2016 PCT Thru Gear List | Hammocking

Good on you for the PCT! Lookin forward to seein some updates.

A couple things caught my eye.

• Why bring the sleeping pad if you have an underquilt?
• Consider something a bit lighter than Dutches Halfwit. Mountain Wilderness Gear makes a 11ft hammock that weighs 10 oz with suspension and packs down to the size of a softball. Soft as hell as well. Then just get a Zpacks bug mesh head net. It’ll save you quite a few ounces.
• Is the Bluetooth Keyboard really worth that half a pound? What if it gets wet?
• What about the flag? I don’t know, if I was on the trail and I saw a guy walking around with a flag on his bag, I’d be a bit confused.

In conjunction to your winter gear, I wouldn’t carry it until you needed it. Get it mailed out to you when necessary, shave some pounds.

Also, your Japanese knife is mega-badass. Considering ordering myself one.

Hiya, thanks for the feedback! I may have a handful of times I have to go to ground or want to if I don’t want to leave a group I’m with and we’re approaching a pass, above the treeline, etc. so I have a minimal sleeping pad for that. In a worst case scenario, it can go home. I like my hammock so far, it’s a good mix of comfort and lower weight, I went with 1.6 / oz material over 1.1 for comfort, etc. If my ultimate goal was to carry as little weight as possible, the hammock would be the first thing to go as I’m incurring a 2.8 pound penalty for carrying it and the underquilt… but it’s glorious sleep! I sleep in it most nights in my living room and prefer it over my bed, but that 3 pounds though!

As you can see, I’m heavy on luxury items…. extra knife, kite, keyboard … etc. I’m about 11 ounces heaving with the keyboard, tripod and other stuff I’m going to be documenting my trip with, not things I would normally bring. I’ve been reading a ton of PCT journals and most are pretty mediocre and most people usually quit blogging early in their trip ….  but there are a few writers that have done a great job and I’ve learned a lot from them. My hope is that I will be able to create a similarly useful resource …

Without the hammock, I’m closer to 14, but even then, this is almost my full winter rig, so if I find I’m not comfortable with the weight or unused items, they can go in the mail home anytime …

And winter gear is definitely going to be mailed to Kennedy Meadows, not carrying that until necessary!

Do I have room for improvement? A lot actually… 17 pounds is pretty heavy by my previous standards, but a lot of my gear, systems and goals are a work in progress that can change at any time … only time will see which bets I’ve made play off and which were total failures …. and a lot of my reasoning may probably be only making a whole lot of sense to myself … which is pretty normal … haha! On the other hand, If I wasn’t hammocking and was at 14 pounds, I would be 110% ok with that. Like not even thinking twice, since I’ve almost got a full winter rig …. so that helps give me perspective and justify the 17 with a hammock … at least for now it does@  Hope this helps a bit. Thanks for your feedback, cheers!