Staff Picks 2023

[Backpacking Light]

Companion forum thread to: Staff Picks 2023

Our staff selects their favorite hiking, backpacking, and other backcountry gear that they’ve used in 2023 – the next edition of our infamous Staff Picks!

[MJ H]

When it comes to cheap bourbon, Ezra Brooks is my choice.

[John A]

The weight given for the McHale Custom Pack is shown as “1.9 lb.”  I have a McHale pack and it weighs nowhere near that.  McHale packs are by far the most comfortable packs I’ve ever carried and I think they are the best designed, but they are not the lightest.  Perhaps the weight shown is a typo?

[Rob P]

I love those water bottles…as soon as I saw them I bought two.  But I’d like to get one for my niece…will they be available again later?

[Terran Terran]

Can the Kokatat be altered easily. I think there’s a place in Boulder, but I’d like to find someone local.

[Link .]

Rob P, It says HERE that ” Merch sales will re-open in the spring of 2024! “

[Todd T]

I love those water bottles…

I’m curious…what’s the appeal?  (This is BackpackingLight after all!)  It’s a 20-oz bottle, 32mm mouth, no tether for the lid, weighing 3.2 oz.

Ryan intro’d the new bottle with, “I wanted something a little lighter and a little larger than a 16-oz Nalgene…”  Well, a hard-sized 16-oz Nalgene (with lid tether) is exactly 3.2 oz, and the soft-sided (milky color) version is 2.5 oz.  So the new bottle fails the lighter test.

For comparison, I’ve got some 20-oz Gatorade bottles (no lid tether) I’ve been using since about 2008 (i.e., they’re durable).  With a 35mm mouth, each weighs 1.5 oz.  I have one with a 32mm mouth and it’s only 1.2oz.

[JCH]

My interest in new gear is at an all time low…I guess that means I have everything I really need.

[Link .]

Todd, this is what Ryan has to say about the bottle

Tritan plastic is heat-tolerant, making it a great option for hiking with hot coffee or soup without leaching bad plastics into your food. In addition, Tritan is a highly inert material, which makes it great for storing flavored drinks, soups, coffee, tea, or alcoholic beverages without taking on the taste and smell of the contents. The 20-ounce capacity is perfect for shoulder strap or hip belt use or easy retrieval from backpack side pockets. You can see the page with his info and short video on my link above or HERE .

 

[Brad Rogers]

In putting together my gear list for my 2024 summer backpacking I too noticed that I pretty much had all the gear I needed.  Much of my kit is nearly a decade old – some of it even older and it all seems to perform as good or better than the new stuff and is just as light.  There just doesn’t seem to be a ton of innovation in ultralight gear anymore – perhaps the designs are just more mature than they used to be – or maybe I’m just more mature (thinking it’s not worth spending $300 to upgrade my Delome inReach SE to the newest inReach Mini for a 2oz weight savings).   My Houdini windshirt from 2011 seems to still be near the gold standard of windshirts – better than newer versions in fact.  I kept thinking there was about to be a revolution in raingear, but it never seemed to happen and now it seems like the revolution is going to greener, but poorer performing materials.

[JCH]

What Brad said.

The only gear I have purchased in the past 2 years either replaced something worn or wearing out (XMid Pro 2 replaced an 9 year old Duplex), or performs SIGNIFICANTLY better (MH Airmesh LS top and Timmermade Alpha Direct 90 hoody, both much lighter and much warmer than what was replaced).

Raingear – I’m long done with the newest bling.  Now using a $25 Saphirose zippered poncho from Amazon or a Frogg Toggs jacket and sil rain skirt. They can be replaced many times over for the price of one high-end jacket.

 

[Todd T]

Todd, this is what Ryan has to say about the bottle

Tritan plastic is heat-tolerant, making it a great option for hiking with hot coffee or soup without leaching bad plastics into your food. …

Okay, I missed that.  (But do people really use their water bottles for coffee and soup and stuff?)

[Terran Terran]

I think there’s less chemical leaching.

[Link .]

What Terran Terran said and less single use plastic for the land fill is nice too. I would put coffee in it but not a regular plastic water bottle.

[Luke Schmidt]

I haven’t bought a ton of new gear but a few things stood out (remember I’m in Alaska so my needs are a bit different then hiking a trail in Colorado).

La Sportiva Trango GTX Boots. I used non waterproof trail runners for years. For fall trips in Alaska I decided that waterproof boots were worth the weight. I found my feet were wet and cold almost as soon as I began hiking on the soggy tundra. The whole “dry your feet out hiking” worked in Montana but not on Alaska caribou hunts. I tried Altra boots and the lightest Salomon boots I could find. Both fell apart pretty fast. Eventually I spurged for a pair of Trangos at full price. The first hunting season they were perfect. After a very abusive 2023 season I wore a few small holes in the upper.  I patched those up and they seem to be mostly waterproof again. Probably as durable as you’re going to get with a shoe this light.

Glass I sold a rifle to fund Tract Toric 10×42 Binoculars and a Cabelas 16×45 spotting scope. Light? Not really. But they help a lot for filling my freezer. And they are fun. Last fall my son and friends had a blast watching grizzly bears, black bears, caribou and moose at long range. Even if you aren’t a hunter some basic glass can enrich a trip by allowing you to see the animals undisturbed.

[Rob P]

Link., thanks!  Not sure how I missed that…

[HkNewman]

Love my MH Airmesh hoody.  Kept it under a shell backpacking in stormy weather this past spring (no puffy) and, underneath an older Patagonia Micropuff hoody/over a Capilene lightwt baselayer, took it on a walk at 15°F last week.  Just the puffy and baselayer was ok at 30°F, so estimating it’s good for at least 15.

A little more durable than the Alpha Direct stuff, it still needs some babying if not under a shell though (a door corner, then a dog’s paw nail put a couple “dents” on a sleeve).

[AK Granola]

Do people think Smartwater bottles are single use? I use a Smartwater bottle because it is easier to pull out and put back from a pack side pocket than a Nalgene or a Gatorade or other bottle, without removing my pack. Each one lasts a full season, and longer if I am diligent about washing it so it doesn’t get moldy (which I’m not, tbh). I’ve never drunk a hot beverage out of my water bottle, and not sure why I would. I don’t get a hot drink until I’m in camp. Different strokes I guess.

As far as new gear, I’m grateful there’s nothing I really need, even if a few things are tempting. I did just buy a new pair of hiking pants, after wearing holes in my last pair in multiple places; it was about to tear badly, just thin fabric. If I thought they would last, I’d have patched them! Backpacking isn’t a fashion show for me. I’m still wearing my 1995 Patagonia baselayer! It will outlive me, or I’ll be buried in it.

A lot of the recommendations are just more stuff to me – watches, fire bellows, mattress pumps, scrapers, big multitools, all more stuff I don’t need. Right now less is more satisfaction. I probably ought to get good sunglasses for my aging eye health; I buy the super cheapies, because I end up scratching them pretty quickly.

I do appreciate the reviews though; I’ve made some good gear purchases thanks to reviewers on here. Very helpful.  Now I just want more time, so I can wear it all out.

[Terran Terran]

Water bottle companies drain our springs while blocking access. I go through a couple SW bottles a year. While they make good water bottles, they’re thick plastic with a business model of single use. Backpackers are their biggest advertisers. I cringe every time I buy one.

[Brad Rogers]

I typically use Gatorade or Powerade bottles but occasionally use Smartwater bottles – all are durable enough for a whole season – not that I’m able to do many weekend trips anymore, but even when I was – Gatorade bottles were fine.  Of course twenty years ago I used Nalgene bottles – I guess like everyone else.

While Smartwater bottles are pretty much a standard in the UL backpacking community – I certainly doubt anyone buys Smartwater because backpackers use them. – We’re too small and too niche to be of any advertising use.

[JCH]

…Right now less is more satisfaction…

There really is an almost spiritual joy in being comfortable and safe in the woods with a minimum of gear.  Just what you need and only what you need.  Other than my FAK, if something isn’t used in 2 or 3 trips it generally finds its way into the “unused bin”.

[AK Granola]

I cannot find where Smartwater gets its water, but since it’s owned by Coca Cola, I assume they use the same tapwater they use for Coke products. Feel free to correct me if you find reliable info that says otherwise. The bottle is very thin plastic compared to a Nalgene. But you’re saying a Nalgene is still superior, plastic-wise? or that Gatorade bottles are superior in some way because their water isn’t draining the municipal tap?

I always like to do the right thing, when I know what it is and have a reason for it.

[Terran Terran]

https://www.aquamaestro.com/category/still-water/glaceau-smart-water#

[AK Granola]

I think that means it’s tap water. Coke uses municipal tap water in all of their bottled drink products. I don’t really see the difference between buying a Smartwater bottle once a year and buying a Coke once a year.

[JCH]

I think that means it’s tap water.

From the article Terran Terran posted…

…Smart Water begins as an artesian spring in Northern Connecticut. After the water is distilled, a balance of Magnesium, Potassium, and Calcium is introduced, adding electrolytes.

From Wikipedia…

Distilled water is water that has been boiled into vapor and condensed back into liquid in a separate container. Impurities in the original water that do not boil below or near the boiling point of water remain in the original container. Thus, distilled water is a type of purified water.

I’m not sure I see any difference based on where the water came from.  Is water distilled from a municipal water supply any different from water distilled from “an artesian spring in northern Connecticut”?

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