NE USA – 10.5lbs – Critique please

[rick .]

Here's a snapshot of a typical list, I will selectively leave some behind depending on the trip. Northeast USA, weekend trips Catskills, Adirondacks.

Please critique, offer suggested replacements, etc. I don't feel this is heavy but there's some improvement esp in the smalls. The pound of camera and GPS are non-negotiable, and I understand the implications of including 1lb of electronics in a 10lb bag.

Since the first aid/survival/repair kit is all-in here's what's in it (2x quart ziploc):

Emergency Bivy 3oz
First aid (pared down essentials based on WFA training, I'm comfortable with what's in here)
Toilet paper
Firestarting (minibic, matches, esbit)
Tiny flashlight
zip ties, duct tape, 1' bailing wire.

List

[Bob Gross]

Your chart has unit headings with LBS. I'm guessing that the individual weights are not pounds, though.

–B.G.–

[Ken Thompson]

3! types of cordage.

What gear do you have that you can fix with wire or zip ties?

A Buff and a headband?

Work gloves, for fires?

Technicality, TP is a consumable. As are those 1.6 oz in your kitchen.

[rick .]

BG – individual items are ounces. The heading weight cell does this: =round((sum(B4:B15))/16,2)&" Lbs"

Ken – Not backtalking, response since those were questions. You found some lessor used gear that often stays in the bag.

I don't see the 3rd type of cordage, but the scrap pieces of paracord can go (see next). Gone. The bear line stays home when I carry a canister.

2 zip ties and a foot of wire (4grams total) can securely fix a blown out backpack strap/ sew up a huge rip in pack. Can probably be done with other materials, but I'd rather not cut my bear line or shoelace to make a repair.

Its hard to make a 3-season packed clothing list, that section is more of a minimum baseline.
Work gloves are mechanic gloves rubber on one side/poly on other, taken when: rock scrambling, cold rain. Same with the glove shells.
buff & headband are cut/sewn from scraps of baselayer material, I typically take one (I made 4 sizes from a $3 scrap). Ditching the headband for list's sake.

[Ken Thompson]

Here's the three I saw,

50' of Ironwire
10' paracord
Scoop,prefilter,straw,bag,cord

Thanks for the explanation.

If you fix that bear bagging line doubled in your list you are a wee bit lighter.

Needle and thread?

[IVO K]

I see no actual raingear in your "…raingear" section.
Why?

No rain jacket, pants, skirt, kilt.
The Versaliner shells are the only remotely raingear-like item.

No mid-layer? What do you do when it's wet, cold and rainy and stormy (it's the NE US aftera all) and you need to keep hiking in order to maintain your metabolic "furnace" running? Do you manage to sustain it by merely slapping the windshirt on on longish downhills?

No water purification backup kit?

I myself carry a very diverse stake kit (3 different types of stakes with 2 extras for a total of 10) and yet it could not reach 4 oz of weight…. 4.82 oz stakes?

[rick .]

Gatewood cape is both raingear and tarp.

Base +windshirt moving down to 40f, down puffy at stops. If I were to wear a warmer active layer, it wouldn't be in my base weight. All bets are off if rain + near freezing temps, at the extreme ends of my 3-season, as I'll also have a dedicated dry sleep outfit.

Water tablets in first aid. I can break this list out for others' knowledge, but I'm not likely dropping anything form these few ounces, knowing why they are there.

What 10x = <4oz stakes do you use? That's worth considering.

Gatewood takes 7-8-9 stakes, depending on guylines, and one for the net guyline. Stakes are:
4x easton alum nails, 9" 0.44 each
4x ti skewers 0.21 each (these suck in soft soil, but excel in very rocky soil)
2x groundhog clones, 0.46 each
1x alum shepard hook (found, fits gatewood guyline clip perfectly)
tiny silnylon bag

I reweighed the stake package as 4.45oz just now, one stake must have been removed since last weigh, haha. I only have 3 weekends on the Gatewood Cape, next season I can pare that list down to the proper ~9 stakes and save an ounce.

[Mike Henrick]

Just sleep in your headnet! BE A MAN!

[IVO K]

@ Rick:

Understood about the raingear.

As to the stakes, actually I lied. Unintentionally. Old age, poor memory, whatever…
As it turns out, the assortments of stakes I carry involves 4 varieties, and not 3 as I reported earlier.

Mini-groundhog knock-offs, made by Liberty Mountain – 12.5g each x 2 (least used of the whole lot)
Ti V-stakes (great in sand or as a trowel) made by Toaks – 11g each x 2 (Zpacks sold me these as touted at 9.6g each, but I forgave them the misrepresentation)
Zpacks' "Orange tough Ti stakes", 6.5" long, Ø3.5 mm – 8g each x 4
Lawson Kline's UL Long Ti stakes – 7.5g each x 2
All of these get shoved into the cut-off bottom of a plastic drops bottle, to prevent puncturing the ultra-expensive cuben fiber stake bag – the thingy weighs 2g
All of the above goes into Zpacks' stake CF bag, worth 3g

And the sum total tips my scale @ 3.52 oz as seen in the photo.

Cheers!

[Pete P]

Remember that if you're camping in the Adirondacks Eastern High Peaks, you'll need a Garcia/Bearikade style bear canister.

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