PocketSnacks’s Gear List

This is not ultralight, but it isn’t heavy either. I am prepared for winter-like temperatures, lots of rain, and many water crossings.

This trail is incomplete; however, there are two longer sections connected by a 14-20 mile bushwhack, and then three shorter sections at the eastern end, two of which we will need to shuttle between. My partner and I are attempting to thru-hike every section available, including the bushwhack. We are caching our food, seven caches total, each with roughly three days of food. We anticipate completing the entire trail in 20 days. We shall see how this goes. As there is little to no cell service on trail and we will not be stopping in towns, this will be my first and last blog post until I return. So be on the lookout in May! Now for the good stuff.

My gear list on LighterPack:

Shedding Weight:

I finally upgraded to a new pack. My reliable yet heavy Osprey Kyte 46L was my trusted pack for my previous three thru-hikes. I loved Kyle so much, as he was named while we were on the AT. I loved Kyle, but he was also 3.6 pounds! After trying various lighter packs, I ended up with a ZPacks Arc Haul in a Womens Small. The advice I got was to shed weight in other areas for buying a new pack. I happened to find a light pack that worked just fine with the amount of gear I like to carry. I am very temperature sensitive, so I refuse to look at shedding weight in my clothes category.

Dehydrating Food:

My partner in life and my hiking partner, Washerrr, introduced me to dehydrating food. On my AT thru-hike I spent a lot of time going into towns to resupply. My food weight was always so heavy, and it honestly was not that nutritious. I felt sluggish a lot of the time from the amount of processed foods and sugars I ate. Washerrr had dehydrated his own meals for the AT, giving me the introduction to making my own meals. On the Colorado Trail and the Lone Star Hiking Trail I dehydrated all of our breakfasts and dinners, but I still ate processed lunches like pepperoni and cheese sticks on corn tortillas. This time I decided to make my own beans, rice, and bell peppers with lime juice for my lunches. It will be my first time with hot lunches, though I am curious to see if I can cold soak it as well. A mini foodventure inside the larger adventure.

Winter Clothing:

It’s April, how cold can it be? You might be asking. Well, I live in Florida, so anything under 65 is automatically winter weather. I chose to bring my winter gear on this trip as the lows will be in the upper 30’s and the highs will be in the 70’s. When I lived in Colorado, this felt like spring or fall kinda weather. A Melly would have sufficed. However, my body has re-acclimated to the 70’s-80’s, so when I see expected temps in the 30’s even as a small possibility: the puffy, 20 degree bag, and sleeping liner come with.

The benefits of hiking as a couple:

You may have noticed that I did not add a tent or stakes to my gear list. I also had a weird amount of food. This is because Washerrr and I share some of our gear! I have to say that in and of itself has helped me shed some weight. I like to cook so I keep the JetBoil and fuel. He likes to set up the tent, so he has our Zpacks Duplex (also a new piece of gear I am very excited to try). We split the food up between us just in case we get split up that way we can both still snack our hearts out.

On Comfort:

There are many places I know I could shed some weight; the fact is, I do not care. I feel like I have found the perfect balance between light enough and being comfortable all the time. I thought I wanted to go ultralight, but I am now realizing that I prefer to be ultra-comfy instead. So it goes.

For the Visual Learners:

Spikes: The one and the only

thru-hiking dinosaur. Spikes is my stuffed animal and they have traveled the entirety of all the trail miles I have completed. They have been there for every rainy day, sunny day, snowy day, tired day, happy day, town day, and trail day. Spikes is probably the only thru-hiker that has ever hitched their ENTIRE journey. I forgot to get them in the photo of all my gear so I needed to give them a shout-out here. With a photo, of course.

(That is Ryan the Love Potato, just one of my two cats.)

That is all for now. Thank you for starting to follow along. You are the universe, you are the magic.

Cheers, PocketSnacks