April 26, 2019
As we prepare for our Trekking the U.S. West adventure this summer, we have been focused on our gear. Taking into account the lessons we learned from hiking the Pacific Crest Trail three years ago, we have strived to review every backpacking item to lighten our load. If we aren’t going to use something extensively, it stays home. We also have made a few changes to ensure our comfort and safety this year on the trails.
Lightening Our Load, One Item at a Time
After hiking over 500 miles in Europe last summer with a base weight (excluding food, water or fuel) of 15 pounds, we both made it a goal to get down to a similar weight for this year. In Europe we were not carrying a tent or any cooking equipment, as we hiked from village to village. The trade-off in carrying those camping items this year is that we will get by with fewer clothes than what we needed for both European hiking and city sightseeing in 2018.
The “big four” weight items in the backpacking world are one’s backpack, tent, sleeping bag and mattress pad. For our National Parks journey two years ago, we purchased new Osprey backpacks and are still happy with those. Likewise, we love our tent, so decided to keep it for this summer’s trekking.
For the remaining two items, we made some changes. Quilts are becoming more popular alternatives for backpackers, due to their lighter weight than traditional sleeping bags. I am also not a mummy bag fan and was intrigued by being less constrained sleeping inside a quilt. I bought a newly introduced REI quilt and tried it out on our recent 33-mile Lake Fire training hike. After using it, I was hooked. Darren is staying with his mummy bag for now but may order a quilt in the future.
After a couple of years of camping with our Therm-a-Rest mattresses, we needed new ones and went with Sea to Summit versions. The pad seems a little more comfortable and comes with a pump sack that will make it easier to inflate (especially at high elevations).
Back to Basics with Our Meals
During our 2016 PCT trek, we prepackaged our own dinners, rotating through eight different options. We wanted to ensure that we had a balanced diet with plenty of calories. The downside was that we had to bring a pot and needed more water and fuel to prepare these meals.
This year, we are going back to basics and eating freeze-dried food for our dinners. By buying Mountain House meals in bulk, we were able to save some money. These meals just need a little boiling water, no pot, and are easy clean-up, saving us overall weight.
Supplementing our freeze-dried meals are as much “real” food as possible. For these items we primarily turned to our local Trader Joe’s grocery store. They have a variety of food perfect for backpacking. Stocking up on dried fruit, veggie chips, jerky, nuts, coconut oil packets (to provide extra calories in our coffee or dinners) and nut butters will ensure that we have some tasty alternatives to eat as we hike.
Some Hard Decisions at Weigh-in Time
Continuing our pack review, we swapped out items such as battery chargers, going to lighter versions. One of the most difficult decisions we made was to not bring any extra shirts or pants, so we will just have the hiking clothes on our backs, plus night time and cold / rainy weather gear.
When it was time to hit the scales and weigh our packs before our training hike, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that my base weight was in the 16 pound range and Darren was only about a pound heavier. When we left three years ago on the PCT, my base weight was 22 pounds and Darren’s was 24 pounds. So being six to seven pounds lighter should make a real difference this time around.
Valuing Comfort and Safety during Our Trekking
In all, we will be trekking for about 10 weeks this year. With everything that we have pared down, we did add a few comfort and safety items to this year’s list. One thing we have discovered during our last few years of hiking is that a certain level of comfort is important to our success.
Comfort levels can vary from person to person. For example, we could easily shave off additional weight by going to a more basic tent, but I like the fact that we have a roomy three-person REI tent, which can hold all of our gear inside if needed. Plus I can sit up in it, which feels like a luxury at the end of a long day.
I also value a good night’s rest and have noted how poor sleep several nights in a row can affect my attitude (and my hiking). So I added a travel pillow (that I then pared down slightly to save some weight and bulk) in an effort to maximize my comfort while sleeping.
Long-distance trekking also assumes that you will be off the grid for days at a time. We are putting a priority in staying in touch with family this year, so we opted to make a big splurge purchase of a satellite communication device. The Garmin inReach Mini weighs 3.5 ounces, but it opens up a whole new world of communication for us.
We can send unlimited preset messages with our monthly plan, meaning we can communicate with family every day to let them know where we are and that we are safe. Conversely, they can contact us if anything comes up, as we plan to check our inbox twice a day. We took the Mini on our training hike and were pleasantly surprised at how well it transmitted, especially since we were hiking in a canyon for much of the time.
For our Trekking the U.S. West hikes this year, we will be transmitting a couple of times a day and posting a map like this on a Location Tracker website page. So everyone can follow along with our progress as we trek.
Based on the changes we have made, our master packing list has been updated. We use this list to plan all our trips, whether it be a wilderness backpacking trek or a series of hikes in an international location.
One of the advantages we have with this year’s itinerary is the ability to refine things after each trek. We did just that after our training hike and will do so again when we return from the Arizona Trail. With about six weeks between the Arizona Trail hike and our Pacific Crest Trail trek, I’m sure we will make some additional tweaks to get our weight down while maintaining our comfort and safety in the wilderness.
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