My Gear 2600 Miles Later
In the summer of 2017, I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. I decided I was going to hike nearly a year before I set foot on trail. This gave me a lot of time to obsess over what gear to bring. Do I buy a freestanding tent or a non-freestanding tent? Do I use a water filter or water treatments? How warm should my sleeping bag be?
In this post I am going to focus on what gear I brought and how it changed throughout my hike. To read more about the trip itself, go here.
Food Related Things
DROPPED
3 liter water bladder — Never used it. I dropped this in Mount Laguna after my shakedown. Way more of a hassle to refill, and harder to tell how much water you have left.
Jetboil Zip — Dropped this in Mount Laguna and upgraded to a pocket rocket and titanium bot. Got rid of that stove in Quincy for a rehydration jar.
Sawyer Squeeze + Bag + Syringe — Got rid of the syringe at Mount Laguna. You can backwash the filter with a smartwater bottle with a sports cap. I got rid of the bag for a few weeks and tried to use a smartwater bottle instead, but it was really annoying squeezing the bottle, so I got a bag again. Plus I used the bag for extra carrying capacity. In the Sierras I stopped carrying a filter altogether.
Plastic Spork — My spork broke on the first day.
ADDED
Rehydration Jar — Talenti jars are the best for this. I recommend replacing the jar every few weeks. I used this jar for over two months and it got really nasty. I am glad that I had a stove during the Sierras. If I could do it again, I would just carry a stove in the Sierras and no where else.
Aquamira (not pictured) — Started carrying aquamira after the Sierras. It was nice not to have to actively filter water, but it did come at the cost of the taste, but to me it was worth it. It was hard to find in towns and I did run out at one point and get giardia.
Sea to Summit Long Spoon — It never broke on me!
KEPT
Food Bag — This Zpacks food bag lasted the whole trip and is still in good condition. At the beginning of the trip a full bag meant 6 days of food. By mid-trail it was 4 days of food.
Smartwater Bottle with Sport Cap —Like every other thru-hiker, I carried 1–5 of these at a time. They fit great in the side pockets of my pack.
Daily Outfit
DROPPED
Underwear — Who needs underwear when your shorts have a liner?
Cheap athletic shorts — These split up the butt (fixed once at Hiker Heaven, thanks Wolfbird) and kept giving me chaffing issues.
OR Sun Hat (not pictured)— When I say I dropped this, I mean it literally. This hat was last seen at WA1422 outside of Burney State Park. It was a great hat and I plan on getting one again. I got rid of the sun fabric in Tehatchapei because I was self conscious about how dorky it made me look. I started hiking with my collar popped instead.
Black Diamond Trail Pro Shock Hiking poles — Sadly, these hiking poles went missing in Bishop.
ADDED
Split Seam Shorts — Not only are these shorts super stylish, they give you great tan lines, and they are also split seam, which helps prevent chaffing.
Black Diamond Trail Sport 2 Hiking Poles — These were the best I could find in Bishop. They are not near as nice as my other ones. But, they are far heavier and sturdier, so they didn’t break during the Sierras unlike a lot of people’s.
Alaska Baseball hat — Picked this up at a thrift store in Shasta after I lost my OR sun hat. The dark colors and non-breathable fabric made it extremely hot.
KEPT
Altra Lone Peaks — The 3.0 version of these shoes came out while I was hiking. So I had two pairs of 2.5 lone peaks, and one pair of 3.0s. The 3.0 version fixed all of the issues I had with seem splitting near the toe. I love these shoes. Hard to find on trail (I bought mine in Bishop and Shasta), so I only went through 3 pairs. I wish I had planned ahead so I could’ve had 4 pairs on trail.
Columbia Sun Shirt — I wore this shirt the whole way and it is still in good shape. I chose the men’s shirt because it was longer and didn’t show off my tummy when I lifted my arms. It also has far bigger breast pockets which were clutch.
Casio Watch — I love this watch. I wear it everyday, even off trail. I met at least 3 other thru-hikers with this watch and we all greeted each other like we were part of a special club and told each other how much we love this watch. Many thru-hikers use their cell phone as an alarm. I turned my phone off during the night and used the alarm on my watch.
Sports Bra — This is a cheap sports bra from target. It took forever to dry. So if I went swimming in it, it would either take a few hours in the sun to fully dry or I had to put it on wet and risk having a wet bra the next morning to put on. This is why skinny dipping is the best. I asked a lot of women if their bra dried faster, but no one had a better option.
Darn Tough Socks — Good socks are hard to find on trail, especially Ininjis. I wish I sent myself these at regular intervals in care packages.
Extra Layers n’ Things
DROPPED
Crocs — I love my crocs. They are so comfortable. They dry easily. You can wear them with socks. You don’t have to stress your toes by holding onto a flip flop. However, they are large and annoying and dangle off my backpack. I got rid of them in Tehatchapei, where I got cheap flip-flops that broke immediately.
Gloves — I lost a lot of gloves on trail and mostly didn’t carry any the whole time. However, my hands were very cold and I was jealous of everyone with gloves. Next time I would carry thin glove liners.
Sleeping Socks — I stopped having special night socks and just wore my dirty day socks at night.
UV Buff Headband— I didn’t need three hat options, and I never really wore this one.
Bra — An extra bra is unnecessary.
Underwear — You don’t need underwear if your shorts have a liner. You definitely don’t need two pairs of underwear.
ADDED
Bug Net — I only used this about a dozen times, but I am so glad that I had it. Picked this up in Tehatchapei after a terrible, gnatty hike into hikertown.
Town Shirt — Picked up this beauty at a thriftstore in Tehatchapei. I wore this when I did laundry. It was definitely a luxury.
Camp Shoes — After some inspiration from fellow hiker Ungerwear, I made these sandals from my altra insoles and shoe laces. They were fun to make, but extremely thin and didn’t provide much protection, especially when the ground was rocky. If I hiked again, I think I would skip camp shoes.
KEPT
2nd Pair Darn Toughs — An extra pair of socks is good!
Patagonia Micro Puff — A lot of other hikers had warmer jackets, but this one worked out pretty well for me.
Wool Shirt — Would wear it to sleep in, until I got too lazy and just started sleeping in my hiking clothes. Was great when it was cold.
Thermal Leggings — Only for warmth, rarely wore them hiking.
Glasses + Case — I’m glad I brought a sturdy case and not a lightweight homemade one, like I’ve seen online. I kept my case on the outside of my pack so I could access it easily and I ended up falling on it several times.
Fleece Lined Dry Bag — The idea is that you can use the bag as a pillow, but I never found it comfortable.
Rain Jacket — I really hate this North Face rain jacket and it is not made for backpacking. Luckily it rarely rained and I only had to use it for warmth. I can’t wait to get an upgrade.
Sleep Stuff
DROPPED
Sea to Summit Pillow — This is a comfortable pillow and it fit nicely in the hood of my first sleeping bag. After awhile I got used to the discomforts of sleeping on the ground and found I no longer needed the pillow. Plus, it didn’t fit as nicely in the hood my new sleeping bag, so it kept moving around.
Sierra Designs Mobile Mummy 2 Season— I really like some aspects of this sleeping bag. The hood stayed on my head and fit my pillow well. It has arm holes so I could regulate my temperature and not feel as claustrophobic. However, it wasn’t great for thru-hiking.It is heavy (2lbs 2 oz), too long for me (fits to 6ft, I am 5'5"), and not warm enough (comfort level 41°F).
ADDED
Western Mountaineering Versalite 5'6"— After freezing my butt of in the Sierras, I upgraded to this bag in Mammoth. It is so much warmer and better for me!
KEPT
Silk Liner — The liner was comfortable, added some warmth, and kept my sleeping bag from getting too gross inside. It was also nice on really hot nights to sleep on top of my sleeping bag and use this as a sheet. That being said, it does weigh 4.8oz, cost $75, and is unneeded if your sleeping bag is warm enough. I don’t know if I would bring it thru-hiking again.
ZLite Foam Pad — I have a 10 panel, 3/4 body length ZLite that I can’t find online anywhere. I can’t say it was the most comfortable, but it was the most convenient and I grew to love it. I slept with my head and top of my body on the pad, and put my feet on my pack. Eventually the pad does get flattened and significantly looses R value. I wish I had gotten a new pad once or twice on the trail to help keep me warmer at night.
The Basics: Tent + Stakes
DROPPED
Shepherd’s Hook Stakes — These are the worst and your tent will fall over with the slightest bit of wind. I also experimented with very light carbon fiber tent stakes, but they broke extremely easily and didn’t hold well.
ADDED
Mini Groundhogs — These stakes are great. They will keep you cozy in your tent even in the largest wind storms. I cut off the strings to save weight.
Tyvek Ground Sheet 6ft x 3ft — I should’ve started with this to protect my cuben fiber tent. It was harder to find on trail than I anticipated. Also great for writing hitchhiking signs on.
KEPT
ZPacks Duplex — I hiked for 3 weeks with my partner, so I wanted to get a two person tent. The rest of the time I hiked solo with this, it was great because I could fit all of my gear inside of the tent and had plenty of room to myself. I saw many other people soloing with this tent. However, this tent does have a large footprint and it was annoying having to pass up tent spots that it wouldn’t fit in. It doesn’t do the best in rain, but you can’t beat 21oz.
The Sierras
Crampons — These worked well and fit on altras, but were really annoying to size and get on. Often I would want to take them on and off throughout the day, so I wouldn’t wear them over rocky patches. But they are so annoying to take off and latch to the back of my bag that I often wore them on non-snow, which was especially dangerous when I was climbing over boulders. Most people had micospikes that they could take on and off quickly and I was very jealous. However, with these bad boys and I could hike straight up or down an icy glissade shoot without issue. If I was hiking during another big snow year, I would use these again. If I was hiking during a more moderate snow year I would use microspikes.
Ice Axe 50 cm— Well, I didn’t die. This ice axe was very light weight. It doesn’t have a strap and the handle isn’t long enough for me. If I needed an ice axe again, I would get one with a longer handle. This one does dig very nice cat holes though.
Bear Can — It’s required. It did it’s job. What more can I say.
Future Upgrades
Of course, the whole time I was hiking I was thinking about what I would upgrade. Here are the three biggest things that I want:
Sleeping bag — I know I just got a new one, but this enlightened equipment quilt is 9.4oz lighter.
Tent — If a did another thru-hike I would invest in a one person tent, ideally the ZPacks Soloplex. It would save me 10.5oz, allow me to camp in smaller spots, and would fit into the side of my pack better.
Rain jacket — I hated my heavy, bulky, North Face jacket. I want to upgrade a rain jacket that is actually meant for backpacking: the helium II.
All the Small Things
I didn’t cover everything. Mostly because talking about toiletries is boring. But if you are planning a thru-hike it is nice to see those nitty gritty details.
If you want to see a complete list of everything I would bring if I hiked again, click here.
