I thru-hiked the PCT this year, and I thought I’d do a quick review on the gear I used. I did a lot of research before the trip, and in general, I was happy with most pieces of gear. I’ve only included the items that are likely to be interesting to UL folks.
Cooking System:
Evernew 1.3 L titanium pot: 5/5 stars. This was easy to clean and managed to keep its shape just fine despite being squished in my pack every day. The handle was great, and the lid fit the pot perfectly throughout the hike. The size was just enough for cooking a double serving of Liptons (Knorrs now) sides.
SuperCat stove (homemade): 5/5 stars. Worked terrifically in all conditions. I never timed it, but it boiled 2 cups of water in around 5 minutes and a bit over an ounce of fuel usually gave me enough extra to boil whatever was in the pot for another minute or two
BPL titanium foil windscreen: 5/5 stars. Allowed me to cook in winds over 30 mph. Only got one tiny tear in one corner and kept its shape reasonably well over 4½ months of use. Yeah, it’s not cheap, but anything else is probably going to be heavier or not last nearly as long.
Packing System:
Equinox silnylon stuff sacks: 5/5 stars. I had 3 of these (sleeping bag storage, ditty sack, clothes bag), and all were in nearly perfect condition at the end of the trip. I used the clothes bag as my pillow every night on the trail, and it never showed any wear.
ULA Circuit (2008 model): 3.5/5 stars. Under 20-25 lbs. total weight, this was extremely comfortable. Beyond that, I was carrying weight on my shoulders owing to sag in the pack. This made the pack quite uncomfortable for stretches where I had to carry a lot of food or water. Also, the strap that closes the top wore a hole in the packsack where the strap went over the carbon fiber hoop, and the webbing was starting to fray at a couple of points by the end. That said, I still might use this pack again since I liked a lot of things about it—the mesh pockets, the waist belt (super comfortable), the size, the overall weight.
Sleeping System:
Mountain Laurel Designs Superlight Bivy: 4.5/5 stars. This was maybe my favorite piece of gear, and I slept in it every night on the trail. Even with it zipped up, I had no moisture inside on relatively dry days (on wet days I did get moisture inside, especially around my head, but I think that’s unavoidable). I coated the bottom with seam sealer, and I used the bivy without a ground cloth with no ill effects. My one complaint is that one of the zipper pulls stopped working about 3 months into the trip, but the other still worked.
Western Mountaineering Summerlite: 4/5 stars: I sleep a bit cold, and I found that even with a bivy sack and a silk liner, I was quite cold in this bag when nighttime temps dropped below 30°. But for the more typical nighttime temps between 30° and 45° the bag was generally warm enough. It doesn’t have a neck baffle, but the hood cinches up nicely, so drafts were not a problem. The bag did lose quite a bit of loft over the course of the summer, but that may be in part because I wasn’t great about drying it for the first couple of months.
Sea-to-Summit Silk Liner: 5/5 stars. Mine has nearly 3000 miles on it now, and despite numerous trips to the washer and dryer (not recommended per the care instructions), it’s in great shape and doesn’t have any tears or holes.
Thermarest Z-rest (short): 4/5 stars: I’d only used the Ridgerest before this hike. The Z-rest is definitely not as warm, and on cold nights, I could feel the cold coming through the ground. But I thought that the pad kept its cushioning pretty well and was still comfortable to sleep on after 100 or so nights on the trail. Also, the easy folding was great since I used the Z-rest as a sitting pad on breaks several times a day.
Clothing System:
Patagonia Houdini windshirt: 5/5 stars. It’s as a good as advertised. Light, breathable, comfortable to wear, and for me at least, it had a great fit. The hood is especially nicely fitted and added a lot of warmth when I wore it. My only issue is that I got a couple of tears in one sleeve that might have happened in the laundry, but they didn’t spread, and they didn’t affect the garment’s function.
O2 Rainshield jacket: 5/5 stars. I still can’t get over how breathable this was. At the end of the day, I could put this on over my nylon shirt, which was soaked from sweat, and the shirt would dry within an hour or so under the jacket. I got a few tears in the outer layer of the jacket from bushwacking, but nothing that went all the way through the jacket or affected its waterproofing. I would want a more serious jacket for any trail that involved a lot of bushwacking, but given the price and the weight, I’m no longer coveting an eVent jacket.
Montbell Thermawrap jacket: 4/5 stars. It’s not especially warm, and if I wore this over my base layer while sitting around on a cold evening, I’d get chilled quickly. But it was perfect for cool evenings/mornings (like in the 40’s), and I slept in the jacket on almost every coldish night.
New Balance AT909 shoes: 4/5 stars. Extremely comfortable for the first 300 miles. After that, the cushioning went fast, and if I went over 500 miles in these shoes, the cushioning was gone. Still, these were the most comfortable trail runners I tried on, and I tried on a lot.
Shelter System:
Mountain Laurel Designs Grace Solo Tarp (Spectralite): 5/5 stars. Awesome. Lightweight, easy to pitch, almost noiseless when pitched well, doesn’t stretch or absorb water, and well constructed. I pitched this around 30 nights on my trip, and I never got wet underneath it.
Go-lite Shangrila 1: 3.5/5 stars. For Washington, where you can get monster rainstorms, I decided that I wanted something a little larger and more comfortable since I could be spending a lot of time under it. For 1 pound, the Shangrila is nearly bombproof and held up great in strong winds. That said, it’s not easy to pitch, and I rarely got a perfect pitch (though I’ve still only done it 10 or 12 times). Also, even with the tarp pitched several inches above the ground (and it has vents), I still got a lot of condensation underneath in cold wet weather. Maybe this is unavoidable in a single-wall shelter, but it made for some wet nights.
