PCT 2015. Suggestions Welcome.

[Eli Palmer]

Hi guys, I will be starting the PCT on April 15th, NOBO.

This is my first long distance hike. I have some backpacking experience, but not a lot.

I know that my pack weight is relatively heavy compared to most of yours. I tried to be as thorough as possible. I understand that many of my items could be considered unnecessary (luxury), but I will attempt to explain my selections if asked about them (futile, I know). I will probably just send home stuff that I do not find to be worth the weight. My "Big Four" are pretty much set in stone.

I am posting my gear list because I figure that it cannot hurt to do so, and hope that people could point out things that I should be taking but did not list. Besides that, any additional comments or suggestions are welcome!

(I have some items marked with a "W" or a "B" in parenthesis before the name, meaning I either need to Weigh or Buy the item, or both)

http://lighterpack.com/r/3hha4a

[Ken Thompson]

Might be a good time to beat your nicotine addiction. That crap adds up in more than one way.

I would ditch the sleep sheet pad cover.

Man, those Geigerrig rigs are heavy.

A cotton tent storage bag. That's a new one on me.

The heavy hands free umbrella. The short handled one works fine hands free using your pack. 8oz That's 5 oz right there.

i doubt you'll fish much if at all.

Ditch the rain pants and stuff sack. Maybe add the pants back in up the trail a ways.

[Ito Jakuchu]

What Ken said.

[Tony Ronco]

Another +1 on what Ken said.

Bladder system: I was surprised how much more a Geigerrig unit weighed that a Platypus Big Zip unit ( 3.5 oz ).. All for the sake of avoiding sucking on the tube which IMHO Is an overstated inconvience by Geigerrig, since any blatter will most likely be under compression pressure from being stored in your pack. (and you can save even more ounces with the Platy, if you get rid of its surprisingly heavy plastic slider guide to close the top and just start sealing the zip lock top by hand )

Jetboil Sol: if you're going with this a approach then you can get the weight of the system down to 8.65 oz, by ditching the canister tripod & plastic bottom cup, then replace the Sol lid with either a Philly cream cheese lid or a Trader Joe's instant Oatmeal lid (yellow can) and completiely removing the webbing handle off the cozy.( If you have a newer model, then replace the cozy with a Ti cozy from Jetboil (the new cozy for the aluminum Sol has a weight adding pocket and "temperature" plastic strip gimmick .. It's a gimmick because it's obivous when the water is boiling) … Again, completely remove its webbiing handle.

Have a great journey.

EDIT:
Re: Replacement Lid –
I put 3 small inline holes at the edge of the lid for a vent. To do this, you can drill, or use a soldering iron a barely touch the lid with the iron's tip. (This is the method I used)

[Eli Palmer]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I will attempt to explain (ok, defend) my selections, but you guys will probably prove me wrong once I'm out there :).

@Ken: Yeah, I definitely thought about quitting nicotine this trip. Between carrying the e-cig and the juice for it is probably close to 10oz, quite a lot. The batteries and charger are sort of dual purpose as I can use them to charge my phone, though I'm sure I could find an external battery better suited for that. I know I'm kinda justifying here. My fear here is that I don't bring the e-cig and I just go back to smoking regular cigarettes (which admittedly would be much lighter).

The sheet cover would be one of the first items to go should I find I don't need it. I bought it because I hate the feeling of skin contact on the xlite material for some reason. Also, I sleep pretty cold and it adds a minor bit of warmth on bottom or on top of me if I choose to, though there are much more efficient ways of adding warmth. I was on sale at REI outlet for like $7 :P.

The Geigerrig I actually really like. I had a Platy Big Zip and it was nice at 3.6oz less, but I traded it out for the Geigerrig because I am using an inline filter. It is much easier to get water filtered through the Sawyer with the added pressure compared to the Big Zip. Also, it's easier for me to fill up my cooking pot with filtered water as opposed to having to take the bladder out of my pack. The ability to spray myself off once in a while on a hot hike it nice. Also, I can leave the syringe at home because all I have to to is reverse the Sawyer on the line and spray to backflush, though I have not tried that yet.

The cotton storage bag I will be replacing…but only because it's way too big. I have no idea why Big Sky sent me such a big bag. I like that the cotton absorbs some of the water off my wet tent, while my sinylon stuff sack seems to let it stew in its own juices. The water evaporates off the cotton when I have the tent strapped to the outside of my pack on a clear day, and it's much drier when I have to set it up again. I think my best bet would actually be some sort of mesh stuff sack though.

The umbrella: I did struggle with choosing between the 8oz and the 13oz. The 13oz does provide a little bit extra coverage in addition to the easier hands free setup, but you are right 5oz is a lot and might not be worth it.

I'll pick up the fishing pole in the sierras, but definitely something I may send back right away.

Rain pants will be sent ahead, thanks.

@Tony: Thanks for the tips on the Jetboil! I'm definitely gonna do that.

[D M]

Um, having been there I can tell you there's not enough water to spray yourself off, you'll be happy to have just enough to drink for the first 700 miles, and where there is enough, you'll just jump in.
Seriously, cut all the weight you can, you'll hate every extra ounce by the time you get to Mt. Laguna.

[Bob Gross]

Too bad somebody can't make a business out of this. They could use a high-powered drone to make water drops to thirsty backpackers out in the desert. The price would have to be a function of how much water and how many miles out the location was. Then there would have to be a premium if it was an on-demand rush service.

–B.G.–

[Link .]

Here is the 1st in a very good series on hiking the PCT with gearlists ect. to read if you haven't already(there are clickable links in the article to get to the others)
Hiking Through Hyperbole: The Vortex of Fear

[jimmer ultralight]

Since you have decided on a nearly 3lb backpack with substanial weight carrying capacity,what will be your heaviest total carry weight with full food and water during your longest stretch without resupply?

And,besides buying equipment,what are you doing to physically prepare your body for carrying that weight day after day?

Just curious.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

1) Nix the pack liner. With a cuben pack you don't need one. With a non-cuben pack I didn't need one until mid Washington.

2) The Unaweep is overkill for the PCT. It'll be nice on a few occasions (long resupply sections in the Sierra's, waterless stretches in Socal) but 90% of the time its overkill, including everything after Yosemite. I'd seriously consider a pack around 1/2 this weight.

3) Make sure you have good stakes for the soft soils of SoCal.

4) You want wet wipes for SoCal. Sweating continually covers your body in salts after 1-2 days without a shower. For a huge portion of people, this leads to amazing chaffing you didn't even know was possible unless you wipe down key areas with wet wipes nightly.

5) The Ex-Light Down Anorak is a bit light for the first month, but you'll survive and after that it'll be good.

[John Smith]

I do not see why you can't make it with this set up as long as you understand you will be more tired on climbs and at the end of the day than everyone else all things being equal.

1) at every mail stop be prepared to send something back. Mail it away. You can always get someone to mail it back to you later if you really need it.

2)drop the pack liner, stake bag,tent bag, neo air pump,get rid of the inline filter or tabs (I would ditch the filter, the geigerrig 3l and replace with 2x 1.5 liter smart water bottles,e-cig stuff (give yourself 2-3 weeks and you will be glad you did),drop your soap and bug juice to 1 oz containers,change out the umbrella for a go-lite model, frogg toggs suit bag.

That would drop 2 lb of weight and require about $50 of purchases or so.

You are still looking at a starting weight once you finish out the rest of yoru gear of about 18lb. Still way too heavy especially when you will likely carry around 7lb of water if all your water items are full and a weeks worth of food at 10.5 to 14 lb of food.

Total weight will be around 35 to 39 lb after each mail stop and around 25 lb just before each mail stop.

Good luck and realize that a simpler system will be lighter and easier to hike with. Your pad will be the most important luxury item you carry. A good night sleep will do more to get you ready for the next day than jut about anything outside of food.

Most of hte rest of your gear is overkill.

YMMV

[S W]

leave out the pump bulb and its tube, the Geigerrig bladder serves as a normal hydration bladder and actually is lighter than Platypus Big Zip. Give it try and you may not miss the pump much and still can use what you have.

[Eli Palmer]

Thanks again guys. When I started collecting UL gear about a year ago my goal was a 12lbs base weight. I could definitely get there by dropping a few (many) items:

Pack Liner -2oz
Tent Stake Bag -0.2
Sleeping Pad Cover -5.2
Sleeping Pad Inflator -2.5
Phone Case -3.7
Rechargeable Batteries -6.4
Battery Charger -7
E-Cig -4.2
E-Cig Cartomizers -1
Umbrella -13
Towel -3.6
Fishing Pole -2.8
Rain Pants -3.6
Rain Suit Bag -0.9
Extra Socks -1.8
Smaller Soap -0.5
Smaller Sanatizer -0.3
*Alter Geigerrig -~3
*Replace Tent bag -~1.3

So I could drop 63 ounces of luxury items, which is about 4lbs, which would put my basewieght at around 12 pounds, maybe lower. It's good to know that I can get there without drastically altering anything.

@DM

Yeah, the spraying water on myself thing was just me looking for positives, no matter how small :P. My main reason for the Geigerrig would be the ease of filtering through the inline filter, as well as the ability to fill up my cooking pot without having to take my bladder out of my bag.

@BG

Replace water with beer. Cold cold beer.

@Link

Thanks for the link…link. I will check it out!

@Jimmer

With my current baseweight of 15lbs, plus 14lbs of food for seven days, and lets say 2lbs of water, I'm looking at 31lbs.

Now I know that you might say that there are lighter packs out there that could technically handle this, but the ones that I tried were not that comfortable for me (loaded with anything between 25-35lbs). I tried the SMD Fusion (2.5 lbs), the GG Blaze (3lbs, not lighter), a friends Mariposa Plus, and a few other random ones from garage sales. I know that there are many other packs, but there is no REI or sporting goods stores around me and shipping costs to Hawaii are kinda a bitch.

In all those packs I felt that the frames were too short, or not robust enough, which strained my shoulders and neck after a long hike (I have a feeling that my shoulders and neck are a lot more sensitive to weight than many other people). There was also some belt slippage and belt distortion which made them uncomfortable, but those were secondary concerns. I feel that taking weight off of my shoulders is more important than taking weight off my feet, and I would think many people would agree with me considering the focus on pack weight and not so much on skin-out weight.

The frame on the pack I have now extends above my shoulders, so much so that my straps don't even touch the tops of my shoulders, even loaded with 35 lbs. This is how I prefer it. The belt wraps around all the way around my waist (like an actual belt) and attaches directly to the frame, so there is no slippage or feeling like there is a bowling ball at the bottom of my pack.

I did seriously consider trying out a Zpacks Arc Blast, it looks like it might work for me as far as comfort, but I heard stories and had concerns about the durability.

In short, I didn't really get the pack in order to carry a huge amount of weight. I got it to take whatever weight was in there off my shoulders. Things like the belt, waterproofness, and max carry are just bonuses. Of course if I could find a pack that was as comfortable as my current one, at less weight, I would get it.

As to your training question, I usually fill my pack up with 35lbs of full Gatorade bottles and hike about 12-15 miles. The terrain I walk on is not too hard, kinda just rolling hills, and I only do it about 1-2 times a week. I realize that this is much, much easier than doing it day after day for 5 months, so I hope that loading it up with so much weight will somewhat counteract this. I also wait tables for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, and though I'm not carrying a big pack on my back, it is still a lot of walking!

@Dan

1) Good to know I can nix the liner, though I think I need to seam seal my pack first.

2) The Unaweep may be overkill, but it's the lightest pack that I could find that is comfortable for me (see above).

3) What do you think about my current stakes (of the tube variety)? If no good, can you recommend something?

4) Duly noted on the wet wipes. But despite my current base weight, I still really am concerned with weight :). What do you think about just wetting my towel with some water and sanitizer and just wiping down with that?

5) You think so? I do get cold easy. I'm hoping that my midweight Merino base layer, plus hiking shirt, plus anorak, plus rain shell will be warm enough for the coldest nights. It's hard for me to test it because it never drops below 60* here :P.

@John Smith

Thanks for the encouragement. I do realize that all things being equal, whoever is carrying more weight is going to be more tired. Luckily, I have a nice full size Neo-Air and bedsheet with which to rest my tired body :).

1) I do like the idea of a bounce box (continuously sending a package ahead of me with things I don't need at the moment).

2) See above. However, I like the filter and will probably be keeping it.

Where are you getting the 18lb baseweight? The items I still need are gloves, paper maps, waterproof matches, FAK, and camp shoes. I don't think that would be 2.5lbs? If it is I am definitely gonna cut it back to 16lbs no matter what

When you say mail stop, do you mean food resupply? From what I have read on PCT journals, it appears that at certain points I will either need to carry a lot of water, or a lot of food, but not really both at the same time. With a 16 pound BW, plus 10 pounds of water, plus 4 pounds of food, I'm "only" looking at 30 pounds max for the longest water-less stretch. About the same for the longest resupply stretch without food. I haven't done too much research into this specifically though.

Despite what my pack contents suggest, I do really like to keep it simple. I will be cutting stuff out of my pack on the trail, and hopefully get to a point where every item in my pack is equally important.

@SW

That is an awesome suggestion! Is it really lighter than the Big Zip?

[jimmer ultralight]

I read the posts here last year regarding your search for the right pack..I saw how you tried lighter packs like the Fusion that just did not fit you..Shoes,sleeping pads and packs are crucial gear that one should not sacrifice weight for the comfort you require.

No critism from me about choosing the Unaweep,just curious as to how much weight you were going to feed it..;)
If you require a 46 oz pack to carry much over 25+ pounds comfortably,so be it..You are not alone..lol

You've already made a nice list of the stuff you can leave out to get down under 12 pounds. The thing is,if your body and the Unsweep are capable of carrying upt to 40lbs comfortably, whats the real difference between a 31 pound pack and a 27 pound pack? Given the pack you have,not much. Your AVERAGE pack weight between resupply will still be under 25 lbs. Again,in that pack..no big deal. A lot if it depends on your mileage goals per day and your physical ability..

But, you still should quit nicotene ASAP.;)

[Katherine .]

The items I still need are gloves, paper maps, waterproof matches, FAK, and camp shoes.

nix the camp shoes. that's an easy one.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

"1) Good to know I can nix the liner, though I think I need to seam seal my pack first.
2) The Unaweep may be overkill, but it's the lightest pack that I could find that is comfortable for me (see above).
3) What do you think about my current stakes (of the tube variety)? If no good, can you recommend something?
4) Duly noted on the wet wipes. But despite my current base weight, I still really am concerned with weight :). What do you think about just wetting my towel with some water and sanitizer and just wiping down with that?
5) You think so? I do get cold easy. I'm hoping that my midweight Merino base layer, plus hiking shirt, plus anorak, plus rain shell will be warm enough for the coldest nights. It's hard for me to test it because it never drops below 60* here :P."

1) Yeah give it a seam seal but it should be pretty good already. I keep my crucial stuff (sleeping bag) in a roll top silnylon sack anyways so even if it did leak a bit you should be okay without the liner if you do this.

3) The tube stakes you have are about the minimum for SoCal, but plenty of stake for the rest of the trail. If you use these, be prepared to put in a few deadman anchors when you're camped on really soft soil. A deadman anchor is just connecting your tent to a branch instead of a stake and burying that horizontally.

V stakes, like at the link below, are probably the ideal weight vs holding power trade off for SoCal. The regular V stakes sold here are a similar weight as your tube stakes but likely hold quite a bit better. I had some 8" Easton tube stakes and the regular Gossamer Gear V stakes on the trail this past summer. Even with these, you'll probably need deadman anchors on a few occasions unless you choose to cowboy camp because SoCal in the windiest part of the trip and the soils are soft.
http://gossamergear.com/shelters/shelter-accessories/tite-lite-tent-stakes.html

4) You'll want to wipe down key chafe prone areas, i.e. groin, the rear crack. You could use a wet towel for this but my guess is that it wouldn't be lighter than wet wipes (I never carried a towel) and it would be kinda gross to have 5 days of this type of debris on your towel. You can buy small packs of 10 or 20 wet wipes at good groceries stores (in the travel section with the mini tubes of toothpaste) which only weigh 2 or 3 oz. The soap present in wet wipes also seems likely to do a better job at removing salt build ups.

5) In the first month guys were cold last year with stuff like a Montbell UL Down Inner Jacket and a Mountain Hardware Ghost Whisperer jacket. These are coats with about 2.5oz of high end down fill. Adjusting for the 900FP, the Ex Light Anorak also has the equivalent of 2.5oz of 800FP down (2.2oz * 900/800). People definitely pull this off all the time – lots of other people with these jackets were happy, but they're somewhere around the minimum you'd want. If you get cold easily I'd think about going a bit warmer. I think it's ideal to have a down jacket with about 50% more down, or 3.5oz, like the Montbell Frost Smoke, Arcteryx Cerium LT or the Patagonia UL Down Hoody (what I used). I wore mine with my hiking shirt and rain gear on occasion. A few times I was a bit cold.

Beyond the Sierra's you don't need this much jacket. You could probably get away without a warm jacket at all until Washington, but there will still be occasions where it's nice.

[S W]

@SW

That is an awesome suggestion! Is it really lighter than the Big Zip?

Without pump tube and bulb, geigerrig bladder weights 5.75oz
3 Liter big zip weights 6.85oz
It is about 1oz lighter indeed.

[Eli Palmer]

nm

[rick .]

"Also, I can leave the syringe at home because all I have to to is reverse the Sawyer on the line and spray to backflush, though I have not tried that yet."

Sawyer needs to be flushed with cleaned water. Otherwise you just contaminated the outlet side.

[Christopher *]

I back flushed with town water and town water pressure every time I hit town for re supply. Just hook it up to whatever hose or faucet you can find. The "all in one" actually comes with a HEAVY connection that you could just bounce. I rigged it each time.

"But, you still should quit nicotene ASAP.;)"
My year there were a TON of thru hiking smokers, so the PCT might not be the best place to try and quit. Too many enablers!

[Rolex .]

Dave at Laguna Mountain Sports is a full outfitter just off the trail. Great guy that walks the walk and has or can get anything. If you can stagger up to his place carrying what you have and enough water from Campo, (and a credit card) he can slap you on the butt and point you towards Canada Fully rigged. Does a brutal Ultralight shakedown for free too!
Better call him though as I think he had some trip plans this year also.
Not sure, but I think he might take mail drops also case by case.

[Alan Levinson]

[Matthew / BPL]

Sheesh cut off that snap cap sport top cover and save like .01 grams.

[Author]

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