The gear change – The Trek

“Take care of your equipment and your equipment will take care of you”, -Racoon (PCT)

As a hiker, your gear is, in some ways, all you have. Yes, there are other hikers out there. Yes, trail angles can help occasionally, but at the end of the day it’s you and your team against the world. Well, at least until the next stop in town. Here are a few pieces of gear I traded in or sent home on my hike across the Continental Divide.

Food storage

As a SOBO I started in Grizzly territory. In the CDT there is no section that requires a particular type of food bag or container. However, in Glacier National Park you must camp in specific places that have some type of food storage, usually a tall, staple-shaped metal pole to hang your food on. After the park you will be alone. I don’t want to bother with hanging food every night, or the volume or weight of a bear canister. I opted for the adotec 14 liter grizzly bear resistant bag.

This is basically a newer, lighter version of an ursack. I thought it worked very well and I never had any problems with rodents or animals getting into my food. Although I also don’t think it’s ever had a grizzly bear check it out or try to get in (thankfully).

At just 7 oz, this is one of the lightest options available for bear-proof food storage. As we know, every ounce counts and I would eventually trade it in for the much lighter zpacks food bag once I cleared grizzly bear territory.

Along with the grizz bag, I also left my bear spray in Lander WY. Grateful that I had never used it, but also grateful for the (slight) security it provided. This dropped another 8 oz.

colorado gear shift

I was a little worried about Colorado. Not because of the exposure or the constant ups and downs. I was worried about being cold.

I talked to a friend (Mugwart) who had climbed the sobo CDT last year and he said, «It was cold in Colorado.» As a matter of fact, you reach the northern state line around September and reach the lower elevations of New Mexico in early October. I had always heard that, as a sobo, our goal was to get out of Colorado before October. After this point, the threat of an early winter blizzard increased significantly.

Most of my equipment was not new. In fact, most of my team had been on, if not one, several other hikes. This was the case with my sleeping quilt.

I purchased the Western Mountaineering Astralite on my PCT trek. Worried about getting cold in the Sierras, I ditched my cheap sleeping bag and put on a quilt. I am very happy with this decision as we were hit with very cold weather and would have been quite cold otherwise.

This quilt has been with me every walk of the process. Putting about 7,000 miles on it, I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth.

All the packing and unpacking of this quilt has left it worn out and feathers leaking out. There were no holes in my quilt, but I would often see feathers poking out and put them back in. When I put my quilt in my backpack, I noticed escaping feathers floating in the air. My quilt was missing what keeps you warm.

It was time for a new quilt. This time I chose the 10 Degree Quilt from Enlightened Equipment. I would have bought the 20 degree one but they were sold out and honestly I’m glad they were.

This quilt has a zipper toe that allows you to open it and use it as a blanket, which was a major selling point for me. The additional 10-grade rating also proved its value in the higher elevations of Colorado. Often sleeping above 10,000 feet, the Revelation kept me comfortable and cozy. It was a little bulkier and heavier than my previous quilt, but it was worth it because I had the peace of mind of staying warm at night.

rain pants

Most hikers don’t seem to wear waterproof pants and I understand that. On the AT it is often too hot and wearing them would cause extreme sweating and therefore leave you soaked anyway. It almost never rains on the PCT and would be considered excessive. On the CDT, however, I was worried about the cold, exposed rain.

I ended up using them only a few times from Glacier to Pagosa Springs and left them there. Of course, two days after leaving Pagosa I was hit with cold rain for over an hour and probably would have used them if I had them. The rest of New Mexico was fine, and although I got rained on, it was warm enough to not warrant waterproof pants.

Overall, I probably couldn’t have brought them for the entire CDT, but I was glad to have them the few times they were needed.

Hiking shirt

The Town Shirt Sun Hoodie is a fantastic hiking shirt. Its lightweight, silky material is ideal for warm days with a hood and thumbholes for 50 spf sun protection. They have all kinds of quirky and quirky patterns to bring some color and personal expression to the field.

Mine, like many of my computers, was not new. Honestly, I should have taken a look at it before starting this hike. I soon noticed several holes starting to form and I didn’t think it would go through the entire CDT. So in Grand Lake Colorado I bought a new one. Same brand of t-shirts with new print.

My last city jersey lasted about 5,000 miles and I can’t wait to put 5,000 more on the new one.

Scraps

Another piece of gear I got rid of was some rope and a DCF rope bag. I had it like this for a long time and I was tired of having it.

Technically you needed it for Glacier to hang your food, but several hikers simply tied their food bag to the poles and that seemed to work fine.

I ended up cutting a hole in the bladder of my Befree water filter and swapping it for a 2 liter cnoc I found in a hiker’s box in Lander. That too eventually had a hole and after acquiring giardia he ditched the hole and bought a new free carbon filter in Grand Lake.

After entering Colorado, I was hit with several days of cold rain, not fun. It also wasn’t fun to find out that my rechargeable headlamp was no longer working after these storms.

I had my headlamp in the outside mesh pouch of my backpack and I think water got into the charging port. I have had this headlamp since 2021 and I am happy to have made it this far. I traded it in for a new battery operated one at Grand Lake since that’s all the gear store sells.

My new headlamp didn’t have a red light mode and it was annoying trying to predict when the batteries would die. This led to bringing extras just in case it was a slight inconvenience. Rechargeable headlamps are simply more convenient.

The equipment is very important and personalized for each hiker. Overall, I’m happy with what I decided to bring, as well as most of my changes (I’m talking about your headlight).

Until next time…

Happy trails.

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