Date: 2009-10-21
To: Gear
Miles today: 0.0

I haven't really listed our gear, so I thought I would add an entry to discuss the core of our collection. First of all, I use a Osprey Ariel 75 backpack, Tom uses a Granite gear pack. Hopefully we will have our Big Agnes double down sleeping bag if it ever shows up from C&C outdoors. I have a Thermarest Prolite, Tom a Big Agnes insulated mattress. Supposedly they fit in a pouch under the sleeping bag so they don't move about while sleeping. When I use my Mountain Hardwear bag, my bag slides off the pad all night long, so I am looking forward to it not shifting during the night. We both also have Thermarest pillows for comfort of course.As far as our kitchen, we use a Snowpeak stove with propane canisters. We were given an alcohol stove and also have an esbit. We are in debate about which one to carry. The snowpeak has always been great, but we have been told the propane doesn't do well in the really cold weather. We have a titanium pot for heating water, but use freezer bags to cook our meals for easy cleanup. I love coffee so I bring either paper filters and coffee or coffee bags similar to tea bags, gotta have my coffee. For breakfast, instant breakfast with powdered milk is a good jumpstart along with either a bar, grits or oatmeal. Both of us use Platypus water containers and for filtration we have a Sweetwater filter although we are considering using Aguamira and coffee filters for silt.Clothing items include our "Salomon" boots both of us wear. We love our boots, I was told mine is discontinued so I'm not sure what I will do when it's time to replace them along the trail. I bought them at Mountain Crossings a few years ago, they fit like a glove and never needed breaking in. We both use Smartwool socks and have contemplated using Darn Tough brand. Convertible pants, Patagonia capilene 3, Patagonia fleece, Marmot precip jackets round out our clothing. As jackets for warmth, we are thinking about using Montrail flash jackets, we have another brand now but because of weight we are thinking about changing them.Our tent is a MSR Hubba Bubba. Tyvek for ground cover. I have a Petzl Zipka headlamp, Tom a Black Diamond tikka. We love the Granite gear stuff sacks and the Outdoor Research bags. I also love my Leki Makula hiking poles, Tom will be getting the new Thermalite Leki poles. We also make the egg carton/drier lint/wax fire starters because they are so light and work really well.My Samsung delve cell phone may be replaced with something like a Blackberry storm, Tom carries a Blackberry pearl. The good thing about either one of the phones is they both can get the internet, emails etc and have camera/video options. My phone is just a little harder to send an email because the keyboard is a touch screen and my fingers tend to walk on others letters as I try to type.That is a run down on most of our gear, we are still thinking about food, drop boxes and definitely will use a bounce box. We will use some drop boxes but will limit them because of the availability of easy resupply in alot of the towns. Excitement of the 4+ months wait is hard to bare. But we have a lot to accomplish before we can set off. Moving forward, just move forward...