[pct-l] My Gear List - Need Some Experienced Thoughts

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

John,
You could reduce your pack weight with some purchases. But you can do  
a lot more otherwise.

You could refrain from bringing more than one of some items (a neo  
air and a z-rest? Just bring one or the other. So what if the neo air  
fails. You can survive a night or two with a flat air mattress and  
get a cheap blue foam one in the next town or have someone send the z- 
rest to you. I swear you WILL survive. You WILL sleep.)

You also have way too many clothes. You don't need so many underwear  
layers and briefs and so many hats and gloves and layers upon layers  
of warm stuff. You don't need wind and rain pants. Rain pants block  
wind. You really have way too many clothes. Way too many. You should  
be able to wear everything all at once without looking like the  
Michelen Man, without any duplicates.

Ditch the soap or take only enough for one washing. Wash things only  
with plain water until you get to town. Only carry soap for those  
parts of the trail where the next shower isn't going to have any soap  
available.

Ditch the shovel. Use a rock or stick to dig a hole. The earth is  
really soft just about everywhere along the trail so long as you go  
away from impacted areas. A nice flat rock with a sharp edge works  
better than any shovel and I swear they tend to appear just when you  
need them.

Don't carry stuff like fingernail clippers. Put those in your bounce  
bucket. Bring a small nail file (paper emory board, not a heavy metal  
or glass file) for fingernail emergencies. This goes for any item  
used only periodically.

After this, you can further reduce pack weight by going through each  
individual item and really looking at it closely to determine if  
there is *anything* you can do to reduce its weight. Can you replace  
the lid on your pot with something lighter (I did and have the same  
pot as you)? Can you take a smaller container of something (like  
super tiny, like start collecting little tiny smaller than airplane  
sized little containers, go through your medicine cabinet, nab stuff  
out of the eye-care section of the drug store, etc)? Can you cut off  
parts of something that aren't really useful? Does everything really  
have to be in a stuff sack (if you are using them)? Can you make your  
own gear that is lighter and does the job (for example, the ear  
warmers, can you just use a tube-shaped piece of fleece around your  
head?) I swear you can save a lot of weight doing this. I managed to  
reduce my pack weight between 2008 and 2009 by 9lbs by being ruthless  
with the little things.

I swear you will not be uncomfortable, cold or unsafe if you follow  
these guidelines. It is not safe, warm or comfortable to stagger  
under tons of unworn clothes, and it's not going to put your life at  
risk to use foil for a lid or little tiny bottles to hold your  
hygiene products. People will tell you that it is risky right after I  
post this because that seems to be their mission in life, but I can  
assure you that it is safe and sane.

Take what you like from my advice and leave the rest. I'm not  
interested in any justifications for why you need this or that. It's  
not my business. I'm only offering guidelines and places for you to  
start asking yourself questions.

Enjoy your hike,

Diane

On Dec 10, 2010, at 7:04 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
>
> Hello All,
>
> I am (or thought I was) getting close to nailing down my finished  
> gear list.
>
> However, I am unhappy with my pack weight. As in, very very unhappy. I
> target goal was 9-12 pounds. I am at 18.35. sigh.
>
> I know I could get rid of 46.2 oz (2.88 pounds) if I ditched some  
> heavy rain
> gear and a pad and went with a colder bag (30 rather than 15). But  
> that
> would still put me over 15 pounds.
>
> I would really appreciate any sort of feedback anybody out there  
> could give
> me. I have pretty much always been shooting for 12 lbs, but that is  
> 6 pounds
> less than where I am at, and I just don't know where to cut it out  
> from yet
> still have a viable amount of gear.
>
> Hopefully this google spreadsheet will load for everybody...
>
> https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0As- 
> hvbUBJ_X_dHJXU3ZDb2VlOElUczlWS3JaUmNtNGc&hl=en&authkey=CLCE2LAO
>
> I thought for sure I would get closer than what I have... seriously  
> bummed
> out...
>
> Thanks,
> John