Gear- Everyone’s third favorite topic behind where do you poop and how often do you shower?
I have included a link to download my gear list. As always, I am carrying more weight than I want to, ideally I would be at 12 lbs., but I am a at 13.7 lbs. They say you carry your fears and I am definitely carrying them when it comes to my electronics, at 2.9 lbs. of crap I am way over my other hikes where I was carrying 1.5lbs of electronics. The additional weight on this journey includes a larger battery capacity and a small solar charger (I have no idea if that will work). The first half of my trip I am caching most of my food so I figured having a larger battery and a way to charge without relying on towns would be important, but only time will tell and if its too much. I have a 10 liter water capacity, I believe most other hikers have an 8 liter capacity, but I sweat a lot compared to others, and while that’s 22lbs just of water when fully loaded, I’ll be happy to carry it in-between the few 30+ mile dry sections. I am carrying both bleach and a sawyer filter because the water situations can be really variant and I am going to be drinking from sources that I will be happy I have a filter for and just not chemical disinfection. I am going lighter with my tent and not bring the tent body with me and just relying on the rain fly to protect me from any storms and wind. Other than that it is my basic thru-hiking setup that loosely follows my other trail experience (no stove, long sleeve shirts and pants for sun, minimal first aid, and repair, etc.). The desert provides ample opportunity to be extremely hot and extremely cold and I did not see a way to pare down my clothes since I can experience temperature and weather extremes similar to if I were in the mountains.
If I won the lottery I would probably buy all new gear to maximize every ounce I bring, but that gets really expensive, and I cannot justify the price of buying new gear to save a few grams here and there since I know my setup is trail proven and I am comfortable with it. Lighter is better, but having a 12 lbs. vs a 13.7 lbs. pack won’t be noticeable on the days where I have 10 liters of water or on longer food carries where I will have 9 days of food with me (hopefully I won’t have 9 days of food and 10 liters of water at the same time). As I have stated in every other gear section, the gear doesn’t get you to the end, it may make things easier or more convenient but barring major injury the reason you stay on a trail or get off is mostly mental and the gear actually plays a smaller roll in your success than expected.
