I set out to hike the PCT this last summer. The plan was for my wife to join me for the second half. Turns out she doesn’t really like thru-hiking all that much. Thus, my hike ended prematurely after hiking about half the distance. But that’s another story.
Anyway, I’ve finally gotten a little time to reflect, and figured I would provide a review of some of the gear and methods I used on the hike.
I made my own backpack. It incorporated a U-shaped aluminum rod for a frame, which attached directly to the hipbelt on the bottom. I made it with Dyneema X gridstop from thru-hiker.com, and some of the heavier Dimension Polyant X-pac fabric. Generally, the pack worked really well. The frame did wear through the X-pac fabric in a few spots, though. The holes were small and didn’t seem to affect the performance. We just moved and the pack in currently in storage, but once I get it I will take some photos and post something more about it.
I started the hike using symblissity bot spot water bottle holders on the shoulder straps of my pack. They worked ok, but they interfered with my vision of my feet slightly, were a bit cumbersome, and allowed my water to get warmer more quickly than I’d like. I switched to a hydration bladder after the first couple weeks. This was heavier, but worked to keep me happily hydrated.
I used gossamer gear trekking poles. Very soon after I passed the 1,000 mile mark, one of the poles broke when I was contorting myself to get at some mosquitoes that were feasting on my leg, and ended up tripping over one of the poles. At the next resupply, I used some epoxy and a small piece of PVC tubing to repair the pole. Literally one hiking day later, I slipped on some loose gravel and managed to break the same pole again (below my repair job) while falling. I met a lot of people on the trail who were using the poles, and every single one of them had broken one of their poles after around a thousand miles. So, you’d expect me not to recommend these poles, right? Wrong! They worked so incredibly well that I think their fragility is worth overlooking. The swing weight is so light, they dampen vibration so well, they adjust, and then hold their adjustment so well, and they are so stiff, that I have to say they are just the perfect set of trekking poles. Grant hooked me up with a replacement at a reasonable price, and I continued using them. In fact, I bought a second pair for my wife. And 1000 miles isn’t that bad. While a thru-hiker will experience breakage, it takes a lot of weekend trips to hit that mileage.
I wore coolibar fingerless sungloves. These were fantastic. I originally got them simply because, since I use trekking poles, my hands get more direct sun exposure than any other part of my body (since clothing covers everything else). They worked well for that, but I found them to be even more useful for two other reasons. First, they prevented the blistering and cracking that trekking pole straps can cause after being out in dry hot weather for a long time. Second, they absorb sweat really well, which made them perfect for wiping sweat from my brow. My other clothing didn’t work nearly as well for this. The first set of coolibar gloves I used lasted about 1100 miles before needing to be replaced, which I consider great given the abrasion against my pole straps. The second pair developed holes at the seams within a week. I think the second pair was just a lemon.
I wore an Outdoor Research Sun Runner Cap. This hat is ugly, and I tried to remove it before anyone took a photo of me. Nonetheless, I’ve tried a lot of hats, and this is by far the most comfortable. It wicks sweat well, protects from UV rays better than any other hat I’ve found, and is light. It can also protect from cold wind reasonably well if tightened down, and keeps mosquitoes from biting my head and neck.
For the desert section, I wore a long sleeve Nike Dry-Fit UV top . It’s not on the Nike website any more, so I don’t know whether they are still making it. It was the perfect shirt for the hot weather – blocked UV light, wicked sweat like nothing else, and was very comfortable. Unfortunately, mosquitoes could bite through it with ease, so I switched to . . .
A Railriders Adventure Top. It’s relatively cool with the mesh sides, provides good UV protection, is incredibly durable, mosquito resistant, is light, and doesn’t smell too bad even after a lot of use with no washing. The only downside is that it doesn’t wick sweat that well, so it wasn’t quite as comfortable as the Nike shirt in hot environments.
I wore Asics 2 in 1 running shorts. These were amazing. The inner liner is sort of a boxer brief style and is very thin and fairly snug fitting. Before I found these shorts, I had chafing issues on my upper thighs. Once I put these on, I never had any chafing again. They also have no zippers, so there is nothing to rub strangely under a hipbelt.
I sleep much better when I am (relatively) clean at night. Instead of having a dedicated set of sleeping clothes, I had two pairs of shorts and two shirts. I washed the dirty set out each day, and then hung them on my pack to dry. At night, I would use a small washcloth to wipe the sweat and salt off, then put my “clean” clothes on. In the morning I was already wearing my hiking clothes for the day, and I was ready to go. Although the cleaning routine took some extra time, and having a second pair of shorts and a shirt added weight, it was worth it for me.
When it was cold, I wore BPL Thorofare Pants. They were light, breathed fairly well, and were fairly comfortable. They are ok in terms of durability. I got a hole in them when I snagged them on my ice axe, but the hole never got any bigger.
I wore an old Montbell Thermawrap Jacket for warmth. This is a nice, light, simple, comfortable jacket that does what it is supposed to do. I like that it doesn’t have any bells or whistles.
For the coldest parts of the trail, I also carried a Western Mountaineering Flight Vest. I only wore it while setting up and taking down camp, and to augment my 30 degree down quit (more on that below). It was luxuriously light, comfortable, warm, and packable. It was a perfect addition to my sleep system when it was needed. It got left at home for the warm sections, though.
I started with DriDucks raingear. This worked well enough . . . until I stooped over to pick something up at a trail angel’s place and the backside split in a monumentally loud explosion. Luckily no one was behind me to witness this, particularly since I had nothing else on underneath since I was in the process of washing my clothes.
After that I switched to Golite Reed pants (no longer available AFAIK), and an Integral Designs Thru-Hiker jacket. Both worked extremely well, though the jacket is a little heavier than I would like.
I wore Drymax Trail Running Socks. I’ve tried a lot of different kinds of socks, and these are the best by a good margin. In addition to the fact that they seem to handle moisture better than most other socks, they are available in more sizes than other brand’s socks. I generally wear a size 9 shoe, and in every other brand I was in the extreme of the size range for the sock (like I would fall in the 9-12 shoe size sock). That always made for a sock that was too sloppy (large) or too tight. But with Drymax, I’m right in the middle of the range, and they fit great.
For shoes, I wore the La Sportiva Wildcat most of the time. This shoe fits me perfectly, is light, provides sufficient support and cushioning for me, and breathes and dries extremely well. It has a very wide forefoot, but a normal midfoot and heel.
I also wore the Brooks Cascadia 4 (they are now up to the 5). This shoe also worked really well. It didn’t fit me quite as well as the La Sportiva, but it did have a slightly longer and pointer toe, which allowed my Kahtoola Microspikes to stay put much better.
Speaking of which, the Microspikes generally worked well, but were not as versatile as I had hoped. They were very useful early in the morning. But as soon as the snow softened up, which wasn’t much past 10am, they were useless.
I wore the Symblissity LevaGaiters the whole trip. As far as I’m concerned, these are the best gaiters on the market. No cords underneath to wear out and need replacement, no need to glue velcro on the back of the shoe. They stay put, breathe well, and keep stuff out of the shoe.
For sleeping gear, I used an old BPL Arc-X quilt. It isn’t offered any more, but the Nunatak Arc Ghost appears to be pretty similar. I’ve been using this quilt for a few years now, and it works fine. It isn’t warm enough for a PCT thru-hike by itself, but seems to work fine when augmented with insulating clothing. If I were to buy another quilt, I think I’d go with one from Katabatic Gear. The Arc-X can be a pain to keep centered properly when I’m tossing and turning.
I slept on a Thermarest NeoAir in a short size, which I put on top of a 1/8” Gossamer Gear Thinlite pad (which I also used as a sit pad). The NeoAir is the most comfortable sleeping pad I’ve ever slept on, by several orders of magnitude. I never (not even once) felt anything on the ground underneath me. I didn’t have any problems with its durability or noise, either.
In the colder sections, I slept wearing a Jacks R’ Better Down Hood. This was well made and very puffy. I sewed an extra strip of velcro along the bottom so I could cinch it around my neck and keep it from moving around at night. Still, it sometimes shifted or fell off my head. In order to solve that problem, and get better coverage, I would probably go with a Katabatic Gear hood next time.
I used a Steripen Adventurer Opti for water purification. I used to have the regular Adventurer, but I had lots of problems with it, mostly related to (I think) the water being too devoid of minerals to allow the electric sensors to register that the unit was in water. No such problems with the Opti. It worked flawlessly the whole time. I never removed the batteries for storage, yet I easily got 2 weeks worth of use, even when I was using it most heavily. The only downside to it is that it didn’t remove or kill the tiny mosquito larvae I could sometimes see in the water. I don’t think the larvae can harm me (right?), but they are really unappetizing.
I used an Excalibur Food Dehydrator to dry lots of food. I spent the month and a half before I started hiking dehydrating stuff 24/7. Literally. It worked extremely well. I packaged my food in Stand Up Plastic Bags from Sorbent Systems (I used DMP35Z bags). Dealing with the company was like pulling teeth, likely because I was not an industrial customer ordering millions of bags. The bags I got are food safe, but are not approved to be submerged in boiling water. The company rep told me that several other people used these bags for rehydrating backpacking food, though, so I gave it a try. Maybe I’ll develop cancer a decade from now as a result, but the bags worked well for me. My favorite meal was dehydrated quinoa, dehydrated homemade refried beans, freeze dried cheese, dehydrated strips of corn tortillas, and a packet of taco bell hot sauce & olive oil. I could have eaten it every single night. The reason I decided to do the freezerbag cooking style is that my wife, who was supposed to join me for the second half of the hike, has a lot of food sensitivities. I didn’t want to restrain myself to her diet, so that would have meant cooking two separate meals each night. It seemed like going the freezerbag cooking route was the best way to do this. Had I known my wife wasn’t going to hike that long, I could have avoided the waste factor of using and throwing away so many plastic bags. The convenience of not having to clean my pot was pretty nice, though.
I also drank energy shakes from Infinit Nutrition and Hammer Nutrition. I had at least one shake per day, and they were great. They provided a decent amount of energy, tasted pretty good, and served to rehydrate. I preferred the taste of the options available from Infinit over that from Hammer, but to each their own. With Hammer, you can get the unflavored energy powder and add it to your own flavored drink mix, but I haven’t tried that yet.
That just about sums up everything. I hope someone finds it helpful.
–Chris (aka Hiker 816)
