Gabe’s Gear list

[Gabriel Roberson]

Hi,
My name is Gabe. I love to go backpacking. I try to go "ultralight" and am always looking to lighten my load, but I'm a full time student and I don't have very much spending money. If ya'll have any suggestions please feel free to post any suggestions.

Here's my list without food or Stove. (I'm still trying to find an affordable UL stove. Suggestions anyone?)

Pack: GG G-4- 16 0z

Tent: Tarptent Squall (with built in floor option).-22oz

Leki Trekking Poles (tent pole)

Ground pad – 21oz
Pacific outdoor equipment X lite full + thermarest Z-rest ( pack frame)

Camp shoes – 12 oz
Crocks

Water containers –
(two 32 oz military canteens + 100 oz camelbak or 1 canteen and a 2L platypus + camelbak –

Sleeping bag and stuff sack -30 oz
[Lafuma 1 kilo extreme bag, rated to 30 degrees, usable to 25-30 degrees wearing most of packed clothing except rain gear;

Pack cover or dry bag – 3.5 oz

Eating kit – 3.6 oz
( 10 oz canteen cup, Lexan spoon, )

Rain jacket – 26 oz
Military ECWCS GoreTex parka with liner removed]

Hygiene / First Aid / Repair kit in ziplock bag – 3 oz
(safety pins to use as clothespins too, matches, toothbrush, floss, , , purell , 12" by 18" pack towel, lip balm, aspirin, antihistamine, moleskin, bandaids, antiseptic wipes, etc.)

Toilet paper –
one roll with cardboard roll removed

Camera, + extra batteries
[digital camera 150 picture memory}

Bible and small journal to keep journal of trek, pen (pen inside Swiss champ.)

headlamp – .6 oz
cyclops ion

Maximum clothes to pack
soft shell jogging pants – 10 oz
Spare T-shirt – 6.8 oz [Under Armor Tactical]
Spare liner socks – 0.9 oz (1 pair thin nylon)
Spare hiking socks – 2.0 oz (1 pair) [Thorlo Summer Hiking]
military Fleece jacket- 10 0z (also used for pillow)
polypro long underwear – 6 oz (to sleep in)
Spare underwear – 3.2 oz [Coolmax]
Wool Watch cap ( beanie cap), – 1 oz
Zip lock bags -(for packed clothes, 2 2-gal ziplocks to wash clothes)

Clothes worn

USMC boonie cover (wide brim digital camo hat)
sunglasses ( Oakley M-frame knock offs)
USMC coolmax type t-shirt
liner socks
bridgedale hiking socks
USMC PT shorts
Bellville USMC desert combat boots

gear in pockets
Swiss champ, 1st aid, T.P., purell, camera

All in all it comes out to be about an 10-12 lbs base load. I'm open to anything Ya'll have to offer.
Semper Fi,
Gabe

[Adam Rothermich]

I'll start with cheap easy stuff since you're a full time student (I know what its like, I'm in the same position).
Unless you're going to be out for a long trip you don't need an entire roll of TP. I just wrapped some around my hand straight off of the roll and keep it in a Ziploc bag. It takes up a lot less room than a full roll too.
As for a good, cheap stove, just make your own alcohol stove or use an Esbit stove. Plenty of information on each at zenstoves.net I'm using a tealight stove that weighs less than 2 grams and a Foster's can for a pot to boil water.
I'd also ditch the boots for a pair of trail runners. With a 12 lbs base weight you don't NEED a pair of boot. And IMO they're a lot more comfortable than combat boots. Plus you can leave the Crocs behind.

Now for things that cost money :).
Replace that heavy Goretex jacket with something like Driducks if you're on a budget or if you have a little money look at some more durable, lightweight options.
Unless you just really need the padding you could drop quite a bit of weight by switching to a lighter sleeping pad like the Gossamer Gear Nightlight.
A nice down sleeping bag would save weight was well. I just made a down quilt and couldn't be happier with it, and it weighs only 18 oz and kept me warm down to 30* with just long underwear and my hiking clothes the other night.
I'm sure there are plenty more ways to lose some weight too, you just have to be creative.

Adam

[Valentin Zill]

The lightest and cheapest stove option is an Esbit tealight stove, very easily homemade. Use it in conjunction with a 24oz Heineken beer can pot and you'll have the lightest and cheapest backcountry kitchen. You'll have to use boil-in-a-bag techniques then.
Check out the "Absolutely lightest kitchen?" thread in the G-Spot section for more information.

[Adam Rothermich]

I actually use a tealight and Foster's can setup. Here's some information on it.
http://www.freewebs.com/jasonklass/subthreeouncesystem.htm

Its great for solo trips and works very well. I even used it in about 35* weather and didn't have any problems with it. Just be warned, it takes about 10 minutes to boil 2 cups of water so if you're in a hurry when you eat this isn't the stove for you.

If you're into Esbit I would recommend you check out David Lewis's set up. Its very neat and WAY light.
http://davidlewis.ca/stove/

One more concern/comment. I would weight your TT Squall again. On Henry's website he quotes the weight of the Squall 2 w/ floor as about 34 oz, nowhere near the 22 oz you have listed. Just thought you might want to double check so you have a more accurate estimate of your final pack weight.

Adam

[Jason Klass]

I'd suggest ditching the Swiss Champ. That's a pretty heavy knife and a lot of overkill. You won't use 98% of the tools on it. Do you have just a simple single-blade to use instead?

Also, even small Bibles are somewhat heavy. Could you just photocopy a few certain pages you want to bring with you and cut them to size or do you need to have the whole thing?

[Siegmund Beimfohr]

I have a New Testament plus Psalms that weighs 63 grams (2 1/8 oz). Worth carrying.

[Gabriel Roberson]

Thanks Adam,
I was thinking about it and you're right about the TP, but that's one of my "comfort items." I can't stand not having enough TP on a trip. As for my boots, they gone on many adventures with me and have served me well over the past few years but they're on their last legs (no pun intended) and I am really considering getting trail runners. The only problem is I roll my ankles pretty easily and my boots have helped curb that problem to some extent. So as of currently I don't know what I'm going to do for boots. You also mentioned the driducks rain suit. Are you familiar with the suit? It looks kind of flimsy to me, and I don't want to spend money on a piece of crap.
Now about that stove. For a while I've been pretty apprehensive about using an esbit or alcohol stove. I got a gift card to bass pro shops some time ago and I was thinking about getting a MSR Pocket Rocket stove. Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks again,
Semper FI,
Gabe

[Brett .]

Gabe, my suggestions would probably involve trying to make your gear list more like mine; so I will avoid that. Each of us has different requirements. You can look at my gear list at my profile if interested.
If you are trying to keep your feet tough for future FTX or other training, you should probably keep boots on your feet.
I suggest you do what many of us have done, rank your items by weight, then research replacements for each item, starting with the heaviest. Priority should go to replacements with the hightest (weight reduction)/dollar spent.
Those dryducks and similar dropstoppers feel like tissue paper; and so I didn't buy them. Light weight and durability are both important to me.
The Pocket Rocket is a great stove. I have one and highly recommend it. I do carry an alcohol setup occasionally, but in blowing rain, miserable conditions, or when time is important, canister stoves or a jetboil rule IMO.

[Aaron Sorensen]

Yes, Yes
Improving on the gear list would be good, but please include ounces so all of us Westerners can make since of it.

[EndoftheTrail]

I too prefer the English system… although it should be noted that we Americans are pretty much the only Westerners that still use it!

[Author]

Posts