Date: 2014-09-02
To: Gear Review
Miles today: 0.0

My epic adventure has come to an end. I am busy catching up on all the loose ends that have been collecting over the past 4 12 months. I continue to monitor trailjournals to see who is finishing. Life is slowly returning to ¢normal¢. My body still wants to eat, but I know I have to be careful or the 25 pounds I lost along the way will find their way back. Every time I picked up my pack in Maine it was a reminder of how much extra weight I was carrying around before I started my hike. Moose our chocolate lab is excited to have me home as we have been out almost every morning for a hike. Yesterday I went on a 6 mile hike without him (too long and hot). When I got back to my vehicle it was 90 degrees, but my clothes were basically dry. In Maine at 60 degrees I would have been drenched with sweat. Slim is planning to come out the first weekend in October and join us on our annual Grand Canyon rim to rim hike. I haven¢t seen him since Virginia. (On the trail the calendar doesn¢t mean much, so we remember things by location. I remember right where we were, but have no idea what the date was.) It will be great fun to see him again and talk trail with someone who truly understands what trail life is all about.As promised, here is my final gear review. Remember this is just my opinion, not factual. There are so many ways to gear up, this is what worked for me and what I would change in the future.Gossamer Gear Mariposa Plus backpack ¢ I really liked this pack. It is roomy and comfortable. I used 6 sections of the Z Lite sleeping pad for the back padding. This pack and similar light weight packs are only available online. The retailers (REI, etc) tend to sell heavier packs because they offer good warranties. You do need to be careful with the lighter packs, but I have over 2,600 miles on my pack with no problems. The same is true with tents ¢ see below. I did not use a pack cover. Instead I used a heavy duty trash bag as an internal liner. My sleeping bag went in first, then my cloths bag. My food bag was next and on top I had my catchall bag. This system worked great for me. My tent was in a pouch on the outside of y pack. That way I could pack up inside my tent on rainy mornings to keep everything dry. I also kept my rain jacket in a pocket on the outside of the pack. This gave me easy access for warmth or rain. This is a simple pack with no zippers to break. Some people like lots of pockets and a frame to keep the pack off your back a bit. These items add weight, so it is whatever is most important to you. The Osprey packs seemed to be the most popular on the trail. One downside to them in my opinion is it uses a bladder for water. Bottles are not easily accessible without taking the pack off. Water being so heavy I liked knowing exactly how much I was carrying so I always use bottles.   24.0 ouncesMountain Hardware down sleeping bag ¢This is a rectangular bag, so I can unzip it and use it as a blanket. I do not like being confined in a mummy bag. Early on I used a liner for extra warmth, but that went home in Damascus along with a few other things.28.0 ouncesHenry Shires Contrail ¢ This tent was great. It uses a trekking pole for the front. It was much roomier than I expected. No problem keeping my pack inside the tent at night. It is fully enclosed as well to keep the bugs out. It is light weight and takes less than a minute to set up.   24.5 ouncesTherm-a-Rest Z-Lite Sleeping Pad ¢ I carried a 6 section as my back support and an addition 8 section inside. Next time I would go with an inflatable mattress. Some are quite noisy and heavy. I know a few people who had problems with leaks, but didn¢t seem to be that big a deal.      Ground Cloth ¢ I didn¢t carry any ground cloth and didn¢t miss it. Shroomer (just finished his triple crown) carried a car windshield sun screen. This protected his mattress in shelters and he also sat on it instead of the ground. Ticks often get on you when you are sitting. I know 12 people who got Lyme disease this summer so anything to minimize the risk is worth it in my opinion. I will probably carry one next time. Speaking of ticks, I treated all my gear with Permethrin and would strongly recommend doing the same.Headlamp ¢ I never night hiked but used a headlamp almost every night at some point. Almost everyone now has the red lamp option. The red is much less invasive to others.      Leatherman ¢ I had a very small knife which was handy for cutting open packages as well as cutting sausages and cheese. Many had ¢real¢ knives, but this worked for me.2.0Water ¢ I carried a Sawyer Squeeze filter. The mini is too small if you are going to use the bags to squeeze to water into a bottle. Next time I will go with a gravity system where you can hang the water bag and have the filter in line with a shut off and let the water flow into a bottle. It is slower, but much easier. Typically you are eating when filtering water so speed is not a concern.Food bag/cup/fork I used a Sea to Summit 20L waterproof bag to hold my food. It worked well for hanging and big enough to carry several days worth of food.      Black Diamond Rain Jacket ¢ I sweat a lot, so who knows if this is actually waterproof. It did keep me warm though. I did hike through some cold hard rains. It is expensive but light weight. It was stolen when I was in a hostel in NH so I hiked Maine with a cheap jacket. This was my all purpose jacket.Trabagon Rain Pants ¢ these are light weight. The only time I had them was on both ends of the trail in case I got cold. They were the only pants I had ¢ I hiked in shorts. From Damascus to Gorham I had only my hiking shorts.Socks/underwear ¢ I am a big fan of SmartWool PhD socks. That is all I started with. I have tried probably 10 different types of socks. The SmartWool works well even when wet. I thought I would have feet problems on the trail ¢ but no blisters, even with wet feet. Darn Tough are very popular on the trail so I bought a pair in Vermont. I carried one pair of each for the last 500 miles and they both are good.      North Face Long Sleeve ¢ I hiked in the same short sleeve shirt and kept this for camp. I would push the sleeves up if it was too warm. Great light weight shirt. 5.5MontBell Ultralight Down Jacket. I carried this jacket the entire way. It only weighs 8 ounces and was my pillow stuffing. It was nice to have, but I only wore it a couple times after spring finally broke in the south.I carried a Buff, it was nice to have for the cool evenings. I do not like being cold.      Black Diamond Windstopper Gloves ¢ good light weight gloves. Sent these home from Damascus as well.Camp shorts ¢ basically a bathing suit. Again would change into these at camp and hang my hiking shorts up. I liked being dry once I stopped hiking for the day.      6.0Towel/Bandana ¢ I had an REI microfiber towel that I cut in half. Some people loved having a towel. I ended up mailing this home at some point and did not miss it.      First Aid Kit ¢ A basic kit with band aids, Ibuprofen, tape, pads, ear plugs, safety pins, antibiotic cream, iodine. I have duct tape wrapped around my trekking poles. I used the ear plugs and safety pins, but fortunately did not need anything else. Highly recommend to carry several safety pins. Great for lots of different things.      Guide Book - I really like AWOL's guide, it is by far the most popular guide book on the trail. I purchased the loose leaf version and only carried a fourth of the book at a time. I would keep the book in my pack and put the 1 or 2 pages I needed for the day in a plastic bag and keep in my pocket for easy reference.            Cell phone/charger ¢ I am a Verizon fan. I was surprised how often you could get coverage on the trail.         Cook Stove ¢ I started without a stove. Once I reached Damascus I decided to purchase one so I could have way more food options. I was with Slim and asked him what he had and if he liked it. He had a Snow Peak with an igniter. I bought it and really liked having it. I only cooked dinners. I only purchased the small canisters. I think I only used 4 canisters the rest of the way. Foods ¢ Pasta sides were probably the dinner I had most often. Typically I would add ingredients for variety. Mountain House meals are very good, but relatively expensive. A few hikers bought quantities at a discount them shipped them to themselves along the trail. Next time I will purchase freeze dried items before I leave so I have more options.             As far as footwear goes, I hiked in the Solomon XA3DUltra2 then XAPro3D. I replace the factory insert with the Sole high volume insert. I have a very high arch. I typically have feet problems while hiking and have tried many different combinations. This is what works best for me. I do not use waterproof shoes. My feet sweat and I find waterproof shoes still get wet on long hikes. These shoes dry much quicker than a gortex model. With the SmartWool socks I actually did not mind hiking in the rain. My feet stayed nice and cool. The only problem with the Salomons are they are not very durable, but I have not found any comfortable shoes that are. I hiked about 600 miles with each pair. (I sent the used pairs home, they still have life in them, I just wanted good shoes for the trail.) I definitely like going with a trail shoe vs. a boot. I was a big boot fan since I had weak ankles. Garlic got me to convert and I am very glad I did. Also ¢ I am a big fan of Trekking poles as is 95% of the thru hiking community. Ironically it seems like the strongest hikers are the ones without poles.If you have any questions feel free to contact me through the guest book or email me at AZontheAT@gmail.com.