Cleveland National Forest Weekender

A knife and the Skeletool, ditch at least one. Goretex boots! Just wear tennies. Then you can leave the sandals at home. What are you planning on excavating with a ten ounce shovel? My Montbell trowel is 1.4 ounces. Try freezer bag cooking and leave most of the cookware at home. Where you going out there? Probably won't need the hooded down jacket this time of year. If those are extra shorts, boxers and shirt leave them behind. How much water capacity in that Nalgene? Those Leki poles. The weights are for each pole, are they not?

On there, I'm taking one pole at 7 oz, and no skeletool, just the small knife (this is my first effort at a list so i didn't get this thing to hide gear I'm not taking… The number in the "Take" column is if/how many I'm taking.) the hooded jacket is actually not for me, mostly just insurance against the girlfriend getting cold and then not wanting to go camping again. The nalgenes (2) are 32 oz capacity.

Also, I have no idea how much a shovel weighs so i was just making an uneducated guess there.

Anyone have experience with this guy?

Test out the blue pad on a hard surface before your trip. I find the Ridgerest much more comfortable.

I use a sturdy and long stick to dig cat holes. Rocks with an edge, trekking poles, and tent stakes also work well. This is my experience in Eastern US forests.

I think you'd enjoy a lighter pack, and using something like a plastic Gatorade bottle would save a few ounces over the Nalgene.

Add a pealess whistle, topo map, compass, and sunglasses. Lighters do fail sometimes, so having a second one, matches, or a firesteel as a backup is a good idea.

I'm not familiar with the temperatures and terrain you'll be in, but you'll need a minimum of 4 quarts per day ***(edit: per person)*** beyond what you use for food prep and washing. See if you can cache some water. Talk to national forest staff and see if they have ideas for how to obtain water or access routes for caching it.

Orange plastic trowel. Those weigh 3oz if I'm not mistaken.

Aether 85? Are you planning on hauling a dead body out there to be buried? That pack is way overkill for anything in Socal.

Also, there is still water in some places in Cleveland Nat'l Forest. Kitchen Creek and Pine Creek both still have water flowing.