pct thru hike

Your WM alpenlite is 33 oz. by manufacturers specs not 21 oz., that is the fill weight only.

Seem like no first aid, map, compass, fire stater, and what thermal underwear weight 1 oz? that just a quick observation.

I dont see any essentials like a first aid kit, fire starters, knife, map, compass, maps sunglasses, insect repellent, headlamp and batteries, water purification, whistle, sunscreen, latrine kit, soap or hand cleaner, water container, or eating utensil. You will want more stakes, lines and something to hold the tarp up. Add a bandana or pack towel. If you haven't bought the ground sheet, get some polycryo and save weight and money. I would get a Cuben tarp if you want to shave ounces.

Good start on the clothing. Ditch the extra shirt and shorts.

A few comments:

1) A few Arc Blasts on the PCT this summer had the stays wear through the material and were sent back.
2) Have good stakes (not ti skewers) for SoCal. It's windy. You want Y-stakes.
3) Ditch the fleece. Too heavy and Nano puff alone is okay after the first month. Ideally switch Nano puff and fleece for a down jacket with ~3oz fill (ie. Patagonia Ultralight Down).
4) Cuben dry bags tend to not last. Neither of our two made it beyond 1/2 way.
5) Tarps are a pain in the butt in SoCal where it is always windy, the soil is soft and you're tired. You won't use it much – especially if you only have 4 stakes. Go for something simpler (ie. mid).
6) 1oz long thermal underwear? Hard to imagine this.
7) Have a repair kit (NeoAir patches, tenacious tape).

What you've listed looks ok to me, except that you'll probably want more substantial stakes like Groundhogs.

Some of the "insignificant odds and ends" you've omitted include key items like water containers and filter, map and compass, fire starting device, and eye/skin sun protection–not all that insignificant, and these all add up quickly. :)

Here is my generic gear list:

Backpack
Pack liner
Trekking poles
Shelter
Ground cloth
Guy lines
Stakes
Sleeping bag
Sleeping pad
Knife
Headlamp
First aid kit
Whistle
Compass
Map(s)
Fire starter
Sunglasses
Insect repellent
Sunscreen
Small repair kit (duct tape, sewing kit)
Water container(s)
Water treatment
Cook pot
Stove
Windscreen
Fuel container (per stove choice)
Spork
Cup
Food
Bear bag
Line
Shoes
Socks
Briefs
Base layer shirt
Pants/shorts
Insulation layer
Windshirt
Bandana
Insect head net
Hat
Beanie
Gloves
Rain jacket/poncho
Rain pants
Potty trowel

thanks for the input everyone, much appreciated. I suppose I made the post in too much of a hurry. I'll also be bringing sunglasses, lightweight brimmed hat, a rudimentary first aid kit, a few bic minis, folding knife (tbd), zebralight cr123, aquamira, small size doctor bronners, spork, bandana, basic maps/guides, little tube of deet, various repair tape, small amount of sunscreen, and a couple plattys. underwear was a typo, is around 4oz if i remember correctly. dan- any further suggestions for something simpler than a tarp? was thinking about a bivy.

A bivy/tarp combo is great for the PCT. The bivy just has to block bugs and wind. Maybe give a little water resistance, but breathability is more important. Go with a shaped tarp that will stand up to wind and blowing precip. The only time you will pitch it is during storms, which are very rare. I cowboy camped almost every night.

+1 on the bivy/tarp. I used a small, cat-cut cuben tarp and a breathable bivy on the PCT and would do so again.

Also, I wouldn't even think about bringing an inflatable pad through southern CA–too many spiny things in the desert. In fact, on every long-distance hike I've done, I've run into people with leaking inflatable pads. It's no big deal if your inflatable pad dies on a short trip, but if it gets a leak on your thru, it's probably going to be a long way to the next outfitter.

"any further suggestions for something simpler than a tarp? was thinking about a bivy.

Your main challenges are:
SoCal: Wind, ants, cold
Sierra's/NorCal: Bugs, some rain
Oregon/Wash: Condensation, rain, some bugs.

In general you're going to be tired and too lazy at the end of the day to do things which aren't essential. On the PCT this summer we had 3-5 days where it rained out of 140 days (total hours of rain maybe 20). I think that's abnormal, but the main point is that it doesn't rain much, which is really what the tarp is good for.

In SoCal it's nice to have wind protection, so you can sleep better without sand/dirt blowing in your stuff. You can sorta origami wind protection with a tarp, but it's effort/hassle/complexity. A bivy would function simpler for wind but personally I don't like them (confining) but it's an option. I think the best two options for the PCT are:

1) The lightest freestanding double wall tent you find (ie. Big Agnes Fly Creek UL1)
2) A mid shelter (ie. MLD DuoMid) with a groundsheet (SoCal) or inner net tent (everywhere else).

Other non-freestanding single person tents (ie. Tarptent) don't offer any advantages over #2 (two person shelters are another story). At best they're similarly simple and light, but most are more complex, heavier or both. For example, the Zpacks Hexamid is a bit lighter but annoying complex to pitch everyday and it lacks some functionality (ie. 360 wind protection, optional double wall for Washington). My ideal setup is a cuben DuoMid (13oz) which is 16oz with a groundsheet or 20oz with a inner. A tarp + bivy likely weighs the same, but offers less wind protection and less protected room inside.

There's also something to be said for a freestanding shelter, particularly in SoCal where staking can entail digging dead man anchors. You still want to anchor it so it doesn't blow away, but it saves you worrying that it's going to collapse every time you hear a huge gust of wind coming up the mountain. Our tent blew down a few times, as did quite a few peoples on occasion.

On the PCT, given how infrequently it rains, I think it's kind of silly to carry the extra weight of a mid or a free-standing tent if you're comfortable with a small tarp. A mid alone will not keep out bugs without an inner net, which means more weight (I guess you could pitch it tight to the ground, but then you're asking for a lot of condensation).

If you are smart about campsite selection, you can avoid extreme winds. I can only think of one very windy night on the entire trail. Even in the very windy Tehachapi and San Gorgonio Pass areas, we found low spots to camp in and had almost no wind at night.

Also one big advantage of a bivy, as opposed to a mid/tent, is that you can cowboy camp on any dry night, even if there are bad bugs or ants everywhere. I had a little mosquito net that I used some nights where bugs were bad, but a lot of times I just zipped up in my bivy and wore my baseball cap to keep the netting off my face. With a bivy, I could set up camp in seconds.

Dan, sounds like you had some pretty bad nights in the wind this year! I was also out on the first 500 of the PCT in May, and I cowboy camped every night. Really there were only two windy nights, one at mile 60/Sunshine TH and then the next night at ~85 after Scissors Crossing.

The first night I embedded myself in some grass next to tall bushes and got the best night of sleep I might have ever had in my life. It was super windy but I never got any of it while hunkered down in the bushes. I just pulled my buff over my eyes, listening to the howling wind above, and woke up 8 hours later.

The next night was totally the opposite and I got my sh– rocked on an exposed campsite on that endless slope traverse. It was like 9:00pm and getting quite dark when I was searching for a site so choices were limited.

Two lessons:
1. Campsite selection is key, but can be done. And in UL backpacking, it's probably the most important decision you make on a daily basis (anywhere) since we are often pulling into camp late with minimal warm gear.

2. From other hikers, they got even worse treatment when they did try to set up their shelter those same nights. No matter how you cut it, a tarp-type shelter with trekking poles is not as strong as almost all dome tents. From those same nights, my friends were constantly having their shelter collapse on them. And when they woke up, they were covered in dust. Honestly, I think if you have enough to stay warm (like lots of the desert PCT), you should NOT set up a UL shelter in the wind. But a tent is just not worth it in the first 700.

I second a small tarp/bivy combo. I used that in 2009. The bivy was far more useful in wind then a tent would be. I've seen too many people have issues with their shelter standing in some of the strong wind. Even if it made it through the night, the noise it made flapping in the wind kept them up all night. I mainly cowboyed camped and only set my shelter up for rain or snow. Cowboy camping in SoCal means you can fit between some of the lower brush to block out some of the winds. A tent needs a larger footprint and gives you less options. With my tarp, I had less condensations issues in the Pacific Northwest then most people's shelters and was one of the few that still had dry gear after hiking in 4 days of off and on snow at the very end. Though good campsite selection was definitely a part of that.

I live in SoCal. I've used my tarp in high winds there. If done correctly, since you can vary the pitch by changing the height, you can actually have less trouble then a regular shelter if you don't mind crawling to bed. But you need more then just 4 stakes? How does that work? You need 2 for the ridgeline (you aren't going to be able to tie it between trees most nights), 4 for the corners and at least 2 more for the sides (8 total). I find titanium stakes work fine, but you may need to find some large rocks to put on top of them in strong winds to keep them from pulling out.

I used regular cuben fiber stuff sacks for everything. Never saw the need for a dry sack. Cuben fiber is already water proof and that small hole from the opening is only an issue if you are not turning your sacks sideways in your pack or you are planning on submerging them. My sacks lasted the entire trail, though the one I used for clothing was starting to fray a bit (probably from the zipper on my down jacket from stuffing it in every night to use as a pillow). From my experience, if you are just worried about keeping stuff in your backpack dry during the rain, a regular cuben fiber stuff sack is more then enough (even for your down sleeping bag). Though I'm talking about using a rain cover on my pack with no pack liner. If you are going to not use a liner or a rain cover, then you may want the extra protection.

Yama Mountain Gear – Cirriform Cuben Tent

http://peaksandvalleys.weebly.com/ymg-cirriform-sw-cuben-tent.html

I am a sponsored gear tester for Yama so throw the needed pinch of salt, but here goes:

– After hearing all of the info above, my 18 oz. fully enclosed / minimal footprint but roomy interior tent was carried from Mile 1 to Mile 2,400 give or take – and then finally switched after handling 5 nights of a massive rain / snow storm that dropped in on mid-Washington mountains in September/October of last year (I completed the trail 10/30/2013). BEST CHOICE EVER, and I've have tried MLD, Zpacks, Tarptent, Big Agnes and a variety of other options.

It ventilated great in the hot and dusty dessert, GREAT WIND STABILITY throughout the trail, even shed some snow loads in Washington without incident.

Something like a MLD Cuben Patrol with inner would be the closest thing I can think of for right now (the Yama tent is longer / roomier with my 6'6" bag).

thanks for all the recommendations concerning shelters. after reading all that and doing some research on my own, im pretty positive the bivy/tarp combo suits my needs/style best. going to go for a small cuben tarp and (I'm thinking) the mld superlight bivy with cuben floor. I'd probably get it with the half moon window due to increased wind protection, but im a little torn.. I breathe heavily in my sleep and have had problems with condensation in the past so the mesh may be the better option (could put a jacket/tarp overhead for extra protection if needed). any superlight bivy pct hikers care to comment on this? has anybody tried the splash bivy?

edit: any thoughts on the hexamid soloplus tarp? seems like a good option given the weight and ease of setup

Mike, another bivy option is the Borah Gear Cuben Bivy. I don’t have one myself but it is part of a tarp/bivy combo that is near the top of my list for upgrading next year. There are some good reviews here at BPL and at other sites. BG seems very accommodating in providing customizations for a small price increase.

"I breathe heavily in my sleep and have had problems with condensation in the past so the mesh may be the better option (could put a jacket/tarp overhead for extra protection if needed)."

I've noticed a full-mesh hood adds surprising warmth even in the wind; you can feel a distinct temp difference when opening the hood in the morning. As UL bivies are often used alone in dry conditions (only adding a tarp for bad weather), I think the benefits of a full-mesh hood outweigh any negatives.

I'm not sure about blowing grit and sand over an extended thru-hike, though. Maybe others can comment about that.

I have both a MLD superbivy with the half moon opening and a Borah Gear cuben fiber bivy. The MLD superbivy is from 2009 and is still in excellent condition though I have the normal floor with it. I got the Borah Gear bivy this year due to it being 2 oz. lighter (less if you have the cuben floor with the superbivy). I think the superbivy is slightly better made with it's bathtube floor, but the Borah Gear bivy is of excellent quality.

I used the superbivy on the PCT as I cowboyed camped all but 9 nights. I was pretty happy with it. The halfmoon opening is better in wind, especially cold wind. It's better at trapping heat which may or maynot be an issue. I didn't have much condensation issues with it either. The downside with the small opening for a side sleeper is, your face isn't right at the netting so the moisture of your breath will cause some build up around the head and the very top of your sleeping bag. It's not enough to affect anything though. On the PCT, unless there were bugs or it was really cold, I often didn't zip it up completely, especially around the head. Even when there were bugs, many times they'd disappear after it was dark and the temperature dropped some, so I would unzip it partway to allow more heat to escape. For a few really hot nights in northern California, I used it as a lightweight sleeping bag instead of my 20F down quilt.

The full netting of the Borah Gear bivy is nicer in warmer weather as it allows more heat to escape. I haven't seen any condensation issues with it after hiking about 400 miles with it this summer. It does trap some heat and cut some wind, but not as much as the superbivy with the smaller opening. The full netting doesn't help much in strong wind though. If the wind hits the head end, the bivy inflates like a ballon which can keep you cooler if its warm, but is not desirable in colder weather. I did use my rain jacket stuffed into the head area to block some of the wind, but you still get the ballon affect. The default size of the bivy is too large. It's longer and wider then the superbivy. The design idea seems to be to store your extra gear inside (I store my gear in my backpack at night so this wasn't of use to me). But under a small tarp, a larger bivy is a negative as you have to defend a larger area against wind blow rain. The extra length is an issue with a small tarp. The width is an issue with a shaped tarp that is narrow like the solo sized Hexamid since it isn't that wide. I sent mine back when I first got it and had them shorten it by 6 inches. I wish it was narrower when used in my hexamid as I'm paranoid that as I move around at night, part of it will stick out and get wet.

As for the hexamid, I own both a small tarp (since 2008) and recently bought a solo sized hexamid tarp (without the netting or beak). I'm still playing with the hexamid but I'm not convinced that it's better. It may give better coverage in some weather conditions but it doesn't seem as versatile overall as the tarp. I'm not sure yet which I'll use on the CDT.

I used an 8.5 X 8.5 square Zpacks tarp (to which I added more tie outs for more configuration possibilities) and a large Borah gear bivy and a polycro groundcloth for the first part of the PCT until Idyllwild where I switched to a Yama Cirriform due to incoming weather. The versatility of the tarp is great fun but my favorite pitch is the flying diamond. Sheds wind well, if you can get the low part facing the onslaught and have plenty of room with the above size tarp.
Loved the tarp and bivy combo except when on slight slopes…forgot to put some silicone on the bottom of the bivy and slid around all night…..not fun. Rolled over on lots of ants and spiders too, poor buggers. So if you use a bivy, silicone the bottom with a light coating of mineral spirits and clear silicone mix 10 to 1.
The only time the tarp and bivy didn't work well was in high wind with blowing sand..it was too hot for the bivy and no real protection from the sand so i just suffered all night in my quilt with my head covered and woke up with sand in my ears, eyes…etc….ah…gotta love it!
Beware! The PCT will steal your heart and soul!;-)
And another thing. Blow up pads are nice but most of us out there got used to Zlite reflective pads only for underneath at night and by Silverwood Lake I was sleeping on concrete picnic tables and hard pan ground with no problem. I kept trying to use the blow up pads but found the extra weight just not worth it. Or maybe I was so tired and didn't care anymore….you will figure it out what works for you.

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on an mld superlight. having ron do a larger half moon window (compromising) and a couple inches of length (I'm tall). hes been very accommodating.

I've updated my gear list. should be better. Again, thank you all for your helpful in-depth responses.

I've decided against buing an arc blast. I'd like something a bit more durable (perhaps dyneema?), and with a better hipbelt. I'd also like to have the option of carrying around 30 pounds and not being super uncomfortable and not having the structure of the pack compromised. Something simple and as lightweight as possible. I'm thinking that Chris Zimmer might be able to build me something like this. Any thoughts?

Keep in mind that your heaviest loads will be on some of the roughest terrain. If you have a lot of snow in the Sierras you want a pack that not only is comfortable but that controls the load. The last thing you want is to be on a steep snowfield with a pack that is flopping around. Too small a pack can lead to a lot of gear lashed to the outside swinging around. Don't just pack light, pack tight.

Having used an Arc Blast on my 2013 PCT thru-hike I can recommend the following:

Zpacks HAS updated the stitching supports to help eliminate the issues that many first round users of the Arc Blast (including myself) experienced.

I had the orginal (52L) and found that even a small bear can rubbed through the center stay cuben fiber — wrap your bear can or get the 60L and wrap your bear can ! I would get the 60L if I did it again (more versatile).

I would get a 60L for those big carries – and then just cinch it down for the other times — minimal weight gain.

OTHER OPTIONS: ULA Cuben Circuit or a HMG Windrider 3400. Zimmerbuilt also has many good options – though I REALLY liked having a little mesh breathability with the Arc Blast.

I had zpacks send me a loaner pack while on trail for a week , and they fixed my pack and returned it — super helpful and I am still using it after all 2,600 + miles !!

MORE info: http://www.peaksandvalley.weebly.com and you can go to my gear reviews section, gear list, or thru-hike section for details.

Have fun !

I know of at least 2 Arc Blasts that failed in 2014 due to the stays wearing through the fabric.

I like waterproof packs, so I'd get something made of Xpac or hybrid cuben but if hybrid cuben then a more durable version than Zpacks uses. I'd look at HMG packs and custom ZimmerBuilt packs. If you don't care about waterproofness – and it's likely not a big concern before Washington – then something like the ULA Circuit or SMD Fusion are nice options.