Date: 2004-01-14
From: nowhere

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

time to talk about the gear i ended up with, after finding out through trial and error what worked and what didnt. so, here i'll make a list of what i thought worked the best for me on my thru-hike, and my opinions about gear that may not agree with the big outdoor gear manufacturers. i dont fault these companies for wanting to stay in business-that's the american way-its just that now, i know, for myself, that i will take their claims with a grain of salt. why? because i know what works and what doesnt. and that lets me keep more of my money for enjoying a trek as big as thru-hiking the AT. TENT-i started with a eureka backcountry 2 tent. i wanted a free standing tent, with a C-shaped zipper door and bathtub floor. i carried this til damascus...where it got sent home. i got an 8x10 silnylon tarp instead. 13 oz. i found that i was a shelter-hopper anyways, and didnt set anything up most of the time. so if i was doing that, why not carry 13 oz instead of 5 lbs? i was happy with this decision. what about the bugs? i actually found that during the summer hot days, if i would just dry off after a sweaty day of hiking, the mosquitoes didnt mess with me too much. also, if they did, i carried the orange bottle of Ben's 100% deet and doused myself with that. a funny thing i notced about deet. when i put alot of it on, sometimes i would feel it warming me up. i wouldnt use any of that "natural" crap either. deet did the job just fine.MATTRESS-the blue foam ones at walmart for $5.88 are the best. thermarests are too expensive, and too slippery and too heavy. plus, if youre tired enough, youre gonna fall asleep no matter what youre sleeping on. plus they may get a leak. i actually have 2 of them. when i was trying out gear in the prep stage, id always wake up laying next to it anyway, because i slid off. the best way to sleep for me was to build up things i had around me. like my pack or clothes. something to push up against. like a wall or a tree or a log. my only problem was not finding them at the walmarts i went to. i went thru 2 of them. with the first one i made a pot cozy after i couldnt use it as a mat anymore. and get this....i dont have a bed yet, so im STILL sleeping on one and have been since i got back. and im still even using my sleeping bag, too.SLEEPING BAG-never had a problem with the north face cats meow bag. i love this bag still. i washed it after the thru-hike, and i knew it was gonna be dirty. HOLY COW was it dirty!!! i even video taped the water from the washing machine as it emptied into the kitchen sink as i washed it. now its like new again. even with all that dirt, not having washed it once on the trail, it still kept me warm. when the nites were getting cold again in new hampshire and maine, i would also wear a pair of wool socks to bed. im surprised that worked. why? because i believe that the less your wear to bed, the warmer youll be. think of mittens and gloves. mittens, all your fingers are next to each other, keeping each other warm. gloves, each finger is on its own to get warm. i just know that when my feet are cold, i dont sleep. i even used a garbage bag sometimes to get into first, then get into the sleeping bag, to keep warmer. and always, ALWAYS, id wear a hat to bed. if anything. to keep my long, scarggly, mountain man hair out of my face. RAIN GEAR-i have definitely learned the answer to this riddle. PVC coated nylon. my frogg togg jacket was ok, but it never felt like a "jacket". it got pretty thin. when i was hiking with "spunky", who was following close behind me, over max patch in a snowstorm, the snow clung to my frogg togg jacket so well that when i stopped and turned around, she didnt even see me because i was completely white with snow. thats when she bounced off me as if she hit a wall. cling-a-bility of snow on your rain gear? bad. lesson learned. go with something slick and durable. like PVC coated nylon. waterproof. not the so called "breathable" crap. plus its WAY cheaper than the big outdoor brands. like $40 for a set of pants and jacket. and it does keep you warm. STOVE-another easy one. pepsi can stove that uses gas line anti freeze. HEET brand in the yellow bottle. methanol. easily available. in grocery store, auto stores, walmart, kmart, etc. and cheap. i only ended up cooking one meal a day and a 12 oz bottle would last 10-15 days. the stove is pretty easy to make too. and its free. FREE. and if you get good at making them, you can give them to other hikers or they may even want to buy one from you when they see how much better it is to use than their expensive ones. "skittles" who thru-hiked in 03 taught me how to 'akneel' to make a better stove, which eliminates the need for tape. or slits when making the stove. everybody i show this stove to is in AWE. even to this day.BOOTS-hi-tec altitudes. the best. the cheapest. the most comfortable. blister-free. the most broke-in-when-you-buy-them boots i know of. the only bad things are the top 2 lace catchers that pull off after awhile from repeated tying. and the top of the toe where the rubber separates from the leather after awhile too. these could be the perfect boot. if they would just fix these 2 problems. maybe i should write them. i got over 1400 miles out of Pair #1. im still on my second pair. about $65-70.WATER-aqua-mira. nothing else to say. well, ok...ill talk about it. its light, effective, and i never got sick using it. its about $12. one bottle always runs out before the other. read my trailjournal to find out which one runs out first. i cant remember right now. i think a set lasted about 2 or 3 weeks. i would collect water in a 2 liter platypus water bag with a ziploc top and web handles and treat the water in it. i had a 2 1/2 gallon nylon water bag too, to have water in camp. that was 2 oz. i liked my water system. HIKING POLES-dont pay all that money for hiking sticks. i found 2 good maple sticks as i was leaving NOC and one made it all the way to katahdin. the other one broke in the shenandoahs. and then another one in the mahoosuc notch. but i didnt pay anything for them. i even carved my trailname in one of them. the one that made it to katahdin. one thing i absolutely recommend you do...use hiking sticks. 2 of them. yes 2!!! not 1. 2. they save your knees and feet and ankles and YOU. they let your upper body help out your lower body. you need that lower body to get you to K! do what you can to help it...use 2 sticks! am i stressing this too much? oh. use 2 sticks.LIGHT-i started out using the 1 oz black diamond ion lite. but the battery only lasted about a week, and the battery was an odd kind. in damascus i scrambled for an PRINCETON TEC AURORA. super bright, 3 AAA batterys (remember, you want easy to find batterys) and adjustable and under 3 oz total. i love it. you can really nite hike with this thing. i dont even bother with the squeeze light types. or the maglites. GUIDES-the best book for the trail is the THRU-HIKERS HANDBOOK by dan "wingfoot" bruce. it has some mistakes, yes, but they are miniscule compared to the 99.9% indisputably essential info you will need out there. distances to shelters, store, postoffice hours, phone numbers, maps, water sources, useful notes, tips, etc. i used my book dozens of times a day. i would write in it, at the end of the day, so now its also like a journal, which helps jar my memory when i relive my trip in my head. i wouldnt have wanted to thru-hike the AT without this book. i wouldnt even consider using the other 2 books. too confusing.MAPS-i bought the whole set and loved having them on the trail. i liked knowing where i was. WALLET-small ziploc covered in duct tape. "spunky" made one for me. i still have it and have since made another, which i use as an everyday wallet still. this is enough for now i think. it covers the basics. ill probably add more in the future, as cabin fever sets in as this present frigid cold continues.