Date: 2007-03-27
To: Prep4
Miles today: 0.0

Going Ultra light:Now that I'm an older hiker (almost a card carring old fart), its not as easy to carry a 30 or 40 pound backpack for long distances as it was when I was a lean, mean hiking machine. Thankfully, the last few years has seen an explosion of really light weight gear. Since much of my gear is 20-25 years old and has seen a lot of hard use, it only made sense to start replacing it with the new ultra light stuff now available. The trick to going ulta light is to carry the least amount of stuff possable, in the smallest pack it will all fit into. Of course, there has to be enough room left over for 5 days worth of food, which is about the most you want to carry at one time. My goal was to get the base weight of the pack down to 15 pounds, so when food and water is added, the total weight isn't much over 20. I cut up my trail guide book and only carry the parts I need at the time. I only occasionally carry a paperback book. I don't carry a cell phone.My gear list:Backpack: (2.5 pounds) REI Ultra light UL45. At 2500 cu in, this is a realatively small pack, but is just big enough for me. Advoid packs with a lot of pockets, zippers and straps. Although these can be convenient, they add a lot of excess weight. Sleeping bag:(2.0 pounds) Lafuma warm n' light 800. 40 degree down bag.The advantage of a down bag is its light and compact. Disadvantage is you don't want to get it wet! It has to be aired out and dried every few days. Hopefully, you get at least one sunny afternoon during rainy spells! A full week of rain with no breaks can get rough! I put mine in a dryer at low heat every chance I get. A 40 degree bag is a little marginal for spring time use in NC or in the fall in New England. A 4 oz silk liner will add about 10 degrees. Putting the bag inside a tent or bivy sack helps a lot. If your in a shelter, just use the tent as you would a bivy sack. Wearing long johns is a must when it really gets chilly.The coldest night I spent with this bag was on top of Mt Rowen in NC. At 6025 feet, its the highest shelter on the AT. It must of gotten down to 20 that night, as there was a lot of frost on the ground in the morning. Like a fool, I had sent my long johns home a week earlier. I lived, or won't be writing this, but didn't get much sleep. At first light, I packed up and ran down the trail until I was warm enough to stop and eat some breakfist. Thankfully, it warmed up after that and although there were still a few marginal nights later on, nothing nearly as bad as that night! Sleeping mat:(1 pound) Therm-a-rest Prolight 3, long. Okay, this is a little heavy, but I perfer it to a closed cell foam mat. Its more compact than a closed cell foam mat, which means I can put it inside the pack and not strapped to the outside. I hate having things hanging off the back of the pack. Tent:(24 oz) Luna Solo. See my primer on personal shelters in prep2. Cooking stuff:(8 oz) MSR titanium 2.5 cup pot, plastic cup, lexan spoon and knife, beer can alcohol stove.I really hated spending the big bucks on the titanium pot, but was well worth it in weight savings. Alcohol stoves are easy to make, but if your not handy with tools, you can buy one for not much money. They have become one of the most popular stoves on the AT. Jet boils have also become popular, but are a little bulky. I must say they make hot water in a hurry though. Fuel for stove:(12 oz max) The nice thing about using alcohol, is you can put it in a light, plastic bottled water bottle. These bottles are easy to find and nearly indistructable. When I can find it, I perfer to use "HEAT" a brand name dry gas for cars. It burns somewhat hotter and cleaner than denatured alcohol. 12 oz of fuel is enough for about a week of cooking breakfist and dinner. This varies with exactly how effiecent your stove happens to be, how much wind there is, how cold it is and what you mostly cook. Water filter:(6 oz, dry) I use a cheap water filter which has a replaceable filter and uses a standard resturant ketchup pump and some plastic hoses to connect the two. I don't like using chemicals to purify water. Its not the best filter in the world, but is good enough to take out the most nasty things you got to worry about in the water, though I try to be picky about what water I use to begin with. If the water source is a spring reasonably high up, I drink my water straight from the ground.Water bag:(2 oz) YOu often have to walk a long ways from a shelter to water, and always down hill, so you don't want to have to do it more than once. Lots of people use a pladipus water bag these days, but I still perfer a water bottle. The bag I use is a nylon sack with a handle. It came with a plastic pouch with a spicket cap, the kind you find in boxed wine, but I took it out and replaced it with a one gallon zip lock bag. I can drop my water filter into the bag and pump directly from there. Water bottle:I use two 16 oz plastic soda bottles for water. They are very light and fit into the pack's side mesh pockets nicely. Again, these are nearly indistructable, but easy to replace if need be. Clothes:(about 3 pounds with stuff sacks) This is the weight of clothes carried in the pack and don't count what I wear hiking.Clothes are a very personal choice and will vary with the time of year. The most important thing to remember is NO COTTON! Cotton can kill you if it gets wet and is cold out. Cotton gets heavy when wet and takes forever to dry. Stick with all synthetic fabrics, these will dry in a short time with just body heat. I carry one spare short sleave top, a long sleave one, a pair of long johns, light hat and gloves, two pair of spare socks, one pair spare underware (also synthetic) and nylon running shorts. For outerware, I have a medium weight wool sweater and light vest - bascially a nylon shell with thin fleese liner. TWo bandana's. One spare, one for hiking. Pack towel.   Rain gear:(1 pound) I finally broke down and bought a real rain jacket. Found one made by Patagonia, which is a simple water proof shell. Don't need one with a liner which adds weight and bulk. When combined with the wool sweater and vest, the rain shell keeps you warm when hanging around camp. Instead of rain pants, I found something called a rain skirt, which is simply a piece of sil-nylon you wrap around your waist. Allows free leg movment and keeps the upper legs reasonably dry. It's also very light, quick and easy to put on and takes up little space in the pack.Oh, and don't forget a pack cover! Spend the big dollars and get a sil-nylon one. Gaters: These I wear all the time. Keeps trail duff out of the boots and the pants legs clean. I use a light, full length nylon gater. Ditty bag with odds and ends:(1.5 pound) This bag contains stuff like the medician kit, spare lighter, AM/FM radio, some soap, sewing kit with small sizzers, spare battries, spare small pocket kinfe, headlamp, nail clippers, cheap digital watch, usually strapped to outside of pack. Medician kit: nothing fancy here. A bottle of "NEW SKIN" for blisters. Best stuff you can use. Just paint it on. Small tube of Cortaid ant-itch cream. Lip balum and some sun tan lotion. Tube of "Bio Freeze". Small can of foot powder. Assortment of band aids. Oh yes, lots of vitamin "I" (Ibupropfen). When you get old, you need a steady diet of pain killers! Lastly, 50 feet of light rope for bear bagging food. A couple of trash bags can be handy to have too, along with a small piece of insulite foam mat to sit on. Total pack weight : 14.1 pounds! Call it 15 pounds for other little things I might have forgoten to list (tooth paste and brush) or weigh accurately.