Long Trail Gear List (Mid-September)

One brief comment — I'd ditch the two Sawyer Squeeze brand bags in lieu of one durable Platypus bag. My buddy's Sawyer bag ruptured on day 2 of a week-long trip.

But the Squeeze bags do not mate well with the newer Platy threads. Evernew bags that do fit have been available through Gossamer Gear.

What kind of weather and temps are usual for that area that time of year?

i had my 32oz spring a leak at the top in under 2 weeks on my LT trip. i'm going to email sawyer but don't expect much.

DO bring a dipping cup to pour water into your bags, whatever kind you have. the LT has some pretty shallow and slow moving water sources/springs and a cup is invaluable. i started with the bottom of a 16oz spring water bottle but at my resupply i changed to the bottom of bottle my peanuts came in. slightly more durable and easier to use. also protects the filter in my bag a bit.

also the LT is 273.. not sure how your 10day/18mpd works out to finish.

You do not need anything other than a stuff sack for your food because bears are not a worry on the long trail. If you plan on staying in shelters then there are strings set up inside the shelter on which you hang your food to protect it from rodents. If you are staying away from the shelter then you will need string to hand your food from rodents but it does not need to be super high, just far enough away from the trees prevent squirrels from jumping to it.

This would be true except that a few weeks ago a bear tried to break into the caretaker hut at Stratton Mountain. I'd be a bit cautious around there for a while.

I will be sure to add a small water scoop ! (good thought – I used my titanium cup on the A.T for that purpose)

I am only hiking the Maine Junction to Northern Terminus (around 180 miles) as I already hiked the A.T portion during my thru-hike last year. I will only be planning to finish the LT via a two part "long-section hike" approach.

I bring my bear rope with me on every trip regardless of if I really use it or not — just peace of mind for a very small weight penalty.

When I was on the Long Trail in July, the caretaker at Battell Shelter described having some of his food stolen by a bear, I think earlier this year.

I never hung my food enough to protect from bears, and the incidences are still few and far between. My guidebook warns of an incident in 2003 at the Seth Warner shelter (I believe).

I'd say this is an indication that the days of hanging food in shelters and pretending bears live elsewhere will come to a close within a decade.

Also plan for it to get down to 20 degrees, because of windchill on mountaintops and other factors. Check out my post here: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=67238

You should recalculate your gear weight and include food. For fast hiking your gear weight should be about half what you plan to carry! Skip the hooded windshirt. Take a cap and skull hat. Take one part of pants or shorts. Skip the gaiters. Take one insulated baselayer and one t-shirt. Forget the Dasani water bottle. Take a lighter pocket knife. The leatherman is overkill. Forget the hand sanitizer. Cut the thermalite pad in half and use you pack. Replace the mini bic with a spark lite. Don't take a whole cookset, only a pot and large cup. Eat cold meals and reduce the fuel weight to almost zero, except for tea in the evening. Your sleeping bag is good, your tent is okay, although I like the solomid better. This will be a lot lighter and you'll go faster, enjoying it more. It's a reasonable start to reducing your gear load. You will do well with what you bring to the trail so long as you bring the right determination and toughen up a bit. Good luck. I have enjoyed camping and climbing for a lot of years and there are not many better ways to spend time. Enjoy your life!

annnnnnnd we move into the stupid light category…. Have you done the Long Trail?

no hand sanitizer?… asking to get sick

mini bic vs spark lite. what's the weight difference? you can't beat the reliability of a small lighter. for Alcohol stoves, paper bar matches work better.

what cookset? he has a fosters can "pot"

cold food in cold weather? a warm meal at the end of the day is pretty nice. i'd rather have a warm meal than a warm drink for almost the same fuel usage with FB cooking.

Skip the water bottles? Being able to carry 2L of water is necessary for some of the ridges on the Long Trail due to lack of water sources.

skip an outside shell layer (windshirt)? It is fall in the NorthEast.. it could be cold and/or wet. In august I wore my Icebreaker 200 long sleeve in camp and to bed every night.

I think your suggestions would leave him unprepared and uncomfortable. 8lb baseweight is outstanding and he will barely feel it.

I appreciate your thoughts and input John, but will likely trend a bit more towards Jake's viewpoint on this one. I actually used a Cuben MLD Solomid on my thru-hike of the A.T last year and went stoveless for about 4 1/2 months so I do appreciate the tips as they are definitely light and fast. Just decided I wanted to try the Hexamid tent for a comparison (not that anything was wrong with the SoloMid).

I tend to find that my hiking speed doesn't actually speed up any , nor does my mileage decrease once my baseweight is below 9 lbs. Regardless of 6 lbs or 8 lbs I'll still be doing the same almost 20 miles a day and will likely be fine — I maintained about 27 mpd for almost 3 weeks on the A.T and was tired but alright.

I have a deal on Backpackers Pantry dinner's and thus the stove. This trip is my big vacation of the year and thus I'll be bringing the Nook Touch with me to read everynight (start hiking by 6am almost every day, and am usually finished before 6pm, which will give me lots of time to read and watch the sun go down).