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Great Gear for the Great Loop
STOP! If you want to try to guess how much some of my gear weighs before I reveal the answers below, please see my Youtube video at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4EStP-DYso. Play along with my friends as I quiz them!
One of the most talked about topics in the backpacking world is gear. From old external frame backpacks to lightweight, frameless dynema packs, gear has come a long way. Now, I am by no means a UL (ultralight) hiker, but I did have to upgrade some of my equipment for this next adventure of consistent 30+ mile days over the course of 8 months. Here’s what I am working with… at least to start.
Base Weight
This is the weight of my gear without food or water. For ultralight backpackers, this number should be under 10 lbs. I am more of a lightweight backpacker coming in at 12.19 lbs without winter gear and 16.3 lbs with winter gear and my bear canister. My “Big Three” total to 8.13 lbs.
Pretty much everything minus winter gear and my bear canister.
Big Three
- Backpack- Osprey Eja 48, Weight: 2.42 lb
- Pack cover- Sea to Summit Ultra-sil Pack Cover Size Small, Weight: 3.7 oz
- Liner- Compactor trash bag
- Tent- Big Agnes Tigerwall UL 2 with painters plastic footprint, Weight: 2 lb 8 oz + 1.5 oz
- Sleep System-
- Feathered Friends Petrel 10 UL Women’s Bag, Weight: 30.2 oz
- Therm-a-rest Neoair Xlite Short/Small Pad, Weight: 8 oz
- Therm-a-rest Z Lite Sol (8 sections), Weight: 8 oz
My Big 3, and unfortunately my backpack isn’t orange/yellow, which I didn’t even realize was a theme until I laid them all out!
Cooking and Water
- Stove- BSR 3000T, Weight: 0.9 oz
- Pot- Toaks Titanium 1100 mL Pot with Pan, Weight: 5.6 oz
- Utensil- Sea to Summit Alpha Light Spork, Weight: 0.3 oz
- Knife- BTI Tools Sharpfinger, Weight: 4 oz
- Food Bag- Sea to Summit Lightweight 20L bag, Weight: 3.2 oz
- Bear Canister (Sierras and Rocky Mountain National Park)- BearVault 5000, Weight: 2 lb 9 oz
- Water Filter- Sawyer Squeeze, Weight: 3 oz
- Water Purification- Aquamira, Weight: 1 oz
- Water Bottle- Smart and Life water bottles
Safety and Camp
- Emergency Device- Garmin InReach Mini, Weight: 3.5 oz
- Headlamp- Nitecore NU25, Weight: 0.99 oz
- Shmoo shovel (yes this is what I call it, and it’s way cooler than saying “trowel”)- Deuce of Spades, Weight: 0.6 oz
- Protection from wildlife and strange men who my mom worries about- Pepper Gel and Bear Spray
Don’t Fuck with Me Starter Kit
Clothing
- Rain Jacket- Skylight custom rain jacket, Weight: 3.4 oz
- Puffy- REI Magma 850 Down Hoodie, Weight: 11.5 oz
- Fleece- Senchi Designs Direct Hoodie, Weight: 3.9 oz
- Long Sleeve- REI old synthetic long sleeve, Weight: 5.4 oz
- Short Sleeve- White Sierra Gobi Desert 2.0 shirt, Weight: 3.2 oz
- Pants- REI leggings, Weight: 7.4 oz
- Shorts- Carve Designs Lorenzo Short, Weight: 4.4 oz
- Warm hat- irunlikeagirl fleece hat, Weight: ~2 oz
- Buff- generic buff, Weight: 1.1 oz
- Sun hat- Outdoor Research Rambler Sun Sombrero (Kids), Weight:
- Mittens- Skylight Gear custom Alpha Polartec mittens, Weight: 0.6 oz
- Sports bra- Odlo Seamless Sports Bra, Weight: 2.4 oz
- Undies- REI brand, Weight: 0.5 oz
- Hiking socks- Injinji Trail Midweight Mini Crew, Weight: 1.4 oz
- Sleeping socks- Darn Tough Bear Town Mirco Crew Lightweight hiking sock, Weight:0.6 oz
- Shoes- Salomon Speedcross and Salomon X Ultra 4 GTX for snow
- Gaiters- Dirty Girl Gaiters, Weight: ~ 1 oz
Shoes! Glorious shoes! I will probably go through about 10-14 of these on trail…
Winter
- Ice axe- Grivel Ghost 48 cm (starting south of Sierras until snow mostly melts), Weight: 9.3 oz
- Microspikes- Hillsound Trail Crampons (starting south of sierras until snow mostly melts), Weight: 15.7 oz
In my bear canister, you may notice some common trail foods. At some point, I will be doing a “trail diet” post, so stay tuned for that.
Luxury and Miscellaneous
- Battery pack- Anker PowerCore Essential 20000 PD, Weight: 0.19 lb
- Charger- Anker Powerport PD 2, Weight: 0.23 lb
- Trekking Poles- Black Diamond Expedition 2 adjustable ski poles, Weight: 1.13 lb
And that’s all folks! I’m going to be starting very soon, so Update 1 will be coming at you in the next week!
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Comments 7
We are so excited for you, Emma! We will be following you all the way!
Love,
The Lee family (Park City March 2021)
Thanks Amanda! Send my love to everyone for me!
I was planning on hitting the GWL in 2022!!! Looks like you’ll beat me to it, I think only 2 people (both men) have actually completed it. Can’t wait to follow along!
Woohoo! That’s awesome! Gotta get more women out there 🙂 I know of at least 3 other men attempting it this year. We will see what happens, and I look forward to following you next year!
Thanks for a well elaborated list of gear. What about a towel? (Perhaps also a pee rag? Toilet paper? Or manage just with leaves etc? By the way: I like the word shmoo shovel! I call mine “Turdy”.) I envy your courage when approaching such a great challenge. I wish you good luck and look forward to reading more from your hike.
I notice that you used the Senchi Wren mid-layer pullover. Was it heavy enough? Or, did you wish that you had a heavier model from Senchi Designs?
I’m hiking PCT in 2022 & seriously considering using Senchi.
Thanks.
I loved the mid-layer pullover, but I also had a down jacket and a thin rain coat, so the combination usually kept me warm enough. Didn’t really feel like I needed anything heavier, even when going through the Sierras in May. Had to be strategic about what gear could get wet during storms of course.