Post-trip gear review

Here are a few thoughts I had about the gear I brought. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or want any more detail.

Backpack: Elemental Horizons; Kalais

I really like the design of the front part of this pack: the size of the side and front mesh pockets is really good and the entry and closure to the main compartment are simple and effective. The volume of this pack was good for the PCT: not too huge that the generally small loads between resupply stops were swimming in it, but also big enough to accommodate 9 days of food and the bear can for the long haul from Kennedy Meadows to Vermilion Valley Resort. The pack is reasonably well constructed for a piece of lightweight gear, and after 1400 miles the pack part of it was still in really good condition.

However, the padding and suspension system of the pack seem a bit insufficient to me, and I ended up swapping out the pack after about 600 uncomfortable miles. The main issue was that the padding between me and the frame stay was just barely sufficient when the pack was new, and wore out pretty quickly. By about mile 1000 I had to have a section of z-rest pad and my folded up ground sheet tucked in to the sleeve for the waist belt, and this still wasn’t enough extra padding for the bottom of the frame stay. Additionally, the padding in the shoulder straps was permanently compressed by this time, and my shoulders were starting to get pretty sore, even with just the 3-4 day legs through Northern CA.

Backpack #2: ULA; Circuit

This is the pack I got to replace the Kalais, and I hiked with it for about 700 miles from Burney Falls to Cascade Locks. ULA packs are one of the most common thru hiking packs, and this isn’t a coincidence. The overall design is pretty similar to the Kalais and many other thru hiking packs, but it weighs a bit more which is why I didn’t go with this pack from the beginning. However, I came to realize that the extra 6-8 oz. in this pack is put into some really great design features that, in my opinion, make this a better pack than the Kalais. Most importantly, the hip belt and back panel padding are thicker and seem more durable (higher density foam?), and the internal frame system provides a bit more support for the heavier loads. I got a small frame size, and I while the reported volume is actually greater than the kalais, I think I might have struggled just a bit to fit everything in the Circuit on the long 9-day Sierra stretch (probably would have had to put the shelter on the outside for the first couple days).

The big hip belt and side pockets were awesome: I could have all the snacks and water at hand in these pockets to allow for 10-15 miles of hiking without having to take the pack off to get anything. The front mesh pocket is also really great and holds a ton of stuff that you might want handy through the day or just want to keep outside the main compartment: water filter, camp shoes, ground sheet, warm layer, mini chess board, several cans of beer, etc. The cordlocks/shockcord on the side pockets are great for keeping things tight in there.

One downside of this pack is that it has a lot of back contact area, so it can be sort of hot to wear on warm days, and it doesn’t vent sweat very well so you get pretty drippy on hot days (I actually soaked through and got my sleeping bag wet a couple times). I would also have preferred if the opening to the big front pocket had the same shockcord/cordlock closure as the side pockets, in stead of the fixed elastic which sort of cinches the main compartment a bit and makes loading a little awkward.

pack cover          Elemental Horizons; size large

Just fine. Works good for keeping the things in the outside pockets quite dry, but I don’t trust it alone to keep the down items and other main compartment stuff totally dry. Wet stuff is sort of a big hassle, especially with consecutive rainy days, so the extra weight of a rain cover and plastic bag inside are well worth it to me.

Shelter/bug net                Six Moon Designs; Deschutes Tarptent/Serenity Net

I really like this shelter and bug net combo. I like being able to set up just the rain fly or just the bug net as conditions change. It adds a little time to setup when I needed to have rain and bug protection, but not too much. The foot print of this shelter is pretty small relative to the internal floor space, which is nice for setting up in the little one person campsites you often find along the PCT. This shelter kept me warm and dry in several nights of rain and one night with about 2-3 inches of snow.

One thing that bugged me about this shelter was that the door zipper only came halfway up the wall, which made for a pretty small doorway. When the shelter and ground were both wet from condensation and rain, I had to choose between a wet belly from the ground or wet back from the shelter. Happily, however, the 2015 model of this shelter has a door zipper that goes all the way up to the apex, so this isn’t a problem any more.

stakes   MSR; Ground Hog

These stakes weigh a bit more than some newer ones on the market, but after the couple times I tried to help other people set up shelters in wind and sandy ground, I came to really dislike the lighter, shorter, circular stakes that many people get for their lightweight shelters. In my book, carrying 3 oz of something that actually does its job is much better than carrying 1.5 oz of something that renders the entire weight of your shelter useless in certain conditions.

sleeping bag       Z-packs; 20 bag

This is a really great bag for the PCT. I normally sleep in merino bottom and top (don’t sleep real well with dirty/sweaty skin against nylon), and with these sleeping clothes the 20 degree bag was just right. I actually only slept in my down jacket about 5-8 nights, and was otherwise plenty warm. I really liked having a bag without a hood that worked a bit better unzipped as a blanket on the warm nights.

One thing to note is that bag has continuous baffles, so on the colder nights you need to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines and shake the down to the top of the bag to maximize the loft. Another little feature I might like to see is a small elastic pouch that you can stuff the tail of the head-opening draw cord into to prevent getting tangled up in it over night.

sleeping pad      Thermarest; neo air

I really like the Neo Air. I’ve had it for about 7 years and it didn’t start to have any leak issues until about half way through the PCT. Its not very good for sitting on, so even in the evenings when I was hanging out in my sleeping bag getting organized, I would just be on my little bit of closed cell foam pad. I don’t blow up the air mat until right before going to sleep, and it is the first thing I put away when I wake up; perhaps this has helped it last longer? I also take care of it by putting my foam pad under it most nights to protect from pokeys.

leg/sit pad           ridgerest; cut to ~30 inches

The short section of Ridgerest was good, but I ended up switching to a half Z-rest (7 sections) which worked out much better. It was really nice to have something on the outside of the pack that I could pull out really quick for even the short 5 minute rests and stops for filtering water. This helps keep everything a bit cleaner, and is more comfortable. I also laid this out under my air mat most nights for added protection. Having a longer pad was much nicer for stretching out on; I’m just under 5’4” and could just barely do a downward dog on this pad.

ground cloth      clear painter's plastic

Just fine, but I think Tyvek is more puncture resistant, so I’ll be using that in the future.

stove     Optimus; Crux Lite

This is a really great simple little canister stove. I have no complaints. As much as I dislike the extra waste of canister stoves, they really are nice on a through hike when you want to make dinner fast and easy; nicer in my opinion than fiddling around with the little alcohol stoves.

               

 pot        REI ti ware 900mL

Just fine. I a wider, shorter pot would have caught more of the stove heat and been more time and fuel efficient, but I already had this one.

lighter   mini bic

Great. A couple times I forgot to unpack it out of my pot before pouring the water in, and it lit the stove just fine after rolling the flint wheel on my leg and maybe holding the lighter next to my body for a moment or two.

spoon   optimus; ti folding

This was fine but often unfolded on me when I was stirring something thick like mashed potatoes. When I lost it I got the fixed long handle spoon and this worked much better despite being a little harder to pack.

               

GSI; Infinity Backpacker Mug

This mug worked really well; I really liked being able to make my coffee and start hiking right away, and have a mug with both a sippy and totally spill-proof lid. It only popped open once when I bent over. I would have liked to have something narrower and taller that can slide in and out of the pack side pockets a bit better, but this worked great.

filter      Sawyer; Mini squeeze

The mini is OK, but just get the regular sized one. The regular size is more than twice as fast, requires much less effort, and works pretty well as a gravity filter. The filtering speed didn’t seem like a big deal to me when I was researching gear before the hike, but it becomes really important in the desert when you’re trying to filter 6-8 L of water in the morning and with every extra minute the day gets hotter and hotter and the hiking less comfortable. The regular size filter works better with wide-mouth bottles, and is sort of tricky with the normal mouth ones like Smart water.

water storage    Platypus; 1&2 L; plastic bottle; 1 L

The Platy bags are great. I had 3 1 L bags during the desert, then had one 2 L bag from Kennedy Meadows onward. The threads aren’t a perfect match, but these bags work as filter bags for the Sawyer; sometimes it helps to pull the gasket out of the filter and massage it or maybe flip it around for a better seal. Just beware of dirty water dripping down into your clean bottle. The 2 L bag is really great as a dirty/filter bag; I could fill it up once when I got to camp (or a couple miles before) and have enough water for dinner, and coffee and the first 10 or so mile of hiking the next day. Not having to go get more water in the morning really helps you get out of camp more efficiently.

Thin plastic water/soda/Gatorade bottles work good too. Smart Water bottles seemed to be the hot trendy water bottle to use in 2015, but anything will do. Note that the regular size Sawyer is a bit tricky to use with narrow-mouth bottles like Smartwater.

I ended up with 2 of the 20 oz Gatorade bottles at the end of the hike, and this plus the 2 L Platy bag was plenty most of the time. I would have liked to have one more 1 L Platy bag for the long carries at Hat Creek Rim and Crater Lake, so that I didn’t have to buy another plastic bottle for just one day.

headlamp            Petzl; Tikka XP2

This is a bit big, but I already had it and couldn’t justify getting a new smaller one. It was really nice to have a big bright light beam on that evening when I had what I’m pretty sure was a young mountain lion following me in Vasquez Rocks. One thing I wish it had was a red light setting.

iphone charger Powergen

This has 2 USB plugs and a total capacity of 2.4 A. Its real nice being able to charge the phone and battery at the same time, even though it slows things down a bit.

phone   iphone 4s w/ otter case

Worked just fine as a camera, journal, clock, phone, and internet portal. A bigger screen would have been better for writing on, but you get used to it. 8 GB of storage was pretty difficult to manage; I had to be pretty selective about the apps and other content I could have stored and still be able to have plenty of room for photos. The battery life of this phone was just fine for my uses. I used the phone for frequent photos, writing my daily journal entry, towards the end of the trip reading via the Kindle App, and occasionally (10-15 times the entire trip) firing up the Halfmile App to double check my location. I didn’t listen to any music, book, or podcasts, and didn’t burn much juice trying to get a GPS fix. With this use I needed to recharge the phone every other day.

The Otter Case was great. Good grip so I only dropped the phone once or twice, and when I did it was reasonably well protected and didn’t get damaged.

 External Battery              Anker 2nd Gen Astro 6400mAh

This was a good size battery for my purposes. I could get about 3.5 phone charges, which was just enough for the long 9 days between K. Meadows and VVR.

knife      Swiss army classic

This is a great little knife for backpacking; has just what I need and almost nothing I don’t (I don’t file my nails much). It’s really handy having scissors, which I used more often than the blade.

Monocular

I used this multiple times each day, and the trip wouldn’t have been the same without it. But most people I saw seemed not to be as interested in looking at birds and stuff, so this might be sort of a niche item.

               

maps     Halfmile's paper

These are really great, and its so awesome that they’re offered online for free; you just have to pay for the cost of printing them. I really like navigating with paper maps. The HalfMile and Guthook apps allow pretty easy navigation via GPS, and the PCT is well signed, so one could easily get by without the paper maps. But I really like having a map. I like being able to look at the topo lines and figure out the shape of the land I’m about to walk through. I like to see the names of the places I’m walking by, and to see a bit of where different trails go when I pass junctions. I like being able to have the map on a whole sheet of paper, rather than having to do a bunch of scrolling on a little screen. I enjoy cultivating the skill of reading at topo map, and pulling out the map to figure out where I was or the name of a nearby peak was a good way to cope with the mid-day doldrums of a long hike. Since I like to frequently check my location, I think that carrying paper maps saved me quite a bit of battery weight if I were instead going to be relying only on my phone. The frequent waypoints make it really efficient to calculate miles between places or figure out where your next break should be.

Bandana

So many uses. I had 2. Had one that I would keep sort of clean to tie around my neck, wash my face, etc. Used the other to wash my feet; even when dry camping, if you put the bandana in your water scooper you can get it wet with just a sip-worth of water, and this is normally enough to get all the trail dust off your legs and feet with is a nice thing to do for your feet and sleeping bag, and really helped me sleep better.

               

flip flops

I really like having camp/rest shoes, and flip flops work best for me. You can get cheep pairs that only weight 3-4 oz, and it’s so nice to be able to treat your feet a bit kinder during breaks or in camp, and also nice to have in towns.

               

Compass

Good to have, I suppose, but I never used it. If you’re competent with a map, you really don’t need a compass in most situations.

               

Thermometer

Far from necessary but fun to have and nearly weightless.

potty trowel       The Deuce of Spades

This only weight 17 grams and does a really good job of digging a good quality hole in a small amount of time. On previous trips I’ve used heavier trowels, trekking poles, tent stakes, and just my feet. But in terms of overall effort, this trowel is so worth the weight. It does such a better job than poles or stakes and weights pretty much nothing. Going to bring it on every trip from now on.

head net              Sea to summit

Super useful; pretty much weightless.

               

               

               

down hooded jacket      Mont bel; Alpine Light Parka

Really good jacket. It was a bit more than was needed for the PCT, but I already had it. Its about 7 years old and still holding its loft really well. I really like Mont Bel products; well designed and constructed, of quality materials; lightweight and durable. If I were buying a puffy for the PCT I’d go with the Mon Bel Ex Light Anorak: hooded, handwarmer pocket, only 6.3 oz.

Rain/wind jacket              Mont Bel; Versalite Jacket

Pretty solid jacket; wore it for several hours in the rain a few times and it never wetted through, but of course I did sweat inside it. Would definitely recommend it. Nice to have the pockets and hood draw cords, and taped seams.

nylon long pants               Patagonia: G2

Pata doesn’t make these anymore, which is too bad. But luckily the pair I have is holding up really well. Light and tough, block wind OK; dry fast; fit on over my shorts, but aren’t too baggy.

socks     Darn Tough

These are good, and you can’t beat the lifetime warranty, though this may be sort of tough to fulfill while on the trail. Their run/bike weight only lasted a couple hundred miles. The Hiker 1/4 Cushion ones lasted me quite a bit longer: the pair I started with didn’t get holes until OR, but I would guess they’d done half of those miles, so somewhere around 700-800 miles.

Top base layer   Icebreaker long or short sleeve

I started with the long sleeve and this was good, but I switched to the s/s in Mammoth when I added the light hoodie, and this ended up being a good setup. I only used this to sleep in and also as a town shirt when I was washing my hiking clothes.

Light top              Icebreaker hoodie

Picked this up in Mammoth and wore it pretty much every day the rest of the trip. It was a really good weight layer to wear at night when it was a bit cooler, but still too warm for the down jacket. I also ended up wearing most mornings for the first few miles of hiking, and it sort eclipsed the neck gaiter for early morning warmth. It was also nice to have a slightly warmer layer for town without having to wear my big puffy. This was definitely a luxury item, but I really liked having it.

lite bottom         icebreaker

Had 150 weight and this was good for sleeping and a bit of wearing around camp. I never hiked in them, since I had the nylon pants, but if I were going to be hiking in a lot of rain I’d probably have a second pair of wool long underwear, instead of rain pants, unless it was going to be really cold rain. I’ve used wool as my only base layer for a number of year now and really like it. Really comfortable, and stays comfortable even when you can’t do laundry.

light fleece gloves

Nice to have but probably not necessary. I mostly used them hiking first thing in the morning. It would have been nice to have touch-screen compatible gloves since I liked to take a lot of pictures of the sunrise.

homemade fleece hat

Ended up not really using the beanie much, since I had the hood on my down jacket and after Mammoth also had the hooded light merino shirt. I used my neck gaiter over the wool hoodie for sleeping on the cooler nights during the end of the trip.

Merino neck gaiter

Really useful, especially on the slightly chilly mornings where the hiking shirt isn’t quite warm enough, but a jacket is too much. Having something around my neck and maybe pulled up over my ears provided the right amount of warmth and I could take it off really easily when I warmed up and just stick it in the side pocket of my pack.

               

Hiking shirt          Columbia; Super Tamiami

This is a really great hiking shirt, nice and light weight, blocks mosquitos reasonably well for what it is, dries fast, comes in a variety of patterns so you don’t have to wear the standard earth tone hiker uniform.

Shoes    Altra; Lone Peak. Then Brooks Cascadia.

The Altras are really comfortable to wear and I really wanted them to work out, but they ended up not providing enough support and heel padding for me, which ultimately led to my 2 weeks off trail around mile 350.

The Cascadias are one of the more popular shoes on the trail, and they worked pretty good for me, but they weren’t great, mainly because they didn’t have enough toe room.

My recommendation for shoes is to go to a good running store and have them help find the right pair of shoes for your feet and stride.

running shorts   new balance

Any light running short should be good. I cut the liner out for more ventilation. A couple simple pockets are nice. I really liked having separate shorts and long pants, rather than one pair of zip off pants. All the zip offs I could find were heavier than my pants/shorts combo, and with just light trail runners it’s really not that big of a hassle to take your shoes off to get the pants on and off (it’ll be good for your feet to air out a bit anyway).

Hat         Patagoina; Duckbill trucker

I like baseball better than full brim hats, and this one worked out really well. Its comfortable and adjusts well and breaths pretty good while still providing good sun protection. They make it with a really tall crown, so I put a little hem around the side to make it lower profile, which fits better under a hood and catches less wind.

I also made a little ear and neck shade from an old wide brimmed floppy hat I found in a hiker box; I just cut out the crown and the front part of the brim, and could slide it on over my baseball hat on the really sunny days. I used this a lot in the desert and Sierra, but the baseball hat was generally enough north of Donner Pass.

trekk poles x2    REI; Traverse

These old poles are still going strong after 10+ years of hiking and some skiing. Since I’m pretty short I cut off the top half of the top section and added the Gossamer Gear cork handles, and this reduced the weight quite a bit and was more comfortable, while still being long enough to set up my shelter.

Umbrella             GoLight; Chrome Dome

I didn’t use this as much as I thought I would, but was really glad to have it when I did. 2015 was apparently a cooler than normal, so this might have something to do with not needing the umbrella much. It was a bit tough to manage in the wind, and it’s often windy where you’re out in the open in the sun.

bear can               Bear Vault 500

Works well. A lot of hikers complain about having to carry a bear can, but I think this is a great example of proactive resource management, and it’s really not that big a deal to carry a couple extra pounds if it means we can reduce the risk of altering the natural processes going on out in these wild places. Use your spoon handle to push the lid tabs in when opening.