Over the past year I have put a lot of time into designing and making my own lightweight backpacking gear. I recently took a 2.5-day trip using many Make Your Own Gear (MYOG) items to cover 60 miles in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The trip began in my head nearly a month before the first trail day. I usually start by pondering what I want to accomplish. This might be something like explore a new backcountry area, set a new daily distance record, achieve a new lower base weight, take fantastic pictures, test out new gear, or try out a new technique. The objective for this trip would be to see a new region of the Great Smoky Mountains using my own MYOG big three (shelter, sleeping bag, and pack). After several canceled trips because of work, I finally had firm dates of May 5 through 7, 2010.
# WORDS: 3430
# PHOTOS: 14
Member Exclusive
A Premium or Unlimited Membership* is required to view the rest of this article.
* A Basic Membership is required to view Member Q&A events
Discussion
Become a member to post in the forums.
Companion forum thread to:
MYOG Goes to the Mountains
Not having a lot of time, I only browsed the pictures in this article. I looooooooooove how the pack looks. It really looks closely to how I'd make a pack. Can we get more details? I'd love an MYOG article about this pack, but at a minimum I'd really like more pictures.
Eins
Jamie,
Great trip report, very nice pictures and writting. Thanks for making the time to post, your efforts are appreciated.
I would like to see BPL continue with such articles. The site has a number of diverse individuals with similar abilities.
A great report highlighting both the MYOG ethos as well as how we go about putting that gear to good use. Great story and photos!
Nice trip report. The pack and tent look excellent ^_^
thanks for the write up, really enjoyed that
Great job on all the gear. You put those with underused sewing machines to shame!
Great write up Jamie. Enjoyed the read.
Well told story with excellent pictures. Great job on your MYOG.
Terrific mileage especially when you throw in all those trips up the fire tower.
Lots of black bears in the Smokies for sure!
Thanks for your good work.
Enjoyed your trip report. Gear looks great too.
Jamie,
I was bitten by the MYOG bug in 2009 and I am not in search of a cure. :-)
There is nothing like the satisfaction of making your own gear, taking it out on the trail and meeting up with success.
Congratulations on doing both and thanks for sharing your experiences with us. The pictures were great but I have yet to be able to find the bear. ;-)
The gearlist is great. It is always nice to be able to "peak" into another hiker's pack and learn from what is or is not carried.
Thanks again for all the good work done on your article.
Party On,
Newton
Great trip report and beautiful pics to go with it. Thank you for sharing.
that was a great read! thanks.
Hey, good story and photos. You inspire me to do some MYOG projects. Most of my MYOG projects to date have been merely modifications of commercial gear.
Your tent looks interesting. As for a sleeping pad pack, well, mine would absolutely have to have 2 thin aluminum stays as in my REI Cruise UL 60. Tried the mattress-as-pack-frame and tried it again with no satisfaction above 20 lbs. Sometimes I need to carry food for 10 days plus 3 L. of water for dry stretches here in the southwest. That can put me above 25 lbs.
Keep on posting about your MYOG gear. Very interesting.
All, Many thanks to everyone for reading and commenting. Also I really appreciate Addie's help. She makes the process of submitting an article painless and does the hard work of getting it ready for the site.
Jamie
Jamie, well done. The article was well writtten, included a nice mixture of gear, lists and story. A great read with pictures! BPL needs more articles like this!
Michael
Adding to the chorus — yes, great write up! Thanks!
Looked at your website.
Very nice set of gear you have there.
Nice article.
A good read. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Really enjoyed it.
cool trip for sure. I was there at 29 a few weeks later with friends & scouts. Bear was in camp all evening & morning. I have Ray-Way tarp,net tent,quilt & GG homemade pack. ray way homemade as well. will post some pics if figure out how
Tarp & sh
elter
they werent kidding
Jamie,
Great report sbout your MYOG and the Smokeys. I suggest that everyone check out your "Lightweight Journey" on your website.
Tom
Become a member to post in the forums.