I’ll preface this page by stating what works for me will not necessarily work for you. All my gear choices are well considered and thought through; have been field tested by me and work for my needs. Have a look through and see what you think – feel free to ask questions or offer ideas. I love talking gear and would be more than happy to fill you in on my ideas and reasoning behind gear choices. Primary considerations for all my gear is functionality and weight. I like to go as light as I can and try to find multiple uses for items where possible. I would not consider myself as an ultralight hiker by any means – I like the idea of being a clever hiker or an ultimate hiker as Andrew Skurka would describe.
I am a self confessed gear junkie and have more than I probably need for you and I combined. My gear choices do change up quite a bit depending on the type of trip I’m undertaking; with the experience level of people I’m going with; size of a group; and the conditions I expect to encounter. Safety is always a key consideration.
TRIP LISTS
Western Arthurs Gear List Dec 2014:
I used this trip as testing ground for gear I was likely to take on my planned Te Araroa thru hike in New Zealand in 2015 that was to take around 4 months, hence some of the stranger items carried like an ipad mini (for blogging). The Western Arthurs sort of mimics the number of days and difficulties of the longest stretch on Te Araroa, the Richmond Range. On previous trips to the South West of Tas I have slogged it out starting with packed weights close to 25 or 30kg for a similar length walk – this is still the case for many people these days – I have vowed never to carry this much again. While I’m confident and comfortable with my choices of the light weight gear I took down there, I would not recommend these choices to all people. The following is my full list of gear carried on the Western Arthurs Range – I ended up cutting this trip short due to weather but did carry a full 8 days supply of food.
| ITEM | Grams |
|---|---|
| Packing | |
| Osprey Exos58 | 1000 |
| Osprey pack cover | 115 |
| Packing Sub-total | 1115 |
| Shelter | |
| Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo Tarp Tent | 650 |
| Tyvek ground sheet | 80 |
| 10 x stakes, guy lines, paracord and bag | 235 |
| Shelter Sub-total | 965 |
| Sleep | |
| Western Mountaineering Summerlite sleeping bag | 525 |
| Silk Liner | 157 |
| Thermarest Neoair – Womens model (higher R value) | 318 |
| Inflatable Pillow | 48 |
| Sleep Sub-total | 1048 |
| Cooking | |
| 2 Lt Cambelbak bladder with Sawyer in-line filter | 302 |
| soft Nalgene 1Lt bottle | 100 |
| Cook Kit* | 584 |
| Cooking Sub-total | 986 |
| Clothing – packed | |
| 2 x Icebreaker merio boxer | 100 |
| Icebreaker 150 weight Thermal Pants | 158 |
| ULA Rain Kilt | 66 |
| NGX Shell Pants | 230 |
| Icebreaker 150 Thermal L/S Top | 247 |
| Mountain Hardwear hooded Ghost Whisperer down jacket | 208 |
| Icebreaker Merino beanie | 50 |
| Thinsulate Gloves | 40 |
| Gortex overmits | 193 |
| 2 x Icebreaker Socks | 110 |
| Marmot Precip Shell Jacket | 367 |
| Thongs | 154 |
| Clothing packed Sub-total | 1923 |
| Other Items | |
| GPS with batteries Garmin 62 | 195 |
| SPOT Tracker with batteries | 137 |
| Kindle ereader in water proof case | 318 |
| Ipad mini in water proof case | 418 |
| Silva Compass | 30 |
| Maps & trail notes in zip-lock | 158 |
| Pocket Knife Victorinox basic one | 60 |
| Mozzie Face Net | 20 |
| Toiletries – Toothpaste, toothbrush, insect repellant, zinc stick, lipbalm, hydropel, talc, sunscreen | 164 |
| 1st Aid* | 170 |
| Repair & emergency* | 124 |
| Chamis towel | 36 |
| Kitchen Sink! | 128 |
| Thermarest Sit pad | 58 |
| Camera – Canon D30 Powershot | 229 |
| Other Sub-total | 2245 |
| Clothing – Worn, Items Carried | |
| Icebreaker Merino Boxer | 50 |
| Columbia Zip-off pants + belt | 311 |
| Macpac short sleeve Merino tshirt | 154 |
| Macpac long sleeve shirt | 197 |
| Liner Socks | 25 |
| Icebreaker Socks | 54 |
| Outdoor Research Gaiters | 215 |
| La Sportiva Wildcat trail runners | 682 |
| Buff | 35 |
| 2XU visor | 49 |
| Julbo Sunglasses with bag | 54 |
| Watch with suunto clip-it compass | 40 |
| Leki Trekking Poles – pair | 530 |
| Clothing worn Sub-total | 2396 |
| Consumables | |
| Large Butane Gas canister | 644 |
| Food average 650g/day | 5200 |
| Water 2Lt | 2000 |
| Consumables Sub-total | 7844 |
| Base weight (pack, shelter, sleep, cooking, clothing packed & other) | 8282 |
| Consumables (weight decreases daily) | 7844 |
| Total carried | 16126 |
| Worn/carried | 2396 |
| Skin out weight (absolutely everything) | 18522 |
* Cook kit included: kovea stove head, 1 Lt Stoic Ti pot and pan, Ti mug, Ti long handle spoon, home made pot cozy, chux, small bic lighter
Mick Beckers 
Hi Mike
Thanks for this very detailed gear list. Always an interesting comparison even for experienced walkers. And very useful for newbies like me. Thanks for sharing.
Ralph
Thanks Ralph, it is always a work in progress. I’ve tried to include absolutely everything – heaps of gear lists often leave many things out. It’s certainly not ultralight but works for me and it is now a bit less with a few items taken out like kitchen sink and swap out sleeping map with pad that then frees up other things like no more thermarest repair kit.
Hi Mick, I enjoyed watching your video on your walk. A question for you and I know it was a few years ago. How did you go with the Six Moons tent on the Western Arthurs walk
Hi Joan. It held up just fine. I wanted conditions to test it and got them. With really heavy rain I basically had to pin up the mesh between the floor and roof to stop rain splashing off the ground and into the tent but other than that it kept me dry in even the heaviest of rains. And while the tent was wet when packing uo, it was able to be dried in minutes with a little sun and rain. Mick
Thanks Mick
Hi Mick
Great list, thanks for posting this. Just wondering how the Summerlite sleeping bag went on this trip? Would it be warm enough without the silk liner? If you went again would you go for a warmer bag?
Thanks
Lachlan
G’day Lachlan, for a summer trip (Dec) to the Western Arthurs the WM Summerlite bag performed really well but I do remember using the liner as a pillow most of the time, rather than its intended use, so you can’t definitely get away without a silk liner over summer. There was one tent bound day spent tucked up in bed and the liner bag was handy. A liner will only add a few degrees warmth. Conditions can change rapidly in south west Tas and it did bucketed down for most of my trip but it was never seriously cold. Winter time would be a completely different picture. At the time that gear list was published I had tackled many week long to 10 day trips and my thinking was always ‘better to be prepared’. I was going to carrying the liner on Te Araroa so even if it wasn’t going to be used in the Arthurs I wanted to test the full pack weight I would be carrying for a longer trip. Now with 2 four month long thru hikes under my belt (Te Araroa and PCT) I am much more confident with my gear choices and will probably never carry a liner bag again – too much weight. I have smarter ways for dealing with cold now including just wearing extra clothes to bed and if really cold rain gear as well. I still have the summerlite bag and it has it’s place but I’m mainly using an Enlightened Equipment quilt these days, which is hugely versatile. For summer and shoulder seasons in southern Tas I’d stick with a quilt these days but would probably carry a heavier bag for winter rather than a light bag and liner separately. Hope this helps. Mick
Thanks foe the gear list and itemised weights! I’m finalising mine and still working out rain jackets. How did the Marmot hold up for you?
G’day. Love the Marmot Precip. I’ve had a few and keep going back to it. Value for money, holds up well in downpours, lightweight and beat of all has pit zips. Best in colder conditions as in humid environments its not so great; or where you want to keep the rain off but the rain in intermittent. You can get wet from the inside with perspiration – that is where the pit zips are handy. Paired with an umbrella I actually don’t mind hiking in the rain.
Thanks much for the info Mick. Will add it to the pool of potential jackets for Black Friday/Boxing day sales. I have a very light just-in-case jacket for QLD hiking, but it wouldn’t hold up to extended downpour, so I don’t mind a jacket dedicated for colder/much stormier weather
These day I carry an ultralight wind jacket as well which is perfect for the really drizzly stuff. Patagonia Houdini. Hike on.