Pacific Crest Trail Gear List

The backpack: Lowe Alpine Cerro Torre ND 60:80

While I was grateful to Lowe Alpine for giving this to me to test and to give a damn good thrashing on the PCT, also for their amazing customer service throughout – this pack was not even close to appropriate for a through hike.

At 2.60kg, its a beefcake, its heavy before anything is packed inside it. The clips straps and gubbins are overkill.

It packs well and sits comfortably, but, unfortunately this is no compensation for the weight.

Exchanged for: ULA Circut.

At 1.16kg it’s still not the lightest on the market, but a damn sight more respectable, highly comfortable, and one of the most popular packs on all three of the long distance hikes in the US!

The pad – Thermarest NeoAir Xlite

While this pad seems to be everybody’s favourite, lightweight (340g), comfortable, and most importantly warm, I have (potentially stupidly) decided to switch it for something colder, less comfortable and heavier (410g).

Madness? Maybe, but one of the second most unbearable parts of the PCT was blowing this godforsaken thing up every single day. I took a minute to do, yet became the part of the day I least looked forward to, to the point where I am willing to make this seemingly ridiculous decision.  Thermarest do mkae a £30 ish battery powered pump, but thats more weight. I think they now have a pad with a two way valve for easier inflation too….. Maybe next time,.

Echanged for: Thermarest Xlite Sol.

In addition to not losing my sanity for one minute, every single day, with a foam pad, I can quickly plop it out at break stops and have a nap/sit down, without fear of lacerations and puncture wounds.

I may cut off a couple of the panels to match the weight of the NeoAir.

The Sleeping bag: Mountain Equipment Titan 650

I’d had this bag for years before hiking the PCT, and years after. It was great, really warm, really durable, but, really heavy.

Weighing in at 1.295kg, it’s another beefcake of a thing to lug to Canada.

Exchanged for: (the highly recommneded) Z-Packs Classic.

It comes with 900 fill, ethically sourced down and is rated to -7c. Not as warm, but, plenty enough for the average temperatures on the CDT, and I’ll have a silk liner underneath. More importantly it weights a mere 545g. They also shipped it out with a free sticker. I’m a sucker for a sticker.

The tent: Terra Nova Voyager Superlight (2 man)

Having used the heavy weight version of this tent before, and having really liked it, we got the ‘superlite’ (1.53kg) Knowing the brand, the space, the structural integrity and reliability of this tent, we thought it a good choice.

It was amazing throughout the trail, but, once again, not the lightest option out there.

Echanged for:  The Motrail by Tarp Tent (2 man)

We’ve used this on a 6 day trial expedition in winter. It held up well in wet conditions, and while of course you sacrifice an amount of structural integrity having lost some of the weight, with some practice setting this out, I think it will be a similar experience to the voyager, with a third less weight. Its 1.02kg, is a single vestibule with bug protection and a bathtub floor for the rain. We’ll see how we go!

The pegs: who knows…

These pegs are really heavy comparatively. We went for these random classics after ditching Terra Nova’s ridiculously useless 1g tent pegs which bent on day one and were no match for desert winds. These certainly did the trick, but, there are lighter alternatives. These were probably 15g per peg, we have, maybe 10.

Exchanged for : MSR Mini Groundhog

We’ve yet to try these, but the “proven y-beam design” comes highly recommended by friends. We’ll need 10 and they are 10g a peg. Not the lightest again, but I’d rather be assured the tent won’t flatten in a storm.

The Stove: Caldera Cone

I did a lot of research into stoves. All evidence suggested gas would be hard to come by on the PCT – hence we got one of the lightest options for an alcohol stove. As it turned out, lots of people used gas and it was pretty readily available, not to mention quicker.

I’m fairly sure the Caldera Cone got slower and slower through the trail, I’m not sure how this is scientifically possible, maybe I just got hungrier. We’d wait a good 10 minutes for boiling water, which, to me, is better than no hot water (Some hikers go stoveless) but, it’s not as good as 3 minutes. At 94g it’s pretty light, but….

Exchanged for: MSR Pocket Rocket

I’ve had this and used it for years, super reliable, respectable weight at 73g plus, gas.

The water treatment: Aquamira

AquaMira, or chlorine dioxide, is great. Effective on cryptosporidium, giardia, viruses and bacteria, leaving no harmful products in the water. You mix some drops from each bottle (2x 28g bottles) wait 5 minutes then add it to your water, wait 15 minutes, then drink.

It’s light and effective, cheap, relatively quick (except it takes 4 hours to effectively treat for cryptosporidium. We didn’t get sick and we drank from some very questionable sources.

Exchanged for: Sawyer Squeeze

After a fair amount of research this is coming up trumps with hikers getting great reviews on reliability, weight (85g), ease of use, price, speed and treatment capacity.

The major advantage is the immanency in which the treated water can be consumed. Rated to 0.1 micron absolute filtration, it removes 99.99999% of all bacteria, such as salmonella, leptospirosis, cholera and E.coli, and removes 99.9999% of all protozoa (such as giardia and cryptosporidium).

The Puff: Mountain Equipment Fitzroy

I had the older less sexy version of this. I’ve actually had two of these in my time. You’ll spot a theme here, while I liked it as a jacket it’s not lightweight at 645g. It’s Primaloft insulation, heavier than down, but, it doesn’t ruin the jacket if it gets wet, which is a plus.

Exchanged for : Montbell Superior 

At 218g, this is a considerably lighter jacket. It doesn’t break the bank at £164 and offers and extremely effective warmth to weight ratio. It packs down to an impressive size. I’ve only tested it out on a six day hike in UK winter and was impressed with its effectiveness.