“You should be running around, chasing tail.” (CT gear post)

The Colorado Trail approacheth! We’ll be getting on either Tuesday or Wednesday this week.

As a fair warning, this will be a very detailed post about all of the gear I’m bringing with for this trip, so it’ll be boring AF for most of y’all.

I’m super hella slow at buying new gear because of limited funds (hellooooooo grad student stipend), but every once in a while I make the big plunge. I’ve been thinking about investing in a new sleeping pad for like two years now, and it’s already worth it!

I went from the 20 oz Thermarest Women’s Prolite Plus to the much smaller (in both weight and size) Thermarest Neoair Xlite.

I got the regular 12 oz size, which appears to be all that REI carries in store and I was too much of a procrastinator to order the 8 oz small ahead of time. The regular, which is the yellow pad, is long enough that my legs and feet will actually be on it though *luxury*

Anyways, on to the gear list. I trust that you lazy bastards who are interested enough will be able to figure out which item in the pictures corresponds to each item in the lists because there is no particular rhyme or reason to the list order.

Pack:

ULA Circuit pack, Mountain Hardware small pack cover, trash compactor bag (you pack your fears and, yes, rain is my fear)

Sleeping:

Six Moons Lunar Solo tent w/ stuff sack, Tyvek footprint, 6 stakes from an old REI tent w/ stuff sack, Western Mountaineering 20 degree bag w/ stuff sack and plastic trash bag liner, silk sleeping bag liner, Thermarest Neoair Xlite w/ stuff sack, crappy Walmart camp shoes, Frogg Toggs rain jacket

Food/drink:

Jetboil stove, small fuel canister, small Bic lighter, Light My Fire spork ($10 says it’ll break in half on this trip), 1L Smart Water Bottle, 2.5L Platypus bladder, Sawyer Squeeze filter, large Zpacks stuff sack

Hiking clothes:

Asics running shorts, Under Armour tank top, Nike bra, Brooks long sleeve half zip shirt, one sleeve of an old running shirt to cover up my tattoo, New Balance Leadville trail runners (so fuckin sad they don’t make these anymore) with Sole inserts, buff, hat

Camp clothes:

Patagonia synthetic puffy jacket, Patagonia down vest, Terramar wool long sleeve shirt, Nike running tights, Terramar wool tights (with a crotch hole cause they’re men’s lol), Patagonia wool hat, Mountain Hardwear gloves, Darn Tuff socks (2), medium Zpacks stuff sack

Entertainment/electronics/navigation:

Petzl headlamp, disposable camera, CT databook, paperback, external battery w/ cord, compass, earbuds, iPod Shuffle w/ cord, iPhone w/ cord (not pictured)

Toiletries/first aid:

Glasses w/ case, comb, athletic tape, duct tape, bandaids, toothpaste, floss, super glue, chapstick, ibuprofen, toothbrush, sunscreen, TP and hand sanitizer in a ziploc, all in a janky years old bag

Also not pictured are my beloved Leki trekking poles, which smell like ass and kept growing mold in Florida.

My base weight (i.e., weight of gear that’s being carried not including any food or water) came in at a respectable 17.4 pounds, which I think is about a pound and a half lighter than my JMT base weight. Huzzah!

Next time you hear from me, I’ll hopefully have successfully hiked 230 miles.