozy from silver bubble wrap that it fits into for rehydrating food. Unfortunately, the windmaster is a little too big to fit inside the pot along with a 4 oz canister. I’ll store the stove in the pot and use a bag to keep everything together.

I also bought a cheap silicone top for the pot that should enable me to cold soak some things while hiking as well.

Spoon: GSI Outdoors Essential – I like the long handle and the silicone edge that makes it much easier to get all the food out of the pot/cup/bag. As for breaking plastic spoons, I’ve never broken any of my plastic utensils in a couple decades of use.

Water

Filter: Sawyer Squeeze. Filters fast and seems to last forever.

bike water bottle: This is the only bottle that I put anything other than water into, so it is the only one that is a smellable. I usually attach this to my hip belt using a carabiner.

smart water bottles (or equivalent): Light and directly connect to my filter (including the output using an adapter), I’ll carry a couple of these in the outside pocket of my pack

cnoc 2 and/or 3 Liter bag: I can carry both for long water carries or, if I want to use gravity to filter (without needing to monitor it). And like Nalgenes, these can hold hot water and keep me warmer in my sleeping bag.

Other Big Items

Pack: Durston Kakwa 55L – I liked my Osprey Aether 65L and it fit me well. But the Kakwa is about 3 pounds lighter. So, if my legs were used to the Osprey, that would allow me a 3 pound budget for luxury items! I’ve added cord loops and bungee cord to hold things like my trekking poles, ice axe, and guitar.

Tent: Durston X-Mid 1 – For the last 9 years, I had used an REI Quarter Dome 1 person tent. But it was showing its age, like with a finicky zipper. I jumped on the X-Mid bandwagon for the vestibules, weight, and size. It has worked fine the couple times I’ve used it so far.

Miscellaneous

Guitar: Washburn Rover – it weighs about two pounds. I hope to be better at playing it by the end of this trek.

Gear Modifications

I bought some cheap reading glasses for the trail. Their biggest problem is that the plastic of frame is pretty slippery on my ears and nose. I had liquid latex left over from creating zombie wound last Halloween. I put several coats on the ear pieces and nose piece of the glasses and they are much better now.

Final Results

For the last couple months, I have tried to keep my PCT gear and clothing in one place. But, I use bits of it here and there. And I also keep things I’m not sure about and planned resupply items there. So I have never felt like everything was all together for me to look at it and see if it looked right.

After permethrin treating my clothes yesterday, I had a few minutes to spare before leaving for a group hike. I printed a mostly current list of my planned gear and went through it, placing everything nearly by my pack. I was pleased that within 10 minutes, everything was laid out.

This morning, I quickly stepped on a scale with my pack, loaded with my gear, food for the first 100 miles, a liter or so of water, and my guitar. I was surprised how light it felt and a little disappointed that the scale said it weighed 35 pounds. I guess we’ll see how effective my training has been.