Big SEKI Loop in August

[Theo Diekmann]

Hi everyone,

In a different thread (http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=103781), Adam encouraged me to post my gear list for the Big SEKI Loop attempt that my friend and I will do beginning Aug, 3rd.

https://www.geargrams.com/list?id=25934

Note that I did not account for shared equipment (I will probably just make my friend carry the jetboil). I plan to do the trail in 11 days.
The list is by no means final and I'd appreciate your input on several questions. However, feel free to mention other points, too!

A general remark: The Pinnacle starts becoming really uncomfortable for me at too heavy loads, which is why I'd like to minimize the starting weight.

Mainly, I'm unsure about some temperature-related questions:
– Sleeping Bag: I have the MLD Spirit 28 and the Brooks Range Alpini 15 (rated at 15F). Which one should I take? A glance at the weather report showed Mt. Whitney nighttime lows of about 40F, which should be fine with the MLD.
– Hat: I'm taking a Smartwool Running Beanie (=relatively thin). In addition, I could take nothing (0g), a woolpower balaclava (200g/m^2, 41g) or the thicker MLD Apex Balaclava (69g).
– Do I need gloves?

– What pegs should I bring? My Tarp needs 6 pegs at least, rather 8.
I noticed a lot of people here use Ti skewers (mine weight 8g per piece). However, I found the ground hogs (15g per piece) easier even in hard soil as they can take a pounding whereas the skewers easily bend. What do you vote for? Or should I bring a combination of both?

– What do you think about my clothing system?
I think I can hike in my T-Shirt with arm warmers and windbreaker comfortably down to about 5C. For anything below that, the Nanopuff Pullover serves as a backup. I could also bring dedicated long Merino underwear (weighing in @208g for the shirt and 171 for the longjohns, respectively). If I'd take them, they would also replace my silk sleep-clothing.

– What abour rain pants?
I'm currently planning on bringing the MLD rain kilt. I could also bring the DriDucks pants (119g) or the Berghaus Paclite Pants (207g) or just ditch rain pants altogether.

– Food storage:
The food for the first two days won't be in the canister, as we sleep at a food locker during the first night. Should I bring an odor-proof sack or am I going to be fine if I don't walk away from my backpack?

Potential weight-savings:
– The Pinnacle is as stripped down as I'd like at the moment (hydration bladder removed, straps shortened). I hesitate to remove the foam backpanel as I believe it does some weight transfer to the hipbelt.
– Pillow: Yes, it's not technically needed. However, the stuffsack-pillow option probably won't work due to lack of excess clothing. Also, it really improves my sleep quality.
– I could remove the liner from my strider pants

I think those are the most pressing questions I can think of at the moment. However, feel free to point out other issues or weight-saving potential.

Thank you guys so much in advance!

[Andrew U]

Some opinions:

Don't ditch the pillow. I know that from the quality of sleep I get from mine, it could weigh 8 ounces and I'd still take it.

Stakes: take a combo. 4 groundhogs for the corners and 2-4 ti skewers for side pullouts

Rain Kilt is a good idea. It'll be August, you shouldn't have to worry about your legs freezing off if they get a little wet.

I think the 28 degree bag should be plenty. You have plenty of extra clothes to layer appropriately if you need extra oomph.

If nighttime lows are averaging around 40, I'd plan on an extreme of 10 degrees colder. Dropping to freezing is always a risk up high, even in summer. The beanie should suffice without a full on balaclava; if it does drop that low you could wrap another piece of clothing around your neck to keep warm.

I always take gloves, FWIW. Just a cheap pair of 1.5 oz/pair fleece.

[Aaron D]

Your list looks pretty good to me for the Sierra.

Here are a few suggestions

Boots– Why? You'd be a lot more comfortable in a pair of solid trail runners or something half as light.

Shorts + Pants — Could you leave one or the other at home? I prefer pants, but on the Big SEKI loop in August you could probably get away with shorts only.

2 pair of sleeping socks – eliminate at least one of these. I bring a total of 2 pair of socks on a trip and always wash/dry the non-worn pair so that each night I can put on a clean pair.

[Dylan Atkinson]

I agree that your Spirit quilt should suffice for the hike in combination with your puffy. With a buff and lightweight beanie your dome should be plenty warm. As for gloves, I would definitely bring 'em.

For stakes I vote for a combo – groundhogs for the corners and skewers for the sides. Also work on some knots to use rocks as anchors – careful with those groundhog stakes as they will break if you hammer on 'em.

You should be plenty warm during the day with t-shirt and arm warmers and a wind shirt. I would stick with the silk layers for sleeping and leave the merino.

Rain kilt will be fine – no need for rain pants.

As for food storage – I generally bring a loksak to store my daily rations so I don't have to get into my bear can. You can use that or just a gallon ziplock.

If a pillow improves your sleep then take it.

I also think the pants and shorts is overkill – which do you prefer hiking in? If it's both, take convertible pants.

Also, I would suggest only taking one pair of sleep socks.

[Theo Diekmann]

Thanks for the input, everyone!

Thanks for the confirmation in terms of the pillow. For my personal confirmation: The pillow weight is exactly the weight I managed to strip down from my Pinnacle :D

Pegs: You say 4 groundhogs for side plus some skewers. What about the ridgeline? 6 groundhogs is more reasonable then, isn't it? As to knots and rocks: Should I be prepared to use rocks only as guyouts? My lines are probably a tad short for that (although I could make it work if I have sticks at my disposal).

Gloves and beanie: I'll take the gloves and probably nothing in addition to the beanie. Andrew, using clothing if it turns out to be insufficient is a good idea.

Shorts: I'll probably ditch them. I like long pants b/c they eliminate the need for sunscreen on the legs. Won't be getting any tan, though :'( ;)

Sleeping socks: I was planning to bring one pair, the other one was an error. But I'll ditch those. I usually bring them b/c of the wetter climate in Europe ("never let your sleeping socks get wet!"). As severe and long rain showers probably won't be a big issue, I'm gonna ditch the sleeping socks and just bring two pairs of liner socks plus one pair of hiking socks.

Boots: I've done one 8 or 9 day hike with trailrunners so far. I loved it, but afterwards my feet/ankles were pretty beat up because they had to do so much work. That trail involved a lot of uneven terrain and soccer-ball-sized pebble stones, though. How are the trails in the Sierra? If they are mostly somewhat even I might consider bringing trailrunners. FWIW, I found them fine on the Half dome hike in Yosemite – but then again that hike is hardly representative of the Sierra I guess.

Rain Kilt: Everybody says rainpants isn't needed. Should I ditch the rain kilt, too?

Food-storage: So ziplocks are sufficient? Even for smelly stuff like beef jerky?
I'll have the first to days' rations outside the bear canister (we sleep next to a storage box on the first night).

Again, thanks to everyone for the input!

[Andrew U]

As far as stakes go, set it up with all groundhogs and then decide which, if any, aren't really bearing a lot of weight and replace those with the skewers.

Or just use all groundhogs. That's what I do. Holding power trumps saving an ounce IMO. Especially if you like to camp exposed in windy places.

It will probably be warm enough that you won't need the rain kilt, assuming you are okay hiking in occasionally damp pants. You have sleep clothes to change into at night anyway.

[Adam White]

Lots of good input already–I'd second most/all of it.

My only additions:

How often do you intend to pitch your tarp? Rocks will be plentiful on your route. I've stopped carrying stakes in the Sierra, and I use a tarp with 8 tie-outs as well. I save the weight of the stakes, but I do have to farm some rocks whenever I do pitch the shelter. More often than not, there's dozens right where I'm standing. If you're in serious weather, you're piling rocks on top of your stakes anyway. Definitely no right/wrong way here, just my $0.02.

I would leave the spare boxers at home. Every afternoon, when it's hot, I tend to give myself a dousing (keep reading–I spelled that right; that's the word I want), and I dump a few litres over my head, into my shirt, into my shorts. This is close enough to doing laundry to keep me sufficiently clean.

I'd leave the stuff sack for the bivy at home. I'd probably leave both the quilt and the clothing stuff sacks too, and just add a garbage bag (or spiffy MLD pack liner). If it's going to rain, put things in the liner; if not, no problem.

Can you leave the case for the sunglasses? Not sure how much the case weighs, but 4.83 oz seems like a lot for sunglasses.

I'd leave the microfiber towel. You already have a bandana (and if push comes to shove, your OR Sun Runner neck thingy).

Lastly, the wind shirt and the rain coat is a debated topic around here. I'm not familiar with the nano puff or how warm it is, but could that suffice instead of the wind shirt? I understand that they're completely different garments, but presumably, the wind shirt is to add warmth while hiking. If the nano puff vents well or isn't too warm (it's synthetic, right?), could you leave the wind shirt and save 0.25 lbs?

You just posted while I was typing…so I'll add:

Yes, the ziploc will be fine. It isn't like bears smell food, and come running to take it from you. They can smell the food in your canister, too. I carry all of my first days snacks in the outer mesh of my bag, sometimes in a ziploc, sometimes not.

I don't know what to say about the trails–they don't seem rough to me. Some are rocky, but soccer-ball sized boulders? I don't know about that. I hike in trail runners in the Sierra. Certainly, much of the trail you'll be on will be pristine, smooth and fast. Near the passes–in some cases–it gets a little rocky. Still, nothing outlandish.

I second Andrew about the kilt–I'd leave it at home, and just be willing to hike in damp pants.

[Theo Diekmann]

Adam,

Your judgement is spot-on. I like the critical outside-the-box thinking behind many of your suggestions, although in many cases I'm not willing to sacrifice the comfort ;)

Your tarp logic makes sense but I will take the stakes as I'm not so familiar with the magic of Sierra weatherforecasting yet, so I'll probably end up pitching it rather often.

No spare boxers is a little too rogue for me ;)

I thought about the pack liner thing. I find packliners annoying to deal with. But then again, so is a heavy pack. Plus I might not even have to use it… I'll keep this one in mind. Does anybody happen to know the weight of a heavy-duty 120L trashbag?

The sunglasses case is ridiculously heavy but the only one I have, unfortunately. I could probably look for a lighter one, but I wouldn't go with anything too fragile as I wear prescription glasses/sunglasses so I don't want them to break.

Bandana+Towel is kind of redundant, yes. I might just cut off a smaller piece of the bandana to use for the pot, I don't really need the whole thing.

My windshirt is one of my most worn items on trail. The nanopuff could not do the same job (I'd die in this thing in anything warmer than 40F). My rainshell potentially could, though. However, the windshirt breathes way better. I guess I could go rainshell-only if I only rarely need the wind-protection/extra warmth. How often do you think I will? On google images, those mountain passes sure looked windy to me :D

Rain Kilt is likely to stay at home.

Your description of the trails sounds really good. Since this entire trip is a bit of an experiment (pack-weight, distance, elevation etc.), I'll probably just go with trailrunners and do an early exit if things don't work…

[Dylan Atkinson]

Theo,

Grab a trash compactor bag instead of a regular trash bag – they are stronger and most come in white which makes looking for things in your bag much easier.

I used to pack a windshirt without question but recently I've been doing without. Honestly, the only time I really needed it was in the morning when I started hiking and within 20 minutes I took it off. If you really are spending time on the summits then a rain coat will easily take care of the wind. If you are cold in the evening don your nano puff and rain jacket. Cold in the morning you can wear your nano puff but I guarantee you'll warm up quick.

I agree that you'd be fine in trail runners as long as you've used them before – the trails are very well maintained but there are sections with tricky footing, large drops and loose talus.

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