Clothing, Colorado Trail in July.

[Bradford Childs]

Been thinking a lot about my clothing for my CT thru hike this summer. I will be south-bound starting first week in July and finishing the first week of August. Any opinions on lightening my carried clothing?

Clothing Worn:
Capilene 1 LS shirt
ExOfficio Boxer-Briefs
Nylon Hiking Shorts
REI floppy hat
Montail Hardrock Running Shoe
Coolmax crew socks

Clothing Carried:
Marmot Precip W/B Jacket – 12.8oz
Soft Shell Pants from Savers – 5.0 oz
Hot Chilly's Longjohn bottoms – 8.3 oz
Lightweight Fleece – 7.9 oz
Montbell Thermwrap jacket – 9.4 oz
Sirus Liner Gloves – 1.2 oz
SmartWool crew socks (extra)- 2.0 oz
Smart Wool sleep socks – 3.1 oz
Fleece Balaclava – 1.0 oz

Additional info: 32 degree mummy bag, not much body fat.

What should I cut? Or replace?

Thanks for the input!

-Ford

[Chris Gray]

How long do you expect to be on the trail?

SB on the CT in July the temps are going to be rather favourable until you get west of Copper Mountain and you drop into Leadville. Up until this point I would drop my Longjohn bottoms and LW fleece. Think about mailing these items to Leadville or Twin Lakes.

Personally, I would look into aquiring a +20 degree bag if you plan on being out on the CT past July, certainly when you are going SB and much of the CT will see you above treeline and places west of Eddiesville can start seeing some weather and cooler temps around this time.

I have done the CT twice and my clothing list was similar to yours. Except: I had a 20 degree bag. Nixed the fleece and just used a Capilene 3 with a Montbell Down Inner. Nixed the extra socks and used a pair of dress socks to sleep in.

About the only thing that I would add is a windshirt– probably my single favourite piece of gear.

[Bradford Childs]

Finishing the first week of August. For socks did you do 1 nylon dress for sleeping, and 2 for hiking?

[Chris Gray]

I had one pair of dress socks for sleeping/spare and then my regular hiking socks.

I would wear my hiking socks all day, change into my dress socks at camp, wash the other socks every other night or so and dry them over night. Never needed a third pair.

[Bradford Childs]

Thanks for the insight Chris! What did you use to purify water? I would love to not bring my 14oz filter if I can help it? Aqua Mira maybe? Or is the wait time for giardia and crypo not worth it?

[Chris Gray]

A use a combination of MicroPur tablets and the AquaMira Frontier Pro Filer. There are lots of posts on this system that explain it in much better detail than I can, but the short of it is simple: fill up the Platy, drop in the required amount of tablets, wait 15/20min, attach the Frontier Pro and drink.

[Christopher Plesko]

I used a steripen out there and like it. MP1 tabs too, usually just overnight though. The 20deg bag suggestion is a good one for more "comfort" though I've been fine with my highlite in late July/early August.

The fleece/long underware probably would be extraneous to me but it does get cold. I'd say light bag and the extra clothes or the 20 deg bag and leave them behind.

[ross erickson]

let me start by saying good luck on your thru hike! i spent a little time on the CT last july and im planning on thru hiking it in september.

i would definitely recommend a wind shirt! great for above treeline. i use a montbell UL wind jacket and love it! weighs less than 3oz and packs incredibly small.

lose the fleece layers. you have an insulated jacket, no reason for a fleece top. replace the fleece bottoms with some lightweight long underwear. i use patagonias capilene 1 bottoms. they weigh ~5oz and kept my legs plenty warm at night under a 40 bag.

you could hike in running shorts with internet lining. no need to bring underwear!

if you really want to lose some weight lose the marmot rain jacket. ive seen several rain jackets that weigh half that! i used a MLD cuben poncho on the CT last july and was very pleased with it. my legs got a little cold when the winds picked up but manageable. i think i might pair the poncho with the MLD cuben rain chaps for my thru hike in september, 1.4oz!

hope some of this advise helps. enjoy the hike!
peace
.maestro.

[Bradford Childs]

Thanks for all the help guys. My current plan is to drop the long underwear/fleece layers until Breck or Twin Lakes and add them just for insurance/piece of mind. I remember parts of the CDT being pretty dang cold in early August.

Maestro, good catch on the W/B jacket. Looking at maybe buying the Marmot Mica, Essence, or OR Helium. Should drop almost 6 oz.

Still not set on water. I'm hiking with another person so I'm not sure if a Steripen or Frontier Pro would be the best unless we both got on or a lot of batteries. I have to think more about this.

[Misfit Mystic]

Hi Ford, I would go ahead and buy a Frontier Pro and give it a test run. They can be found online for less than $20, so it's relatively inexpensive. As the Frontier Pro is a carbon filter, you could use household bleach as the chemical agent, and in a higher concentration than would normally be reccomended.

[ross erickson]

have you considered using micropur tablets or aquamira? ive always preferred micropur tabs over filters and electronic purifiers. no need for batteries and no chance of it breaking on you.
peace
.maestro.

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