Gear list for AT - good, bad, comments?

imported
#1

This is what I have so far. I am willing to change or buy within reason. I haven’t come up with a total weight yet. Starting in May.

  1. 4800cu inch external back pack (is that too big?)
  2. Kelty 20 degree mummy bag (weighs 4.5 pounds)
  3. 32oz bivy tent
  4. rain gear - paints & jacket (use at laundromat)
  5. two pair biking shorts (great for hiking)
  6. one pair long paints
  7. two pair lightweight shirts
  8. one cotton t-shirt (yes, I said cottton), use as towel
  9. 2 pairs underwear
  10. jungle hat - mainly to keep sun off eyes
  11. can of deet - may not need until June
  12. AT guidebook
  13. small notebook for journaling
  14. pencils
  15. digital camera
  16. lightweight mp3/radio AAA batteries
  17. some toilet paper (is there a certain kind I should use?)
  18. duct tape - rapped around fuel bottle
  19. two empty pepsi 1-litre bottle for water
  20. one 4 quart water bag
  21. first aid supplies - few banadges, moleskin, band aids, alcohol swabbs
  22. cat can stove - been testing
  23. dentured alcohol in fuel bottle
  24. three pairs socks - non-cotton
  25. lightweight nighttime slippers
  26. few ounces sanitizer soap
  27. aqua mira for sanitizing water (is bleach better?)
  28. small LED flashlight, AAA batteries
  29. Large Ziplock bags - at least a dozen
  30. A few large trashbags
  31. Two Walmart hiking poles - yea, I know Walmart but I own them already

Food items: approx 2 pounds per day plus carrying 2 litres water.

Haven’t got all this weighed yet. I’m almost afraid to.

Questions: using a tarp instead of a tent, will I get a lot more bugs on me at night and critters like skunks? I could save a pound right there

What am I missing? What can I do to perhaps shave off weight without spending a fortune?

Thanks

nrkybill

#2

Forgot the rope for the bear bag and the food bag.

I just added up the weight so far.
Approx 281 ounces not including food and water

nrkybill

#3

1st, yes your pack is too big. Too heavy, too. Sleeping bag… My Marmot Hydrogen is rated 30 farenheit weighs 1 pound 5 ounces… get DOWN. Worth the funds for the weight off your shoulders… Bugs wiil be problem with tarp, but carry mosqito net with it (3-4 oz). Slippers?! C’mon, man.

mike

#4

Definitely get a smaller pack and lighter sleeping bag. How much does that pack weigh? The bigger the pack, the easire it is to carry too much. How much does your raingear weigh? You have too many pants. One shorts and one long pants will do, or drop the long pants and wear the rain pants or drop the rainpants. I never wear rainpants in the summer as it is simply too hot. I assume your long pants are supplex not cotton? You don’t need two light shirts plus a t-shirt. Get rid of at least one of the above. I don’t see anything for warmth. When a storm front passes through, it can get cold. Also, it has been known to snow on the AT in May. So what about a jacket and wool hat? You need a sleeping pad (Z-Rest or Ridgerest or thermarest if you plan to use shelters a lot). Don’t forget Advil or Motrin for your first aid kit and Pepto Bismal and some Immodium. By guidebook do you mean the Handbook or Companion or the actual state guidebook? Id you are carrying the trail guidebook, you’ll also need the data book and Companion or the Handbook. Or at least sections thereof. I don’t see a cookpot or bowl/cup and spoon. You won’t need that many ziplocks, unless you plan to buy as you go.

Ginny

#5

Thanks so much, I’m probably not leaving until May but that is why I am asking now.

I’m willing to splurge on a smaller quality backpack. I prefer an external. 3800 sq feet enough or still too big?

Yup, I overlooked the jacket. Stupid me. I’ll have to get something other than what I got. I’ll look around. And the wool hat is a good idea although they drive me nuts while sleeping, I usually just bury my head in the sleeping bag.

If I can afford to get a much lighter sleeping bag, I will. I’ll have to go price them but I can’t afford 300 bucks on a real good light one. I love the one I got now but I know it’s also heavy.

Thanks also for the stuff I forgot to mention like a cooking pot or too much gear. I’ve done hiking but never more then a few days at a time. I’ll do some in April, hopefully to shake down what I do and don’t need.

The AT companion, I’m going to buy it but only carry parts of it at a time.

Thanks again. I’ll be watching for more suggestions and I’ll be testing stuff as I go in the next few weeks.

nrkybill

#6

3800 Sq Ft!? my house isnt that big. But I do know what you mean

Sierra88

#7

The hat is definitely a good idea. I personally prefer a micro-fleece hat to wool, even though I have both. Get it “long” enough so that you can double it over your ears if it’s really cold. :wink:

Lady Di

#8

Might I suggest you take all this gear and go to the woods for a day or a week and see how it all works for you. If you didn’t use it, leave it at home. You’re hips will love you for it.

Bushwhack

#9

Try 2 pairs of hiking pants where the legs zip off to make shorts. Biking shorts are great, but have no pockets for GORP, knife,money,ID, etc. Forget the cotton shirt as a towel.(too heavy and dries too slow).Buy a small Campmor towel. It’s like a shammy cloth…light weight and dries fast. Buy Crocs instead of slippers. They weigh only a couple of ounces, easy to slip on, and have closed toes so you don’t stub your bare toes on a rock or tree root in the middle of the night while making your way to the privy. :eek:

Becky

#10

I have a Gregory ‘Denali’, and it’s really too big. I paid so much for it I still use it. One advantage of a big pack, though, is you can put everything inside and keep stuff from snaggin’ on branches or rocks. If you do this, make sure that you have a dry trash bag to put your tent/ground cloth in if you have to break camp in wet weather. Also, get the pack organized and be consistant where you put things. A raging rain or snow storm is no time to be digging through your pack for rain gear. Don’t forget plenty of waterproof matches or a good match case. For water purification you might want to try the Katahdin tablets - check them out and see if you like the taste of the water better than the Aqua Mira.

Silver Fox

#11

yeah, leaving in May you’re going to have to do some good miles, so maybe it’s obvious the lighter the better.

  1. like everyone else said, pack’s heavy. What I saw one dude doing with his external frame is totally taking the pack off of it and rolling his things with his RidgeRest. Then he’d bungee-cord the thing to the frame, so that idea might save you a little weight.
  2. You can get decent down bags for $180-ish. North Face are popular in that price range. It should save you 2 pounds.
  3. You could sew some bug netting to the tarp, otherwise expect annoying mosquitos often and a mouse here or there. Anything bigger than that likely won’t ever bother you.
  4. I started with two pair biking shorts though only ever wore one.
  5. You don’t need anything as big as a t-shirt for a towel. You’ll often find pack towels in hiker boxes to use.
  6. Why would you need biking shorts AND underwear? isn’t that sorta redundant?
  7. If you leave in May it won’t be long before the leaves come out and you’ll have enough shade that a hat won’t be needed.
  8. Small can of DEET, right? a big can’s gotta be heavy. You can get very small plastic bottles, too, probably lighter. Otherwise just make a smoky campfire for the bugs.
  9. You may want pens for journaling, as pencil writing rubs off easier and will disappear when slightly wet.
  10. Use whatever brand of TP the motel you just stayed in carries.
  11. I’m assuming by slippers you mean flip-flops.
  12. so one garbage bag as a pack liner, but what are the other bags for?

–You’ve got a camera, right? Sleeping pad? Winter hat? Knife?

0101

#12

Are you planning on putting you danatured alcohol in those alm. fuel bottles? Check the bottle… Some have a chemical reaction to the alcohol. Try using a plastic bottle like a gatorade bottle…

MOTT

#13

I used an external pack and it was as light as most internals. I don’t use a waist belt because it distributes the weight better on my shoulders. I carry my weight high like the sherpas do and it works great. I have tried every internal from Go-light to Gregory and I my old external is still the most comfortable of all (I can carry the weight higher). I have a small web belt around my waist to control the bag when jumping around on rocks. My pack weighs about 2.5 lbs. My loaded pack base weight is 18lbs plus food and water. It may run 35 lbs in cold weather and a weeks amount of food.

Having said that, try out several different packs at an outfitter with a 30+ lb load and walk around the parking lot for about 30 minutes and you can tell what works and what doesn’t.

When I started hiking all we had was the rucksack, then the external now the internal.

I cut the bottom off of my sleeping bag and sewed a sil nylon bottom on with a pocket for my pad. It cut my bag weight in half and I couldn’t tell the difference. In the summer I just turned the bag over and used the thin top.

I didn’t run into bugs until we got past VA. I only used Deet about a month in New England.

The moleskin can be dropped and use the duck tape it works just a well.

Another thought is take what you want and ship it back at Neels Gap, GA, Fontana Dam, NC/TN, Damascus, VA, etc.

The year we thru hiked, they shipped back over 800lbs of “necessary stuff” at Neels Gap in one week!

One pair of shorts, one pair of long pants (the lights pair). I only used my rain jacket (frog togg) twice while walking. Once when it was about 12 degrees and a high wind. And the other time was in an ice storm. When it was raining I got hot so I only put it on in camp.

Silk long johns, and a micro fleece pullover.

We found TP in hiker boxes. Since my wife thru hiked with me we would share the roll. I did keep it in a zip lock.

We very seldom used gallon zip locks. We used quart size. We kept camera, journals, first aid, and TP in them.

We carried a very small two bladed pocket knife from Wal Mart the entire trail and only used it 3 or 4 times. We did use a small braided line with a food bag to hang our food. We had a problem with mice and raccoons because we tented 90% of the time.

We used Crocs for our camp shoes. After 2,000 miles and 4 years, I’m still wearing them. Although very worn. They are great!!!

I had one shirt to hike in and one to sleep in/town shirt. In cold weather I wore both.

No cotton t shirts!! Get you a bandana. It worked as a towel, wash cloth, pot holder, head band, pre filtered the big swimming things out of our water, etc.

Experiment with your gear. Use it as much as you can before you hit the trail. Flame and I were lucky enought to have had 800+ miles of hiking together before we did our thru-hike so gear was not a problem for us. But we saw a lot on people start in GA with 75lb packs. By the time they got to Damascus VA they had nothing they started with. Those first 80 miles in GA can be very tough and discouraging if you have equipment problems. Getting use to the P U Ds (pointless ups and downs) in GA is hard enough.

Have a great hike.

Papa Smurf

#14

Dear Nrkybill:

  1. Yes: Your pack is the right size by volume; suspension system and weight are the issues.

  2. No: Your bag is too heavy–even a Cat’s Meow at 2.12 would be lighter ($159.00).

  3. Yes, but: Bivy–okay by weight–but you can get a full size tent for the 2.0 pounds you’ve alloted.

  4. No: Get rid of the rain paints–you’ll never wear them and for wind and warmth you’ve got the others.

  5. No: Take only on pair of biking shorts.

  6. Yes: One pair long pants–as light as possible.

  7. No: Take one shirt only.

  8. Yes: A cotton T-shirt is great in warmer weather and generally fine in all weather. But, this should be your only cotton garment.

  9. No: Get rid of the underwear, you have bike shorts.

  10. Yes: Some kind of hat is good–for the sun and to keep ticks and other insects off your head.

Sincerely–Conan.

Conan

#15

You can save wieght by buying less therefore you don’t have to carry it. However… Your sleeping bad can be sent home when it warms up and changed out for a fleece blanket or the likes. I new two cute girls that used a sheet to sleep in. Lighter packs can be less than a heavy one ie Vapor trail last years model 80$ or so. Walmart greese pot (in the cookware section)light and works well. I have tried cotton at various times and for distance in the east it sucked. I wouldn’t see where you need biking shorts and underware. I also would just take one, but I’m a smelly dirtbag. I would take a headlight instead of a flashlight.
Bleach free tolit paper breaks down in the enviroment easier- if you care, but you’ll hardly ever find it.
My first aid kit is duct tape and ibprofun <–sp?
You can put the fule in a coke bottel.
All this gear stuff is really NOT important. Save your cash and replace it along the way if you want. There are outfitters along the way. That way you don’t waste money on things you don’t need.

madmantra