New member gear list – Solo / Rainy / cold

[dbrisset …]

So I'm new to this gear list and trying to get light thing but my last trip seemed… heavy. Help. Ideas? I want to start by making excuses because it was a solo, 5 day / 4 night trip, in the carolina mountains, in November and the weather could best be described as cold and wet.

The only real ideas for cutting weight I have is to ditch the emergency / in case shit happens gear and dry compression sacks then to spend lots of money. I guess I know a few other things to cut but I suppose I want to hear it from others before I start cutting those comfort items.

Oh and one more question, how on earth does everyone know the weight of their gear down to a tenth of an oz. asides from googling the weight of a sheet of toilet paper?

Big 4:

pack: Kelty Redwing 50 (3 lbs 3 oz)

shelter: DoubleNest (20 oz.)
Straps (8 oz.)
RainFly (22 oz.)
4 aluminum stakes
2 aluminum carabiners

sleeping: 1/2 thermarest z lite (7 ounce)
REI Radiant +17 (2 lbs. 10 oz.)
sea2summit dry bag

Cooking: Primus Stove (8 oz)
GSI minimalist (6.3 oz)
weird plastic spoon/knife/fork thing
MSR Isopro (13.1 oz)
tinfoil shield

Clothing packed:
sea2summit dry bag
bandanna
knit hat
fleece
One change of clothes:
Polyester t-shirt
wool shirt (sleeves)
kuhl pants
underwear
2x wool socks
Mammut Kento Rain Jacket
pack cover

Food:
3L camelbak
couple granola bars
couple meal replacement bars
couple dehydrated meals
couple ramen noodles
small ziploc of trailmix
2 ziplocs
2 trash bags
instant coffee
Steri-pen
bear bag (Sea2summit dry bag + couple carabiners + 50'? of paracord)

The just in-case shit happens:
trail map
topographic map
pencil
cammenga compass
small first aid kit (alcohol, neosporin, Imodium, Vicodin, gaws, tape, butterfly stitches, band-aids)
lighter/vaseline fire starter/waterproof matches/magnesium block in small dry bag
rape whistle
fishing hook / line
chem light x2
aqua mira
foil blanket
iPhone

Misc / hygene:
pocket knife
black diamond headlamp
set of spare batteries for headlamp
toothbrush
travel size toothpaste
hand towel
tp
1 victory can of budweiser for reaching my destination
small paperback book

[Bob Gross]

"how on earth does everyone know the weight of their gear down to a tenth of an oz."

You weigh each item.

I suspect that most of us have some small digital scale that will measure grams or less, and the top end is maybe 500 or 1000 grams. Each item and its weight is placed into a gear list, and for many of us, the total math is done by a spreadsheet function.

You have a few silly items on your list, so you want to eliminate those before you look at this seriously. You will probably want to separate items into base weight versus consumables (food, water, and fuel).

–B.G.–

[Justin Baker]

Your gear doesn't look too bad. Some of the stuff you could do to lighten your pack would involve buying near gear.
.a lighter pack
.a lighter rainfly (sil nylon)
.a lighter sleeping bag for the expected temperatures (very expensive upgrade) or better yet since you're using a hammock, a enlightened equipment quilt. I payed like $240 for a 10 degree bag, it was a good deal.
.a lighter stove, look at the pocket rocket or alcohol stoves
.a lighter cooking pot, look at the open country 3 cup pot, inexpensive and 2 ounces lighter for the same capacity
.why are you carrying pants in your pack?
.why do you have two t-shirts packed away in your pack? I wear one shirt as my hiking shirt and have one shirt packed away as something clean/dry to change into at night. The hiking shirt usually gets washed and hung to dry overnight.
.if its cold enough to need a 20 degree bag, maybe a you need more than a fleece. a down jacket gives you a lot of warmth for the weight. carry a fleece for active hiking and then you have the down jacket stowed away for the night.
.mag blocks are heavy. i would go with one or two lighters and a firesteel for backup.
.those foil blankets are useless with a sleeping bag. If you are going to carry one, get the bivy version.

what was your total pack weight?
Overall your kit looks good. There are a few ways you can save weight cheaply but most of it will require spending money and upgrading the big items.

[Link .]

Mike Clelland(NOLs instructor and author),he has some great free videos on lightening up be sure to watch(his clothing system,the entire contents of his pack,water treatment and part 1 and 2 on the dinky stuff for ideas),this is an article he wrote The fastest way to backpack weight loss ,this is pmags Lightweight Backpacking 101 and The Frugal Backpacker – The $300 Gear Challenge .These are some other articles and videos for you to check out

Backpacking for Cheap: Gear for the Gearless

Backpacking Checklist (Gear List): 3-Season, 3-Day

Lightweight Backpacking 101: An Introductory Manual for Lightening Your Load Today (1st Edition – August 2001)

Cheap Ultralight Gear List

Ultimate Hiking Gear & Skills Clinic

Oregon Field Guide: Ultralight Hiking

Lightweight Testimony: Lighter, Farther, Faster
Jamie Shortt talks about his progression and shows his gear list for each stage, Lightweight Testimony: My Journey into Lightweight Backpacking
CleverHiker Light weight Basics
CleverHiker Trail Skills

[James Marco]

Pack: No pack should weigh more than 1 pound. I have an old Gossamer Gear Mini Posa (around 9 years old) that weighs about a pound. Some expected repairs were done, but it is still going strong and still in use.

Shelter: Use a shaped tarp, perhaps a ground cloth and shoulder net. Total is about 20oz. It packs up VERY small. If you have the dollars, get a cuben Hexamid solo plus or twin or equivalent. Still around 20oz(all said and done,) but it is easier to keep track of, though larger to carry. Learn to camp on good ground rather than depressions and water prone areas.

Bag: Your REI bag is OK for beginners. If you decide you like hiking/camping get a lighter bag at around 2 pounds or a quilt at around 1#4. A compression bag/dry bag will compress it to fit into a smaller pack, saving volume and pack weight. Just shake it out at camp. I use a 1#11 bag with a 12oz down jacket over a neo-air and manage to stay around 10 pounds. Good for 20F. Do not let your bag get wet! Even "dry down" will not fare well. BTW: I've been using this system for about 20 years.

Stove: OK. I use an old SVEA123r. I stay at around 10pounds with pack weight. Canisters are OK but difficult to resupply and maintain in the field. Easier to stop at a gas station for fuel after a week or two. In use for 40 years.

Clothing: I do not carry "extra" clothing for trips. I can wash them in a stream when I take a bath. I do carry a set of long johns for sleeping (keeps the bag/quilt much cleaner) and 2-3 pair of extra socks. Wear one, one drying, one spare set if I happen to wade across a stream (and rinse the rest of my cloths/socks out.) I do carry one fleece sweater or a wool sweater depending on the weather. I don't usually bring a rain jacket. I get wet. The fleece/wool keeps me warm enough when hiking down to about 20F, in camp, I set up the tent and bag, stripping off wet stuff and sit with my bag/jacket around me. Often, I will set up a line to dry cloths as I cook. No, they are never fully dry in the morning.

Food: Well that is pretty individual. I usually have a pound of jerky, a stick of pepperoni, some rice, noodles, mini-pasta, dried potatoes, dried mixed veggies, a few bullion, hot cocoa mixes, coffee, a few chocolate bars, some odds & ends and seasoning. It amounts to about 1.1 pounds per day or around 2300 calories per day. Yes I loose about 5# per week, I CAN afford it. Hell, I can afford 6-8 weeks of it, heh, ha! After three or four weeks it usually ups to about 1.5 pounds per day. After 6-8 weeks it jumps up to about 2 pounds per day.

Water: I use 2-500ml gator aid bottles and a steripen. For camp, I have a 2 liter Platty (I carry this empty except for the last watering hole at night.) Without water and including 1 set of spare batteries and a couple small bottles of back-up Aqua Mira, it all weighs about 8oz.

Maps & Navigation: This will vary a lot. Usually it is a one sheet copied and reduced to fit into a small snack sized zip lock. The compass is a small, but good piece I wear around my neck. All together it weighs less than 2oz. Sometimes I bring larger maps, or, a series, or a guide book…depends on the trail.

Sometimes in wet weather I bring an emergency blanket for a ground cloth. Sometimes I bring a pair of spare lighters. Sometimes I bring a book, but I go through them too quick to make them pay. My knife is a little Gerber LT I always carry. I carry an Impulse and an e+Light. The e+Light is clipped to my hat at night if I get stuck out hiking. My bandana works for multiple uses. I also carry a tooth brush tip scavenged from a cooglans kit) and some high fluoride content tooth paste (you need a prescription, but 4 weeks will fit into a tiny tube scavenged from the same cooglans kit.) For a first aid kit, I have about 5 yards of duct tape. Meds, well I have quite a few, so these get packaged by the day. I also carry a small journal and a small mechanical pencil. I have never needed more than this in over 40 years of hiking and camping.

Anyway, the base weight comes up to about 10 pounds. Sometimes it goes to 12, sometimes it drops to 6. It depends on the trip, duration I plan to be out, and my wife. She is always adding something "I forgot." (Not really forgotten, but don't tell her, last time it was an 8oz bottle of alcohol…I had my SVEA…which turned out to be Ever Clear!)

[John Almond]

Gonna take this in stages.

Free Gear Changes:

Leave these items behind:

1 x Wool Socks (I'm assuming that you wore one pair and carried two; you only need to carry one extra pair, if even that much.)
Polyester T-Shirt (Sleep in your wool shirt, instead.)
Kuhl Pants (Bring one set of pants. If you need long johns to sleep in, bring those; they'll be more weight efficient for the warmth than loose hiking pants.)
2 Ziplocks (What were these for? If you're doing FBC, keep these, but otherwise ditch.)
2 Trash Bags (No need for trash bags; use your used FBC bags or carry a single small bag if not doing FBC.)
Pencil
Fishing Hook/Line
Chem Lights
SteriPen (Use the AquaMira instead.)
Spare Headlamp Batteries (Make sure you change the batteries on the headlamp before leaving home for your next trip; this will ensure that you have fresh, charged batteries for the whole trip.)
Travel Size Toothpaste (If you're not on-trail for months at a clip, you'll get most of the benefit of tooth brushing just by brushing without toothpaste.)
Hand Towel (Use your bandanna instead.)
Foil Blanket
Budweiser
Paperback (Load e-books into your iPhone if you really want to read; you won't notice the weight of the extra electrons.)

Minimal Cost Gear Changes:

Change out the pack cover and Sea2Summit dry bags for a 3-mil contractor or lawn trash bag as a pack liner. This will cost ~$5.

Swap out your (heavy!) Primus stove and Isopro for a lightweight alcohol or Esbit stove (many options available for under $20; if you're handy, it'll cost you a pair of aluminum cans and some hardware cloth). Research is worth doing here, but Zelph, Minibull Designs, and Trail Designs are well thought of by most.

Look at your meal list. Make choices that are going to net you your caloric needs per day that are edible, but don't carry anything that's less than ~100 cal/oz on average (the "coffee" is going to pull that average down, but I'm not willing to leave it behind…make your own call here…). Cost is dependent upon what you want to eat, but–often–high calorie meals are cheaper than low calorie meals due to the average American consumer choices. If you choose meals that can be eaten with only a spoon, swap out your "weird plastic spoon/knife/fork thing" for a McFlurry spoon from McDonald's; long handle and lightweight.

Swap out your Camelbak for a pair of 1 L plastic bottles from your local gas station. Smartwater, Gatorade, and Powerade bottles are well-thought of by most (personally, I like the 0.75 L Gatorade bottles with the sport caps, but that's just me). In the Carolina mountains, you'll rarely need more than 1 L of water; carry a second one if it makes you feel better. You almost certainly won't need 3 L of capacity there. If you go elsewhere, revisit this depending on reliable water sources.

Swap out your paracord for 50 ft. of Zing-It or Lash-It from Dutchware ($11, 1.24 oz).

Moderate Cost Gear Changes:

Swap out your ENO Doublenest with straps and 'biners (28 oz + 'biners) for a Dutchware 11' PolyD hammock with whoopie hooks and 5-ft straps ($74, 14.03 oz). Add a structural ridgeline for comfort and ease of set-up ($6.50, 0.32 oz). This nets you a minimum savings of 13.65 oz.

Swap your heavy 22 oz rain fly for a Warbonnet Edge tarp ($85, 11.25 oz before stakes and lines). Add a Dutchware continuous ridgeline for ease of set up ($28, 0.67 oz) and four 6' Zing-It tie outs from Dutchware ($5.50, 0.62 oz). This nets you a minimum savings of 9.46 oz.

Swap the Mammut Kento jacket (12.9 oz) for a Luke's Ultralight silnylon rain shell ($79, 4.2 oz). This nets you a minimum savings of 8.7 oz.

Expensive Cost Gear Changes:

Swap out your REI Radiant +17 for a ZPacks 20* top quilt ($390, 16.7 oz). This nets you a minimum savings of 26.3 oz.

Add a 3-Season Yeti (20* rating, $190, 12.5 oz). This will cost you 12.5 oz, but it will also make sleeping in an hammock much more comfortable than trying to stay on a pad.

Last Gear Change:

Only once you've got everything else figured out on weight and bulk should you change your pack. Assuming that you manage to whittle everything down to the ~10 lb base weight and ~45 L total volume range (completely doable), you can save around 24 to 32 oz on the pack, depending on whether or not you want a frame. Here, pick a pack that fits over any other criteria: an ill-fitting pack is the second-worst thing you can carry on trail (badly fitting shoes are first). Try on as many packs as you can when you make this choice, as it will help you out immensely in making your choice.

The way to know how to fit your pack to your gear weight: add up your base pack weight (this is everything but fuel, food, and water), add 2 lbs/person/day of food weight and 2.2 lbs/liter of water. Do this for the longest (and driest) trip you're going to be out between resupply points. That's the weight your pack needs to be able to carry.

How to fit it to gear volume: take everything (including fuel and water containers), place it in a large cardboard box (or other rectangular container), level it out, and take measurements in both inches and cm. Multiply to find volume (divide your cubic cm result by 1,000 to find liters), and add 2 L/122 cubic in per person/day of food (also, if using collapsible water containers, don't forget to add the amount of L you'll be carrying in water). This is the volume your pack needs to be able to carry.

Hope it helps!

[jimmer ultralight]

You cut your cook kit weight in half without going to alcohol or Esbit.

I would sell off the bloated 8oz Primus boat anchor burner and get one of the $20 Ti BRS burners at less than an ounce.

THEN zwap out your equally heavy GSI pot for a Olicamp hard annodised Space saver 24 oz mug at 3.2 oz.

Then go with a full 110g MSR cannister at 8 ounces.Plenty of fuel for a five day trip.

You will have then dropped almost a FULL POUND andhave the same cooking capability for a 5 day trip. The new burner and cup are about $35 . Heck of a cheap way to drop weight with no real loss of comfort.

There are also several 45 to 50 liter 2 pound packs out there that cost well under $100 and would make good replacements for that 3lb plus Kelty..

[Author]

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