[pct-l] tents

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning, John,

Except for late-season in Washington I rarely pitch the shelter:  Maybe once
every two weeks.  In SoCal I pitched twice in the San Jacintos.  In the
Sierras I once pitched one day north of Kennedy Meadows, then not at all
except on three consecutive snowy nights I did share the two-person tent of
another hiker in lieu of pitching my own.  My impression is that I pitch
more often than that, but I live about 20 miles west of the PCT in N. Oregon
and hike regularly in that area, so I’m probably remembering many of the
early and late season short trips.

The sleeping bag is one of the last items packed.  Below it will be the
tarp, ground cloth, small-item ditty bag, the clothes bag – small as it is,
most food stored in a sack(s) or in the bear ‘can, plus most of the water.
 Above the sleeping bag would be the day-food sack, the water I’ll be
pouring into my bottle, and maybe my fleece jacket if I wore it first thing
in the morning then removed it soon after beginning to hike.

My little pack has no structure so my accordion-folded foam sleeping pad
stands upright against my back.  Inside the folds of the pad is a Ziploc
with the bulk of my maps.  The pack has three outside mesh pockets.  The
back pocket usually has my thin windshirt, an empty garbage sack for use
when fording, and a Ziploc with my day-maps.  One side pocket has my water
bottle and kerchief, while the other side has DEET and sunscreen plus small
sacks – one containing potty items, and the other with water purification
items.  When I – rarely – carry an ice axe and/or crampons they get attached
to the outside back of the pack.

The sleeping pad against my back plus the tarp and ground cloth in the
bottom against my butt keep the sweat from soaking through to the sleeping
bag – a bigger concern than you may think.

Theoretically the load distribution might be improved by moving the
relatively heavy food and water storage above the sleeping bag, but I like
to remove the sleeping bag sometime early in the day to spread it in the sun
during a break, and having it near the top of the pack encourages me to do
so.

Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09


On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 2:25 PM, John Abela <abela at johnabela.com> wrote:

> Hey Chuck (others),
>
> How many nights do you think on all the times you have been on the PCT
> have you encountered rain?
>
> Other question is... I was reading your post that you included... I've
> read it a few times over the last couple of years and always missed
> (read over?) the part about you not putting your sleeping bag in a
> stuff sack. The more I have been loosing the ounces from my setup the
> more I have realized the same thing, ditch stuff sacks except for
> where you really really need them. So, my question here is... do you
> typically stuff your sleeping bag at the very top of your backpack?
> Or, one layer down, below your daily access stuff like food/jacket, or
> do you stuff it all the way down at the bottom? My thoughts/trials
> here lately have been to put it at the very top when I break camp in
> the morning, and than an hour or so later when I stop for first
> meal/bathroom/dry-the-gear-stop, I end up putting it on the second
> layer, just below my daily food/jacket, but above everything else.
> Thus the only compression that takes place is maybe 2 pounds worth of
> food, rather than 5+ pounds worth of the rest of my gear. It also
> means I don't have to repack everything after my first stop. So, just
> wondering what process you take. I suppose if you are somebody who
> loves your external backpack pockets and stuff your daily meals in
> them, you could get away with having your sleeping back 100% at the
> top of the backpack, and only your pack adjustment straps would be
> what could potentially compress your bag. But, I loath external
> backpack pockets (and hip pockets) so I ditched them and went over to
> shoulder strap pouches. But they cannot hold enough for lunch/dinner,
> so they have to be at or near the top of my pack. Anyway, just
> wondering what your logic/process is in all of this.
>
> Thanks,
> John
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 10:11 AM, CHUCK CHELIN <steeleye at wildblue.net>
> wrote:
> > Good morning, Daniel,
> >
> > Many thousands of PCT miles have passed under my sneakers without a tent.
>  I
> > sleep under the stars except in the fairly rare event that rain
> threatens.  My
> > shelter is a 10-12 ounce tarp plus a 3.2 ounce ground cloth.  I find a
> > normal tent “footprint” to be too heavy, and most tent flys require use
> of
> > the normal tent pole set – also too heavy.  My two trekking poles are
> used
> > to erect the tarp.  http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=264203
> > http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=264203
> >
> > Mosquitoes?   I sleep wearing a head-net until about midnight when they
> quit
> > prowling, at which point I remove it.
> >
> > Enjoy your hike,
> >
> > Steel-Eye
> >
> > Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965
> >
> > http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
> > http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09
> >
> > On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 1:50 AM, Daniel Hurt <danielhurt at ymail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> I was wondering if it is practical at all to use a footprint and fly
> setup
> >> when
> >> hiking the PCT rather than a tent to save weight? What are some weight
> >> saving
> >> tips, and good two person tents for the trip?
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