Hey all…back from an amazing not-quite-completely-thru-hike of the Colorado Trail (more on that later) and wanted to share some thoughts I had about all the gear I tinkered with before I left
All in all my gear was pretty perfect with very few exceptions. We had nasty rain most of the time (it rained 30 out of 37 days, including a few scary moments of playing Marco Polo at 12,900' at dusk in thick fog) but no matter – it was a grand time!
– Euroschirm swing flex silver umbrella: Single greatest piece of equipment I have ever purchased and hiked with. Who doesn't use one of these things??? Best damned 8 ounces in my pack, hands down. Sun, wind, rain…no matter. Umbrellas simply rock.
– Rab Flashpoint 3-layer rain jacket, 6 oz (men's L). Just WOW. I never sweated in this, it never leaked through, and even if I put it on AFTER I got wet, I still dried out underneath. I simply had no dampness issues whatsoever. Did I mention it rained 30 out of 37 days??
– MLD Duomid + solo innernet. Honestly, there just isn't a better shelter out there for me. I'm only 5'7" so that helps, but having this much vestibule space and a bug-free haven is just wonderful, all for the low-low price of only 21 oz. I'm not buying any more shelters. Honest.
– Suntastics-5 solar charger. OK, I had my nook, a Delorme satellite tracker, a battery-sucking Sony camera, AND my iPhone (that I was using for a map as well as FaceTime and music) and at no point did I run out of juice on anything. did I mention that it rained 30 out of 37 days? No problem. EVEN ON CLOUDY DAYS it would keep my delorme topped off (I kept it plugged into the charger while I hiked) and could add 20-50% of a charge to the iPhone over lunch. This charger is just amazing.
– Sony RX100 mkiii. i am convinced there is not a better backpacking camera for someone who cares about image quality as well as being able to control everything about the shot. The more I use this camera the more I just love it…it does absolutely everything I want and need it to do and I just can't imagine lugging a DSLR or even a mirrorless on a longer trip at this point.
– Altra Olympus 1.5 shoes. MEH. Yes, they are cushy, but they did nothing for my foot pain and actually caused me to lose a big toenail and develop more blisters on my heels than I've ever had before (from the sinking into the footbed, I think). I swapped them out for my trusty Lone Peak 2.0s at the 200-ish mile mark and had nary a problem after that. So…
– Altra Lone Peak 2.0: love em. FOR ME, I think I have finally found shoes I can hike more than 100 miles in!
– Locus Gear carbon trekking poles with GG grips: love em. I have fallen on these things so many times, they have prevented so many disasters (I can be a bit clumsy at times) and they are still going strong. After 2 JMT hikes, 3 Big Bend/ranch hikes and now the CT, these poles are just amazing.
I did NOT take my new Katabatic Gear pack – I used my tried and true Zimmerbuilt, so nothing new to report there. I panicked a bit at the thought of taking a relatively untested pack on such a long trip…and my poor Zimmerbuilt was watching me pack up, all sad and lonely……….
I'll have a few more comments, particularly about my experimental nutrition/diet program, a bit later.
It's so hard to return to "civilization" after such a long and amazing trip!
