Posted by What and how much gear does a thru-hiker carry to survive a 3,100 mile thru-hike over 4.5 months? As little as possible but with sufficient margin for error. Mexico to Canada is a long way and hauling a heavy pack is not what you want to be doing. The lighter one travels the less fatiguing hiking is, the further you can go and faster the body recovers.
In the past I would have have meticulously strived to off-load every single gram possible in an effort to go ‘ultra-light’. Every single item would be physically weighed and questioned, ‘Do I really need this?’, in an effort to get my base weight down to less than <5kg. (Base Weight is the weight of all the items carried on your back, except for the clothes you are wearing and any consumables carried like food & water.) Too many times a lighter pack has been my goal at the expense of comfort.
Why take a tent when a tarp can save 300 grams? Do I really need an inflatable sleeping mat when a foam pad weights half as much? Is there really a need to carry thermal layers when I could just wear my hiking clothes or shell layers to bed for warmth if it’s cold? These were all questions I would ask myself when packing for a trip. This level of obsessiveness will sound funny to non-hikers but everything weights something. Find 10 items that individually weigh 100 grams that can be culled out and you’ve saved carrying an extra kilo.
I still ask these questions when packing but now have the lessons from many years of hiking long trails to assist in choosing what gear to take. There have been times when I’ve pushed the limits of my equipment and found myself in some precarious situations. Luckily I’ve been able to get out them. A classic is relying on walking poles that double as tent poles when one of them breaks above tree line. Finding a suitable branch as a replacement can be difficult. And I can count on both hands the number of times I’ve assisted other hikers close to hyperthermia to put their tents up when they were caught out with numb hands because they decided to hike in shorts and without shell layers in miserable weather. Or finding my day clothes and shell layers completely saturated and of no use as extra sleeping layers to stay warm in bed.
These days I’m not so obsessive with the weight I carry. It’s a solid balance between weight consciousness and comfort. My kit is definitely not ultra-light, more light-weight than anything. So while there are lighter options out there for some of the gear I’ve chosen to bring on the CDT, and I know there will be some ultra-light readers cringing at my decisions, this is a kit that is tried, tested and has delivered seeing me through may long distance hikes. I could easily remove many items as they are not necessities but just make so much sense to me these days. My umbrella is a case in point. Is it needed? No, it is a luxury item. Is it handy? Very handy. Not just in the rain in keeping my top halve dry and allowing my rain jacket to be open to vent air but in the dessert it is vital to produce some shade in a treeless sun bleached environment. As a middle aged hiker, sleep is not something I will compromise on either. It too is critical for recovery enabling me to back up day after day walking the equivalent of a marathon or more with a pack on. Hence the way heavier than necessary sleeping mat. A definite comfort over weight choice.
You can find a full list of gear and weights over at Lighterpack.com. At this point I’ll be carrying just over 7kg of gear.
Mick Beckers 