My Summer UL Gear List

Minus food and water I think I got the weight in my pack below 10 pounds.

There are only two things I am not giving up: My knives and my cigars!

Looks pretty good.

I would ditch the extra batteries for the headlamp.

You have 4 fire starters, you could downsize here.

I would use just the Polar pur. I started out using a Frontier Pro and Aqua Mira and now just use just the drops because the filter clogged up after 3 liters. Just my experience though.

A GG Spinntwinn would weigh in at just under 9 oz while providing equal or better coverage.

+1 on the heavy tarp. You might have gotten a good deal on it or something but there are MUCH lighter options out there.

I actually think the Etowah tarp is worth it….it gives you complete 360 coverage to the ground, and closes up completely….so it's more protection than a lighter tarp provides, and, unlike with the other tarps, you won't need a bivy with it.

If I am only going to be out for a weekend I probably don't need extra batteries do I? I have the Photon light if the batteries die in the EOS anyway.

I guess I could ditch the matches. They will only last so long anyway. The Bic lighter could go as well as I will always have my Zippo. The ferro rod and Landmann firestarters(its tinder) kinda go together.

I really didn't want to rely on chemical treatment alone, it would be more of a backup. When its hot, after a while the iodine taste just drives me insane. Ive had the Frontier Pro for a little while now and I like it alot but I guess I could leave it behind on shorter trips.

Yeah, I know its kinda heavy compared to sil-nylon tarps but it is 1/3 the weight of most two man tents and far more durable then both. Thats the main reason I am going with it. It doesn't hurt that the nylon tarp costs about half what most sil-nylon tarps do. I am just trying to get the lightest and most durable for the least amount of money.

My insights and feedback:

-fleece sleeping bag- 24oz. – question, what is a FLEECE sleeping bag?

-Light My Fire Scout ferro rod and striker- 1.8oz.
-strike anywhere matches in match-case- 1.8oz.
-Bic lighter

Above are 3 different fire starters for a short trip with out a stove. Just take one.

-Zippo lighter — What?!?! this makes FOUR fire starters on a trip without a stove. No way…

-EZE-LAP two sided diamond sharpening stone – A sharpening stone? C'mon, Is this a joke?

-extra batteries – Extra batteries for a short trip is un-needed.

Clothing
-2x Cloudveil Clutch shirts- Two shirts? Why?
-2x Patagonia Capilene boxer briefs -5oz. @ pair of underwear? Too many, one is FINE.
-2x polyester sock liners
-2x Darn Tough merino socks- (see sock comment below)

*On person

-Cloudveil Clutch T-shirt – and this makes 3 shirts?!
-Patagonia Capilene boxer brief – this make 3 pair of underwear?!

-Vermont Darn Tough merino socks
-sock liners — and this makes 3 sets of socks and sock liners. Too many. Two is plenty.

-Pocket survival kit – What is in this?

-Wenger Evo-Grip 18 pocket knife
-ML Kephart knife – What?!? Two knives? No way. One is MORE than enough. Take a 0.1 oz single edge razor. Really.

-wallet – No need.

-Photon Freedom micro LED – an extra headlamp? No need, one is plenty.

Hey, Joseph-
Bottom line, if you're under 10 pounds you're doing great. There's always room for improvement though, right?! Of the people on this forum, I'm admittedly one of the heavier packers–and I thought you packed heavy a few places.

You can only wear so many shirts at once. If you're going to wear a Clutch shirt, you don't need two in the pack. One at the most, but I'd instead wear one and pack a midweight long-sleeve item of some kind. Likewise, one pair of underwear worn and one spare in the pack should be fine even for multi-week outings. (Granted, romance and GF might necessitate extra cleanliness, depending on your situation.)

I never recommend synthetic bags because of their poor durability and more, but you might check out Marmot's Pounder for a 1-pound, inexpensive summer bag.

For water treatment check out Sawyer's inline filter. 1.8 ounces & ~$45; you're at a combined 7+ ounces.

I know you like knives, won't mess with that or the sharpener. (But do you need the evogrip?) Fire-wise, a lighter and a sparklite are all you really need. There's probably overlap in the pocket survival kit and other items you have listed. Check for light options therein… for example, I'd always carried a Storm whistle, but found that it weighs .75 ounces vs .3 ounces for a (louder) Jetscream. You find five or ten tiny items with little weight differences like that and all the sudden you're talking about a quarter pound savings, easy.

A small alky stove would be a sensible addition–a soda can stove and a bit of foil, a water bottle from the gas station and you're looking at two ounces or less to have a basic stove. Can make life a lot easier.

Oh, and the bivy is really heavy. If you wanted to stick w/AMK, their emergency bivy is 3.8 ounces & $15. WM makes an awesome (& durable) VBL at ~4ounces, costs $90.

Never seen a cheap fleece sleeping bag at Wally world or K-mart?

Fire starters are for starting fires as the name implies. Anyway, I dropped the matches and bic lighter. So all thats left is the Ferro rod and Zippo. I am not going to have a stove but I will need firestarting supplies to light campfires and and a lighter for my cigars.

Why would a sharpening stone in my list be a joke? How will I sharpen my knives when they become dull?

You think three shirts, three pairs of boxers(BTW thats 5 oz. for both) and three pairs of socks would be too much for a two week long backpacking trip.

Flashlights like any other piece of technology will fail, it makes sense to have a backup. Same thing goes for knives IMO. "No way. One is MORE than enough." Enough for what? Do you even know what I do in the woods? Not only am I a backpacker I am also very interested bushcraft and wilderenss survival. Which also explains why I have a survival kit and need a sharpening stone.

Some people carry a large and heavy camera, tripod and alot of equipment around while they are backpacking because they are interested in photography. Does that sound strange to you? Have you ever brought a fishing rod with you on a backpacking trip, you probably didn't bring it for no reason……………

I added up the weights you listed and came up with 10 lbs. This does not include the number of items with no weights listed (including most of the clothing). That looks like at least another 5-8 lbs.

I did a 3-week hike last year without any extras socks, shirts, or underwear. I would wash out the undies and socks every few days. And used wool that didn't stink.

Does your knife become unusable dull after a few weeks on the trail? Are you doing wood carvings? For backpacking few here use their knives much at all and are unlikely to need sharpening even for an entire thru-hike.

I agree on the extra flashlight. I take a photon rex and an extra normal photon as backup. Total weight 1 oz.

The difference between a camera and fishing pole and your list is that we all know how a camera and fishing pole will be used. If you would like more helpful feedback you might tell us what you'll be doing beyond "standard" backpacking trips.

If your Cloudveil Clutch is the same as the one on their site, each one weighs 6.7 ounces. 3 shirts is 19.7 ounces. FWIW, most of my trips last 10 days or more, and I only wear one shirt. I don't bring a spare–that's kind of the point of bringing quick-dry clothing. Stink shouldn't matter in the woods, but merino does a remarkable job at minimizing odor. In place of the 13.4 ounces of short-sleeve shirt in your pack I'd add the afore-mentioned long-sleeve midweight of some sort–like a 260 weight icebreaker. Regarding socks, you have 6 pair, not 3 pair… I, for one, am well aware of your interest in bushcraft, and have shared many of those interests at one point or another, but do urge you to take a close look at what each item in your survival kit (and the overlapping things) weigh. The two survival kits I just compared of my own (old and new) have nearly a pound difference just between little things like 1.35 ounce and 0.79 ounce for a compass. The weights add up quickly.

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I expected some negative comments about my knives but I tried to warn everyone. I love talking knives but I am not really gonna go into it anymore. There is another thread discussing knives. Besides I don't think anything I say will make you guys understand why I carry them. Lets just agree to disagree. Same thing goes for the survival kit. I am not trying to sound ungrateful, I really apreciate your guys help. There is just a few things I am not leaving behind. If any of you ever share a campsite with me I will build the fire.

Clutch Shirts? To tell you all the truth I don't even know if they are clutch shirts. I picked up three nearly new Cloudviel shirts at Goodwill for $2 each. I went to Cloudveils website and the Clutch shirt was the closest looking to what I had bought. You guys are probably right about too much clothing but I am not going to go out for any trip but a overnight without a fresh change of socks and underwear and shirt. I will change the number of sets of clothing to just two. Before any of you mentioned it I was actually thinking about asking you guys if a long sleeve shirt would be a good idea. I have a few expedition weight zip neck long johns from LLBean. I also got a Marmot long sleeve shirt at Goodwill for $2 as well.

What do you guys think about a poncho? I found one that looked pretty good and only weighs 8 oz. It would knock out the weight from the rain jacket, pants and pack cover(13 oz.). They are inexpensive and multipurpose!

Also if you guys find the weight of something on my list I would be very gratful if you posted it. It would help find things that are heavy (like three shirts!) so I can replace it with something else.

I just changed from the heavy sharpening stone to a much lighter 2"x6" piece of 600 grit sandpaper glued to a piece of cardboard. Thats the best method for sharpening my convex knife anyway.

– – – You wrote:
"I dropped the matches and bic lighter. So all thats left is the Ferro rod and Zippo."

– – – My reply:
You dropped the LIGHTEST options, and kept the HEAVIEST. The ZIPPO is heavy compared to a mini-bic lighter. Take the lightest option. If you feel the need a redundant fire-starter, a simple book of paper matches is by far the lightest.

– – – You Wrote:
Why would a sharpening stone in my list be a joke?

– – – My reply:
I realize you like taking more than one knife. But, the perceived "need" for a knife is different than the desire to have one. I take a single edge razor blade for two-weeks. That's all.

– – – You Wrote:
You think three shirts, three pairs of boxers (BTW thats 5 oz. for both) and three pairs of socks would be too much for a two week long backpacking trip.

– – – My reply:
Yes. It's too much. I go out for 14 days with one shirt, one pair of running shorts (no undies) and 2 pairs of socks. Nothing beyond that. You'll be fine.

– – – You wrote:
Flashlights like any other piece of technology will fail.

– – – My reply:
Care of equipment is a skill. If you take only one headlamp (and that's enough) you will need to be careful with it. You'll be with a camping partner, so your team will have an extra headlamp. I do 30-day trips with one headlamp, and no back up batteries.

ALSO:
Here's a link to my gear list on my profile page. This may help give you an idea of my items and style of UL camping.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/backpackinglight/forums/gear_lists/80a5cd1800fbac69c35fad3f320f5461.pdf
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Pound for pound or gramm for gram :) the Ferro rod will start more fires than both a book of matches and a Bic lighter. It is also more durable and works when wet.

No! not the Zippo. I would look like a absolute fool lighting my cigars with a neon green Bic lighter. Thats what the guys who smoke the watermellon or some other girly flavored cigarillos would do. I have an image to protect. So you see I have to bring my Zippo.

Need, desire? Who decides what is what? Some would argue that a 10 pound base weight is a desire. Do we have to have a base weight of 10 pounds or less? No, the truth is we want that so we are more comfortable while backpacking, Right? Why else would we want it? I choose to have certain things because I am uncomfortable without them. I hope that makes some sense?

Clothing? I came to a compromise, If my fiancee is with me I will carry two sets for her sake. If I am by myself I will only bring one shirt, one set of underwear, one pair of sock liners and two pairs of socks. I can walk around camp shirtless and camando style as I wash them and while they dry and if they aren't dry by morning who cares its summer time. I am not going to freeze. So I see your point.

I have only had two headlamps in my life. One was a Petzl Tikka Plus that was dropped in a river by a friend while on a canoe trip just a few months after I bought it. The other one is the Princeton Tec EOS that is on my list. So taking care of gear is no issue. Batteries die, things are lost, little circuits(or whatever you call them) burn up without any warning after years of no problems at all. I could rely on my hiking partners headlamp but why would I. The extra security the Photon Freedom gives is worth the negligible weight.

Joseph, man! Definetly downsize on the fire-starters! A Bic in a ziploc bag with strike anywhere matches and a striker is MORE than enough!

I have altered my list once again and I have brought my base pack weight down below 10 pounds. I should be able to do a weekend (3 days 2 nights) with under 20 pounds in my pack.

Would you guys be happy if I switched out the LMF Scout for a LMF Mini ferro rod? I won't even bring the striker!
But I am keeping the Zippo.

I am also ditching the wallet for a Omniseal waterproof license holder. I just remembered I had one from a surival kit that I never finished.

"I would use just the Polar pur. I started out using a Frontier Pro and Aqua Mira and now just use just the drops because the filter clogged up after 3 liters. Just my experience though."

Stuart,

I find that mine clogs too, but it is just algae in the pre-filter. Uncrew and remove the "snot" with 2 fingers.

You could ditch the licence too. Just hide your keys and wallet in the car.

And why do you need to wash your clothes? I have a lot of experience doing extremely long trips (30-days) and I very rarely wash my clothes, and I almost never go swimming. Yes, everything stinks, but that's okay.

I am constantly surprised at how much energy folks that post on this site put into changing and washing. I mean, you wash, and then you just get sinky again.

ALSO – What do you actually have in your "survival kit" ? I really curious.

One word, Mike: Eeeeeww!

I don't leave anything of value in my truck at the trail head. All I will have in the Omniseal license holder will be my ID, credit card and some cash. It shouldn't weigh to much.

Washing clothes is just another way to stay human in the woods. I can't fall asleep when my clothes are sticking to my body. Also your clothes lose there insulation and probably breathability when they are full of body soil.

You wrote:
"your clothes lose there insulation and probably breathability when they are full of body soil."

I disagree. if this were true I would know it by now. I do 30-day courses in big mountain environments in Alaska, Canada, the Cascades and the Northern ROckies. I don't take anything extra. I've done trips like these for over 15 years. I pack carefully and only take enough to be warm in the environment I'm traveling in. And I do hard work with a mountaineering pack in wet places.

I'll add – You are still human even if you smell bad.

Every time I packed extra clothes I only ended up with one stinking set on my body and another stinking set in my pack.
Might as well keep my pack clean.

I've finally learned.