Colorado hiking in October – Gear list

The key is figuring out what conditions you will see where you are going.  There is a lot of hiking around Denver and though I am not real familiar with the area.  At some elevations around Denver, you will have the potential for snow and single digit temps that time of year, so pick your area carefully.

I agree with Ken T – Wow with the cutting utensils – obvious easy delete here.  I would carry only a Gerber LST Micro or Spyderco Ladybug – (I carry the Ladybug and  very rarely even need that).

Your backpack and tent are heavy, but it will cost some money to replace them and I don’t know how much you want to spend at this point.  As long as the backpack is comfortable, it should work fine.  At this point, lets assume you keep those two pieces.

Stove:  You said you want to replace yours with a jetboil, just know that Jetboils are heavy and expensive for what they are.  They are fast, and more fuel efficient but the fuel efficiency doesn’t show up until trips of 8 days or over.  You might look at a small upright canister stove (Fire Maple, Snow Peak, MSR, etc…..) and a Titanium pot (Toaks is probably cheapest).   Another option is a Alcohol Stove (I like the commercially available  Caldera Cone) but you can make your own).

Hydration Bladder – I like water bottles (ie Gatorade bottles) better, but that is just me.

Cell Phone – How long are you going to be out?  Put it on airplaine mode and it will last a week or leave it in the car.

Extra headlamp batteries – again, how long are you going to be out?  Batteries generally last me a year at 50 nights a year.

Why paracord and Kevlar string?   Unless I was going to hang food (again – where are you going) I probably wouldn’t carry either or at least just take one or the other.

Sleeping Pad – How warm is that pad?  I am not familiar with it.  If it is uninsulated you may get cold from the ground

Sleeping Bag – I can’t find any specs on that bag.  Is it warm to 20*F?

What are you going to use the headlamp lantern case for?  I would think about not bringing it.

I would think about replacing the neoprene gloves with fleece

Go through that first aid kit and think about what you are really likely to use.  My guess is you are missing a few items and have lots of others you can get rid of.  Most commercial first aid kits are not very good.  Andrew Skurka has a good first aid kit list on his blog.

Clothing – I don’t agree 100% with what he says, but Andrew Skurka has a good set of articles on his site about the “Core 13” that are a good place to start with what you need clothing wise.  It’s an excellent read for a beginner. Note he can be a little over zealous with the Sierra Designs gear, whom he works with some, whereas I don’t think they are a top choice in any category, but you get the idea.

Lost Creek Wilderness

Maybe good for mid-October? I’d do that myself if I didn’t already have stuff on the calendar.

@bobmny10562 Hopefully I don’t get booed off the forum, but I’m really not too concerned at this point about weight. Maybe on future trips, but for now, I’ll work with what I have.

I hear you on the elevation. Day 1 will be an easy ‘ease into it’ kind of day.

“…mid-October to get some hiking in …”

+1 what Brad opened with.

Be materially and mentally prepared for 6″+ of unpredicted snow. (Just saying…)

@mocs123 It’s probably not what most here would wear, but I think I’m goon on clothing. Thielsen was 19 degrees when we were there and I was plenty warm.

Noted on the cutting utensils lol

In regards to a stove, I’m having second thoughts on getting the Minimo. I may just bring a bunch of freeze dried stuff, in which case I’d only need to boil water, in which case the Etekcity will do just fine.

The sleeping pad has the voids in it to (according to Klymit) basically allow the sleeping bag to maintain loft in those areas rather than being compressed. So the R value of the pad is supposed to be (we’ll see) the same as the sleeping bag. That’s what they state on their website…

The bag is a 20° bag.

Noted on the rest of your comments, I’ll take all of that in and adjust accordingly.

@bobmny10562 Good recommendation – thank you. I’ll put that on the list of options.

I’m really not too concerned at this point about weight.

HERESY!  

Seriously, though, once you experience the liberation of hiking with a very light pack and leaving behind a lot of useless crap it will change your outlook. My winter load is now about half what my summer load used to be!

@bobmny10562 I know, I know lol…I joined the site primarily because I enjoyed the info I was reading – not necessarily the UL side of things.

Be materially and mentally prepared for 6″+ of unpredicted snow. (Just saying…)

@greg23

Right on – I can deal with that.

If you have any trail recommendations, I’m all ears.

Still need to organize my list, but have on the way:

Altra Lone Peak 3.0 Mid’s

Altra Trail Gaters

Montbell Super Marino Wool Midweight Wool Tights

Montbell UL Thermawrap Parka (thanks @sigeats)!

Montbell UL Stretch Wind Parka (thanks @sigeats)!

Lost Creek Wilderness is a great suggestion.  You can keep most of your hiking at or below 10k feet which will significantly enhance the likelihood of avoiding significant winter weather.  Night time lows will very likely be in the low 20’s by then and the days will be much shorter.  The around camp warmth is going to be a very significant factor.

@randalmartin Looks like that would fit the bill pretty well. Length is about perfect as well. Thanks!

“Hopefully I don’t get booed off the forum, but I’m really not too concerned at this point about weight.”

I have a friend visiting from Norway, we have been getting together for many years and whenever he is in town we go backpacking. He is always interested in what I am carrying(or not) but not enough to lighten his load. Last week we did section J of the PCT and he agreed to let me pack his pack for this trip, he did not see it until the morning we left and he never looked inside until we were on the trail. On the second day he said he felt like he was cheating because he said his shoulders were usually sore by this point and going up hills were no problem with such a light pack. On the last day he said he wouldn’t have changed a thing about what I packed and will never go back to carrying a heavy pack again he was so happy and wished he had let me help him years ago( I never wanted to force him into it, he had to want to do it).

@annapurna thanks for the rundown! I probably should have prefaced my initial post by saying: “I’m not anti-ultralight, but there are some items I have that are going with me regardless”….primarily because they were just recently purchased and hiked with for an entire day and the load didn’t bother me. That being said…I can definitely see the benefits of going light/ultralight. I’ve always just kind of ‘gone hiking’ without really paying attention to gear.

A day or so ago, I received a Montbell parka and windbreaker I purchased from a forum member and I can definitely see the UL attraction. When I picked up the box they were shipped in, my very first thought was ‘there’s nothing in here’. My second was ‘well something is in here, but there’s no way it’s both pieces’….and I almost chased after my mail lady for the ‘second box’.

So I definitely can see your point and can see myself going that direction eventually!