My entry into backpacking light

Good to have onboard !

A few things:

Typically your actual food weight is not included in your gear list – as that will change from trip to trip. So only items carried MINUS food, water, and fuel should be included on the list. Overall it looks look – if not a bit light on some things. I may have missed these but — water bottles , med kit / repair kit, guide book / maps… I'd agree to lighten up on the boots but overall a great start ! I found it very helpful to browse other peoples gear lists to see what small items I may have forgotten to include. Feel free to check out mine on my profile.

Thanks, Seth. I marked food as a consumable as well as the fuel, toothpaste, etc so at the bottom it'll show what's worn/consumed/total.

For the water bottle, I have the sawyer filter and platypus. These seem like great space/weight saving options for me.

Med/repair kit I'll probably add some small bandages/strips of duct tape, tylenol, and I have the all purpose krazyglue for cuts (works REALLY well, everyone should try it). I can't imagine needing anything more than that.

Guide/maps depends on the trip I suppose.

I'm constantly looking at other people's gear and stealing their ideas.

Its a good start. Now go hiking. Takes time to dial things in.

2 more months bleh. Life is in the way of life.

Are going to wear a shirt or have any insulation like a puffy jacket? What time of year and where will you be hiking,what kind of temperatures are you expecting?You might want to read this

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=31018&skip_to_post=262364#262364

And watch these

http://ultralightbackpackintips.blogspot.com/search/label/video%20tutorials

I'm looking into shirts right now. My next trip is in the high sierra in August so I need to look up the weather conditions and pack accordingly. I have a cotton thermal, but I should move over to wool yes?

Wool, or or polyester/synthetic stuff like Patagonia's capilene wear. Cotton is not that warm and if it gets wet it takes forever to dry, keeping you cold. For High Sierra in August you need some good insulation. Will be cold at night and there's potential for afternoon rains. I would basically take a set of thermals (bottom and top), a light down jacket (fleece is an alternative) and a rainshell. Oh, and a wool or fleece hat and some thin gloves. That would be in addition to the shorts and tee I would most likely hike in.