Thanks for posting these videos. They are very well done. I'm NOBO in 2017 and am always looking for more information. Good luck to you and I'll be following you to Maine!
Just found your videos - looks great. Chad Wesselman hiker update sent me. The gear looks great and like that you've tried the stuff out already. Your videos will be even more interesting because of the 100 day deadline. You got this!
I'm intrigued by your channel because of the 100 day limit; I have subscribed. Have you considered carrying more water bottles? I think those Dasanis put you at one quart. But surely there's going to be sections where you need more than that. And at some point there has to be a time trade-off between the extra weight of another quart and the time to constantly purify water. At 20+ miles/day you're going to be needing to stop midday, everyday for water - that's a lot of time. The lady that set the record on the AT used a 2 qt bladder with an inline Sawyer on the hose - brilliant setup.
Hello Dennis, thanks for subscribing. Good question about the water. I just finished my longest pre-hike this last weekend to date, a 58 mile 2 day hike on the Ozark Trail. I have been playing with different setups to figure out what would work best for me. For the water this is what I found most beneficial and practical for me. I will be brining one Dasani bottle because I like the size of it in my shoulder pouch. The other water bottle will be the Smart 23 oz. This one is perfect for mixing any electrolytes that has a ratio of 20 oz like the Gatorade packets. Since its 23 oz, I just take a nice guzzle and then mix it and transfer the liquid by squeezing it out of the nozzle from the Smart to the Dasani. This worked out for me brilliantly. I also have a 32oz water bag and a 16 oz. so all together, I can carry almost 90 oz of water which is about 2.6 liters. I had to do this a few times on my pre-hikes as there was a stretch on the OT where there wasn't reliable water for 9 miles.
Which is almost the longest stretch along the AT, so I am happy with that. If I know there is a long stretch w/o water or the water source is 2 miles off the AT and I don't want to walk the 2 miles (4 all together) then I'll fill up one of my extra punches. I did this a few times on the OT not because I had to, but because I wanted to get used to it. I used to be a big bladder fan but since I switched over to this setup, I LOVE it!
For sure. I will let you know how they hold up. I got between 150-200 miles on then now and a little wear but nothing major. I am really hoping they hold up as they are way more comfortable than any other trail shoe I have had with the larger widths.
+sgm1960 I have been using Body Glide for about 7 years and haven't really had any problems with odor. However, the Body Glide seems to soften/melt pretty easily when it gets hot out which is why I was going more on the tube then the stick. I have never used Trail Toes, have you found any issues with it getting too mushy/soft when it gets too warm and exposed to heat at all? I prefer the stick but when it gets warm the dang thing is worthless to try and apply without getting everywhere.
Really good equipment selection. I keep thinking that if I lost 10 lbs this would all be moot. Do you think sometimes we freak over ultralightweight options?
THANK YOU! Always love gear lists. I'll actually be thru-hiking the PCT in 2017, and I'm going to be daily vlogging the entire journey! Check it out here: goo.gl/0hKldf . HAPPY TRAILS THRU-HIKERS!
check them out at www.zpacks.com/ the small guys start at a couple of bucks up to like 45 dollars for the cuben pack liner. The shelters are really expensive but the dry sacks are not bad at all
Great lightweight setup. I'm surprised the pck is 23 oz. I've got the Arc Blast 60 and the way I configured it it's at 20.4 oz. Can I make a suggestion on stoves? I use a micro Ti stove I got off Ebay (www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Protable-Folding-Titanium-Alloy-Outdoor-Cooking-Burner-Gas-Stove-Ultralight-/272042619164?hash=item3f5700f11c:g:rDIAAOSw~bFWJL4o) and it works great! Your pot will fit easily and not be wobbly or unstable. I've used it with a 400 ml mug that's only about 3" across. The stove only weighs 28 grams (.9 oz.). Just a suggestion.
Thanks Good2Go, I looked at that stove and you definitely caught my attention with it, I'll check it out. Appreciate it man! As far as the ArcBlast goes, you must have purchase your pack sometime before summer last year? Right before i purchased my Arc Blast, the base weight on it was like 16.5 ounces. When I finally decided to fork over the money and buy it, ZPacks advertised the base weight as 21 oz. They must have made some adjustments in the material or design that added some weight. With the belt punches and shoulder pounce and the 21oz base weight, that's where mine comes to 23. Wish I was a few ounces lighter, I could use it! I'll let you know about the stove, thanks again brother!
Thanks Man! I am actually ditching the camera mount and just keeping my GoPro instead. I will have to look into this though, the mount I have is a little bulky.
the zpacks backpack is 23 ounces..the tent is 23 ounces and 24 ounces for the pad and sleeping bag..thats 4.50 lbs almost.not 3.75 lbs. for the big three.. sorry im a gear head and the math didnt add up..lol
Yea, I probably could have said it better. My Big 3 (Pack, Shelter, Sleeping Bag) is 3.75 pounds. When you add in the NeoAir you get the 4lbs 9 oz total weight I had at the end of that section.
+Rory Anderson yeah i was figuring that..i just add the big 4 as big 3 cause really the sleeping pad is part of a sleeping system and you were showing all 4. you probably will end up sending the GPS home thats really the only item i can pick on..lol i mean i could start telling you to strip your pot down and things (i stripped the handle and lid off my snowpeak 700 and its 2.8 ounces..it was 4.5 with the lid and 3.5 with the handles)..but really you got a very nice base weight here..shouldnt even be over 20 lbs except long stretches without resupply..i think 3 days food is all you need most the time. good luck and nice kit!
+matanuska high thanks Man. I will probably keep my GPS though as I am using for people to track me on my entire thru hike. If I went back in time I might sway towards the Solplex and save 8ish oz, but I'm still super happy with my Duplex. Thanks for the feedback!
+Rory Anderson oh i see you are using it like a spot device..right on!..im attempting a 100-120 day hike next year thinking of starting in april. im trying to keep around 10 lbs or less myself.
+matanuska high That's awesome. I started planning my gear about this time of year last year as well. Best of luck with everything leading up to your thru-hike next year!
A 40 degree sleeping bag is no where near what you need. You will most likely need a 20 degree bag with an added bag liner to take along especially for the Smokey Mountains. It gets really cold at the higher elevations in the first 400 miles of the trail. That's if you are starting out at Springer around the first of Spring.
Yea, I was under a rock on that one. In my earlier years my pack weight was somewhere around that until technology improves and I got a little more wisdom in the ultralight world. I would never go back as it is so much more enjoyable with the extra weight. You should try it if you haven't, you would probably enjoy it a lot more!
Mike M tries to talk tough to a guy who thru hiked the whole trail with his heroic stories of doing "parts of the AT 3 decades ago". Run along Mike no one gives a flying rats ass about your old man try hard war stories.
this is the best and the precious explanation of stuffs of UL backpacking. Thank you so much Follow Bigfoot. You are the man !!!!!
Thanks for posting these videos. They are very well done. I'm NOBO in 2017 and am always looking for more information. Good luck to you and I'll be following you to Maine!
+Teri Behrens Thanks Teri. Good luck on your NOBO trip!
Just found your videos - looks great. Chad Wesselman hiker update sent me. The gear looks great and like that you've tried the stuff out already. Your videos will be even more interesting because of the 100 day deadline. You got this!
Thanks man! I can't believe it's less than 45 days away. I am excited for the challenge and experience!
Dude saved .4 oz by switchin a lil bag! Im infinitly amazed by the ul community.
I'm intrigued by your channel because of the 100 day limit; I have subscribed. Have you considered carrying more water bottles? I think those Dasanis put you at one quart. But surely there's going to be sections where you need more than that. And at some point there has to be a time trade-off between the extra weight of another quart and the time to constantly purify water. At 20+ miles/day you're going to be needing to stop midday, everyday for water - that's a lot of time. The lady that set the record on the AT used a 2 qt bladder with an inline Sawyer on the hose - brilliant setup.
Hello Dennis, thanks for subscribing. Good question about the water. I just finished my longest pre-hike this last weekend to date, a 58 mile 2 day hike on the Ozark Trail. I have been playing with different setups to figure out what would work best for me.
For the water this is what I found most beneficial and practical for me. I will be brining one Dasani bottle because I like the size of it in my shoulder pouch. The other water bottle will be the Smart 23 oz. This one is perfect for mixing any electrolytes that has a ratio of 20 oz like the Gatorade packets. Since its 23 oz, I just take a nice guzzle and then mix it and transfer the liquid by squeezing it out of the nozzle from the Smart to the Dasani. This worked out for me brilliantly.
I also have a 32oz water bag and a 16 oz. so all together, I can carry almost 90 oz of water which is about 2.6 liters. I had to do this a few times on my pre-hikes as there was a stretch on the OT where there wasn't reliable water for 9 miles.
Which is almost the longest stretch along the AT, so I am happy with that. If I know there is a long stretch w/o water or the water source is 2 miles off the AT and I don't want to walk the 2 miles (4 all together) then I'll fill up one of my extra punches. I did this a few times on the OT not because I had to, but because I wanted to get used to it. I used to be a big bladder fan but since I switched over to this setup, I LOVE it!
+Follow Bigfoot OK cool, that sounds like a good amount of water then. Best of luck to you, I'll be following.
Looking forward to see how the New Balance shoes work out being a 4E myself.
For sure. I will let you know how they hold up. I got between 150-200 miles on then now and a little wear but nothing major. I am really hoping they hold up as they are way more comfortable than any other trail shoe I have had with the larger widths.
I've heard that body glide has an odor, I use trail toes on my feet and anywhere else that may chafe, works great and no odor.
+sgm1960 I have been using Body Glide for about 7 years and haven't really had any problems with odor. However, the Body Glide seems to soften/melt pretty easily when it gets hot out which is why I was going more on the tube then the stick. I have never used Trail Toes, have you found any issues with it getting too mushy/soft when it gets too warm and exposed to heat at all? I prefer the stick but when it gets warm the dang thing is worthless to try and apply without getting everywhere.
Really good equipment selection. I keep thinking that if I lost 10 lbs this would all be moot. Do you think sometimes we freak over ultralightweight options?
Hey man great video, I'm curious how that 40 degree bag ended up working out for you? Any nights you wished you opted for a lower rated bag? Cheers.
THANK YOU! Always love gear lists. I'll actually be thru-hiking the PCT in 2017, and I'm going to be daily vlogging the entire journey! Check it out here: goo.gl/0hKldf . HAPPY TRAILS THRU-HIKERS!
How much do those Cuben Fibre stuff sacks cost?
check them out at www.zpacks.com/ the small guys start at a couple of bucks up to like 45 dollars for the cuben pack liner. The shelters are really expensive but the dry sacks are not bad at all
Hey! Don't be sorry for showing dirty shoes! Besides, that's not dirt, it's trail glitter! :)
LOL! Of course! :)
Great lightweight setup. I'm surprised the pck is 23 oz. I've got the Arc Blast 60 and the way I configured it it's at 20.4 oz. Can I make a suggestion on stoves? I use a micro Ti stove I got off Ebay (www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Protable-Folding-Titanium-Alloy-Outdoor-Cooking-Burner-Gas-Stove-Ultralight-/272042619164?hash=item3f5700f11c:g:rDIAAOSw~bFWJL4o) and it works great! Your pot will fit easily and not be wobbly or unstable. I've used it with a 400 ml mug that's only about 3" across. The stove only weighs 28 grams (.9 oz.). Just a suggestion.
Thanks Good2Go, I looked at that stove and you definitely caught my attention with it, I'll check it out. Appreciate it man!
As far as the ArcBlast goes, you must have purchase your pack sometime before summer last year? Right before i purchased my Arc Blast, the base weight on it was like 16.5 ounces. When I finally decided to fork over the money and buy it, ZPacks advertised the base weight as 21 oz. They must have made some adjustments in the material or design that added some weight. With the belt punches and shoulder pounce and the 21oz base weight, that's where mine comes to 23. Wish I was a few ounces lighter, I could use it! I'll let you know about the stove, thanks again brother!
Its grip tight gorilla mount for iPhone 6
Thanks Man! I am actually ditching the camera mount and just keeping my GoPro instead. I will have to look into this though, the mount I have is a little bulky.
Nice video :)
the zpacks backpack is 23 ounces..the tent is 23 ounces and 24 ounces for the pad and sleeping bag..thats 4.50 lbs almost.not 3.75 lbs. for the big three.. sorry im a gear head and the math didnt add up..lol
Yea, I probably could have said it better. My Big 3 (Pack, Shelter, Sleeping Bag) is 3.75 pounds. When you add in the NeoAir you get the 4lbs 9 oz total weight I had at the end of that section.
+Rory Anderson yeah i was figuring that..i just add the big 4 as big 3 cause really the sleeping pad is part of a sleeping system and you were showing all 4. you probably will end up sending the GPS home thats really the only item i can pick on..lol i mean i could start telling you to strip your pot down and things (i stripped the handle and lid off my snowpeak 700 and its 2.8 ounces..it was 4.5 with the lid and 3.5 with the handles)..but really you got a very nice base weight here..shouldnt even be over 20 lbs except long stretches without resupply..i think 3 days food is all you need most the time. good luck and nice kit!
+matanuska high thanks Man. I will probably keep my GPS though as I am using for people to track me on my entire thru hike. If I went back in time I might sway towards the Solplex and save 8ish oz, but I'm still super happy with my Duplex. Thanks for the feedback!
+Rory Anderson oh i see you are using it like a spot device..right on!..im attempting a 100-120 day hike next year thinking of starting in april. im trying to keep around 10 lbs or less myself.
+matanuska high That's awesome. I started planning my gear about this time of year last year as well. Best of luck with everything leading up to your thru-hike next year!
A 40 degree sleeping bag is no where near what you need. You will most likely need a 20 degree bag with an added bag liner to take along especially for the Smokey Mountains. It gets really cold at the higher elevations in the first 400 miles of the trail. That's if you are starting out at Springer around the first of Spring.
I'm not starting until the end of April. If I was starting earlier I would get the Solo Down 20 bag from ZPacks.
that OR will wet out when it starts coming down hard
All jackets I've tried so far wet out eventually when its coming down hard. Do you know of a better alternative?
some ultra lighters prefer frog togs jacket or a poncho and the use of a muti purpose UL umbrella
I've heard a couple of people mention those. They are actually cheaper, I may look into those once my current rain jacket dies out.
He never heard of LL Bean? It's a Maine legend. Catalogues too. I did parts of the AT in 87 with 45 to 50 lbs. When men were men.
Yea, I was under a rock on that one. In my earlier years my pack weight was somewhere around that until technology improves and I got a little more wisdom in the ultralight world. I would never go back as it is so much more enjoyable with the extra weight. You should try it if you haven't, you would probably enjoy it a lot more!
Killed with kindness, good on you bigfoot
Mike M tries to talk tough to a guy who thru hiked the whole trail with his heroic stories of doing "parts of the AT 3 decades ago". Run along Mike no one gives a flying rats ass about your old man try hard war stories.