My 11.81 lb base weight gear list.

“I interrupt the regularly scheduled posting on these forums to bring you a post about hiking gear. Here is my 11.81 lb base weight gear list for my upcomming hike on the Pinhoti (3 days two nights). This is as light as I'll ever go. I could actually shave a few oz by taking my Western Mountaineering Megalite instead of my Moonstone, but when using a tarp style shelter I feel more comfortable with the synthetic bag.

Gear List”

“I guess that weight is acceptable. LOL

This place isn't very light/ultralite friendly.

I usually don't bother posting about it. That's what backpacking.net is for. ;-)”

“Well my pack weight looks heavy over at backpacking.net. I post here to make my base weight seem really ultralite :)”

“Yea, what's with the frying pan dude?
...and two sleeping pads?

They will kick you out of the Club just for carrying that, lol.”

“Looks good. Wish I could get that light, but I still need full rain gear.
I should be around 15.4lbs this weekend for a 3 day 2 night trip in the Catskills.


ps you forgot to add your fuel bottle.”

“I paid $80 for that set of Ti-pots and I only use one pot and one top/skillet. I paid for it durnit so I'm gonna use it!

I actually use the skillet as my plate.”

“That's a great list! How do you like the Victorinox gear? It doesn't look like you're going without anything. Oh, you have the cigar cutter but no cigars...whatcha smokin'?”

“...and if it rains?”

“I usually throw in the cannister weigt in with food/fuel. I guess I could put the weight of an empty cannister in with the base weight.

I'll have around 5lbs of food (including a bit o whiskey) and with 3lbs for 1.5l of water I should be toting around 20lbs. Maybe a little more if I need to load up on more water or maybe less once my food starts dissapearing.

I did forget TP on my list. I better get that added!”

“I learned my lesson about TP the hard way.
I now carry a TON (well, at least 2-3 oz) of TP.”

“If it rains I have a poncho.

DUnno what I'mm be smoking. I have about 600 sticks I can choose from in a large 48 quart cooler and two large humidors. Probably take a few mild cigars (Henry Clay Broadleaft, Flor de Cano cammies), a few medium/full bodied (Hoyo De Monterrey, El Rey Del Mundo), and a few butt kickers (Fuente Opus X, Cuban RyJ, etc)”

“Sorry, DeoreDX. I completely missed the poncho in reading your list. Sounds pretty lightweight to me.”

“What part of the Pinhoti are you doing?

I pulled up my spreadsheet that I keep that stuff on and it looks like I'm at 14.5 # with food and water and 9.2 without. That's for summer hiking only. Now if I could only get a chance to hike!

Actually, it looks like I'm going to get to go to the Smokies the weekend of 6/12. Two weeks later I'll get to go back and car camp with the family. Happy, happy, joy, joy.”

“jeesh, sounds like the man knows his stogies.”

“"What part of the Pinhoti are you doing?"

Pinhoti? I did that once. I saw some crazy stuff man! Far out stuff!”

“I have been known to smoke a cigar or two.

”

“not sure what part yet. We're still trying to figure that out. Got any suggestions for a 3 day 2 nighter?”

“Yes he does sacco.

My empty Palisade pack almost weighs as much as everything you pack.”

“You know this means I'll have to update my list and post it.
The weight will be far lower than that 11.81# figure, at least 11.80#. ;-)”

“DeoreDX is obviously still single.”

“Don't make me take one of my sleeping pads outta my gearlist to top you Stove....

If it looks like hard sustained rains I'll be taking the tarptent instead for almost a lb of extra weight. If it's plain scattered thunderstorms or less then the cave/poncho setup will be my shelter.

”

“lmao!! you take pics of your cigars??


anyway...I am too scared to weigh my pack. I was told it weighs about 35 lbs just the other day. That was with almost no water.

I really need to get my weight down.”

“my girlfriend rips on me cause i keep track of weights down to the hundreths in a spreadsheet.
she says i'm a "big dork, nowadays"

i'm usually 20-25 lbs. total.”

“What kind of mileage do you want?

I know a good 31 mile figure 8 type trip that has ridges and also some creekside walking. It's centered on Cheaha.

It's on now. I'll have to get my gear list together.”

“The TarpTent is worth the little extra oz. just for the dang ease of setting it up.
I take far longer selecting the site than putting up the tarptent.

Hiking with TTers has pretty much upped my weight. I carry a thermorest chairkit (at least it's the lite version) now. ;-)”

“Nigal, isn't that peyote? NG Adventure mag had a nice article on that stuff about 9-12 months ago. I love that mag, but last month they had a clothing review that was tied to fashion. They're treading on dangerous ground on that one.”

“I'm starting to be less anal about weight too. I take a thermarest and other goodies. My weight will be higher than listed if the mileage is under 12 mpd. Sometimes I take sausage hot dogs, kraut, and good mustard for a nice meal the first night.”

“Yea, I picked up Gem's pack once.
It almost tore my arm off. ;-)

I think she carries a change of clothing for every day and it had rained and everything was wet. ;-)”

“hey deo

i'm in the middle of makeing my own little hooch with bug netting, very similar to your pic.

i've got some $1/yd silnylon and some fine, shear-meshy $1/yd stuff from walmart.
i'm gonna A-frame like you with trek poles, but also add beaks.

i figure it'll end up around 12 oz. and cost me less than $10.”

“31 miles sounds perfect. The figure 8 would make it icing on the cake since we wouldn't have to shuttle cars.”

“I made this for my friend. I modified a poncho with velcro and made a bottom section to make what was dubbed the convertable poncho tarptent. 1lb 2oz for his raingear AND shelter.

”

“nice!”

“i don't carry a set of cloth for everyday, not anymore.

I like the tarptents, they're okay I guess. what I don't like is, if you base camp you'll have to leave your trecking poles behind or colapse the tent. Yeah, so I could look for brenches... I rather carry one more pound.

darn therm-a-rest chair kit. I think Opie sold me on one last weekend too. Those things are so comfortable. Mine will be ultralight too though. :-)”

“Oh... 31 is too long according to my hiking partners in crime. They are looking more for ~20. A 6-7 mile first day, a 10ish second and a short hike out.”

“Are you hiking a full 3 days? The reason I ask is that there is a great, remote campsite that I'll try to route you to.

The route is basically the Silent Tr to the Skyway Tr to Pinhoti to Cave Ck and back to Pinhoti.”

“I did a 14 on the AT in N. GA last year that pretty much kicked my a$$.
Sassafras Mt was at the end of it too.”

“The 18 mile part of that 8 is pretty good, but the ridge portion of the 13 has more views.

For the 18 mile loop you park at Turnipseed hunters camp and head down the Silent trail towards lake Chinnabee. Just before the lake there is a side trail to the left that is the Skyway Tr. It's maybe 6 miles long. At about mile 4 you'll come to the edge of a small bluff with a ck below. The ck will be on your right. The trail will hug the rim and curl to the right. Basically, the creek below hits the bluff and make a 90. The trail crosses the creek on the downhill side. This is camp for night one.

Sat you'll cont on Skyway and then hit Pinhoti. Hike til somewhere around the the intersection with Silent trail. There are some views maybe 200 yards shy of the intersection. This will be camp on Sat night. There is usually a very small spring in this area. Sun you'll have a 2 mile drop to the vehicles. Be warned that you'll drop 900' over 1 mile. This area is my tune-up area before Smokies trips.

I've dayhiked this 18 mile loop a few times. MDSHiker has hiked it with me before. It gives a good representation of the area. You'll only be on the Pinhoti about 6-7 miles though.”

“Thanks for posting that gear list! I can usually get a few ideas from someone else's list. Here are a few key reasons why my "base weight" is considerably more than yours:

-- No bearproof canister on your list. Where I usually go (the Sierras), they are either required or highly recommended. Although in Yoho last summer, I could have done without, since they had those fancy food hanging poles.

-- I carry more meds/personal items. You don't show any sunscreen or insect repellent. I also get occasional migraines and have mild hayfever, for which I have to carry some meds. How 'bout toothpaste?

-- My tent weighs a lot more. One reason is that I'm claustrophobic, so I need a little more space. Does your shelter protect you from bugs?

-- You're really light on clothing. I'd freeze to death with what you have listed, even in the middle of the summer. Also, the poncho concept doesn't work for me. Besides, I wear my Precip rain gear as windproof and mosquito proof gear anyway.

-- Your camera is pretty light. Not enough bucks to go super light just yet.

-- Cooking gear. I may add a lighter weight stove this year or next for those summer trips, but I need the liquid fuel stove for winter trips anyway, so haven't gotten around to it yet.

In summary, I feel like I'm doing OK, given considerations like temperature, claustrophobia, bear issuô7p”

“Bowlder, welcome to an Alabama summer. It'll be 90 here on Friday with a low in the upper 60's. Everyone is freezing because this week we're having a cold spell with highs close to 70 and lows in the 40's. That's not typical for here.”

“"issues" was supposed to be the final word of my post....


One clarification regarding clothing, I've actually gotten pretty good at my clothing setup - I never come home without having worn everything, so it's not like I'm overpacking or anything. My one luxury on a 2-night trip is to have clean underwear each day. On the 5-day Yoho trip last year, though, I think I had three, and just rinsed and rotated - Hodgeman made fun of my campsite always having a pair of hung up underwear to mark my spot!”

“Yeah, dayhiker, there are certainly places to go backpacking with those kinds of temps here in CA. In fact most of those would have 0% chance of rain and 0 bugs, too. But I just usually end up in the mountains, where that's just not the reality....”

“Heck, those are mtn temps! In summer I usually try to get some elevation in the Smokies. That'll put highs in the 70's and lows in the 50's. I might take a fleece and that's it.

I'm leaving for Colorado Springs Sat, it'll be a little colder on Pike's Peak Sun evening! I'm finally going West for the first time.”

“Hey, BowlderMan, how well does the Precip serve as mosquito-proofing? Its just about time for Illinois mosquitos to return and I am looking for better ways to beat them. I had considered trying a bug jacket, but I already have a Precip. How warm/humid are the nights you use the Precip that way?”

“You call those "mountains"?! Heck, a lot of our trailheads are at 8-10,000 feet! :-)

Yes, it might be a bit chillier on Pike's Peak than on 'Bama's hilltops....”

“If it's warm enough I'll be ditching the Moonstone for my REI Lightweight fleece mummy bag (14oz). That's ususally reserved for warmer weather though, when the nighttime highs are in the upper 60's on up into the 70's.

I was at the Bruno's Memorial Classis this weekend in the big ham, I about froze my as$s off in shorts, a polo with undershirt, and my golite Wisp windshirt.

This makes two things I need to add to my list right now, Bug juice and TP.”

“T-Mac, most of the time it's fairly cool, say about 60 or so. But I did wear it on a trip last year where it was pretty warm around dinner time, say 75 or so, and it felt a little too warm. Also, it's always pretty low humidity in the Sierras in my experience - I would think it would be kind of uncomfortable in humid areas (like Illinois?). But if temp/humidity isn't bad, the 'skeeters can't poke through, so you're good to go except for hands and face.”

“Yeah, if I could expect upper 60's overnight, I probably wouldn't even bring a sleeping bag - maybe just my fleece liner that I got for winter....”

“Thanks for the insight. About late June through September the humidity would probably be too high for the precip, but the rest of the time we have weather similar to what you describe. I'll buy netting for my face and give the precip a trial run.”

“Bowlder, this highst point in 'Bama is Mt Cheaha at about 2400'. I know you're quaking at that elevation. I can be in the Smokies at 6000+ in 4 hrs though. I can also be on the Gulf Coast in 4, so it's a good compromise.

I can't imagine having the Sierra's as my playground though. I shed a tear everytime I see the pictures that Buck and Wind Walker post”

“I goofed that one up. The highest point....”