Date: 2013-10-02
To: Gear Review
Miles today: 0.0

Gear is one of the favorite topics when thru hikers sit around at the end of the day. We instantly identify with those that have the same gear choices and love to learn about new items. Hikers from outside the US often have things that I was not familiar with and so they were interesting to see. Each has their pros and cons and at the end of the day, it is whatever works for the individual. My gear choices worked for over 2000 miles and I didn't replace any other than those that would normally wear out, such as my footwear. When I was getting my things together, I tried to come to a practical resolution with quality and cost. As you can imagine, you can spend big bucks on this stuff! I was on a limited budget and so watched for things on sale, received some as gifts, etc. My one advice to future thrus would be to make sure the basic four (backpack, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, tent/hammock)weigh well under the recommended 10 pounds. It isn't hard to do with the kind of lightweight equipment companies are making these days.My basic four all worked well - ULA Circuit Backpack -loved it! Highly recommend. I talked to a SOBO that put 9000 plus miles on his first Circuit before having to replace it. I think mine will last my lifetime. And it only weighs around 2 1/2 lbs. Mountain Hardware Summer Sleeping Bag/Marmot Flathead Winter Bag - both sleeping bags were great. I could have gone lighter if I wanted to spend a couple of hundred on either but this was a case where I tried to reach a compromise. It was nice when I had the summer bag - it only weighed about a pound compared to 2+ pounds for the winter bag. But I was happy to have the warmer bag as the nights grew colder. I saw young hikers that froze on cold nights because they only had a fleece liner to save weight.Thermarest Neo-air xlite sleeping pad - this is one thing I would change if I were doing this hike again and it would just be to get the full length pad rather than the half (48"). I bought the half to save ounces (it weighs 8 ounces) but would carry the extra 4 ounces to have the full length version for the comfort factor.MSR Hubba 1-person tent - I loved my tent and it became my home away from home. It was free standing and so worked on the tent platforms we had to use further north, such as in the Whites. I never had trouble finding a level spot to pitch it as the footprint was so small and narrow. I bought on sale for under $200. That said - you can go lighter these days than the 3 pounds of this tent. Hammocks are widely used and are very light. I'm not sure how I would do in a hammock but hammock hangers love them.And the misc. - Mini Pocket Rocket - this tiny stove worked very well for the trip. It isn't efficient during windy conditions so I had to find protected areas but it packed well and I was able to easily find fuel canisters.Snow Peak Mini Solo Combo Titanium Cookset - I loved this tiny pot and cup! My cooking style worked perfectly with it and it is very lightweight (you pay big bucks for titanium though). I used a Sea To Summit Long Titanium Spoon with it. Don't even bother with a short spork, get the long spoon. You won't regret it.Platypus Gravity Water Filter - this was recommended by Socks, who used a pump type water filter. This is easier to use and it worked well the entire trip but you have to be diligent with back flushing and it was sometimes hard to fill the bag when the stream was small. Future thrus - check out the Sawyer Squeeze filter. It seemed to be the big thing this year and everyone using them liked them. (I used 2 plastic water bottles to store my water the entire trip. One was a liter, the other 20 ounces. I got new ones every now and then. Worked perfectly for me.)Compression/Stuff Sacks - I quickly learned from Socks to take my sleeping bag and tent out of the bags they came in and put in waterproof compression sacks (mine were Sea to Summit). They compress down to a nice packable size and keep your equipment dry (or in the case of a wet tent, keep the wet inside). Well worth the bucks. I also had a waterproof stuff sack for my clothes (not compression though). This doubled for my pillow. Same thing for food - waterproof bag - keeps your food dry when it hangs out in the rain. I carried very little in the way of toiletries. Toothpaste, toothbrush, small pill holder (I'm not on any medications so only for aspirin/advil), comb (really missed my hairbrush though), dental floss (taken out of the plastic container and put in a small plastic bag), few bandaids/moleskin (carried them the entire trip/never used them after initial blisters early in trip). I started with Dr. Bonners soap but felt it left a residue so then picked up those shampoo/conditioners from hotels. Soap is soap.Canon camera - this turned out to be a bad product and broke at the Whites. I threw it away I was just 'over' it.Clothing - I found you don't have to spend a lot of money on clothing. I had things from Old Navy (yoga pants that were great for hiking) and Walmart (my bra). You can find synthetic clothing everywhere. My favorites were the $6 second hand Sierra Design shorts which dried minutes after getting wet (which is why I continued to wear them even after dropping 3 sizes) and my Athleta top (the blue one in the early pictures) which also dried quickly after getting wet). I wore a wool shirt Hoop lent me during the early spring and loved it (keeps you warm even when wet). I tried to get another one for late summer but they were so expensive! If you have the $, buy wool. My sleeping outfit was from Eddie Bauer - medium weight baselayer. Fortunately, they have a great waistband so I was able to wear the large even after going to a small size. My puffy (lightweight down jacket) was also from Eddie Bauer - their down sweater. It folds into a pocket. I kept it with me the entire time. Most valuable article of clothing, hands down. I had two pairs of Patagonia underwear which dry very quickly. I would wash one in a stream during the day and it would usually be dry the next. My socks were a wool pair and two pairs of toe socks. One of the latter was used for camp socks at the end of the day. I had flip flops for camp shoes and could wear them together. And for the footwear - camp shoes - what you end up using for this is also an individual preference. I met a couple that had minimalist running shoes for camp shoes. I liked that idea - good for fording streams, comfortable to wear around town. Boots/trail runners - as you know, I started with Keen mid Targhees which worked great for the beginning but once I switched to the Oboz trail runners, I'd have a hard time going back. I love my trail runners.Now for the BIG FAIL - the one item I was unhappy with other than the camera) was my Sea to Summit Pack Cover. I kept getting tears in this. It did keep my pack dry while hole-less but didn't hold up to the length of the hike. So - all in all, not bad choices in the gear department if all I can complain about is a pack cover. The only other things I carried was a small notebook for written journals, my guidebook, a paperback rarely (I used Kindle on my phone for reading) dried wetwipes I could rehydrate (thank you so much Flame!) and toilet paper, my droid phone, a spare battery, phone charger, mp3 player and wallet. My little blue electronics drysack doubled as my purse in town. It made quite a fashion statement!Boy, life was so simple! I miss those days!Note on the Awol Guidebook (or any guidebook for that matter) - future thrus - make sure you check on the price of hotels/hostels while making reservations so you don't have any surprises thrown your way. Awol checks prices before publishing but some places raise them later. Now, this is bad business in my opinion when catering to the hiking community but I had experiences with a couple of places that did this. The worse was a place that is being sold this year - the owner was trying to cash his last milk cow (IMO) and raised the price 40%! When I asked about the published price, he said that AWOL put the updated price on his website. Uh..okay - which hiker in the backwoods is going to check the corrections. Lame and bad Karma. I didn't identify this place because interested buyers are former thru hikers but I warned every SOBO I met.