My gear was nothing else than a big question mark, but as I stated in previous posts, most of it performed well. As I did not have prior experience in long distance hiking, I was prepared to tweak the configuration along the way. I am surprised how little I ended up changing anything. The stuff that I had, or begun with, can be found in my initial gear posting.
The Weight
One of the most important factors of the stuff you are carrying is its weight. Below, you can see how my packs total weight evolved as a function of days.
To reiterate, the base weight is everything else than food, water and the clothes you are wearing. Trekking poles and watch are not included either. I have counted everything else, also my fanny pack and its contents. Fanny pack is not part of a backpack, but it would be cheating not to take that into account.
I started to get rid of unnecessary stuff just after 4 days when having the break in Julian. I mailed away a collection of small stuff that I had learned I can do without, most notably the Kindle. I thought that I would want the Kindle back at some point, but this never happened.
The first big change happened in Ridgecrest when I switched the quilt to a sleeping bag. The compression sack for the quilt was heavy, and I also cut my sleeping pad in half. You do not need the full length of a pad, having an empty backpack under your feet does the job nicely. Total weight went down over one kilogram.
The joy from reduced weight was short lived as in the Sierras you needed to carry micro spikes and a bear canister. In hindsight, I should have started the hike without extra clothes (puff jacket, thermals) and send them in when hitting the Sierras. They were just dead weight in the beginning.
I send the clothing I really did not need only at a very late stage, in Castella and in Seiad Valley. This saved me almost a kilogram. Temporarily sending my camera away at the same time meant that my base weight was now around 5.7 kg. This was the lowest that I achieved. I enjoyed this bliss during the days from 75 to 99. Breakdown to categories on that sweet minimum can be seen below.
In the above chart we have:
"big 3" ~ backpack, shelter, sleeping system
"electronics" ~ phone, camera, battery, cords, etc.
"cooking" ~ the filter, all food related stuff
"misc" ~ all the liners, pouches and small items
"documents" ~ money, cards, paper
As PCT goes through many towns with post offices, getting new stuff and sending old away is easy. In hindsight, a better strategy with the gear would have been to start with an absolute minimum set and then order missing items if in need. You get used quickly to any setup you have. If you get used to a state where you have less but can still cope, it is great. It weights less. But if you get used to "too much" weight, it becomes the norm nevertheless and is gonna slow you down for the rest of the trip. In the beginning of the hike, if starting from south, you cannot have so little gear that it would be dangerous.
Performance
Backpack
Right from the bat, I disliked the MLD Exodus backpack. It is my first frameless pack. Only when I started to utilise the sleeping bad as a back frame I started to be okay with it. The pack does not carry well if the weight goes near 15 kilograms. But then again, probably no frameless pack does. I think I will return to a pack with a frame in my future hikes. Saving half a kilo in backpack weight is not worth sacrificing in carrying quality which affects every step on the journey. |
| Left: The backpack in its bloated form at the very beginning. Right: After 3000 km and about in its slimmest form. |
Tarp
I never got used to the MLD Serenity tarp. I was envious of the self standing tents that many other hikers had. In the beginning, this was not a thing as I enjoyed cowboy camping. If you would have been a bit more adventurous, you could have saved in weight by sending a tent / tarp to yourself only when reaching Washington.The inner bug net that I had, MLD Patrol Duo, performed well. It was small, lightweight and easy to setup. Granted, it was a tight fit but the overall simplicity made it great to use. The tarp itself was a nuisance. It was way too big, and because it was not open ended, getting in and out was troublesome. In addition, it was surprisingly hard to set it up tight.
If I am gonna use a tarp again, I am gonna opt for a simpler design. Sadly, the tarp and the bug net got lost when I was changing it to the tent, so cannot use and get a second opinion anymore. It either got stolen or misplaced by the personnel at Snoqualmie Pass Inn, or lost by USPS. Either way, I lost 650 dollars.
Tent
I changed the tarp to the ZPacks Plexamid tent. I saw it late in the hike at Cascade Locks and wanted to try it out. It was very light and easy to setup. Nevertheless, I quickly sold it after the hike, as I want to try out a freestanding tent in the future. In hindsight I should have keep the tent. Because it is so lightweight and convenient, it has its uses for ultra light hiking.The tent performed decently but the challenging conditions at the end of the hike were a bit much for it. The moisture got through the single wall design, and it did not insulate you against the cold one bit. Also, it was just a bit too short. I ended up touching the wall with my feet, getting them wet. This is a problem with almost every tent I have used. I hope that there would be a model that would be just 10 cm longer.
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| Left: The MLD Patrol Duo that I disliked. Right: ZPacks Plexamid, light and easy but not good for bad weather. |
Quilt and sleeping bag
I do like the idea of a quilt. It gives you more freedom to move and weights less. However, my choice for the quilt was not optimal (Enlightenment Equipment Revelation) . I chose one that was too long and wide and was thus big and heavy. I could have managed with a shorter one. I also like the fact that with sleeping bag you do not accidentally get out of it. In colder conditions, this matters. The Western Mountaineering Ultralite performed really well. My only complaint is that it rips pretty easily. I guess that you cannot help with that when dealing with ultra light gear.Sleeping pad
Overall I am happy to my selection for a sleeping pad, the Thermarest Z-lite Sol. Granted that without a soft ground underneath, I kept waking up all along the night. This was because I needed to switch my position every hour or so. The hardness made my back and sides hurt. Especially towards the end of the hike this started to be more of a hindrance as the pad started to be worn out and thin. I should have changed it half way through. As with everything, it does not last forever.Still, as the alternative would have included inflating and deflating a mattress every night, I am satisfied. With air mattresses you need to be careful not to puncture it. And they still clearly fall short from "real" mattresses. The fact that I could utilise my sleeping pad as a backplate for the backpack was invaluable.
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| Left: In the beginning with quilt, full-length sleeping pad and a film based ground cloth. Right: Half a sleeping pad, a tyvek based ground cloth and a sleeping bag (in the black bag). |
Clothes - hiking
I am very satisfied to my hiking clothes. The thin Columbia Sportswear Featherweight shirt lasted for 2150 miles, which is quite a feat considering how thin and comfortable it was. The Silver Ridge Lite that replaced it is a fine shirt as well, although at start it felt too thick. Later as it got colder this was a blessing. Also, the size LT was a bit too big for me, where as the size L for the Featherweight was just right.The Patagonia Strider Pro 5 shorts were a fine choice as well. Even though the colour is now washed out, they are still are fully usable.
I am not quite sure what to say about Darn Tough socks. I ended up changing pairs three times. I guess that is not a lot in a hike like this. I did hear that some people got way more miles with some other brands (that I have forgotten). The thing with Darn Toughs is that as they are made out of wool, you should not dry them with heat. If you do, you run the risk of shrinking them. This is inconvenient on trail when you do not have time or possibility to air dry stuff when in town.
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| I was amazed that the shirt I am holding here accompanied me all the way to the border of Washington. I feared already on day one that it would rip any moment. |
Clothes - the packed out ones
Other pieces of my clothing I ended up using so little that I cannot say anything meaningful about them. I only used boxers when in town while doing laundry. The El Officio brand functioned well and they are a comfortable fit.I do have a good feeling about the Enlightenment Equipment Torrid Apex puff jacket. It did not tear and kept me warm when I needed that. The Outdoor Research Helium II rain jacket did perform its duty well. I used that quite many times for extra warmth, as the Torrid Apex would have been an overkill.
My thermals, the Patagonia Capilene Zip-Neck Shirt and the Salomon Intensity Tights, were quite useless for me through out the whole hike. I did use the shirt many times when in town while doing laundry but I could have used my rain coat instead. The tights I used maybe twice and could have done entirely without. The weather was just too good for these items.
I am not too happy with the Outdoor Research Versaliner gloves. Not that there is anything inherently bad about them, but gloves in general just are not for me. My fingers get cold so easily that what I need is mittens. The gloves help only little.
I am very fond of the As Tucas Millaris wind pants. Not that I used them that much for wind protection. The main use was protection from mosquitos, and then using them in town when doing laundry. As they weight almost nothing and are surprisingly durable, I do like them a lot.
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| The As Tucas pants were not only useful, but they also made their user look cool as hell, eh. |
Electronics
As I've written before, having a separate camera for pictures did not work great for me. The Sony RX100mk3 worked well enough, but having a good mobile phone would have been so much better. I am also a bit disappointed that the Sony seems to be very sensitive to moisture. Because of this it once stopped working and since then I was very wary of using it in humid conditions. Also, the lens protector is quite fragile. I got it bent and since then it has not opened properly. I tried to fix it many times but no avail. Next time on such a journey, I will just have a mobile phone.I ended up not using the Garmin Inreach Explorer+ at all. I realised that it would be dead weight early on in the hike, but thought that having a fail safe is reasonable. I did not want to give up the already invested money so easily either. In hindsight the device was overkill for the easy hike, and I would have done good just to have a mere Personal Location Beacon device without the extra functionality.
My sports watch of choice, Garmin Fenix 5x, left me with mixed feelings. Otherwise if did its job well, but it was a constant nuisance to get it to charge. In outdoor conditions, when it is humid and/or cold, you needed to wiggle the charging cord a variable amount of time in order to get it to charge. Indoors, after the hike, this has been rarely a problem. For an adventure watch, this is quite unacceptable.
I do think my one clear luxury item, the Microsoft Foldable Keyboard, was totally worth carrying with me. Without it, I would have not written anything. It also worked like a charm and was enjoyable enough to write with.
My choice for a battery pack was overkill. The Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 mAh was most of the time full. There were plenty of opportunities recharge and as I had separate devices for listening music, navigating and taking pictures, I did not end up draining juice from the brick that often. 10000 mAh brick, even smaller, would have been enough for me. I realised this early on but did not want to invest money on a smaller version. As the battery packs are heavy, this was a stupid decision. Not gonna carry such a heavy item anymore unless really in need.
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| Left: The 5-port charger I had in the very beginning. Right: The 2-port charger I switched to in Ridgecrest. It was more than enough for my needs. |
Cooking utensils
I am nothing but happy with my approach to cooking on trail, or to be more accurate, the absence of it. The cold soak container and an aluminium fork was all I needed. I was happy to have my chocolate coffee cold. A big factor on all this was the good weather. Spending more time on colder conditions makes you value warm food and liquids more.The Sawyer Squeeze filter worked well. I changed that only once as I was able to score a replacement from a hiker box midway through the hike. The flow started to be a slow towards the end of the hike but nothing too terrible. The Cnoc Outdoors Vecto 2L water container was superb. I am happy that I got one early in the hike. It is durable, needs no maintenance and is easy to handle.
I found the Gerber LST Ultralight Knife a good choice. I ended up using a knife very rarely, usually just opening packages or cutting tape, so the fact that the knife was really small and light was great.
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| Cold soaking did not fail me even in cold conditions, but I failed the trusty container once: it did not fare well with hot liquid. You can see the container melted, but still functioning well. |
Misc stuff
I found the Montbell Sun Block Umbrella quite useless early on and send it away. This was a correct move as I think using one is much more trouble than worth. You can have a hat and clothing that helps you with the sun. Big enough umbrella to really cover you would be too heavy and cumbersome anyway. Most of the time you can find shade if you really need it. Also, I felt that the design with the umbrella was not optimal. It took time to set it up and put it away because of the folding structure. The structure made it also a bit brittle.I really loved the Thrupack Summit Bun fanny pack almost all the way to the end. In the end the zipper started to malfunction and I could not use it safely anymore. Shoving it to my backpack made me realise that it is much more pleasant to walk without it. The design is good enough that it is not too awkward to wear, but still I am gonna use backpack shoulder pouches in future hikes.
Documents
I did not need the paper maps that I carried one third of the hike at all. Before the hike, I thought that I would study them for fun every now and then. Granted that the conventional wisdom of always having a non-electronic backup with navigation is well founded, I feel that I could have skipped here right from the beginning. Then again, I did not know how clear and busy the trail was.I did end up carrying my travel neck pouch and the metallic wallet way too long. They added nothing of value to the hike, just weight. Zip lock bags were enough to protect the documents and money. It really boils down to this: if there is no clear utility value for something on daily basis, do not take it with you. Having multiple uses for the same item really pays off, even if the functioning of that one item is not as great as it would be with a separate, dedicated item. Also, in todays world, getting stuff on the go is so easy that carrying something a week without usage is not necessary. Might be a different tune when treading in the real wilderness.
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| One of the documents you needed to carry on trail as a paper version. Glad that I was able to obey the Start and End locations! |
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