In the spirit of passing along a bit of what I learned, I thought I'd do a debrief of my equipment. As I stated in my post on equipment made before I left, I'm not an "equipment guy." It serves a purpose, and thinking it through carefully can prevent a host of problems. Testing is key, and there is no greater test than The Trail.
I'll break down the details, but in very general terms I have to say that my equipment did well. I replaced more than I expected, but the key items stood the test... some just not in the way I expected. For photos of my original load-out, see the original equipment post.
The Pack
I can't say enough good things about the GoLite Jam. It's not a large pack and only rated to 30 lbs., but it stood up to all of the abuse I loaded onto it. I came home with the original hip belt and buckle, though some of the loops I sewed on to strap things to the outside needed repair in New Hampshire. I suck at sewing, it wasn't the pack's fault. This pack never let me down. I had some reservations about the shoulder straps, but they really took the stress, even when I was climbing, dropping off of ledges, and leaning; not to mention hoisting so many times during the trip. The size was actually an advantage. Not being ABLE to carry too much kept me from carrying too much. So the GoPro Jam gets two thumbs up.Eating
I started with an alcohol stove and a ton of carbohydrates. The stove was a problem from the beginning. It leaked alcohol all over the inside of my pack on the first day, so I had to empty it into the fuel bottle after every use. In snow, it took 45 minutes to boil a cup of water, and it was very sensitive to wind. I left it in a hiker box in Daleville, VA, went cookless for a while, and bought an MSR Pocket Rocket and canister fuel in Damascus. HUGE improvement! Nothing but praise for the Pocket Rocket. It lights and heats easily and boils water in a couple of minutes. It can be turned down for simmering easily, too.The titanium mug was amazing and was with me for most of the trip. I shipped it home when I went cookless, then got it back shortly thereafter. The home-made sylnylon bag held up the whole trip.
I did go through a couple of Nalgene bottles. This is really unnecessary weight. But in the winter, I liked brewing tea, then carrying it inside my jacket for warmth the first few miles in the morning. In the evening, I'd fill the bottle with water and use it as a weight to throw my bear line. This worked great until it came down on a sharp rock and shattered. Yes, you can shatter a Nalgene bottle.
Carbs were great in the beginning, particularly when I wasn't eating so much. But "Hiker Hunger" hit me hard in The Smokies, and my food consumption skyrocketed to (at times) over 6000 calories per day. I instantly started craving fats and found myself happy to hike along with a summer sausage in one hand and a block of cheese in the other. This trend continued the rest of the trip, dropping out high-bulk carbs for high-density meat and fat. At times I had a jar of peanut butter AND a jar of Nutella in my pack.
I dropped the Soylent after a couple of months. It's not that there was anything wrong with it -- it's pretty dense and balanced nutrition, actually -- but my resupply changed. I started living off the local stores instead of trying to meet up with boxes along the way. My support person was spot-on with everything I asked of her (thanks, Courtney!) but I found it harder and harder to plan where I would be and when. Part of that was a "good problem," because I was moving so fast.
Water / Movement / Personal
The gravity-feed water system really worked a treat. I watched people struggle with pumps, squeezing water from one bag to another, sit and wait for chemicals to work, and all kinds of crazy methods. I'd just hang my bag and eat while it worked, and people looked on, jealous. The Sawyer Mini filter did work, but it was a pain due to clogging. The first unit lasted a couple of weeks, and I fell back to Iodine until I could get a replacement at the next stop. The second lasted a couple of months. Then I changed to the Sawyer Squeeze. MUCH faster flow and no clogging problems. Well worth the extra weight. One of the 2-liter bags started to leak in Massachusetts, so I replaced it with what was available: two one-liter bags. This had the advantage that I could add electrolytes to one bag and keep the other plain water. Once a bag has had flavor in it, it must be hoisted in the bear bag every night. This way I could keep a liter in the tent at night, and have electrolytes on the move. Great compromise.My home-made poncho worked very well. It was kind of a bear in wind -- something I couldn't seem to get away from in the first six weeks -- but combined with a storm jacket worked when I needed it. It held up the whole trip and I still have it. The bug net only came out half a dozen times or so, but it worked amazingly well and really helped me keep my sanity. When you need that, you really need it.
Clothing-wise, the biggest surprise was how well the Columbia rain hat worked. I got sunburned in the first week and learned to wear the hat all the time. It kept sun, rain, snow, etc. off of me the whole trip. Yes, there were times when it stunk so badly that it's hard to describe, but it did way more than advertised. Second to the pack, this was my biggest "MVP" award of the trip.
The GoPro camera is simple genius. I took so much footage and photos that I'm still going through it all. Again, great "problem" to have. I did find that keeping it clipped to the shoulder strap allowed me to take many more photos. Having to dig it out of a pouch netted far less media capture. I used it for scenery, documentation / video logging, and shot quite a few time lapses of sunsets, clouds, etc. The batteries held up well, though had to be stored close to the body in really cold weather to hold their charge. I scratched the case in front of the lens in Pennsylvania and had to get a replacement case.
Other minor items: I dumped my multi-tool for a smaller pocket knife early on. It was just wasted weight. I burned one Esbit cube to start a fire after a bitterly cold ridge crossing at Chestnut Knob, TN, but it was nice knowing it was there any time I needed it. Medication was rarely used, though I did start going through ibuprofen pretty quickly in The White Mountains. The compass come out of the pack twice, and the whistle not at all. But you can't go into the wilderness without these, so... meh. The mirror turned out to be a very good investment, and I started carrying tweezers in tick country. I never found a tick on me the whole trip, but I inspected every night. You learn tricks, like shining a flashlight through the thin skin of the ear to look for dark spots.
Camp soap is great stuff. Combined with ziplock bags and handi-wipes, one can clean up body and clothing every day. When it got hot, I'd "do laundry" in the morning -- soap and water in a ziplock -- and hang the clothes on the pack to dry as I moved. Sweat will break down clothing fast if not washed, and sores develop if you don't keep clean. Camp soap: two thumbs up.
Ear plugs! Carry them. You will camp near people, and 3/4 of all hikers snore REALLY LOUDLY. I even bailed out of a shelter one night when the ear plugs I had were not enough for the insane racket in that place. If you share hostel space, ear plugs are golden. I don't wear them when solo camping because I want to know what's going on, but around other people... bliss.
Hiking poles were not something I started with. But a guy I hiked with in Tennessee convinced me to try them. They work. They really, really work. I may have been able to go without them, but they really are a game changer. I bought my Leki poles in Erwin, TN and they lasted the whole trip, tips replaced in New Hampshire.
Sleeping
My trusty Marmot Pounder sleeping bag made it the whole way and is still in great shape. The waffle pad made it, but is pretty beat up. The quilt really kept me warm, and I didn't ship it back until Harper's Ferry.The small tarp I started with was just not up to the task. It did okay, but I got wet repeatedly. Winter winds change direction a lot, and there was no way to predict which direction the rain would be coming from by morning. I replaced the small tarp with a 10' x 10' at Nantahala a couple of weeks into the trip, then after the third over-night soaking gave up and bought an MSR side-entry single-person tent. It was a wonderful investment! Not only did I stay bone dry the rest of the trip, but I had privacy at night. It was a free-standing tent, so quick to set up and dive into, and it could go anywhere. At 3 lbs with footprint, it was a huge improvement. I did keep the bivy, though, for use in shelters and when it got really cold. The bivy went the whole way with me, and I was very happy with it.
Clothing
Using running equipment really worked well. Shorts, shirts, gloves... all worked very well. The fleece vest was key to staying warm but not "too warm." At night, the long underwear made a HUGE difference and kept me cozy. I loved the triathlon shorts in the winter, but when things got really hot, they were less comfortable and I shifted to running shorts only.The quilted synthetic down jacket was amazing. I did burn a hole in the shoulder in an accident with the alcohol stove, but that just served to give me my trail name: "Patch." I went through several storm jackets; one I accidentally left during a stop with a huge bunch of hikers, and the other got me through The White Mountains.
The running shoes did work, but I'm not sure they were the best answer. My feet grew a full shoe size during the trip, and they hurt for months after I got back. My most recent pair of running shoes is back to 8.5, but I really abused my poor feet. I'm not sure if the shoes exacerbated that problem, but they didn't help much. Light is good, though, and the grippy bottoms were helpful on rocks. In snow, I learned to put my socks on, then gallon ziplocks over those, then the shoes. This vapor barrier kept my feet dry in the toughest conditions. My feet got so wet for so long in Virginia that I developed what I think is Trench Foot. Keeping my feet dry allowed them to heal over several weeks.
Conclusion
Overall, my pack got slightly heavier over the course of the trip, but the function improved out of proportion to that investment. The tent was the largest weight gain, but it was so valuable in so many ways, that the weight was irrelevant. I don't think I would have finished the trip without the comfort of the tent.Food changed dramatically, and I got creative with "trail recipes." I found that you can wrap anything in tortillas, and that Nutella is it's own food group. Peanut butter is gold, freeze-dried meals -- of which I had maybe three on the whole trip -- are a wonderful change of pace, and Ramen is a flexible and reliable base as long as you toss the flavor packet. The really big protein bars are almost meal replacements, and they are worth the size and weight to carry.
Biggest wins: backpack, sun hat, water filtration system, GoPro, sleeping bag.
Biggest failures: alcohol stove, tarp.
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