Date: 2009-09-08
To: Gear List Critiqued!
Miles today: 0.0

Dear readers,There have been numerous requests for a journal entry about my gear, in hindsight. What I liked, didn¢t like, would have done differently, etc. Let me remind you once again, I was not ultralight. I used a 3 lb. tent vs. tarp tent, a filter vs. chemicals, canister stove vs. alcohol stove, a 3 lb 10 oz backpack vs. ultralight 2lb models, and carried a frickin¢ pillow. That is probably 5 lbs. worth of alternatives I could have used and chose not to. My pack weight was 25-30 lbs in the summer and 35-40 at the start in winter. Contrary to what happens to many, their packs become lighter and lighter, mine stayed relatively the same due to the addition of luxury items the longer I was in the woods. I was very content with my weight and what I carried. To each their own. What worked for me won¢t work for others. So, here by popular demand is my take on the equipment I used.Pack: Osprey Aura 65Really liked it and was very happy with the relatively last minute purchase. I loved having pockets on my hipbelt. I kept my pepperspray (never touched it though), camera, and snacks in them. Has two big pockets on the outside for organization and I like having a brain for easy access to stuff. *Not an ultra-light pack. Granite Gear, GoLite, and ULA are the most popular brand of packs for people wanting something closer to 2 lbs. Note: 2 lb packs cannot carry much over 30 lbs well. Chances are, if you¢re not going ultra-light with the rest of your gear, these UL packs aren¢t a good idea. I wanted a pack I could use on future backpacking trips where I wouldn¢t be as weight conscious, and I knew my pack would occasionally exceed 30 lbs and I still wanted good support and suspention. Hence, my decision to use it.Katadyn Hiker Pro filterLoved it! Went through two cartridges. Probably should have put in a third towards the end but didn¢t want to start a brand new filter for only a week or two left. Instead, I had a really tough time pumping, but got to ask people ¢Do you have a ticket to see the gun show?¢ if they walked up while I was pumping water. Yes, it was a nice arm workout the last few weeks. I chose to use this over chemicals b/c I don¢t like floaty things in my water. In retrospect, water sources were clear enough that I wouldn¢t have minded chemicals (and the weight savings!) for the first 2/3 of trail. The Northeast, however, had us filtering out of ponds and less than stellar water sources which I was grateful to have a filter for.REI Ti-Ware .9 L potGreat- the perfect size for one! Am glad I chose that size over the 1.3 L which I had been debating¢¦Sleeping pad: RidgerestIf I were to do it over again, I think I would buy the Z Lite pad instead. It¢s folds up like an accordion and would have packed better than my rolled Ridgerest. I sat on my sleeping pad all the time: snacks, cooking, a round a fire, breaks. I was glad I didn¢t go with inflatable which I would have had to take good care of. I basically treated my sleeping pad like crap knowing nothing really bad could happen to a closed-cell foam pad. A definite benefit. In the north, very few shelters seemed to have picnic tables so I was glad to have something to sit on. Sometimes I¢d get jealous of the comfort which others with ProLite3¢s had at bedtime, though, but I was so exhausted each night that I slept well regardless of my sleeping pad. *The new NeoAir by Therm-a-rest seemed to puncture really easily! And, it was really noisy when you roll around on it. The downfalls to having such luxury¢¦HubbaI loved my Hubba. At 3 lbs. definitely one of the heavier 1 person shelters, but as a female, I liked the privacy compared to a tarp. Also, I like the double wall in rainstorms, and I didn¢t want to mess with using my trekking poles each night like many lightweight shelters use. I didn¢t like collapsing my poles. I knew a Hammock wasn¢t for me. Many people had this tent. I got the footprint as a gift. I recommend using something, but no need to splurge the $40 on the actual footprint. Tyvek or plastic work just as well. Gangsta rolled the edges of her tyvek under and that help prevent water from flowing between the tyvek/tent floor in storms. My floor would get really wet in heavy rains from water seeping through the floor where my body weight was. This is my only complaint and was really only a problem once or twice. Have you seen the video?Icebreaker Tech T Lite short sleeved shirtLoved it! I¢m obsessed with Icebreaker, if you haven¢t noticed. Resists odors a million times better than anything synthetic. The only downfall is that the ¢super-fine¢ material doesn¢t hold up for an entire thru-hike. If you noticed in photos, I had holes all throughout the back of the shirt, from pack rubbage and washing machines, I believe. I wanted to get Katahdin pictures taken, but alas, weather did not permit. PS- Loon is the only person on this Earth who thinks Icebreaker shirts smell bad. *I also carried an Under Armour Tech-T for towns/sleeping. I liked it, it was comfy, but smelled really badly if I hiked in it.Sleeping Bag: REI Kilo Flash 35+ (summer)Loved it. Perfect for our weather post-May. Used a zero degree Mt. Hardwear initially, and that was overkill, however, of all the Goonies I seemed to be the only person sleeping warm. A tradeoff for carrying a 3 lb, bulky sleeping bag. I used a Sea to Summit ThermoLite liner in my summer bag a bit towards the end when nights got chillier. Stove: Pocket RocketI¢m a huge Pocket Rocket fan. It weighs a little more than an alcohol stove but I like having the adjustable flame. I got pretty good at guessing how many dinners worth of fuel I had in my canister. You could only get canisters at outfitters, which were often 1-2 weeks apart, so occasionally I¢d have to carry two or ditch one in town if it was nearing empty. A large canister would last me almost 3 weeks using it just for one hot meal a day on trail.Socks:Icebreaker. Darn Tough. Smartwool (in no particular order). I don¢t recommend buying anything else if you want it to hold up. They are worth spending the extra couple bucks on over REI or other generic brand wool socks, in my opinion.Trekking Poles: Leki W¢s LuauReally liked them. Super lightweight. Never bent. Replaced the tips in CT. I collapsed them in Mahoosuc Notch then again on Katahdin for bouldering sections and was starting to have difficulty tightening them afterwards. The locking mechanism seemed to be wearing out. I¢m pretty sure you can fix this problem at an outfitter ¢ either getting them cleaned or a part replaced. Usually with some finagling, or as G puts it, ¢the special touch¢, it¢d eventually work.Shoes: Keene Targhee¢s/Voyageur (non-waterproof version)I really liked both of these. I never got a blister. I was glad I had waterproof to start with. Towards the end, the trail was SO wet that despite not having waterproof shoes and my feet were wet for days on end, they still seemed healthier and less-hamburger-like because they could breath. Whereas if my feet got wet in the waterproof ones, they stayed wet in a relatively air-tight shoe and looked like white, wrinkly, death at the end of a day. Initially, I had been planning on switching to trail runners, but after twisting an ankle early on, I didn¢t like the thought of reducing ankle support- even if my ankles were a lot stronger.Water Bottle: NalgeneI am emotionally attached to my Nalgene. I got it at the outdoor store I worked at, used it during every Sage Walk rotation, and plastered it with stickers from Oregon. I didn¢t think twice about using something different. If you do not have an emotional attachment to a water bottle, I recommend using a disposable Gatorade bottle.Water Bladder: MSR Dromlite 4LI really like the MSR bladders, however, due to the amount of rain we had, 4 L was definitely overkill. I would have been fine with a 2 L. That being said, the 4 L is only 1 oz. heavier so I figured why not? Beforehand, I didn¢t know we¢d have 4 months of rain. 95% of hiking days I only carried 1 L of water. Water sources were beyond abundant, and I know that I don¢t drink as much as I probably should. It was also not very hot. The bladder was used mostly for when I got to camp at night to collect water for that evening and the next morning. If I were to do it over again, I¢d probably use a clear Platypus 2 L water bottle. The clear plastic allows you to see how much water you¢re collecting, which is necessary if you use chemicals since it¢s X number of drops per liter. The clear also allows you to see how dirty it is or if it¢s collecting mold. Maybe this isn¢t a good thing.Underwear: Patagonia (another obsession of mine)Goes without saying, LOVE IT.Exofficio¢s suck (according to Gangsta and a couple other women who have since converted to Patagonia)Skirt: OR Expressa SkortLOVE IT!!! Cute, comfy, built-in spandex (*note: the spandex do not hinder the standing pee method, they are loose enough you can pull ¢em to the side!), light weight, quick drying. I felt like I was hardly wearing anything. My shorts I started with would get stuck on my quads if I had to take a big step up. I felt unrestricted in the skirt. It was one of the few things that allowed me to fill like a girl out there. And, yes, even in the real world now, I¢m still wearing it. And I want it in Khaki. ? Maybe G and I can simply trade¢¦ It seemed as if most women had converted to skirts by the end.Eagle Creek Water Bottle HolsterYou will notice in photos that I jerry rigged a water bottle holder to the side of my pack. This was because I couldn¢t reach my water bottle myself if in the pack pockets. This piece of gear was essential and worked great. I strapped it to my side compression straps. Loon did the same thing.Stuff SacksI used Sea to Summit stuff sacks for everything. That seemed to be the brand of choice for everybody. I liked them, but it¢s annoying having to squeeze all the air out before rolling them closed. Dutch had a fancy one that allowed air out but not in so you wouldn¢t get the bubble effect. Luckily, I never fell into water and my pack never got submerged so I can¢t say how waterproof they were. But, looking back, this is what I¢d tell you: Ziplock bags work better than ¢waterproof¢ stuff sacks. Gangsta had her sleeping bag get wet in a waterproof compression sack. I¢d simply buy a bunch of heavy-duty Ziplocks to pack extra clothes in. You can send replacements to yourself every few weeks. You could put all the ziplocks into one larger, superlight stuff sack simply for organization if you so choose. Ziplocks are a surefire way of keeping things dry, and they¢re a lot cheaper than waterproof stuff sacks! I used ziplocks for all of my electronics, too. For your sleeping bag, you¢ll want a trash bag. They needed replaced every 4-6 weeks due to rips ¢ send these to yourself b/c you can¢t buy them in small quantities. I recommend using a waterproof stuff sack for your food bag, however.Raingear: Marmot Precip jacket/full-zip pantsA popular choice of raingear on the AT, for sure. Mine was really old, so the jacket became saturated really quickly, but oh well. It worked, more or less. I really only wore it around camp once it was May. Worked well as windbreaker, and as mosquito protection! I am really surprised at how frequently I wore rain gear simply because of mosquitoes in the second half of the trail. I really liked the full-zip feature on my pants. I frequently unzipped them for ventilation.Long-UnderwearIcebreaker 200 Oasis crew ¢ loved it!Patagonia Capilene 3 pants- love them! I¢m a fan of Capilene pants, but can¢t wear the tops b/c they smell horrendous after one wearing. Maybe the crotch of the pants smell too, but my nose never got close enough to tell.Patagonia R2 Fleece JacketWorked really well. Was snugger fitting and not as loose and comfy as I might have liked for something I wore primarily while lounging around camp at night. Great for hiking though.Camera: Canon SD 1100Great camera! 8 mega pixels and fairly good quality video! Had 4 gig memory cards which allowed me to take a ton of photos and video footage. I rotated three chips with my parents at home who would download them, clear the chip, and send it back to me at my next maildrop. That system worked well.That about sums it up! I can¢t think of anything else that I¢d consider major equipment that I can give my two cents on. As you can tell, I loved much of what I used. Feel free to email me further questions. Hope you enjoyed this wisdom from Wags on gear.