Previous installments: Part #1: How to create maps / Part #2: How to plan for food / Part #3: How to pack and ship your food 2 lb 6 oz (on person) 5 lb 2 oz (packed) 7 lb 8 oz (total) Those Patagonia nylon pants were amazing. They were old when I began the trip with them, but they held up for the whole trip and are still very usable. I probably had to stitch them up at least twenty times because of barbed wire incidents, though. My GoLite rain jacket was incredibly disappointing. It was very expensive, yet it failed to keep my clothes dry. Also, the seams started to come apart, which was especially disappointing because I'd hardly had to wear the jacket on account of it being such a dry fall/winter. Seam in jacket tearing. Thermal underwear was infrequently worn, but was absolutely critical on days when I had to walk/sleep in extreme cold. The GoLite synthetic jacket worked admirably. It was a good sized jacket: not too big, and thin enough to fit underneath my rain jacket.

I've had this REI hat since May 2007, and it's still in great shape. I began my hike with some La Sportiva trail running shoes, which were very light. I’d end the trip, though, wearing regular-sized hiking boots. Ultralighters make a good case about wearing lightweight shoes. In The UltimateHiker’s Gear Guide, Andrew Skurka says, “Five to six times as much energy iszoon laptop backpack required to move weight on the feet as weight on the back, so wearing two poundbest backpacking stove for philmont shoes—instead of four-pound boots—is equivalent to lightening up your pack bylaptop backpack 6681 10 or 12 pounds.” kavi backpack

That’s persuasive, but I don’t think I’ll ever wear lightweight trail-running shoes on a big hike again. My trail runners did nothing to keep out moisture, dirt, and debris. After a one-minute walk in dewy grass, my socks would be soaked. Between the dirt and water, my socks would turn hard and crusty, causing innumerable foot problems. codi backpack warrantySure, your feet will get moist fromtogepi backpack buy sweat in a pair of hiking boots, too, but that’s different than walking in dirty, soaking-wet socks for the entire day. These Vasque boots performed well. Even though feet sweat in waterproof boots, they keep out dirt and debris better than trail running shoes. Throwing out my trail-runners. 1 lb 1 oz Bear spray, usually kept within reach This Gerber jackknife was a peice of crap.

Toward the end of my trip, it would constantly open up in pocket without me asking it to, which could have resulted in a gruesome injury. 4 lb 5 oz I began my trip with the lightweight “Notch” tarptent, which saves weight by using two trekking poles to hold the tent up. The Notch, as you can see, is very light, and, for the most part, was a good shelter. were about three nights, though, when the Notch collapsed on me duringThe stakes the Notch came were weak and eventually broke, leaving me in some dangerous situations when the tent would collapse in windyAround the third time it collapsed on me, it was starting to turn to winter, and I was sick of worrying about my shelter collapsing on me in a snowstorm, so I bought a four-season, two-person tent—the Mountain Hardware EV 2—which was excellent with dealing with the wind, and it probably kept me alive when I was stuck in an ice storm in a South Dakota cow pasture. I’d still recommend the

Notch, but only if you’ll be traveling in spring/summer/fall weather, and if you aren't going to be vulnerable to the wind (i.e. forested trails like the Appalachian Notch: good, lightweight tent with some shortcomings Notch tent held up by my trekking poles This Mountain Hardware tent was excellent and roomy. It kept me safe, so it was worth carrying, even if it was four times heavier than my previous tent. 2 lb 7 oz Western Mountaineering Antelope MF. It's rated "five degrees F," but to remain warm in it at that temperature, you must be wearing pretty much all your clothes to bed. 4 lb 10 oz Deuter pack, and most other gear purchased at REI $20 foam pad bought at REI 2 lb 9 oz Thread and needle were essential for sewing up innumerable pants tears because of barbed wire accidents. My med kit was used frequently for foot and shin problems. Toe nail scissors were useful for cutting nails and cutting sewing thread. I carried good skin-like bandaids and a lot of rubbing alcohol for cleaning my ravaged feet.

Clothing pins were used to lance blisters. The Canesten and Hyrdocortisone Cream were essential in fighting my athlete's foot problems. Can't live without a headlamp. These drops are so much lighter than carrying a clunky water pump filter. An ultralighter trick I like: the catfood canister alcohol stove worked wonderfully and weighed far less than traditional backpacking stoves. Playpus collapsible bottles worked nicely, but fell apart at the end. Good for short trips, but I wouldn't trust them on giant excursions again. Pelican case was excellent. I threw my pack over fences many times a day and never worried about damaging the iPad. Also the Blue Tooth keyboard made typing blog entries easy. I couldn't have written nearly as well by using the basic touch-screen option. Accessories fit underneath keyboard. Reading books on my Kindle app was an every-night exercise. This pre-paid phone is a piece of crap and only works properly in populated areas.