Date: 2014-08-31
To: Equipment Report Card
Miles today: 0.0

Here's my equipment report card, which I hope will be useful to anyone considering a long-distance hike. After this, there will be two final posts: one that looks back on my thru-hike and one that covers my reintegration into the civilized world and discusses future plans.Backpack: (A) Osprey Atmos 65-liter. It would have been impossible to properly assess whether this was the right choice simply by walking around REI with a sandbag in it to simulate the weight I'd be carrying along the trail. But after 2000+ miles, I'm thankful I decided on the Atmos. The backpack carried the 30-40 pounds I typically had in it wonderfully, snug to my back so it didn't sway and knock me off balance, yet with a space between the webbing and my back for ventilation. The pack stood up to the abuse dished out by the trail remarkably well, never incurring any significant failures. I slid down boulders on my butt countless times, particularly farther north in places like Mahoosuc Notch, and listened with remorse to my pack scraping on the rock behind me. On the final day of the trip, I noticed a minor rip in the fabric around the right hip belt zipper, which I had opened dozens of times a day to access my AT map. It was a sad moment when, upon returning home, I relegated my Osprey to the basement, as the pack feels like a trusted friend to me.Tent: (B+) Tarp Tent Double Rainbow. This tent is light, roomy, and quick to set up, and it survived the rigors of the trail just fine. My major complaint with it is, as a single-layer tent with no separate fly, it's not the driest on the trail, particularly due to condensation on humid nights. I was leery of setting out with a non-self-standing tent, especially since I don't use poles, but that turned out to be an issue just once, when at the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center I would have preferred to sleep under the pavilion rather than in the field with thunderstorms passing through during the night.Sleeping pad: (A-) EXPED. I paid a lot of money for this sleeping pad, particularly since I bought the long model for my 6'3" frame, and I'm glad I did. It was exceptionally comfortable, a welcome haven for me in shelters or my tent at the end of a long day. My worst two nights on the trip were when I lent my EXPED to Anders when he had Noro and I slept on his foam pad. The EXPED comes with a patch kit, which I thankfully never had to use, partly because I made sure to place my Tyvek tent footprint under it when sleeping in shelters to prevent it from being damaged by a splinter. The only issue I had with the EXPED, and the reason it didn't get a straight A, is the one-way inflation valve eventually failed in Pennsylvania, so from then on it took more care to close the valve after blowing up the pad without loosing air.Sleeping bag: I won't be handing out a grade in this category, because I used three bags during the course of the trip, but I do have some observations to make. I started out with a 20-degree synthetic bag from REI and found I was way too hot down south, so I replaced it with a cheap 55-degree Marmot synthetic bag in Hot Springs, NC, just after the Smokies. I chose synthetic because I was afraid a down bag would get wet and lose its insulating property. When the Marmot had become ripped to shreds by New Hampshire, I replaced it with a 45-degree down bag from REI when I was home with my shin injury. In retrospect, I don't believe there was any reason to avoid down. It's lighter, compresses better, and the down-bag technology has advanced to the point where moisture is no longer much of an issue. The trick on the AT is finding a bag with the right temperature rating, and that's very much a personal preference. Most NOBO thru-hikers need to swap out bags twice, once in Southern Virginia after getting past the high peaks in the south and the weather warms, and a second time when entering New Hampshire and the cold nights return with the higher elevation.Stove: (B-) Snow Peak GigaPower with Piezo. This stove is extremely light and compact and uses the standard butane/propane canisters. It worked well all the way to Vermont, at which point a critical gasket started to disintegrate and the fuel no longer flowed properly to the burning element. Fortunately, I was hiking with my friend, Jeff, a few weeks later, and he lent me his Jetboil for the remainder of my trip. Stove: (A) Jetboil. It's no wonder this is the most popular stove on the trail. This engineering marvel heats up water instantly due in part to its wind block/heat conductor for the cooking element and comes with an integrated, insulated cooking pot.Water Filter: (B+) Sawyer Squeeze. I started out with a Katadyn Hiker PRO water filter but ditched it in Hiawassee, GA during the first week because it was heavy and bulky and I got tired of messing around with its hoses at every water stop. I first switched to a Sawyer Mini, which is lighter and more compact and worked well at first, but its flow gradually decreased so that by the time I reached Southern Virginia it was taking me 20 minutes to filter two liters. So I upgraded to the normal size Sawyer filter, which got me all the way to Katahdin. The one shortcoming of the Sawyer Squeeze filters, both the mini and the normal size, are the bags, which are somewhat brittle and tend to spring leaks after a month or two. Thus, it's advisable to carry a spare bag. I went through three during the course of my trip.Shoes: (A-) Brooks Cascadia trail runners. It took me a few false starts before getting my first pair of Cascadias in Damascus, VA, at which point I knew I had found the shoes that would get me to Katahdin. I could strap on a new pair and walk 20 miles the first day in complete comfort. The shoes were reasonably durable, giving me about 700 miles per pair, though the third and final pair developed rips along a seam in both toes after a week, thus the A-. I was concerned this might be an issue through the Hundred Mile Wilderness, but that turned out not to be the case. Almost nobody uses clunky high-top hiking boots on the trail these days, and I never came close to spraining an ankle with the low-top trail runners. Solomon and Brooks Cascadias are by far the most popular shoes on the AT. Brooks customer service was outstanding.Socks: (A) Darn Tough. These socks could just as easily be called Darn Comfortable, because they are. They aren't cheap, about $20 a pop, but are worth every penny. I went through four pairs during the course of the trip, only one of which actually wore out. I accidentally left one almost new pair hanging to dry from the rafters in the pavilion at the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center, and I sacrificed a second pair by cutting off the foot to make a protective sleeve for the gash in my shin.Rain Gear: I brought a Columbia raincoat with me but no rain pants and have no regrets about this choice. I wore the coat no more than a half-dozen times, and at least twice I donned it more for warmth than to stay dry. In hiking between early April in Georgia to late August in Maine, the weather was generally warm, so there just weren't many times when being wet was problematic for me. Thus, I preferred to hike in the rain wearing just my short-sleeve shirt rather than my raincoat, which would have trapped sweat and made me uncomfortable. Being wet, as long as I wasn't cold, didn't bother me. There was never a time when I wished I had rain pants, though if I had finished up in late September or October that might not have been the case.Food: OK, I understand food is not technically equipment, unless you consider it to be fuel for the body. In my first post to this journal, I talked about subsisting on mac n' cheese, peanut butter, and oatmeal. Turns out I had stopped eating the first two items before leaving Georgia and oatmeal by Pennsylvania. Furthermore, I ate so many Snickers bars early on that I eventually got sick of them by the second half of the trip. Once the weather got hot, I stopped carrying cheese and salami, which wouldn't last long enough after a resupply. I was influenced by AZ to start eating Pop Tarts for breakfast and Fritos during the day, two items with high calorie-to-weight ratio, critical for a thru-hiker struggling to maintain body weight. I never tired of eating Clif bars, partly because there are a variety of flavors to choose from. I ate endless supplies of candy and particularly liked Almond Joys, Hershey dark chocolate bars, and gummy worms. For dinner I ate mostly Knoor rice sides and Mountain House meals. The latter are more expensive, about $7 a pop, but are quick and easy to make and are very tasty, particularly the Lasagna and Chili Mac. If you're a thru-hiker, don't believe the two-serving claim on the label; I'd typically eat several candy bars while waiting for the Mountain House to rehydrate so I'd feel full when all was said and done.