ET's Info-Stew

Maintaining gear is a lot of the fun in backpacking. It is really one of the only parts of backpacking that you can enjoy during the off-season. I have gone through three stages of gear: kitchen sink, ultralight, maximum comfort.

At first, I was taking whatever Bill told me to take, and I was taking everything, including a plastic collapsible kitchen sink. I learned after two trips that this was not the way to go: I was too tired after the hike in to enjoy myself. Next I did ultralight, making my own pack and eventually my own sleeping quilt. I learned that this was not the way to go either: I was uncomfortable and sleep deprived all of the time.

I have finally settled on maximizing comfort. The concept is easy. I maximize comfort on the trail by carrying as light a pack as possible and I maximize comfort at camp by having somewhat luxurious gear. The two philosophies do conflict, which is why finding a balance is most important. I found the lightest commerical gear that I could afford for the big pieces (it was still quite expensive). For the miscelleneous items I found clever ways of using the lightest gear to their greatest potential. I maintain a very detailed list of the gear that I use in an Excel spreadsheet, which I use to fine tune my gear. It is a fairly well organized approach, I think.

Primary pieces of gear:

• Backpack - Arc'Teryx Khamsin 52
• Tent - Walrus Swift (original version)
• Sleeping bag - Marmot Hydrogen
• Stove - Primus Ultralight Titanium

Clever miscelleneous gear:

• Sleeping pad - I found 20"x60" foam pads that weigh 10 oz each. I bought three, cut two of them down so that they join in a mummy shape, and the third goes underneath for more padding. I have minimized weight while giving me a wider and thicker pad!
• Water filter - I found a 4 oz gravity feed filter. I use a large 4-liter platypus bucket bag (about 3 oz) and two 1.5-liter platypuses as water pouches, and a couple pieces of rubber tubing. When I want to filter water I fill the bucket bag, attached the water filter assembly, hang it upside down, and leave. The 1.5L platypus doubles as a camel-bak like pouch while on the trail.
• Dishes - My dishes are whittled down to my 1-liter titanium pot and a hard-plastic spoon with the handle cut off. Total weight is less than 5 oz. Since dinners are eaten out of the bag, and are like mush, I just need to boil water in the pot and eat with the spoon. For breakfasts and hot chocolate, I simply boil up the right amount of water and add the contents to the pot, stirring with the spoon. I don't need any dishes for lunch.
• Handkerchief - This little thing does so much that I can't really list all of its uses. But are are the more common ones: shade during hikes, pot holder, towel, and napkin.

There are all kinds of other things that I do to reduce weight. I bring the exact right amount of food with just a little extra for emergencies. I use very little amount of fuel, so I don't bring extra. I bring just the right amount of clothing. Part of being comfortable is not being bored, so I bring some gear for diversion: book, camera, binoculars, and log-book. I also use a Crazy Creek camp chair, which doubles as additional padding under my sleeping pad. Somehow when I bought it I managed to get the lightest possible version. Even today they don't make camp chairs that light.

After everything is said and done, a full pack including food and water for a week will weigh 38 pounds. For the three-nighters I go on, it weighs 32 pounds. I really can't improve much on this without taking a big dent in comfort. But I have my eye on some things. My tent is getting old and, though it is still very light, there are other tents out there now that are just as light but have way more room. The Big Agnes Seedhouse SL 2 comes to mind. I'll have to wait and see what backpacking is like next year before I go out and drop $250 on a new tent.