Essentially, everything we need will be on our backs. Think of that. How do you trim what you own down to between 30 (hopefully my pack weight, plus or minus a few pounds) and 40 (Ryan's) pounds? Then figure in that you'll be out there for approximately 6 months, living with what you have on your back, with town stops and a few packages mixed in, of course, to fill up the pack again when food and other supplies get low.
Well, over the past few years, and definitely in the past few months, we've worked on our pack weight and chosen certain items for weight, etc. And once we get out there, it's the final test. Will we stick with our original gear? Will it hold up? Did we choose wisely? Only time will tell, but for now, here goes...This is what we plan to carry when we start at Springer on March 28.
Danielle-
Osprey Ariel 60 Pack
Shelter & Sleeping supplies:
Mountain Hardware Dimension sleeping bag in stuff sack
Sierra Designs Lightning Tent fly
Tent stakes
Pro Lite 3 Thermarest short (basically a blow up mattress for under our sleeping bag)
Thermarest Chair Converter (converts the Thermarest into a small on-the-ground chair. Comfy!)
Rain cover for pack
Cooking & Around Camp:
MSR water filter
Petzl Tikka headlamp
Titanium spork (a cross between a fork and spoon) and a plastic knife
2 Nalgene bottles full of water
1 Nalgene 1.5 liter collapsible container empty, as a backup for water when needed
Little squeeze bottle of Mountain Suds (dishwashing liquid)
Toiletries & Other Miscellaneous Items:
1 roll of toilet paper in ziplock (buy stock in ziplock! We will be using a lot of them over these next 6 months!)
Extra ziplock baggies and a few garbage bags
Sunscreen (in a ziplock, of course!)
Sunglasses with case
2005 Handbook with distances, services along the trail, etc
1 waterproof pouch with extra batteries, small notebook with names, addresses, etc., pen/pencil, and Pocketmail Composer (little 3" x 5" handheld keyboard and screen that allows you to write emails and then send and receive via a phone line. Handy!)
1 waterproof pouch with ATM card, credit card, license, cash, stamps, phone card, insurance card
1 waterproof pouch for daily vitamins and medicines
1 waterproof pouch with daily toiletries like toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, chapstick, ear plugs (for snorers in the shelter!), some face wipes, nail clippers, etc.
Little squeeze bottle of hand sanitizer (again, in a ziplock)
Clothes:
1 Patagonia silkweight, shortsleeve T-shirt
1 Patagonia R.1 long sleeve, zip-up pullover
2 pairs Patagonia seamless capilene underwear
Swix XC ski hat
EMS thin fleece gloves
2 pairs of Smartwool Hiking socks
Mountain Hardware Epic rainpants & jacket
MountainHardware Epic rain/sun hat
Patagonia Midweight longjohns
One pair of Waldies (Foam clogs to wear once we've stopped hiking. Very light. They look silly but they're comfy! Mine are orange J )
An all-purpose "buff," like you may have seen on Survivor, that can wrap around your neck, your head, etc for warmth when needed. Mine is from the 30km race we did.
Mountain Hardware Compressor jacket (only for the start when it's colder, and possibly for NH & ME at the end)
Goretex overmitts (just for first few months when it's colder)
Ryan-
Osprey Aether 60 Pack
Shelter & Sleeping supplies:
EMS Solstice 25/45 Sleeping bag (for the beginning and end)
Mountain Hardwear Lamina 45 Sleeping bag (for the sultry summer nights... much lighter, too)
Sierra Designs Lightning Tent
Tent poles
Pro Lite 3 Thermarest short (basically a blow up mattress for under our sleeping bag)
Thermarest Chair Converter
Rain cover for pack
Cooking & Around Camp:
Titanium cook set (2 pots, 1 cover, 1 pot grabber)
Princeton Tec Aurora headlamp
Titanium spork (a cross between a fork and spoon)
Large fuel bottle filled with white gas for cooking
MSR Simmerlite stove/matches
1 Sigg lightweight squeeze waterbottle full of water
1 Nalgene bottle full of water
1 Nalgene 96 oz. Collapsible container for water empty, for if extra water is needed
Toiletries & Other Miscellaneous Items:
1 roll of toilet paper in ziplock
Extra ziplock baggies and a few garbage bags
Sunglasses
2005 Companion book (a different one than I'll be carrying) with distances, services along the trail, etc
Maps & compass (Guess who has a better sense of direction?)
1 waterproof pouch with extra batteries, IPod (portable device that holds music, lots of it!), extra memory cards for camera, extra camera battery
1 waterproof pouch with ATM card, credit card, license, cash, phone card, insurance card
1 waterproof ""irst aid kit" with moleskin, gauze, tape, alcohol swabs, antacid, vitamin C, immodium, inhaler, duct tape, etc.
1 waterproof pouch with vitamins and medicines
1 waterproof pouch with daily toiletries like toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, chapstick, ear plugs, nail clippers, etc
Little squeeze bottle of hand sanitizer (again, in a ziplock)
Olympus Stylus 300 digital camera in case
Flexible mini tripod (lets you balance the camera on a rock, etc. Very handy!)
Clothes:
1 Craft lightweight shortsleeve T-shirt
1 Craft long sleeve, zip-up pullover
1 pair Patagonia boxer shorts
Craft XC ski hat
EMS thin fleece gloves
1 pair of Smartwool Adrenaline Mini Crew socks
Mountain Hardware Epic rainpants & jacket
Golite Team cap (baseball style but waterproof)
Patagonia Midweight longjohns
One pair of Waldies (And they're yellow)
The original "Buff," a grey and yellow Subaru one
Patagonia Micro Puff jacket (only for the start when it's colder, and possibly for NH & ME at the end)
We'll both also be carrying whatever food we need for however many days we plan to be in between resupply points, likely 4 and 5 days worth at a time.
Now what will we be eating out there, you wonder?
Well, a sample list is below. Food and water are the heaviest items in our pack, but they of course are the most important. We look for calorie-dense foods, but then we're also trying not to kill ourselves out there, so we'll mix in fruits and veggies when we can. But don't doubt that we'll be eating some junk food too!
Food will likely include:
Breakfast: Tortillas and peanut butter, plus dehydrated banana chips & strawberry chips, or maybe bagels, scones or muffins and a real banana or apple if we're a day out of town
Snack: GORP mix (raisins, m&ms, peanuts, cashews, etc) or a Clif or Power Bar
Lunch: Tortillas/bagels and cheese/peanut butter, plus some dehydrated fruit (or fresh fruit and some mini carrots if we're only a day out of town), fig newtons or crackers, maybe some more GORP or other chocolate item
More Snack: Beef (for Ryan) and turkey (for me) jerkey, more GORP or fig newtons
Dinner: Likely to be a variation on one of the following - 1) instant potatoes, stuffing, dried veggies and a foil packet of chicken for a yummy Thanksgiving-like feast; 2) couscous with sundried tomatoes, dried mushrooms and a packet of chicken; 3) Lipton Noodles & Sauce with some veggies and chicken; 4) rice and beans; 5) one of the organic, all-natural pasta, couscous or stew mixes we've purchased from Enertia Foods & Mary Jane Farm; all supplemented by cheese, crackers, bagels, fig newtons, some GORP, dried fruit, veggies, etc., depending on how hungry we are and how much food is still in our packs! Can't eat it all in the first day out :-)
More Snack: Whatever is left. In our previous trips, w've heard thru-hikers say things like I would really like to sit here and eat everything in my food bag. Sounds nice, but makes for a lot of stops in town.
And finally...
I'll be wearing:
Patagonia shortsleeve T-shirt
Mountain Hardware Convertible Diversion Pants (with zip-off legs to convert to shorts)
Smartwool socks
Merrell Chameleon Ventilator Low hiking shoes
Ryan will be wearing:
Craft shortsleeve T-shirt
LLBean convertible pants
Patagonia Silkweight boxers
Smartwool socks
Nike trail running shoes
(Unless, it's July 4th - naked thru-hiking day! Then, just sunscreen... ouch!)
We'll also both be using Leki hiking poles. Great for balance and for taking the pressure off the knees!
That's it!
Yes, yes, we'll be stinky since we'll be wearing the same clothes over and over, although we do plan to wash them whenever we get the chance along the way. This also means we'll likely thrown some of our clothes out and getting new ones along the way :-)
And yes, this is it.
All told, WITHOUT food, and WITH 2 liters of water each, we will be carrying on our back the following weight -
Danielle: 26 pounds
Ryan: 30 pounds
Are we tough or what? :-) (Ouch, it hurts already.)
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