Central Coast Gear List: Preparing for High Sierra Trail to Whitney in Summer

[Bri W]

Hello! I’m doing the High Sierra Trail to Mt. Whitney in late July this year. This will be my first longer ultralight backpacking trip. I’ve gone on backpacking trips since I was a teenager, mostly in the Sierras and along the Central Coast, as my hometowns are Ridgecrest, CA and Monterey, CA. During those trips, my total pack weight averaged 35-45 lbs. This past December I severely herniated L4/L5 and had to have an emergency discectomy. As a result, I’m discouraged from lifting more than 25 lbs., hence my transition into UL backpacking. I’ve gone on a few weekender trips along the Central Coast and in Southern Oregon with most of this gear, but I wanted to see if there was any advice to further lighten the load, to reduce any redundancies, or to improve efficiency.

So here it is:

https://lighterpack.com/r/egs326

Some thoughts:

• This Spring I’m doing the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail in the Santa Cruz mountains with this exact gear list. This includes food for 3 nights (it’s normally a 2-nighter or less but we want to explore the area some). The food is going to be experimental, since we’re trying to figure out what we’ll like for the High Sierra Trail, so it may seem a bit heavy for a 3-nighter.
• I managed to get my base weight down to <6 lbs. depending on my sleep system and a few random small items. For now, I’m okay with 6.88 lbs. My total pack weight, including water and gear, comes to about 15 lbs. 9 oz., but my LitghterPack gear list includes the clothes worn, so it looks heavier. Not sure how to fix that…also, the scale I use to weigh my pack is different than the scale I used to weigh all of my gear, so I don’t know if that causes any discrepancies.
• I’ve included both a small NeoAir XLite and a GG 1/8″ Thinlight. The Thinlight is new for me. Quite honestly, I don’t sleep well in general, and I sleep very poorly with the NeoAir unless it’s nearly flat and I have a lot of Benadryl in my system. It’s better than the Z Lite Sol, though, so I don’t think I’d enjoy sleeping on just the GG Thinlight. My hope is that I’ll use the Thinlight as a sit pad, extra insulation, a ground sheet for my Bivy, and/or a pillow. After days and days of hiking, I’m hoping pure exhaustion will put me to sleep regardless of what I’m sleeping on.
• I use an umbrella, rain kilt, rain mitts, and pack cover for wet weather, but I’m wondering if I should leave behind the Tachyon wind pants and jacket and bring along the heavier but waterproof Outdoor Research Helium pants and jacket. Has anyone left behind rain pants and jacket, and brought along water resistant gear, a rain kilt, and an umbrella instead?
• I’m doing the High Sierra Trail with my grandpa and my brother, and we get very serious about our cribbage tournaments, thus the cribbage board. I’m still in the market for an UL cribbage board, but at least my brother agreed to carry the cards so I don’t have to worry about that heavy burden. ;)
• No water filtration system because both my grandpa and my brother are bringing their SteriPens. Otherwise, I have a Sawyer Mini.
• The Hydrapak Stash water bottles are heavy for water bottles, but I like their collapsibility. I also have a 1L Stash that I’ll likely bring along on longer trips. I may leave these behind for the Sierra Trip in order to save weight, but so far I really like these bottles.
• Bear Box vs. Ursack-Does anyone know if the Ursack bags are allowed along the entirety of the High Sierra Trail? I’d much rather bring one of those along than a Bear Vault. I seriously don’t think a Solo Bear Vault will fit in my 45L Zpacks. It just looks way too big.
• Solar Charger: I am seriously considering bringing a solar charger with me on the High Sierra Trail, but I’m still doing research on this vs. a battery.
• Yes, my Borah Gear Snowyside Bivy is hot pink and purple. :)

 

[Justin Baker]

Certain parts of your gear list look perfect, I do have a few concerns though.

If you are using a quilt, a light beanie is not sufficient head insulation. You at least want a mid weight down jacket with a hood or a separate down hood (EE sells one). In my experience keeping your head warm is very important. With all that insulation on your body and just a light beanie on your head, your head will be the weak point of your sleep system.

You say you are hiking with others, which means you might not have the option of hiking all day and getting in your sleeping bag when you stop. You should consider a warmer jacket than the filament if you plan on lots of camp down time.

July can be pretty wet in the high sierras, especially the last couple of years.  A bivy might be a better option for august or September. Consider the scenario of getting blasted by a cold storm and needing to wait it out in your sleeping bag. How are you supposed to get out of your wet clothes, into dry clothes, and into your bivy/sleeping bag when it’s pouring rain? Storms in the sierra are not drizzly events, they can be epic cloudbursts where you can’t take off your rain jacket to add a layer fast enough without getting soaked.

Expect lots of bugs this year. Your leggings and hoody will not be bite proof. The treatment may respell bugs, and will help a lot, but if you get swarmed you will get bit. Your wind shirt and wind pants will save you. I would prefer not to rely on a rain jacket for bugs when the temps are hot, that can be miserable. Bringing no head net is suicide. Will your hiking companions have mesh shelters you can retreat to?

Which brings me to your worn clothing. I’m confused why you want to wear the dress in addition to the leggings and hoody, that seems like it would get hot, I would stick to just the leggings and hoody. You need sun protection.

A windshirt and umbrella is not sufficient above the treeline with wind, you will end up forced to stop and get in your shelter.

Cuben fiber dry bags are waterproof when new but I’ve seen old ones leak. Keep in mind crossing serious streams with a chance of slipping and submerging your pack.

[Bri W]

Thanks for your response!

I actually do have an EE hoodlum that I was planning on bringing but it got lost in the mail and I’m waiting for USPS to forward it to my house. Who knows when it’ll show it up. For now, I just wanted something to weigh and have on my head. :)

Do you have any suggestions for a warmer lighter jacket? I have an 800F OR Floodlight jacket but it weighs 1 lb. 1 oz. While it is waterproof, it’s a bit heavy. Maybe I could bring that one instead of a rain jacket and the filament. But it does get really hot hiking in in any temperature above 50 degrees.

I was considering getting a Cuben Borah Gear Bivy and then a ZPacks Pocket Tarp (I’d only use the Pocket Tarp for rains storms). Think this would be enough shelter? My brother will likely also bring his Snowyside bivy (otherwise he’s a hammock camper), and my grandpa is looking at getting a ZPacks Duplex, so I guess I could retreat to his shelter if needed. But I will definitely look into a head net.

Regarding the dress and the leggings and the hoody, it’s still a bit nippy in Southern Oregon and along the Central Coast, so it’s really just for an extra layer of warmth and the added bug protection was appealing. When it’s hot, I imagine I’ll only wear the dress and leggings. I haven’t had the chance to test the hoody out yet, but it feels like it may be too heavy for a hot day. So I guess I’ll need to bring some OFF spray for my torsos and arms, maybe even leave behind the leggings and hoody if they doesn’t protect against bites. I used the leggings recently on a very buggy camping trip and they seemed to work really well in repelling the ticks and mosquitos. We weren’t camping in a swarm of bugs, though.

So I need to make a decision between a warmer down jacket + my OR Helium jacket or just bring my Floodlight jacket for rain and warmth protection.

As far as stream crossings go, I’ve considered just getting a pack dry bag, probably from ZPacks. I don’t have any river crossings where I backpack right now, so I haven’t needed this feature.

Thanks again! All of these are great things to think about.

 

[Justin Baker]

I get cold easily and I like my montbell mirage. It has 5.3 ounces of down and weighs 12 ounces, it’s very poofy and good warmth for the weight. I would not use a waterproof down jacket for hiking because you will roast in it when exerting yourself, especially going uphill. Waterproof jackets trap perspiration and don’t allow it evaporate efficiently, so you could end up with a soggy cold down jacket.

[Lori P]

I play cribbage sometimes with a deck of cards, pad and pencil. You don’t need the board, just the scores.

I would take the bears quite seriously on the trail whether there are requirements or not. This is one of the few trails in Sequoia where the reservations sell out more often than not — hundreds of people do this every year. The deer at Hamilton eat clothing left out, for the salt. I was throwing pine cones at chipmunks and squirrels that were flitting in and out of the open bear locker, or harassing packs. The rangers warn every person picking up a permit not to leave packs unattended along the trail, because bears will steal them and shred your gear looking for food. I personally don’t even own an Ursack — not interested in debating them, just observing and knowing how many rangers have had encounters with torn ones, and many of my trips pass through intensely habituated bear territory, I use a Bearikade – I bought one. That’s how often I go backpacking in the Sierra. In short — is it worth taking chances that you’ll lose food along the way? If there are no trees, where do you fasten your Ursack — because if you don’t the bear can pick it up and run away with it. And they DO FOLLOW hikers very high in the Sierra. I’ve seen bear poop up there plenty.

And you ABSOLUTELY need the can in the Whitney Zone, if you are spending the night there and not death-marching through to the Portal.

I don’t trust SteriPens, because it is not at all unusual to end up filtering water for someone whose SteriPen stopped working. Until that stops happening, I will bring it up every time — a good practice for any group is to have multiple methods of water treatment, because nothing is failure-proof. Clogging, handles breaking, batteries failing – we usually have at least two different methods for the group.

 

[Bri W]

Just an update…

Did the Skyline-To-The-Sea trail this week and I FROZE! Even in my bivy with every article of clothing I brought (I left behind the hoody bc there weren’t a lot of bugs out) and my 20° quilt I never slept more than a few hours each night because the wind chill was so bad. We made a wind shelter with logs the last night, but I ended up buying a 2-3 lb. fleece sleeping bag liner from the camp store at Big Basin because I was so cold. Of course USPS finally found my EE hoodlum AFTER I left for my trip. It also rained on us the entire last day. My ZPacks skirt was amazing, but because I was holding my umbrella and a trekking pole, my arms got wet. My wind jacket dried pretty quickly and stayed warm even while wet, but I think you guys are right that I’d benefit from bringing along a rain jacket.

So I’m talking to EE to figure out how to improve the warmth of my sleep system. I’m going to try cleaning the quilt first, and then start using the straps. I’m also going to switch over to my thicker Smartwool base layers, and I’ll have my EE Hoodlum. If none of this helps, I’ll send the quilt back and add some down to lower the rating to a 0°.

I’m also going to bring my OR Helium jacket and I’m going to look for a warmer down jacket/parka, probably by Montbell or OR since I’ve had such good luck with their products.

Before the Sierra trip I’ll likely get a ZP pocket tarp or just a lightweight Cuban tarp of some sort for rain emergencies for both my brother and me (he’s also using a Snowyside), otherwise I like my bivy on its own.

I’ve been thinking more and more about the pack dry bag suggestion. The ZP pack cover helped a bit, but by the end of the day after non-stop rain in the redwoods, the inside of my backpack eventually got damp.

And finally, I am doing some research on what–if anything–I can do about my inability to get comfortable on pretty much any sleeping pad I try. Maybe it’s because I’ve got a bad back and not a whole lot of hip fat to cushion me while side-sleeping, but no matter how much or little air I had in the NeoAir, it just wasn’t cutting it. So the search continues.

If anyone has any other suggestions regarding how I can improve my set-up, let me know! Thanks!

 

[Bri W]

Oh yes…and my Merrells completely fell apart and I’ve only had them for 1.5 months. So I’m going to look into some Altras, since I wear those at work and like them a lot.

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