Shared Gear List for Teton Crest Trail the first week of September

Hi Bradford,

I've always been sensitive to the taste of chemical treatments. My solution is to use a frontier pro, it's simple and cheap. Won't work with the powerade bottles, but most any narrow-mouth soda/water bottles will work. I basically use the filter just to remove the taste, and use chemicals for the actual disinfection. Makes a decent gravity filter as well.

I don't mind the taste (at least not bad enough to carry more than the 1.5oz droppers) but I don't know if she would. Do you use your frontier pro as a gravity filter? How does that work? I don't mind changing to 1 liter water bottles but don't want to go to bladder system.

Alternately I guess I could just bring Gatorade mix to mask the taste if she doesn't like it. Of course that may be a no go in griz country. Thoughts? I do that ofter in black bear country and have never had any issues.

Any thoughts on the rest of the list?

My vote is for a Steripen, with AquaMira backup.

The Steripen actually saves weight as you don't have to wait for the water treatment to complete while you are hiking.

Treat and drink at the source can save a pound or two of pack weight.

My hiking friends have all switched to Steripens after seeing how little water I had to carry.

A light filter is lighter than chemicals when you take the treatment time into consideration.

The Steripen is the most thorough and quickest way to treat water.

Sounds like a very good list. My fiancee and I will actually be hiking the trail the last week of August. Our lists are very similar with a few changes that many would call personal taste. Regardless, here's my insights…

You've got plenty of insulation with the MB, however I would consider a warmer pant layer than the EW4. My significant other was cold in her's last year and I've found some much warmer Mammuts for about the same weight.

We do neoprene socks around camp. Not quite as warm as the goosedown, but if you have wet conditions it provides a little more versatility.

We used a stripen last year and the JMT and hated it. You can only purify 1 liter at a time, you need backup batteries, ours had a few minor malfunctions which didn't seem so minor when we were trying to get water and outrun a storm, and you have to worry about dropping it and crushing it with you pack or a clumsy step. This year we are going with a Sawyer Squeeze, fast-fill platy set-up, and two smart water bottles. The SS fits on the SW bottle and you could very easily scoop and drink right from the filter mounted on the bottle or filter water into another bottle. I"m bringing the platys to play with them moreso than anything else.

Have fun out there!