The URL is to my PDF gear list on my profile. It is still too heavy. We were OK but with all the ups and downs a lighter kit would have been nice. Still learning.
I have a pretty good kit, not the fanciest or the very lightest items, but close. But the totals still come nowhere near as low as others report. Partly I am carrying gear for others, but even disregarding that, I still could use some suggestions for winnowing.
Here are the additional notes copied from the foot of the PDF gear list, for the sake of discussion:
We carried more food weight than we needed. Partly this was because of inexperience with longer trails, and worry that we’d be hungrier than we were. Some of the food was wet food, and therefore heavier. Examples include foil packs of tuna and chicken, olive oil, fresh cheese, flour tortillas, pita bread, Java Juice, and a cup of wine.
There are some items that, in hindsight, were clearly not necessary, such as the Solio and the binoculars.
One item I would add is a proper food hanging bag that would hold all the food and cooking items. We used my pack for the bear hangs, and it got wet hanging in the mist overnight, which made it heavier during the days. Plus it was a pain to get up and down from the hangs.
Although we were hiking as a pair, I carried all of the shared equipment, including the tarp, water filter, first aid kit, and all the cooking kit stuff and fuel. Robert carried his own clothes and personal items, his own “tools & toys” (camera, poles, knife, eating utensils, that kind of stuff), his sleeping stuff, and outerwear. He felt he needed some of his extra clothing and larger sizes of items like sunscreen, and he was worried that he would not be able to complete a long hike, so I took on more of the gear to give him a chance to work up to it. His pack (Osprey Atmos 65 L, ’09 model) weighed less than mine when filled, but not a lot less. He did take a whole lot of snacks, and had probably a couple of pounds of trail mix and snack bars left over, that he gave to another hiker on the last day.
We had about 4 oz. of fuel alcohol left over, but with a burn ban in place I didn’t want to risk running out, since a cook fire would not have been a legal option.
It seems like hiking as a pair would be more efficient, weight-wise, but it doesn’t seem to work that way very well for me. Partly this is because when I have someone with me I bring extras for a margin of safety so I can take care of my companion(s).
We came prepared for colder weather than we got. I could probably have gotten by without the gloves, and maybe even with the Kilo Flash sleeping bag instead of the Halo, but you don’t know for sure in the mountains, and it could have gone the other way.
I got away with protecting my sleeping bag with only the pack liner, but it was risky. With more rain, a breached pack liner (only plastic after all), or a serious river dunking, I might have had a soaked down bag, not a good idea. So I am thinking I should add some kind of dry sack for it, at least for wet climates.
This was for the 6 days from Frying Pan Creek to Mowich Lake, clockwise. The first 4 days from Mowich Lake to Frying Pan Creek were done in a larger group (7 of us) with some different gear. For example, we cooked with a MSR Dragonfly and a couple of larger Open Country aluminum pots, had a larger first aid kit, and an even greater excess of food, because the kids (grown up 20-something kids) were sure they were all going to starve and, worse, suffer caffeine withdrawal.
