OATC-615 Gear Recap

[Jace Mullen]

So this is my gear Re-cap from my trip–OATC 615

Starting with the gear check I got oked fun at for my gear but in a jealous way.

My big three were the Gossamer Gear Mariposa with the torso length night lite pad which both preformed flawlessly. I loved the pack and all of the pockets on the outside were something new to me. Funny story about it though–One of the things I get from one one the guys with a big traditional pack was that my shoulder strap would rip off. In the end it didn't but his did. The removable waist belt pockets worked really well for storing all of my smaller smellables, I could just rip it off and throw it in the bear bag. The smallest pocket worked well so that I did not have to dig out gatorade for short fill up stops were the water tasted terrible. I did manage to overload it once. I had 8 meals and 4 liters of water. It may have not even been overloaded as the only thing that was hurting was my "back bunps" (I have multiple extosis which means that I have bumps on my shoulder blades that can hurt from rubbing, it got better when i took off the pack for lunch.

My tent was the GG squall classic which i only had to pitch twice but I did sleep in it for one week. It definitely looked cool amidst all of the bright tents. I did have a problem with having to re-tighten it every night but that wasn't that big of a deal really.

Sleeping bag was a WM ultralight bag that proved to be a little on the hot side for some nights–something that was easily remedied by unzipping. The shell did an admirable job at keeping the dew off the down whilst sleeping in the crater lake spar lot.

My toothbrush worked well but Dr. Bronners as toothpast did not work as well as I had hoped. We were "strongly encouraged" to not use the sump and to swallow the toothpaste–something that sounds like more fun then it is.

While I recieved doubt as to my water bottle choice (2x one liter smart water bottles) I really loved them. They were light and easy to drink from. In order to increase my capacity I did carry two 1L platypus's. This worked well as I could carry my water in those but still have a water bottle that was easy to pull out and put back in the mesh side pocket while in the trail. I also was able to save one the mix a drink in during lunch (I did not reserve it solely for this purpose though).

As far as rain gear (something I really did not need to use but once) I had a dri-ducks top and the ULA rain wrap bottom. I caught some flack for the rain wrap but it works. I never really had to use it. The rain gear also fit inside the mesh pockets on my pack. The one time I needed it I did not even have to take off my pack in order to put on the rain jacket–I took off one shoulder strap and swung my pack around and took it out and unzipped the jacket. After that I switched shoulder and put on the other half then just zipped it up; that was one thing that the other guys were in awe about.

I wore Vasque trail runners. They worked very well for water crossings. In my own words they are "waterproof because they aren't waterproof at all". Unfortunately I did get one or two blisters on the 26 mile day, but I was fine overall. For socks I used Smart wool heavy socks. I should have went for the dress-sock approach (I still need to experiment with that though.)

I wore the same pair of pants for the whole two weeks but one shirt for the trail building week that I then send back to basecamp along with my heavy "work boots" (mountain boots I decided to use for the work). I wore one shirt for the entire week, the pants I washed before hiking. New socks after a week also.

As far as layers I had a REI fleece thingy and my WM flash jacket. I used long underwear for sleeping clothes. Smart wool top, patagonia Cap 3 pants.

As far as headlamp mine worked well until it was stolen by a burro at Harlen (long story). I was able to go the last few days without it, even with morning hiking (3 A.M. with a full moon).

For mess kit I used a throwaway plastic bowl from Henry's which proceeded to crack about a week in. It was still useful however. For the first week and a few days of the trek I used a bamboo fork for food. It broke and I had to pick up a new spork at the Ute Gulch Commissary.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

[David LaRue]

Jace,

So what happend to your headlamp?

"As far as headlamp mine worked well until it was stolen by a burro at Harlen (long story). I was able to go the last few days without it, even with morning hiking (3 A.M. with a full moon)."

A burro "stole" it??

(Ready for long story) ;-)

[Jace Mullen]

Well…

We were sleeping in the Hayloft at Harlen which was pretty cool. However the next morning when we were packing the burrows took a particular interest in us. I had all of my worldly possessions on the ground by my pack and started putting them all away. I finish up and look around to make sure that I got everything. Nothing was there so I guess I did. While I was packing I was also petting a burro and when I looked away i guess he had taken the headlamp and walked off with it. I know it was there and then it wasn't when I finished packing. I didn't realize what had happened until two nights later at Tooth Ridge Camp.

Lessons learned I guess.

This reminds me, I still need to go get a new headlamp.

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