After finishing my thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, there were a few pieces of gear I couldn’t go without. Some I realized the importance of after I lost them. Others I swapped out different pieces of gear to try and realized they made my hike just the smallest bit easier. Any level of comfort or efficiency you can increase on a thru-hike is worth it to me. When you’re doing the same thing day after day, you want your set-up and break-down of camp to be as light and easy as possible so that you don’t mind doing it after a big mileage day. These are the pieces of gear that made a noticeable difference on my thru...
1. Gossamer Gear Solo Tarp
The Gossamer Gear Solo Tarp felt like a risky move at first. A tarp?! To keep myself safe from the elements? When I first made the switch, several flashes of disastrous circumstances flew through my head. I could be caught in a thunderstorm, and all my gear could be soaked. A freak gust of wind could come by and rip my tarp away. A hail storm could pummel holes into it.
None of these turned out to be true. My Gossamer Gear Tarp worked perfectly. In fact, it was even better suited for me than my Gossamer Gear The One tent. I wanted to switch to a tarp to extend my backpacking skill set and to shave a couple pounds off of my base weight. The tarp eliminated the condensation issues I had experienced while using a single-walled trekking pole tent. With the tent, every morning I would wake up, and my sleeping bag would be covered in a thick layer of dew. Yet I was completely dry in my solo tarp. It efficiently kept the rain off of me— in fact it left an entire large dry rectangle every time I packed it up in the morning. In the place of a tent’s bathtub, I dug small trenches around my setup to allow excess rainfall to pass by me. It also packed down into a tiny wad on the inside of my backpack, allowing me to carry more food without making my pack bulky. It was one of the best gear transitions I’ve ever made.
2. Vecto Water Container by CNOC Outdoors
The CNOC 2L Vecto Water Container made my water filtration process extremely efficient. Filtering water is my least favorite camp chore. I use the Sawyer Squeeze filtration system, and I usually wouldn’t backflush it enough for the flow to remain strong. The gravity filter function when combined with the CNOC allowed me to do other camp chores while my water filtered such as setting up my tarp, blowing up my sleeping pad, doing stretches, cold-soaking my dinner, and changing clothes rather than filtering water for ten minutes. It was awesome to automatically have a liter and a half of water filtered by the time I had all of my sleep gear set up. This saved me time in the morning or during lunch breaks — through the same process, I could just pack up all my stuff and hit the trail instead of spending time filtering water.
3. Ultra Gam Ankle Gaiters
I have never experienced more blisters than while on the PCT. Desert sand gets into your shoes and between your toes and quickly makes your life hell. One of the most painful things on my hike was a blister the size of a quarter that inflated on my left heel. Whenever I wore gaiters, the amount of sand and dirt let into my shoes was seriously mitigated. This meant I didn’t have to tape the insides of all my toes with leukotape — a serious win! Ultra Gam’s stylish patterns will also make you feel extra hiker-trash-y in town.
4. Therm-a-Rest Sleeping Pad
I switched from the NEMO Tensor sleeping pad to the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite sleeping pad on the PCT. On the Appalachian Trail, I used the NEMO the whole way, but with several issues. From Pennsylvania (about halfway) and onwards, the NEMO sleeping pad steadily deflated overnight, and I woke up on the ground each morning. In the Hundred Mile Wilderness (the last section of trail), the whole valve tore out of the top of the sleeping pad — rendering it useless. I loved the Therm-a-Rest because it was lighter and it lasted longer. The Therm-A-Rest lasted well past the half-way point and made it most of the way through Oregon before developing issues with its valve. A small hole formed right near the valve and it was impossible to patch. However, this was the only problem I had with the pad the entire trail — aside from a small hole earlier in Northern California that was easy to fix. Note that some people love and stand by the NEMO Tensor series of sleeping pads, but this was my experience!
5. Rawlogy Cork Ball
The Rawlogy Cork Ball will always be a constant on my lists of favorite gear. My physical therapy gear on trail consists of a cork ball and a resistance band. From my time on trail, I’ve actually started to crave the feeling of rolling my feet out on the cork ball at the end of a long day. It’s important to not roll out your feet with so much pressure that they hurt, but just enough that it feels good and relaxing. I struggle with plantar fasciitis and achilles tendonitis on thru-hikes, so the massage ball is an essential for me to continue hiking. At any point in a hike, I’m searching for ways to mitigate pain. The most important piece of gear to maintain is your body; you can’t get to the next terminus without it.
6. Kula Cloth
The Kula Cloth was a piece of gear I didn’t know how much I loved until I lost it. During the last week of trail, it somehow disappeared from my pack. Maybe it got caught on a branch or stolen by a pee-eating deer (those exist on the PCT). Without it, I felt gross. After I peed, I’d try to air-dry, but my shorts would always have some pee in them. I smelled like pee for the whole last week of trail. On a thru-hike, hygiene is always difficult, so carrying a cool piece of antimicrobial art that prevents you from smelling like pee and allows you to support a super-awesome small woman-owned company at the same time is well worth it in my opinion.
7. Enlightened Equipment Quilt
My Enlightened Equipment quilt has survived two thru-hikes, both the AT and the PCT. The only tear it’s ever gotten was on a section hike before I did either trail, and I yanked it out of my stuff sack too quickly. It caught on a buckle and lost a few feathers, but was easily patched. It has kept me warm throughout all kinds of cold weather — even through snow in Washington. At the start of the night, I’m a little chilly as my body heat works with the down to keep me warm, but by the middle of the night, I’m always toasty. In hotter weather, I simply use it like a blanket and only cover half of my body. I usually run cold on thru-hikes being biologically female and in a constant calorie deficit — so warmth is a comfort I crave at the end of a day of hiking. It’s essential for me to get a good sleep so I’m ready to hike the next day. EE quilts are also lightweight — mine weighs in at around 25 ounces. The extra warmth is well worth it for me.
With any piece of gear, it takes time and an openness to trying new things to find what works best for your kit. There have been several times I’ve been proved wrong. I thought there were pieces of gear I couldn’t go without, only to find I was alright without them — as well as pieces of gear I figured I could, only to add them back to my pack after struggling without them. I’ve found my openness to change and a willingness to be proved wrong has made my journey into ultralight backpacking fun and constantly evolving. Just remember that if it works for you, it may not work for the next person, and vice versa. Every body is different — and every pack setup will be different to accommodate those bodies. There is an ideal setup out there for everyone though, as long as you’re willing to experiment with it.
Abby Evans, or S.W. Fireball Queen of the Salamanders, enjoys thru-hiking and catching salamanders. When they're not doing these things, they love to write about their on-foot adventures. They recently finished the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail and are working for Zenbivy in Washington while dreaming about the Continental Divide Trail.
