Date: 2023-02-13
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¢Sharp Dressed Man¢ - ZZ Top - 1983I have accumulated an assortment of gear over the last couple of years mostly through trial and error. To start with, my pack is an Osprey Atmos AG 65 liter. I had a different pack to start out with but when I saw someone¢s Osprey Atmos, I realized it might help keep my back a little dryer the way the mesh creates an air gap between you and your pack. I¢m satisfied with it. I¢ve heard people say there are lighter packs and I believe it; but for now, I think I¢ll stick with what I have.My tent is a Nemo Hornet 2P. The first tent I had weighed over 4 lbs so I started looking around. I liked the Nemo Hornet better than the Big Agnes. I know there are several others to choose from but this one is working for me. I have heard Nemo gives excellent service although I haven¢t had to call on it yet.I have two sleeping quilts. I have an Enlightened Equipment Revelation Apex 30 degree and a Jacks R Better 0 degree. I¢ll start out with the 0 degree quilt and when it warms up a bit, I¢ll get my wife to send me the 30 degree and swap them out. I also have a Sea to Summit Reactor Thermolite bag liner.I have a Nemo Tensor inflatable sleeping pad and a Nemo Fillo Pillow inflatable pillow. I don¢t sleep very well under any circumstances so anything to enhance my comfort is going to help me get the rest I need.I have Black Diamond Trail Pro Shock trekking poles. They have a little bit of shock absorbency in them and a seasoned hiker recommended I get something that absorbs shock. I like them.For my water I use a Sawyer Squeeze coupled with a CNOC 3 liter water bladder and one liter water bottles.I have a Garmin Inreach Mini. I know you mostly have decent cell phone coverage on the AT but I have found places where I had no signal. It is nice to be able to send and receive a satellite text messages to and from home. Even though you may have good signal while you are up on the ridge, when you drop down off the ridge for a camp or shelter, the signal may have gone away. It gives my wife and family peace of mind so it is worth it. Just a comment about cell phones. I made the mistake of switching my cell phone carrier from Verizon to AT&T about a year and a half ago. After having hiked some of the southern mountains of the AT and being at shelters with other hikers who had Verizon, I know for certain there were times when Verizon had signal and AT&T didn¢t. Right now, it is not economically feasible for me to switch back so I activated a spare verizon phone I had on one of my son¢s cell phone plan. It only caused his bill to go up about $5 per month so I¢m going to start the trail carrying two phones. I¢m not in love with this idea but I¢m going to see how it goes.I have an Anker battery pack. I¢m wondering if they named their company Anker as a play on the word anchor because that thing is as heavy as a boat anchor. I¢m going to try carrying it for a while and see if it is worth it.I started out hiking with my Iwatch but over Christmas I was able to get a really good deal on a lightly used Garmin Instinct 2 Solar. I really like this watch. I haven¢t had time to master all of its functions and probably never will. But it does a good job tracking me and recording data. A single charge lasts for days and it partially charges with solar.This is just some of my gear. There is other stuff; but these are the things that I will be using the most that weigh the most.