Gear Post

[brdgt]

astronautical asked (and I had been thinking about doing) a post about the gear we use on our backcountry trips, so here goes...

Absolutely necessary, buy the best you can and as light in weight as you can:

• Tent (Nick's)
  Sleeping bag (Mine - Nick has the men's version - the zip together :)
  
• Sleeping pad (Mine - the only thing I would like better is if it had the loops that you can use to attach your bag to the pad, but I like the the grippy things, which are designed to make your bag stick to it)
  
• Backpack (Mine - It should have a built in water reservoir, a good hip belt, a detachable or convertible top compartment [for day trips or makeshift pillow], and you should be measured for it to make sure it fits correctly)
  
• Stove (Mine - backcountry camping food is typically Freeze Dried
• Meals
that you rehydrate with boiling water. You don't need a fancy camp stove and the jetboil boils water in 2 minutes. It's also great for that Starbucks Via coffee)

Optional, comfort that feels necessary sometimes:

• A pillow (Nick stuffs extra clothing into his fleece and uses that. I don't bring enough clothing for this to work and sleeping well is so important. I use this one when I have enough room [it's also great for the car] and something like this for trips where space is more limited)
  
• A swimsuit (doubles as an extra layer)
  
• Moist towelettes (if you are clean there, you don't need to worry about much else)
  
• A frisbee (or whatever leisure activity you like - cards, a journal, a book, etc - if your companions get up later than you then you especially want this. I like to bring a book about the place we are hiking and this trip I picked up a laminated animal tracks guide - hours of entertainment!)
  
• Sandals (I upgraded from cheap flip flops to Chaco's on this trip and it was worth the weight and money. You will want to take your hiking boots off whenever possible and these function for river fording to boot.
  
• A serving spoon (your spork is great, but it won't get the stuff at the bottom of the bag).
  
• Binoculars (Best tip I got for this trip - great for just relaxing and enjoying the view, route finding, and animal viewing)

Important, but spend what you want:

• Water filtration (Nick's - the purification tablets are gross)
  
• Hiking boots (Mine - they are pretty heavy duty, but therefore multi-purpose - I've taken them to the desert and through snow and rarely get pebbles in them or have to worry about them drying out after they get wet.)
  
• Eating utensils (I use these squishy bowls (don't get dented in your pack) and these utensils (sporks with the knife on the other end are nice in theory, but you may need one utensil to hold what you are eating while cutting it)
  
• Stuff sack, rope, heavy duty carabiner (if you are in bear country you will need these to string up your food and other scented items. I just use my climbing carabiner and utility cord is just fine for rope)
  
• Knife (have you seen 127 Hours?)
  Compass, topo map, and/or GPS (You will want the compass and map even if you have the GPS in case you run out of battery power)
  
• Headlamp (I can't stress enough how important this is, don't even bother with a flashlight and try to get one with red, as well as white lights, to keep mosquitoes from drowning in your dinner when you shine your light on it. I found this one at our Cascade Lake campsite and love it.)
  
• A poncho (you won't really need to for yourself if you have a raincoat, but it doubles as a backpack cover and is nice and compact)
  
• A watch (I have a cheap digital one. It has an alarm and tells time, really all you need).
  
• A water bottle (some people think you need an insulated mug and a water bottle, but I'm never drinking something long enough that I need to worry about it staying warm. I have a 16 oz one, which I like because it has the measurements on the side for measuring out my coffee or other water)
  
• Lots of ziploc baggies (remember, it's carry in-carry out, everything).
  
• Cathole shovel (you need to ask?)
  
• Camptowel (something like this - it's less for your body and more for drying off your tent and cookware).
  
• First Aid Kit (I have this one - make sure it has tweezers, a safety pin, antiseptic wipes, and moleskin - most of your injuries will be blisters).
  
• Deet containing bug spray and sunscreen (don't get huge containers, it goes further than you think)

Clothing:

• Convertible pants (Mine - you will ideally only pack one set of clothing, just many layers, so by combining pants and shorts this does the trick. I love how these have pull cords on the bottom for keeping them up out of the mud. I just wish they had a belt, because you typically have to start hiking them up by the end of the trip)
  
• Tank top (I am a D cup, so I am at the upper limit of this working, but I prefer the ones with shelf bras - one less layer, I have this one and one from North Face)
  
• Hiking socks (REI ones are just fine and you get a deal when you buy a certain amount)
  
• Long sleeve top (I use a running jacket that I own - it's not terribly warm, it's more for when it starts to get dusk and/or to keep the mosquitoes from biting you)
  
• Raincoat (I have this Marmot coat - it compacts down really small, has a hood, vents in the sides, and really breaks the wind)
  
• Underwear (the last thing you want on a camping trip is a yeast infection and the fewer pair you have to pack the best. I like exofficio)
  
• Underlayer (you can go with long johns or I just bring my running pants and long sleeve running shirt - they are warm enough, take up very little space, and are moisture wicking. The key principle in these layers is that your warmest layer should be the base layer, not the top layer - I have never been too cold with this system, but if I was doing more mountaineering I would probably also bring something like this. Remember, you are hiking or sleeping - there are very few times that you are not active or safe in your sleeping bag.)
  
• Hat and gloves (quick drying and tight fitting - you will also want a brimmed hat for the day and a winter hat for night and/or cold weather)
  
• Bandana (keeps mosquitoes away, keeps your neck cool - you might actually want two - one for your body and one for food)
  
• Sunglasses (cheap is actually best, as they may break or get lost)

Food:

• The aforementioned freeze dried meals (don't get ones with several steps, potatoes, or red sauce. the plainer the better, although spicy is good. I tried a few recipes at trailcooking.com on this trip and they were tasty, but so much more heavy than the freeze dried meals and I would never do that again on anything more than one night)
  
• Bars (I get an assortment of Luna bars, especially the Lemon Zest - get a variety of flavors that work for breakfast, snack, or dessert - this will probably be your primary daytime food)
  
• Sweets (chocolate is NOT a good idea - it will melt. I like Swedish fish, Jason liked sour candies, Steve liked jellybeans, etc.)
  
• Beverages (everything will have to be water based, but that isn't a big deal - powdered coca, coffee, tang, etc. all make for something rather comforting right when you need it).
  

  ---

  
  Now, of course, you are not carrying all of this yourself every time. In general Nick carries the tent and I carry the food. You split things evenly as you can (one of you carries the trash and another carries extra fuel, etc). Any special things you require or prefer, well, you deal with that weight (extra pair of shoes, frisbee, lady needs, etc). I could go into more detail, so ask any questions you want.
  
  This is a pretty good idea of how big our packs looked the first day of a three night/four day trip:
  
  
  
  And let me tell you, it was heavy. Luckily, it gets better as you go on and eat more food.

Comments

[astronautical.livejournal.com]

yay!
thank you! I LOVE GEAR POSTS.

I just got a couple of those sleeping pads secondhand (both the full-sized version) - they just hadn't worked out for the previous owner - and they are so much nicer than the z-lite foam pads we had currently. (though, right now we're using both together [car camping!] - luxury!) I got them at a huge discount, about 50% off and they'd only been used 1x! I am really impressed by the grippy things. They work really well.

have you had any concern about the pads being punctured? the last time we used them, we were on fairly rocky soil and I was so happy I had the foam underneath.

and I've wanted a jet boil for a long time, but not actually doing much hiking - I've talked myself out of it. Mike kickstarted the backcountry boiler, though, so hopefully when this comes it'll be a very good tool to make hot water with!

when we picked out our sleeping bags we went to campmor to get help (I wish we had a nearby REI!) and we laid down in the sleeping bags and on the mats. That was really fun, and we scored a super helpful sales guy on that trip. we ended up with these bags (zip together is the best!) which are just over 1/2 a lb heavier than yours.

how heavy was your total pack, do you know?

and also! a friend of mine carries those single-use superglue tubes in her first aid kit. It makes sense for a field repairs - both on your person, and on your stuff.

[brdgt.livejournal.com]

We all carry a piece of duct tape on our water bottles for camp pad patching, although I've never had any need for it. Maybe it's where we've been, but we've never had so many rock that I was afraid they would puncture the pad - mostly our problem is finding a flat enough area. Backcountry camping lends itself to softer ground, since you are camping where not a lot of people have been before (or ever) rather than those tent pad sites at car camping sites - now *those* I would worry about my pad at!

If I had to guess about the pack weight I would say 35-40 pounds at its heaviest. That first day of the long trip it was very heavy - you can tell by how high *over* my head my pack goes.

I have a second car camping camp pad that I could double up with, but, I don't know - even when car camping I want to rough it a little - and we are fitting enough people's gear in a car, I don't want to take up more space than I need to, even if we have it. In general I change very little about car camping vs. backcountry camping - I may bring more clothes or my tent instead of Nick's - except for bringing a cooler. To me, the luxury of car camping is a cold beer.

[astronautical.livejournal.com]

that's a really good point about the softer ground.

Mike reads a lot of blogs about winter camping and he's always pointing out that if you do winter backpacking you pretty much HAVE TO bring two pads no matter what. I'm not clear on the whys but it's an insulation issue. So he's perfectly happy getting used to the comfort of two pads.

ha, to me the luxury about car camping is being able to bring a cast iron pan to cook with! :)

[brdgt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you would freeze without the insulation of two pads!

[loreofcure.livejournal.com]

Okay, this is like "The Things They Carried."

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

I love gear! I have enjoyed vicariously gear shopping through you. Someday I want to try making my own dried stuff with a food dehydrator.

[brdgt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I thought making my own stuff would be fun, but no matter what you do it's still going to be heavier than those freeze dried meals (packaging was the biggest problem - I probably had at least 10 pounds of food in my pack the first day) and at the end of night three and 35 miles you just want calories.

Nick said he ran into some grad students doing field work in Yosemite - out in the field for something crazy like 4 weeks - pretty much all they brought was tortillas and peanut butter - light, calorie rich, and durable.

[resurgam.livejournal.com]

Great post! I can't wait to get back into camping, now that Christian is out of school (though we'll be doing mostly car camping). And I love it - a cold beer is the luxury of car camping!

Was the binoculars tip from me?? I'd be so excited to be useful!

[brdgt.livejournal.com]

It was! I wish I could have gotten nicer ones to see further, but it was still better than my camera zoom.

[kickarse.livejournal.com]

I loved reading this, even though I am about as INDOORSY as you can get. Next time I go on a rock tour though, I may totally get into those quick-drying undies. Tour is also about getting sweaty/packing light!!!

[brdgt.livejournal.com]

I honestly wear them when not camping - they are pretty darn comfy.