Hey folks,
I was wondering if I could pick the brains of anyone here who may be familar with the conditions one might expect to encounter down in the Grand Canyon in January.
The proposed trip is a decent of the South Kaibab trail, two nights at Bright Angle camp with plenty of day hikes, the third night at Indian Gardens camp then up and out on Bright Angle trail. So it's not a terribly ambitious trip.
The gear my wife and I were thinking of taking is this –
One old 20 degree synthetic sleeping bag for my wife and I –
This is used open like a quilt over us, and zips to a sheet that holds two therma-rest pads below. It's the old "thermanest" sleep system, and we got it perhaps 18 years ago?
It has long since been discontinued.
Sleeping pads – I have one mid-1980 vintage thermarest pad, full size, ( 72 x 20 ). I'm not sure of the weight or R value, it is heavy but it is very warm. On a canoe trip last month my wife slept on it and I on a Wal-Mart blue foam pad next to her and I could easily tell the old Thermarest was very much warmer.
– I need a new 72" x 20" pad to work properly with this system, as that is what the zippered bottom sheet is designed to hold. I don't expect a simple foam pad to be warm enough. Trouble is, the lightest pad thermarest makes like this seems to be the "base camp" at 2 lbs, 9 ounces!
We do have a Ray-Way 2P quilt kit laying around….Maybe I can con my wife into sewing that together for this trip…But we'd still need appropriate pads.
I haven't got that much coin so I'd rather not ( can not ) blow to much here.
Anyway, my clothing list looks like this –
REI synthetic long johns, I think my top is a "medium" weight and the bottoms "lightweight".
G.I. winter weight BDU trousers ( because it's what I have )
Some sort of shirt or the other – I have one old fleece shirt laying around and may wear that if it's particularly cold. Otherwise it's probably a cotton work shirt or flannel shirt because that's all I have.
Fleece pullover with hood. This is fairly lightweight but pretty warm. I can't give a name brand because it doesn't have one. I got it at a second hand store for a buck.
Frogg Toggs suit for wind / rain.
Uniqlo ( how the heck do you pronounce that??) ultralight down parka, for in camp and suchlike. (See? I do have some name brand gear!)
Gloves and warm hat of course.
Does the above sound OK or do I ned to pull out the really cold weather gear?
Other stuff maybe worth mentioning,
Golite Jam 70 liter pack
MSR wisperlight stove
Shelter –
I have a Timberline 2 tent. great tent, but it's like 7 pounds so I was thinking of blowing the coin on a Tarptent Squall 2.
Other folks I'm going on this trip with will be taking four season bomber tents or three season freestanding tents. Am I crazy thinking about a non-freestanding tarp tent in the gand Canyon in january??
