Appalachian Trail: Packing Gear
Disclaimer: This post is NOT sponsored. All the gear mentioned in this post was purchased by me at retail prices. I have no affiliations with any of the companies or brands mentioned.
I'm packing my gear and leaving for the trail tomorrow. When it comes to backpacking gear, everyone has their own opinions. And there are a lot of things to consider when choosing gear. Mainly price, weight, and comfort are big consideration. When it comes to weight, base weight, which is gear without consumables like food, water, and fuel, is the main metric used.
Getting the base weight down as much as possible is a goal for most hikers since it makes the hiking easier. Ultralight hikers have a goal of a base weight under 10 lbs. Personally, while I would like to have a base weight that low, the pack lists I have seen for ultralight seem to either be missing something or they make compromises that I can't justify. My realistic goal is a base weight of 15 lbs. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten there yet, but I did get it down to about 17.6 lbs.
I won't go through my whole gear list by clicking on the link in the menu. But, I will talk about the Big 3, pack, sleep system, and tent. These categories are the 3 biggest ones that contribute that to base weight.
First up is the tent. I ended up going with with the Zpacks Duplex. It's a 1 lb 3 oz single-walled trekking poles 2 person tent. Unfortunately, that weight savings does cost. It is a $700 tent.
For my pack, I am using the Osprey Exos 58. Osprey is nice because they have great suspension system and ventilation on the packs. These help you carry heavier weights without feeling it as badly. Granted, I could save some weight by switching to an ultralight pack, and I might look into that eventually, but from what I have seen so far, these packs lack some of the nicer features a heavier pack like the Exos has.
The sleep system is made up of the sleeping bag and sleeping pad. When it comes to sleeping bags, comfort rating and survival rating are the numbers that need to be paid attention to. For the sleeping pads, they have an R rating like insulation. In my case, I am bringing the REI Magma 15, which is a 21 degree comfort rating down bag. My pad is the Nemo Tensor All Season which has an R rating of 5.4. I also am bringing the Nemo Fillo Elite pillow.