Date: 2014-08-29
From: Home

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0

I always liked to hear about what hikers thought about their gear.Zpacks Hexamid Plus, with Beak: I loved this tent. Very light. Roomy. I never got wet, even in the worst thunderstorms. Cuben fiber is semi translucent. I could see the shadows of tree and sky through the material. Or moon. Or fireflies.Thermarest Neoair Xtherm: Great sleeping pad. Packed up small. About 20 breaths to inflate. R rating of almost 6. I believe this well insulating pad made all the difference in keeping me warm during some cold nights in the Smokies. And it fit in my pack, so I didn't have anything hanging off outside.Big Agnes Zerkel SL 20 degree bag: Big Agnes sleep system doesn't have down under the torso section, which you compact with body weight anyway. There's a sleeve. The pad goes into the sleeve. No rolling off. Combined with the Thermarest I was never cold. And still had my puffy jacket in reserve if I needed it.Gossamer Gear Mariposa: My pack for cold weather. Loved it. Light. Enough room for a full food bag and all my cold weather extras. I never had any pack chaffing issues. Very comfortable.Gossamer Gear Gorilla: My favorite pack. Loved it. I swapped out to warm weather gear in Pearisburg, VA. The Gorilla is extremely comfortable. Perfect capacity for me. Nothing hanging from the outside of my pack. With both packs I was under 30 pounds, with a liter and a half of water and full resupply. Often below 20 pounds before town. Both packs are still in great shape. I used the Gorilla and my warm weather gear from Pearisburg to Katahdin.Zpacks 40 degree sleeping bag: Very light. Except for a couple nights I used it like a quilt, keeping it unzipped all the way. I never used stuff sacks for my bags. Just crammed them in the pack and added everything else.Sawyer Squeeze: My filter system. I had the Sawyer Mini but found it high maintenance. I had to back flush often. Flow was slow. I was much happier with the full sized filter. And when the mosquitoes were biting I wanted to get away from the water source ASAP. The Sawyer squeeze bladders didn't work well for me. They delaminated and leaked. I used a one liter Platypus bladder. It never failed and I had no issue with the threads not working, something I had heard happens.Exped Explorer 120 Trekking Poles: I don't know if these are the best or not. But they're what I used. I went through two sets, mostly because no one seemed to have repair parts. They're four sections, so collapse small. Light. Simple joint design. I used the heck out of them, especially as my knees worsened. I'd use them again.Brooks Cascadia Trail Runners: I did 1800 miles with two sets of Cascadias. I finished with Merrell Moabs, which were almost as good. Because I couldn't find Cascadias. Very comfortable. My only complaint is that they are not as grippy on the rocks as some others.Things I didn't take: No camp shoes. I had a hiker box set of cuben fiber camp shoes for a few days. They ended up in the next hiker box. In camp I just loosened up my trail runners and wore them. No camp shoes hanging off my pack. No extra weight. At the fords I usually took my socks off, crossed in my shoes, and hiked a while to drip dry before putting my socks back on. Never missed camp shoes. No hose hydration system. I used a one liter Platypus bladder and a 16 ounce Nalgene. Both fit in my pack side pocket, together. Easy to reach. No pack rain cover. My pack didn't absorb water, though wet came through the stitching. I had a cuben fiber pack liner that kept things dry. Anything wet sensitive in the pack pockets was in a zip lock bag.Luxury items: I had a blow up pillow from Thermarest. We carry what we fear. I felt I needed the extra head elevation for a good night's sleep. I also carried an Olympus Tough TG-2 camera. I was afraid my iPhone wouldn't take good enough pictures. The Olympus photos were significantly better. I took an iPod Shuffle for tunes. I didn't listen to music often, but sometimes music would reenergize my hike. For the record, Lady Gaga's "Pokerface" was my favorite hiking tune. Never failed to get me foot stomping down the trail. Traditional Irish music went very well with hiking too.I'm sure there's more to say. But this site times out after an hour. Everyone has their own hiking style. This is the gear that worked well for me.