Date: 2016-02-25
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I've been missing the trail lately so thought I'd do another post about my gear changes. The last couple days before starting the trail I made a few gear changes from my original list. I changed my alcohol stove to an MSR Pocket Rocket. There isn¢t much weight difference considering I¢d have to carry a lot of alcohol and have to resupply more often. One canister of fuel lasted me about a month and cooked a heck of a lot faster. Well worth the change. I also changed my gravity water filter to the Sawyer Squeeze. The squeeze is faster and I saved about half a pound. My friend also gave me a button up hiking shirt with insect shield that I wore just about every day. Super comfortable and breathable. Thanks John! On trail I changed my cook pot to an MSR 1.1 liter pot. My 750ml pot just wasn¢t big enough once the hiker hunger set it. The MSR is heavier but it was worth the extra weight to me to be able to fit everything in one pot and not have to cook twice. I bought a new Sawyer Squeeze in the Smokies because I thought my first one might have frozen. Then switched to Aqua Mira drops for the 100 mile wilderness (I sent my original Aqua Mira tabs home pretty early because they took 4 hours to work and I never used them). I only changed to Aqua Mira because my filter was going too slow, getting worse by the day no matter how much I back flushed, and Aqua Mira was cheaper than buying a new filter. If I were hiking again I would probably carry a filter and Aqua Mira and use whichever was best for the water source or both. Some water sources were so nasty I filtered and chemically treated with other people¢s Aqua Mira just to be safe. And, well, sometimes filtering just gets old. I changed my camp shoe to a croc type shoe after my flip flops blew out in Pennsylvania I think. The croc type shoe was really nice for the river fords in Maine. I¢m glad I switched. I also bought a new pack rain cover because the one I started with was way too big and didn¢t keep my pack dry. I somehow lost my paracord as well so had to replace that. Lastly, I replaced my headlamp only because my batteries leaked and corroded my first one.I initially packed too much for clothes. I ended up sending home 1 pair of running shorts, 1 tech short sleeve shirt and my tech long sleeve shirt since I had a new long sleeve from John right before getting on trail. When it got warm I sent my down jacket and thermals home then had them sent back to me before the Whites. I never did use my down jacket. My fleece which I also used as my pillow was generally enough and if it wasn¢t I just put my rain coat on over it which was plenty warm. I sent my GPS home pretty early and sent my kindle home around Harper¢s Ferry. I had my kindle sent back to me on trail in New Hampshire. I went through 4 pairs of Altra Lone Peak trail runners and 1 pair of North Face hiking shoes. I would definitely use trail runners again. I also wore through 2 pairs of Darn Tough socks and 3 pairs of sock liners. One of the hostels in Maine honored the Darn Tough guarantee so I was able to replace one pair free on trail. From start to finish I used the same pack, tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, trekking poles, and rain gear. My tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad are still good to go but my trekking poles, and rain gear were garbage and didn¢t make it home with me. My pack hip belt and shoulder straps were pretty much smoked too but Osprey has since replaced them free of charge.The Frogg Toggs rain suit never kept me dry. Water went through them and they got caught on branches very easily. I'd look into better quality rain gear if I were doing it again. For other trails that don't get as much rain like the PCT I'd consider using them again but the AT gets a lot of rain and being soaked all the time got old really fast. I would definitely go with a smaller pack if I were to do it again. My pack was too big and weighed too much but it¢s what I had so I went with it. I would likely go with about a 60 liter pack. I saw people with smaller packs but they all had stuff strapped to the outside. I prefer to have everything inside my pack. I met a number of people that lost gear from straps breaking and gear falling off their pack. I wasn¢t too happy with the Big Agnes Fly Creek either. There were a bunch of them on trail, but I¢d go with something different. I got wet just about every time it rained, when it rained it sagged like crazy, there is no air flow so with the fly on just the condensation from breathing was enough to make the inside of the fly wet by morning, there is barely room to sit up, getting in and out can be pain.... The MSR Hubba Hubba or Big Agnes Copper Creek looked decent and hikers that had them seemed to be happy with them. Tarp tents are lighter but the freedom of a free standing tent is worth the extra weight in my opinion. Tarp tents can be a pain to pitch and don¢t really work in all situations. Hammocks seem ok and I¢ve considered getting one for a while but don¢t have much experience with them. The people I talked to that had hammocks all seemed happy with them.