Wear What I Trust: The Big Three of the Pacific Crest Trail

The Big Three: Wear What I Trust

I’ve talked a lot about how to prepare my body and mind for the Pacific Crest Trail. Strength. Durability. Recovery. Learn to stay calm when things don’t go as planned.

However, over time the conversation would always turn to marching.

Not in the “this is what you should buy” sense, but in the much quieter, more personal sense that equipment earns its place over time. Miles matter. Familiarity matters. Knowing how something behaves when it’s soaked, dusty, overloaded, half-broken, or out-of-comfort is important.

When it comes to backpacking, people often talk about The big three: your backpack, your shelter and your sleep system. These are the pieces that define how your days feel and how your nights restore you. And for this hike, I’m not going to experiment. I return to what has already proven effective.

The Package: Designed for Cargo, Fitted for Comfort

The Seek Outside Divide 4800: adjustable, durable and designed to carry whatever the day demands.

The backpack I’ll be carrying on the PCT is the same one I used on the John Muir Trail, Tahoe Rim Trail, and Colorado Trail: the Seek Outside Divide 4800.

On paper, it sounds great. Approximately 79 liters. Lihat juga pdf view. That alone makes some ultralight people raise an eyebrow. But what doesn’t appear on a spec sheet is how indulgent this package is. The roll-up design allows it to pack down surprisingly small, and when I’m wearing less, it never feels like too much.

What I like most about this backpack is how adjustable it is, almost absurdly so. Cargo elevators. Frame height. Harness size. Shoulder yoke. Positioning of the hip belt. If something doesn’t work, I can fix it. And that adjustability means that the weight is distributed the way Yo you need it, not in the way a fixed design dictates.

It’s an external framework package, which I really appreciate. The frame is sturdy, rated for much larger loads than anything I’ve ever carried. And although I won’t come close to its theoretical capacity, I like to know that structure is never the limiting factor. Most flocks start to get unhappy around forty pounds. This one doesn’t care.

At around 2 pounds 8 ounces, it’s not the lightest backpack out there. But it hits that sweet spot between ultralight and bombproof. It’s comfortable, adaptable, and capable of handling whatever the road throws at it, and that peace of mind is worth a few extra grams to me.

The refuge: space when time says stay still

The “Taj Mahal”: light, spacious and durable enough to skip the ground.

If my backpack is about carrying confidence, my store is about living space.

I’ll be sleeping in my affectionately named Durston X-Dome Mid Pro 2 The Taj Mahal. I’ve used it on the John Muir Trail, Colorado Trail, and Tahoe Rim Trail, and at this point it looks over a thousand miles away.

This is a Dyneema single wall shelter and like all single wall tents, condensation is part of the deal. But what makes this tent special to me is its size and shape. At 6’2″, I can stretch out completely without even brushing against the walls with my sleeping bag. No wet toe. No careful sleep gymnastics. Just space.

I opted for the polisil floor instead of Dyneema, suffering a small weight penalty that I will never regret. It is smaller and, more importantly, is more resistant to abrasion. That durability means I don’t need to carry a separate groundsheet, which simplifies my setup and eliminates one more thing to handle at the end of a long day.

the footprint is generous, and finding a perfect campsite can sometimes require a little creativity and sometimes requires a slight negotiation with the terrain. There is a narrow field option when necessary, but honestly, when you’re tied down by the weather, having room to sit, organize gear, stretch out, and simply exist comfortably within your shelter is invaluable.

It’s lightweight (about 19.9 ounces), durable, thoughtfully designed, and is currently getting some TLC in Canada, a new zipper, and minor repairs. All handled by Durston. The fact that they are renewing it for free says a lot about the company. A good team is one thing. The good people behind it are different.

I won’t turn this into a full gear review, but I will say this: I completely trust this shelter. And trust matters when the weather changes.

The sleep system: because cold nights ruin everything

If there’s one piece of equipment I’m absolutely not willing to compromise on, it’s sleep.

My sleeping bag is the Feathered Friends Flicker UL 20, wide version, a bag I know inside and out.

This bag is warm. Warm and comfortable. Not the optimistic kind of warmth ratings that make you shiver at 3 in the morning, but the kind that allows your nervous system to really relax. The 950 fill is exceptional and the bag uses a real comfort rating, not a marketing one.

The full zipper allows it to be opened completely and converted into a blanket, including the footrest, which adds a lot of versatility. On warmer nights, I can blow off steam easily. On cold nights, I can seal it and trust it.

At 29 ounces, it’s not the lightest option available, but it’s the warmest bag I’m willing to carry, and that’s important because I get cold when I sleep. I tried quilts. I don’t hate them. But drafts always seem to come in and I prefer not to spend half the night managing my insulation.

This bag is treated with Nikwax, so moisture resistance is solid, and when combined with my Therm-a-Rest NeoAir NXT (R-value 4.5), it creates a system I know works. I’ve had cold nights on the road. Really cold nights. And I’ll say it clearly: when you’re cold, you don’t sleep. And when you don’t sleep, everything else suffers.

Waiting for dawn on Mount Whitney, wrapped in the system I trust most.

Family team, open mind

These three pieces: my backpack, my shelter and my sleep system… are not new. They are proven. They have been repaired. They have been through storms, long days and tired mornings. And that’s exactly why I’m taking you to the Pacific Crest Trail.

Will something eventually fail? Almost certainly. The team always does it.

But I have backups. I understand my systems. And I’m confident that if something catastrophic happens, I can swap out parts without completely disrupting my comfort or pace on the trail.

There are endless equipment options. I have more backpacks, tents, and sleeping bags than I care to admit. But for this hike, I’ll start with what I trust and adapt as the trail teaches me what it needs.

Next, I’ll delve into the rest of my kit: the smaller parts that don’t make the headlines but quietly improve mileage.

Because on a road this long, it’s never just about what you carry.

It’s about how well you get along you.