Gear Review Continued - Other Necessities

Some people review every bit of gear they have.  I'm not going to do that because 1) I bought a lot of my stuff on clearance and it's probably discontinued now and 2) stuff like clothing is a very personal choice and anyone planning a big backpacking trip should wear what's best for them.  I also didn't use some of my stuff in earnest.  Like my rain coat.  It never rained hard enough for me to really need it.  I did wear it for most of one day and I liked it fine but I don't think I can give it a thorough review.  And some things I brought but some people might choose to go without.  Like a hat. I wore a hat every day because my scalp burns easily and I didn't want to carry sunscreen.  And again, I think a hat is a very personal choice and what worked for me may not work for everyone.

In no particular order here's some of the necessities I carried:

Water Filter
Sawyer Squeeze Filter

I used this every single day I was on the trail and I loved it.  A lot of the other hikers were carrying chemical treatment or steri pens but I was super glad to have an actual filter.  I've had giardia twice and I'd really rather not get it again.  Pretty much any water treatment process should remove giardia but I wanted my water to look and taste good on top of being sterile and this is where the Sawyer filter really shines. Jeff and I had to get water at a super nasty reservoir with tons of floaties and the filter made the water taste and look perfect.  The filter is also nice because it's small - about the size of my palm.  You do have to carry a water bag to use with it but most people bring a collapsible Platypus bag anyway.  I also carried two 1 L Aquafina bottles, which made collecting water at shallow sources easy.  Again, most everyone brings these anyway, so it wasn't like it was extra gear.  Filtering 2 L of water generally took about 3-4 minutes, sometimes longer if the filter hadn't been cleaned in a while.  I didn't find this to be too onerous since it's nice to sit down and take a break. I backflushed the filter every chance I got, which wasn't too often as it turns out.

In addition to the Sawyer filter, I purchased a quick fill adapter for my hydration hose.  I could unsnap the bite valve, clip in the adapter and filter water directly into my hydration bag.  This was SO nice. It meant that I didn't have to remove my hydration bag from my backpack every time I needed to put water in it. I highly recommend this if you get the Sawyer filter.

In all, I think I spent about $50 on my water filter and adapter.  Not bad at all.

Kitchen stuff

My kitchen amounted to a JetBoil stove, a cup with lid, titanium spork, and an Ursack.  I ended up not using the JetBoil as much as I thought I would.  Mostly we used it to heat up water for dinner.  It only boils 2 cups of water at a time but that's perfect for Mountain House meals, which only need 2 cups.  It worked great.  I never had any problems with it.  But next time I do a big backpacking trip, I might try to go stoveless to cut down on the weight and bulk.  But the JetBoil is about the size of a 1 L Nalgene bottle, so it's really not bad.  I bought my cup at the grocery store.  It has a sealed, locking lid and I found it adequate for my needs.  It's made by a company called Sistema.  I used it for everything from cereal, to stew, to mixing Gatorade.  The little locking parts had a tendency to come loose but you just snap them back on.  Jeff gave me the Light My Fire spork.  It's titanium, so very light.  I wish I'd had a longer utensil for digging food out of deep bags but whatever.  It's a food shovel, what more needs to be said?  I liked having the Ursack.  A lot of the thru hikers had light nylon food bags, which have the benefit of weighing almost nothing.  But I liked having the Ursack because it kept rodents out of my food.  I was never bothered by bears, so didn't test it in that way.  The Ursack can probably accommodate a week's worth of food but the most I ever had was 5 days.  It's heavy and doesn't squash down easily but you also won't find your food stash ravaged by animals.

Sleeping Pads

I used two sleeping pads.  I started out with an REI Air Rail pad.  It was luxurious and made for a great night's sleep.  It's the only full length sleeping pad I've ever owned and it folded down pretty small and weighed 1 lb 9 oz.  Not too bad for the benefit of good sleep.  It blows up pretty fast and deflates super fast.  I switched to the Thermarest Z Lite pad when I was solo'ing because I needed the extra room in my pack for my tent and wanted to shed pounds.  The Z Lite weighs a full pound less than the Air Rail.  The only downside for packing it, is that it doesn't fold down very small so you have to strap it to the outside of your backpack.  Aside from the lighter weight, one of the best benefits of the Z Lite is that you can plop it down anywhere and use it as a sitting pad.  This was a nice change from sitting in the dirt or on bumpy logs.  Setting it up was also easy because you just unfold it.  Fold it up in the morning and that's it.  It takes about 1.5 seconds.  But for me, it just didn't cut it, sleep wise.  I'm a side sleeper and I could not get comfortable on it.  If I slept on my back, it would have been perfect.  But sleeping on my side made my hips hurt unbearably.  I finally found a position where I slept kind of on my stomach and that was OK.  But mostly I think I was only able to sleep on it because I was so exhausted I could have slept on anything.  I'm going to try a Neo Air next time.

Me with the Z Lite strapped to the bottom of my backpack.  

I had to lash it vertically when I needed my rain cover.

Footwear

Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra WP

Thorlo socks

REI scree gaiters

I reviewed my shoes previously but I'd like to give them a post hike review.  I wore Salomon XA Pro Ultra 3D WP trail running shoes.  I loved them.  They were incredibly stable.  I never got a single blister! They're waterproof and the waterproofing helped to keep my feet clean.  The Ortholite insoles that come with them are extremely comfortable. The traction is fantastic.  Durability was surprisingly good, although I did get one tear on the side of one shoe.  They even survived miles of lava pretty well.  Beyond highly recommended.  I will be wearing them again.  My current pair has another couple hundred miles left in them but I'll be buying another pair when they wear out.

 Before the trip.

 After the trip.

The one tiny hole I got. 

Fantastic traction with these things and the soles have a lot of life left.

For socks, I wore Thorlo crew cut light hikers.  Thorlo socks are all synthetic.  Lately I've been finding that wool blends give me heat rash, so I switched to the synthetic and never got it again.  Thorlos are very heavy socks, so the light hikers were the perfect weight for me.  Also, see above about NO BLISTERS.  The socks proved to be tough and comfortable.  Will definitely be buying more.

I wore gaiters nearly every day.  Unfortunately, my decision to wear shorts was very last minute, so I didn't have time to do research regarding gaiters.  I ended up buying my gaiters two days before I hit the trail and was stuck with buying the only pair in my size at REI.  They're REI scree gaiters.  I like them OK and they work well. I never got any rocks or debris in my shoes and they kept my feet a lot cleaner than if I'd gone without them.  On the day that I stepped in dog poop, I didn't wear them because I didn't want to get poop on them.  My feet were absolutely filthy that day.  So yeah, they worked well but they were kind of a chore to get on. They fasten with velcro and a snap at the toe and it was a daily struggle to get them on just right.  The velcro could also scratch against my leg if I didn't get them fastened right. I'll be trying Dirty Girls next time.