I'm happy to say that we used all of the gear we brought, we didn't have anything "extra" really.
None of my gear was ultralight, although I sure wished it was! Since I didn't win (or play) the lottery, I had to go with gear that I already had or could afford. Generally speaking, all gear is expensive, but ultralight gear seems to be even more expensive.
The Big 3: Pack, Tent and Sleeping Bag
Backpack: Osprey Aura 65L (3 lb 6 oz)- I was very happy with this pack. The Aura fit me perfectly. The back mesh panel was awesome and comfortable. I had no back issues at all, unlike the Osprey Ariel that I originally had (see older post about Big Red for more details). The hipbelt cannot be switched out like on the Ariel, but that was OK. I was a size small for the torso, which meant the hipbelt was also a size small. I could have used the XS, but got by just fine. The Aura is about a pound lighter than the Ariel, which was a big plus. Because we had to carry bear cans, the side stretchy pockets couldn't really be utilized. The rigid bear can "filled up" the space where you'd normally have room to put things in the pockets. But! I was still able to find a use for them: I used one pocket for my bathroom stuff (bag with TP, shovel, wipes, hand sanitizer) and I used the other for the small water bottle I brought for Gatorade- as long as I put the bottle in at just the right angle at the bottom of the pocket, I could squeeze it in.
I had 2 minor complaints about this pack:
1. The hipbelt pockets were too small and positioned too far back on the belt. Because I had the belt synched down most of the way, I couldn't easily access the pockets nor could I actually fill them up all the way with stuff because the back half of the pocket would be squished under the pack frame. I was barely able to fit my bug headnet in one of the pockets and could barely fit a candy bar or Clif bar in the other. Was hoping to fit more! Also the top "brain" part does not detach to make a fanny pack like the Ariel does. For when we summited Whitney, I ended up sending myself a tiny Codura pack that packs down to the size of a clementine in my last resupply. It worked great but another thing to ship myself and carry.
2. The capacity of this pack at a size small is listed at 62L. 62L is A LOT. I had a hellova time getting all my stuff in it and I didn't particularly have a lot of stuff. Daveed's pack is 70L and he somehow had room to spare AND was able to fit his bear can horizontally. I couldn't and had to keep it vertical. The bear can took up 2/3 of my pack and I had to pack my bag in a very specific way, in a specific order, to get everything to fit. For example, I had to fill up my water bladder (2.5L osprey reservoir) and get it in my pack first before anything else. I could not get it in my pack when my pack was full. Because the bear can needed to go in the bottom of the pack (above the sleeping bag), I had to take everything out to get at it. After a couple days on trail, I learned to take some snacks out and keep them in the top "brain" part of my pack for easier access. Every morning and every night, at every snack/lunch break I wrestled with my pack to get everything in it.
This pack was a good work horse and I was able to comfortably carry my heavy (30 lb+) load. After 1 month of continuous use on the JMT and about another month of lighter use, it's in practically new condition. There is a minor tear in the thin stretchy fabric on the front of the pack (I used this pocket to hold my Crocs sandals). Other than that, no real signs of wear and tear.
Would I use again? Yes. Unless I win the lottery, then I would upgrade ALL my gear to ultralight :)
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Tent: Sierra Designs Vapor Light 2 (3 lbs)- Daveed carried the tent, poles, stakes and fly, I carried the ground cloth. This tent worked great for us. Kept us dry, warm, kept the bugs out, easy and quick set up. It's a cozy fit as the tent is only just wide enough for 2 sleeping pads. We had a little bit of space near our heads where we put extra personal items and food that didn't fit in our bear cans. There are a few nylon loops on the ceiling, which we utilized to hang an in-tent clothesline for small items like socks and unders.
The vestibule is small and it was a bit of a tetris game to get both our packs, shoes etc in it when it rained, but we got it all to fit. We did find that condensation would form in the tent/under the rain fly, so we started sleeping with the door unzipped a smidge which helped with ventilation.
Would I use again? Yes.
I have 2 complaints about this bag:
1. It leaked feathers like crazy. Every morning we'd have to clean the feathers out of the tent and they were imbedded in my base layers. Not sure if my bag is defective or if this bag has a history of leaking...?
2. The zipper constantly got stuck in the lining. It happened a lot, even when I would use my finger to guide the zipper and move the fabric out of the way. Again, not sure if this is a defect with my bag or what. It was super annoying, especially when I'd get up to pee in the middle of the night and come back to the tent freezing and mostly still asleep. It was a pain to get the zipper sorted out when all I wanted to do was go back to sleep.
Would I use again? For shorter trips, yes. For longer trips, probably not. I would worry that the feather loss would start to effect the warmth factor. Plus all the feathers in the tent gets really old.
Would I use again? Maybe. Most self-inflating foam/air combo pads are more than 3 lbs and pack down to be larger than a yoga mat. I see Thermarest has one out that's about a pound and packs down smallish. I'd be willing to test drive it.
Pillow: Thermarest pillow size small (7 oz)- This was a major luxury item! It doesn't pack down very small, which was a problem considering my pack had zero space in it. Daveed actually ended up carrying it for me about half way through our hike since he had more space in his pack. I like this pillow a lot and use it even when we're car camping/out climbing somewhere. It was nice to have this extra comfort on trail.
Would I use again? No. Not for a thru-hike anyways. I have an inflatable pillow that weighs 2 oz that I'd consider or I'd use a stuff sack type thing. That's what Daveed did and it worked well. He used a tiny pillowcase that came with a small travel pillow that he ordered. He stuffed his extra layers in the pillowcase and it worked just fine.
Camp Kitchen
Stove- JetBoil Flash (14 oz)- Loved this stove. We did all freezer bag cooking, so all I did was boil water, which means I never had to clean the pot. Did its job just like it is supposed to: boiled water fast. The igniter still works, which is generally the first thing to break on it. I did carry a mini bic lighter as a back up. I liked that I could fit a small fuel can inside the cook "pot" along with the stove apparatus.
The major draw back with this stove is that it's heavy and bulky. For a short trip or when weight and space doesn't matter, it's great.
Would I use again? No. This is the one piece of gear I can confidently say I would change. Not because it doesn't work well but because it's too heavy and bulky. I would switch to a smaller and lighter stove set up: small stove (maybe a pocket rocket) with a lightweight pot and windscreen. The Jackies had this set up and it worked good for them. And they did freezer bag cooking as well. The water takes longer to heat up and boil, but waiting the extra 5 mins is an OK trade off to save the weight and space.
Water Filter- MSR HyperFlow (7.4 oz)- A dear friend lent us their water filter, which saved us $100! Thanks Mr. Fields! We filtered all of our water including cooking water. Neither of us got sick, which was our number one goal, and to not get injured. This water filter worked great for us until the filter cartridge needed replacing. We filtered on average 12L of water per day, which includes all cooking water. The filter worked fine for the first 16 days of our trip, then after that it got harder and harder to pump water through it. But, in the end, the filter did last us 28 days. I didn't think we'd need a replacement cartridge for 28 days, but it turned out we did! None of the water sources were polluted or heavy with silt or debris, just some minor lake particles so I was surprised the filter clogged and needed to be replaced. We did back flush it every day and after a few days, even that didn't make a difference.
I do need to give Daveed a shout out here as he filtered all of our water, every day. Thank you!
We also carried a few little purification tablets as a back up in the event the filter broke, but we never needed them.
Would I use again? No. I would try either the Aqua Mira drops or the Sawyer Squeeze instead. The drops are lighter and the bottles are super tiny. The Sawyer Squeeze is also lighter and smaller but I would need to test drive both of these options. I'm guessing the Sawyer Squeeze filter would need to be replaced every so often, but I've read blogs of people who used it on the PCT and only replaced the filter once on their 5 month hike.
Bear Can- BearVault 500 (2.9 lbs)- Woof. The bear can. We had to use them, and this can was just fine. It's just so heavy! But I suppose they all are. I liked the clear walls so that I could more accurately dig for what I was looking for. It was large enough to carry 7 days of food. Knowing what I know now, I could go 8, maybe even 10 days with this can if I had to. The can is super rigid plastic and tough. We would stack and stash our cans somewhere near camp and we never had bear issues. We slept with our extra food and toiletries every night. It's not recommended, but we never had any bear issues. The reality is that it's near impossible to fit all of your food, trash and toiletries in the bear can, unless you have 2 days worth of food left in it. Our strategy was to keep trash, re-packaged foods, toothbrush and paste in the can, and sleep with the other toiletries and sealed foods. For example, we would take unopened packages of jerky, nuts, bars etc and double ziplock bag them. I'm sure the bears can still smell the food, but we did our best to keep the odors to a minimum. We also kept a very clean camp. We never had food scraps around and we ate directly out of freezer bags and then would keep the empties/dirty bags/trash in our cans. Of course we couldn't control what the people in the same camp the day before did, but we never saw or encountered trash or food waste in any of the camps we stayed in. Thanks everyone for leaving no trace!
The can made for a nice little stool to sit on in camp, it also made for a good surface to carry extra duct tape on. And stickers for bringing some cheer! Opening the can was occasionally a pain, but after a couple days worth of practice, Daveed was a pro. I often needed try hard noises. We used the ends of our spoons to aid in pushing the tabs to get the lid off. I got one injury from trying to get it open, my fingers slipped off the lid and the edge of one of the tabs gouged a big hole in the top of my pointer finger. I still have the scar and it was so deep it took weeks to heal. Thankfully it didn't bleed much and I was able to keep it clean by using only a couple band-aids from our limited first aid kit.
Would I use again? Yes. But only because you have to in the Sierras.
Cup- Coleman camp cup (2 oz)- Found this gem at Walmart! Whattup! And it was only $1! I think it has a 10 ounce capacity and it has markings on the inside to note a 1 cup measurement, which was needed for making meals. Super easy to clean, I didn't use soap of any kind on it and it cleaned up just fine. I just used the leftover hot water from my meal, used my finger to "wash" it, rinsed and was done. It was the perfect size for making hot drinks as everything I drank (coffee/cappuccino mix, hot chocolate, apple cider and tea) called for 8-10 ounces of water.
Would I use again? Yes.
Would I use again? Yes.
Clothes/Shoes/Rain Gear
Rain jacket- Mountain Hardwear Versteeg DryQ (11 oz)- Love this rain jacket. It kept me dry during all day rain and hail storms. The hood has a little visor on it and there is a bungee strap to synch it tighter around your head. The pit zips are appreciated when it's wet and warmish! I'm happy to say my rain gear did not fail me. We saw lots of people who were not so lucky.
Would I use again? Yes.
Rain pants- Marmot Precip pants (10 oz)- Love these rain pants. They are sort of breathable and kept my legs dry during all day rain and hail storms. I was able to get them on and off without taking my boots off without a lot of hassle.
Would I use again? Yes.
Insulating jacket- Patagonia nano puff pullover, half zip (9 oz)- Love this jacket. I'm sensing a theme here! I chose synthetic for my insulating layer since my sleeping bag was down, in the event my sleeping bag got wet, I would have the synthetic jacket to keep me warm. This jacket was the perfect amount of warmth. If I did start to feel cold, I'd go in the tent. Our coldest day hiking was the day we summited Whitney, in which case I did wear all of my layers, and even still, with my rain jacket over this jacket, I was warm enough (as long as we kept moving).
Would I use again? Yes.
Camp shoes- NothingZ (generic Crocs) (2 oz?)- These are the best camp shoes ever! They're light weight and comfy! I wanted Crocs so I could slip them on around camp and then use the heel strap for river crossings. These "Crocs" style/clog sandals allow you to get your feet in them with socks on, which was a plus in the cool mornings and evenings. These sandals were super comfortable and something I always looked forward to. My feet hurt every damn day on trail (see review of boots) so putting these comfortable sandals on at the end of the day was wonderful. I would take my boots off at lunch time too so if I needed shoes to go pee or something, I would wear these. It turns out I only needed to cross one creek with my boots off, and when I did, I wore these sandals and was glad I did as they protected my feet from the rocky creek bed. They dried fast.
These Crocs type sandals are so ugly and I would never wear them in "real life", but they were wonderful on the trail!
Would I use again? Oh heck yeah!
Shirts- Kuhl sun shirt and Smartwool super lite t-shirt- I bought the Smartwool t-shirt on discount from a discount online store and I got what I paid for. The shirt's torso was the defect- it was super short. Practically a belly shirt. The wool itself performed just fine and I enjoyed using this t-shirt as a spare shirt. I primarily wore the Kuhl sun shirt, with UPF 50. My arms and back of my neck were crispy within a day or two on trail. The shirt worked perfectly to shield my skin from the sun. I would pop the collar up to protect the back of my neck. It dried quickly when I would take my pack off at breaks. It also dried quickly after I would soak it and rinse it out. After wearing it every day on trail, there are no rips or tears and there was just one loose thread on one of the buttons which Jackie sewed and fixed for me.
Worst part about the sun shirt- the smell. It's made of synthetic fabric, and I didn't use deodorant on the trail, so after a day of sweating all day, my shirt smelled terrible. It was a disgusting mix of BO and weirdly, vinegar. It made me gag. I rinsed my shirt at least every other day, except for one stretch when it was rainy and I went 3 days before rinsing it, and it helped to get a little of the stank out. When the shirt was properly laundered with soap, it came out fresh as a daisy with no residual odor at all.
Would I use again? Yes to the sun shirt, no to the ill fitting Smartwool shirt.
Shorts- North Face Almatta shorts (4 oz?)- I love these shorts! Stretchy, breathable, dry quickly and super comfortable. I thought for sure I'd wear a hole in the butt as the fabric feels kind of thin and I was sitting on rough granite rock, or pine needles or other rough surfaces, but nope! They are alive and well and I still wear them! They are also the perfect length for me, not too short and not too long. I did not have any chaffage issues.
Would I use again? Yes. I want more pairs of these shorts.
Base layer pants- North Face expedition weight tights (8 oz?)- I opted for the warmer and heavier tights. Turns out I could have gotten by with a mid weight. I was glad for the heavier weight during the cold mornings, but I slept hot in these. I like these tights, the fleecy lining is heavenly and warm.
Would I use again? No, but not because the quality is not good. I would just down grade the warmth factor to a mid weight.
Base layer shirt- Smartwool mid weight long sleeve crew neck (5 oz)- Love this shirt. It was perfect. It didn't smell terrible either like my synthetic sun shirt. I wore this shirt around camp in the evening while my other shirt was drying and for sleeping. It kept me warm and comfortable.
Would I use again? Yes.
Socks- Darn Tough 1/4 hiking socks- 2 pair- Loved these socks! Merino wool, always, for the win! I like Darn Tough more than Smartwool now. And Darn Tough has a lifetime warranty on their socks. Yes. You can wear them out, send them back/exchange them for a new pair! What?! The socks were cushioned, which I desperately needed (see boot review below) and therefore thicker, so they took forever to dry. Using a safety pin to pin them to the outside of my pack on sunny days worked great, but on the rainy days, I tried to wear them in the tent/sleep with them on to get my body heat to dry them faster
Socks, liners- Injinji toe socks- 2 pair- I used these as my liner socks and they are awesome! At first they feel weird when you get your toes in them, but you get used to it quick. I had no blisters on or between my toes. Boom.
Would I use again? Yes to both types of socks and yes to 2 pairs of each. I would actually bring an additional pair of socks just for sleeping in too.
Gaiters- Dirty Girl Gaiters- Loved these! They kept the dirt, rocks and twigs out of my boots and kept my socks cleaner. Super easy to get on and off and the Velcro strip on the heel of my boot never came off. These gaiters performed better than I thought they would. They're only $20, made of a stretchy spandex type fabric, dry quickly and do their job!! It was fun to see all the bright patterns of the hundreds of other hikers who also had these gaiters. These were by far the most popular gaiters on trail. When ours got clogged with dirt, we rinsed them out several times and laid them out to dry. They were the fastest drying piece of fabric we had!
Note: I would not use these for snow, I would use traditional gaiters for snow.
Would I use again? Yes.
Unders- ExOfficio bikini 2 pairs- I liked these unders but the "non-stink" factor that they evangelize about with these is untrue. They still smelled. I alternated between 2 pairs and will say that most of the stank rinsed out of them. I used biodegradable soap on them once and just plain water every other day, and they did rinse out to be mostly OK smelling. They dried fast and were comfortable. They washed up in the regular laundry just fine with no residual stank.
These unders are expensive, I was glad I got mine on sale but they did last the entire trail and I still wear them.
Would I use again? Yes.
Sports bra- Verve Lorelli (Note- the bra in the above picture is NOT the Verve Lorelli, the one pictured is a cheap thin bra from Walmart, I was thinking of wearing it and throwing it out at the end of the trail but opted for something with more support, and I'm glad I did!)- This is my favorite sports bra of life. It's so comfortable! And it doubles as a swim suit top when needed. Only downfall is that it takes forever to dry. The outer layer is cotton, the inner liner some sort of CoolMax. So the outer cotton layer takes a long time to dry. It rinsed out just fine and never smelled bad. Washed up in the regular laundry just fine and I still wear it.
Would I use again? Yes.
Sunglasses- Polarized - Sunglasses are a must, the sun is so bright! Great sunglasses, polarized lenses are totally the way to go.
Would I use again? Yes.
Hats- Athleta mesh running cap, North Face fleece beanie- wore the Athleta hat every day. Have had this hat for more than 5 years and I love it. Even after the dirt and abuse it took on the trail, it's in great condition! It's light weight, breathable, dries quickly, fits my small Asian head and washes up great! I used hand soap at one or two of our resupply stops to wash it and it washed up great!
The North Face hat was fine, it did its job and was warm. I was really happy to have it on the days it rained, I'd pull it on as soon as I got in the tent.
Would I use again? Yes for the Athleta hat, maybe to the North Face hat. I'd probably opt for something a bit less bulky, maybe a thinner merino wool hat or something.
Gloves- Generic brand, wind and water resistant- I bought these gloves on discount from a discount online store and they worked OK. They were big and bulky but for the one and only day I wore them, I would still have carried them for 27 days just to have had them for the day we summited Whitney. It was cold and windy with all day rain and hail the day we summited. These gloves kept my hands warm and dry until about 30 mins from reaching camp when they started seeping and my hands started getting wet. I would have been in rough shape without these gloves. Daveed opted not to bring gloves but found one on the summit trail and wore it the rest of the day, happy to have one gloved hand.
Would I use again? Yes, I would bring gloves. No, I would not bring this particular pair. I actually threw them away when we got to Whitney Portal because they were still soaking wet, heavy and not needed any more. I would find a lighter, less bulky option. Maybe some lighter, cheap gloves and then pair them with some latex exam gloves or something to make them "water resistant" when needed.
Boots and Insoles- Asolo Gortex mid hiking boots (not sure which model), SuperFeet blue insoles- My boots. Woof. Let's start with the good qualities, shall we? They were sturdy, provided the ankle support I needed and the traction I wanted. They also show hardly any signs of wear and tear. I would roll my ankles at least a dozen times each day and these boots caught my ankles and provided enough support for them to not fully roll over. They did their job. I got my boots a half size larger than I normally wear. These particular boots ran big according to the reviews, which was true, and I knew I was going to wear 2 pairs of socks, so sizing up worked perfectly. My feet didn't really swell too much, but sizing up a bit was a good idea.
The Gortex mostly worked. On the Golden Staircase Day only my left boot leaked across the toes, causing the water to seep and eventually get half my foot wet. Not too shabby for boots I bought at a discount. Maybe this was their defect? Considering how much water was involved on that day, I was happy that my feet were mostly dry. Same goes with the other days it rained and hailed all day, I was very very very thankful to have Gortex boots. Yes my feet sweat in them on the hot and dry days, but I was sure to air them out at lunch and every night.
And now the bad. My feet hurt every day. Every day. I couldn't get my boots off fast enough during lunch breaks and at the end of the day. My big toes and the balls of my feet went completely numb after about a week on trail. The feeling did not fully come back until about 2 months post trail. My boots needed more cushioning. Period. They felt like concrete at the end of the day. It was not fun to roll into camp each night and have to coax my toes and feet back to bending and moving and working and supporting my weight. I had weird pains and tingling and sensitivity. It was weird. This is truly the only thing I complained about. My achin feet. A big thank you to Daveed for stretching my bad ankle every night and for rubbing the balls of my feet to try and get some circulation going.
SuperFeet insoles....meh? These are all the rage in the hiking world, but I'm not sure what difference they make? Mine were comfortable and fit my foot fine but I don't know what they do exactly...they don't add cushion. They do add some arch support, but...other than that... I'm not sure I'd use these again.
Would I use again? Yes, I would wear mid hiking boots. Yes, I would get Gortex again. No, I would not wear this particular pair again. I need something more comfortable with more cushion. I would want to test drive different insoles with more cushion. If I was hiking in a place that was less rugged, I would wear something lighter and more comfortable, like a trail running shoe.
Other
Trekking poles- generic version of REI trekking poles- I bought these on discount from an online discount store and they worked great. They were the exact same model, minus the logo and brand name, of Daveed's REI trekking poles and half the price. I relied on my poles to push my ass up the passes and slow my decent on the downs. I never would have made it without them. They were also helpful for balance during creek crossings.
Would I use again? Yes.
Pack rain cover- Osprey medium rain cover- This pack cover was thin and tore the first time I used it. I repaired the hole with some duct tape and was extra careful with it during future uses. It worked OK to keep the rain mostly off my pack but after all day rain and hail, water seeped in on the top and especially the bottom. I started wrapping my sleeping bag in a garbage bag to protect it from wetness which worked just fine. Daveed left his pack cover at VVR and ended up using the tent's rain fly the rest of the trip. After he figured out how to secure it well around his pack, it kept his pack drier than my pack cover.
Would I use again? Yes, unless someone comes out with something more durable.
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| Cozy |
Food cozy- silver insulated bubble wrap type stuff from the hardware store- These homemade cozies were awesome!! We made them custom for our own uses and they performed great and lasted the entire trip. We still have them and could use them again on another trip. We used extra tough Gorilla Tape to seal the seams and we never had any issues with the tape peeling away.
Would I use again? Yes. And I would also use the freezer bag method of making meals again.
Headlamp- Black Diamond Gizmo (2 oz)- This headlamp is basic, it has off and on and a dimmer and worked perfectly fine. No red light. We didn't do any night hiking and I used this headlamp infrequently as I was usually asleep by the time it actually got dark. It's not very bright but would suffice for night hiking. It uses 2 AAA batteries which are of course super easy to find for replacement. Because I didn't use this light much, the batteries never needed to be replaced while on trail. I almost brought the BD ReVolt thinking it would be a better idea to recharge it than replace the batteries. I'm really glad I didn't bring it as I hardly needed a light and the ReVolt is heavy and bulkier.
Would I use again? Yes, or if I knew I wouldn't be doing any night hiking, I would opt for the lighter and smaller 1 oz Petzl e-LITE which uses those round flat watch batteries.
Bug head net and bug spray- Sea to Summit bug head net, Repel mini "travel" sized bug spray- the bug head net saved my sanity on a few occasions. It was great to throw it on and just let the flies/skeeters/gnat have at it. I kept it in a hip pocket so I could grab it whenever. Since I wore a baseball cap every day, the brim kept the net off my face. The bug spray was the perfect little size and for the few times I needed it, I was REALLY happy I had it. I used it early on in the trip and then not at all at the end of the trip as the bugs weren't an issue. If we would have done the trail earlier in June or July, when the bugs are worse, I would have sent myself a new tube in every resupply and maybe even 2 in the VVR resupply.
Would I use again? Heck yeah for the head net and heck yeah for the little tubes of bug spray. And yes, it has DEET in it.
Water bladder- Osprey water reservoir 2.5L- This water bladder is pretty standard, it held water. I liked that the hose detached in the middle so I didn't have to re-lace the hose through the elastic on my pack straps every day. I also like the magnet which kept it on my sternum strap and always within reach of my parched mouth. I really liked having the hose to drink from as it allowed for me to sip while I hiked. If I only had bottles, I would have had to stop every time I wanted water. Which was often when it was hot and dry.
Only flaw, it does not have a cover for the mouth piece, so I cleaned dirt off it everyday, but in the grand scheme of things, was not a big deal. Its magnet and mid-hose detach point made up for the lack of a cover, but I do hope that Osprey will make a cover for it like CamelBak has.
Would I use again? Yes.
Small Nalgene bottle- 16 oz capacity- I brought this bottle to use for Gatorade and other flavored drinks. Worked just fine and after 28 days of use and never being washed out with soap, it had a little bit of cloudy residue but other than that was fine :) The rigidity of this bottle came in handy as I couldn't force a softer sided bottle, like a throwaway water bottle, in the side stretch pockets of my pack (due to the unforgiving bear can). I test drove this before we left for the trail and I'm glad I did. The Nalgene added a bit of extra weight, but the rigidity allowed for me to shove it in the outside pocket (at a specific angle and entry point), which meant that I could ask David to grab it for me when I needed some electrolytes.
Would I use again? Yes in the Sierras where you have to use a bear can. No, where you don't have to carry a bear can, I would use a lighter softer sided plastic bottle which I would likely be able to slip in and out of the pocket easily with no bear can in my pack.
JMT Atlas- 2 oz- This little book was perfect. Although we never once got lost as the trail is well marked and really well travelled, we used the atlas every day to figure out mileage and camp spots and to check progress (we've only gone 4 miles??!). The book got wet on more than one occasion, but thankfully has water resistant paper/ink. So although it was soggy, the ink didn't smear or anything. The town maps came in handy. At the end of the trail, the book is pretty beat up, but could survive another round on the JMT. After that, it would probably be falling apart. The book is light and compact and only has the essentials. The guidebook is thick and heavy but has a lot of information and details about each section of trail. We often wondered what kind of flowers we were looking at or how was that rock formation made?? So although the guidebook has all these details that we wondered about, it is not worth the weight and bulk in my opinion.
Would I use again? Yes.
Rite in the Rain Journal- I wrote in this little notebook every night. The waterproof paper was nice in case it got wet, but I kept it in a zip lock with other toiletries I didn't want to get wet. The notebook is expensive and heavier than regular paper, and since I didn't actually write in it in the rain, was not needed. I can see how people who work in the field would love this notebook though!
Would I use again? No, I would use a tiny, regular paper notebook.
Camera- Canon PowerShot A1400 (6 oz), 8GB memory card- Great little point and shoot camera that also takes HD video. It takes 2 AA batteries. I shot a half dozen videos about 1 minute long and took at least 1,000 pictures. I replaced the batteries twice. I got a case for it that could be strapped to my hip belt for quick access which was awesome. On the rain days I put the camera in a zip lock sandwich bag to protect it from getting wet, which worked great.
It's kind of heavy for what it is, but I'm not sure there are ultra light weight cameras out there?
Would I use again? Yes.
Phone- Samsung Galaxy S4 mini (3.8 oz) with Speck case- This is my cell phone, I used it as a time keeper/alarm clock, to take pictures to post on Instagram and to send to my mom, along with usual phone business like texting and calling. I kept it on airplane mode all the time except when we were at resupply locations and it was charging. The battery lasted 7 days at its longest on airplane mode. I never had issues finding a wall outlet to charge it at resupply locations. During rain days I kept it in a zip lock sandwich bag and on nice days I kept it in my hip belt pocket for quick access to snap pics.
Although most people say cell reception is possible at the tops of the passes, I never did get enough for my phone to work (I have Verizon). We tried to call and then when that didn't work, text Rachel from the top of Forester Pass as it was her birthday, but the text never sent. So instead I wished her a happy bday in my journal :)
Something funky happened to the camera lens at some point on the trail...I don't know if it got left out in the sun or just scratched (although I don't see any visible scratches), there are now weird little blue streaks in all the pictures I take.
Would I use again? Yes, but lets be real I'll probably have a newer phone in a year. The real question should be "would I take a cell phone again"? And the answer is yes. If I was going more than 5-7 days between resupplies I would bring a small battery charger (Daveed has one that is slightly thicker than a credit card and is lightweight) that generally gives you 1-1.5 charges. That would be enough to get me through, rather than carrying a solar charger which would weigh a lot more.
First Aid- I carried a stripped down first aid kit that included moleskin, duct tape, tent repair tape, small classic Swiss Army knife, waterproof matches and a handful of band-aids, alcohol wipes, bee sting wipes, antibiotic ointment and Liquid Bandage. We used a few of the band-aids, one of the wipes and a little bit of the antibiotic ointment. I used the Liquid Bandage and duct tape every day on the backs of my heels as I had developed hot spots and blisters. We used the alcohol wipe and Liquid Bandage on a real "wound" on our last day on trail when Cameron got a cut on the bottom of his foot. I used up the moleskin quickly with my blister issues, but it ended up not sticking to my sweaty feet so I gave it away to others when I received more in my resupplies.
I sent us ibuprofen and Aleve in our resupplies which we really didn't use. We gave it away. I took some ibuprofen towards the end of the trail when my knees and feet were hurting really bad, but I'm not sure how much it really helped. I was thankful that we didn't need the pain killers.
Would I use again? Yes, but just the basics, no moleskin. The small classic Swiss Army knife was awesome and I used it more than expected. The scissors in particular came in handy.
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