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Comments and Reviews
CLOTHING
Light insulation – Mostly just wore to sleep in. With the warmer sleeping bag I could’ve gotten away with something a little lighter.
Insulating Jacket – Good. Had to duct tape a lot of it after the Drop-N-Roll incident, but it still performed.
Rain Jacket – Liked it. I wore it a lot for mosquito protection, often hiking in it. I thought it breathed pretty well and was very glad to have it the whole way.
Hiking Shorts – Ditched these early on, never missed them. I’d have had to carry a gallon of sunscreen if I wore shorts or short sleeves.
Long Underwear – Liked these. Something a little heavier would’ve been nice in the Sierra, but not necessary.
Rain Pants – Again, mostly wore these for mosquito protection while in camp, but I did hike in them in the rain a few days and they worked very well.
Socks – I wore several brands of socks throughout the hike – Bridgedale, Smartwool, and Darn Tough. The Darn Toughs probably lasted the longest, but they also were kinda stiff and not as comfy on the feet. I had 2 pairs of hiking socks at a time and rotated them every day. I wore holes in 6 pairs.
Warm Hat – Good, wore it at night on cold nights. I bounced this from northern California up to Cascade Locks.
Gloves – These were ok. My problem with them is once they get wet, they are just icicles on my fingers. I don’t know if another kind would’ve been any different though. I bounced this from northern California up to Cascade Locks.
Headnet – I didn’t wear the headnet much. It’s difficult to see out of when hiking, and gets in the way of shoveling food in your face at dinner time. Slathering my face in 3M Ultrathon DEET worked really well. I sent this home at Cascade Locks.
Sleep Socks – I bought these at kick-off after having cold feet the first two nights out there. It was really nice to have dry socks to put on every night.
Rain Mitts – These kept my hands warm while hiking in the rain, but not dry. I don’t know if it was sweat or if my seam sealing wasn’t good. For the weight they were definitely worth carrying. I bounced this from northern California up to Cascade Locks.

PACKING
Backpack – Gossamer Gear Mariposa Plus – It lasted the hike, but barely. I really like the concept of this pack, but there are several design changes that need to be made. The stock shoulder straps are really uncomfortable. I cut them off and sewed on a shoulder harness from a Osprey Talon. Problem solved.
The major gripe I have with the pack is the bear canister attachment. The collar is not wide enough to accommodate a full size bear can (BV 500) inside the pack. Gossamer Gear claims you can attach the can on the outside of the pack with the Y-strap. False. It does not stay on, and the last thing you want to be worrying about when in the Sierra is your bear can falling out and rolling hundreds of feet down an icy death chute. For a few days I packed the can vertically inside the pack, which is a real pain to access. At the end, I got some extra webbing from Roadrunner’s pack and made side straps to make the outside attachment more secure. This worked pretty well.
Another problem I had was with the back padding. I love the idea of using the sitlight pad for this, but the sitlight started to get a ripple in the middle of the back just a few weeks into the hike. I tried reversing it, setting things on it at night to flatten it out, etc, but it just got worse and worse. Spock had the same problem with his Gorilla pack. I ended up duct taping a piece of cardboard to the offending area to keep it rigid. Surprisingly, this fixed the issue for me, though I no longer took the pad out to use as a butt cushion for fear of softening up the cardboard.
Finally, there were a few durability issues. The loop in the center of the pack that the main compression strap goes through ripped out somewhere in the Sierra. This made the bear can attachment problem even worse. There should definitely be more reinforcement there.
I really like the outside mesh pockets. They are convenient and laid out well. The bottoms of the side mesh pockets should have the heavier fabric extend out further. Every thru-hiker is going to put a 32oz Gatorade bottle in that bottom side pocket. Every day use, exacerbated by glissading, is going to wear right through the mesh. I developed holes in the mesh somewhere in the Sierra. My Gatorade bottle finally fell out 2 days from Canada. I sewed it up with fishing line and got through it.
I added my own drawstring closure hip belt pockets. I was happy with these, though I should’ve maybe used slightly heavier nylon. I ripped one on a tree, but the duct tape fix is still holding up well.
Overall, I’m still happy with the pack. The fixes mentioned would take it from good to great.
Pack Liner/Pack Cover – I lost my Zpacks cuben pack cover the first day I put it on. It must’ve gotten snagged on a bush, and I didn’t notice until it was far too late. I didn’t replace it, and I didn’t miss it. The plastic trash compactor bag liner worked perfectly, and that’s what I will use in the future.

SLEEPING
Tent – Zpacks Hexamid. It’s not perfect, but for the weight, it can’t be beat. It’s also super fast to set up. The problem I have with it is durability of the cuben. It’s just plain fragile fabric. I treated it nicely, but I don’t think it has the lifespan of much more than one thru hike. I started to get small pinholes and runs in the fabric. The stuff sack has some big holes, and my wallet is in shreds. The construction/seams all held up really well, so it’s not the design or manufacturing of the tent, it’s just the fabric.
I also got a lot of condensation on my bag and the tent, but it wasn’t really a problem on the PCT. I just dried stuff out at lunch every day.
I switched to my MSR Hubba for Washington in case it rained as much as everyone says it rains in Washington, not quite trusting my worn Hexamid. I’m glad I had it for the peace of mind, but I did really feel the added weight. I wouldn’t have wanted to carry it the whole trail.
I like the titanium stakes. I didn’t really have many problems with getting them in the ground, and when I did, I just used rocks.
Ground Cloth – I got the cuben ground cloth because of the bathtub design and compatibility with my tent. The bathtub part didn’t really do anything, it was pretty much the same as a flat sheet, and was a little bit too narrow, in my opinion. Unlike the tent, this cuben is a little heavier and I had no durability issues with it. It is still in great shape. I would use it again, but I think I’d have also been happy with some much cheaper tyvek.
Pad – Neoair. I did get a few holes, but was able to fix them with the tear-aid peel and stick patches. To me, the comfort of this pad is well worth the risk of getting a hole now and then.
Sleeping Bag – I started out with the Nunatak quilt, but was just too cold. I came to learn on the trail that I just get cold much more easily than most people. I switched to a Western Mountaineering Versalite 10 deg sleeping bag at Kennedy Meadows and was never cold again. I carried it the rest of the trip, though it was definitely overkill, even for me, everywhere north of somewhere around Sierra City.

FOOD/WATER
Water Storage – Very happy with my set up. The gatorade bottle is good for collecting water and drinking out of. The Platypi held up fine, though one did get a tear in the seam at the neck on the second to last day of the hike. Considering I had these for several years before the hike, and used them 2600 miles on this hike, I think the durability is quite acceptable.
Stove – Aside from the incident the first night, I had no problems with the stove. It’s simple, it’s cheap.
Pot – Good size. Rubber handle grips have all but burnt off.
Spork – I like it. Everyone kept telling me if would break, and it did, but so did everyone else’s, whether they were plastic McDonald’s spoons or fancy Lexan spoons.
Toiletries – I found I didn’t use the soap, and the benzoin was unnecessary because Leukotape sticks well enough on its own. I ended up carrying the whole roll of Leukotape towards the end because I would sometimes need to tape the entire bottom of my foot which would get irritated. The 100% DEET in the dropper bottle didn’t work very well. I highly recommend the 3M Ultrathon cream, applied liberally. SPF is really important in chapstick, I really needed it in the snow. I also applied it to my nostrils.

MISC
Camera – Very happy with this. The battery life was amazing. I didn’t really need the extra battery, and I ended up bouncing my charger because I used it so infrequently.
iPhone – I’m glad I got this. I used it for blogging, listening to music, navigation, internetting, and even phone calls. The GPS was really important with all the snow this year. I bought the Topo Maps app ($7.99) in Mammoth and used it with Halfmile’s waypoints. It’s not a full featured GPS, but it gets the job done. Keeping the phone in airplane mode really extends the battery life. I was careful to conserve in longer stretches, but I never ran out of battery on trail.
Compass – After I got the GPS app, I never used this again.
Headlamp – I liked it just fine. I only night hiked once, and it was fine, even with month old batteries.
Wallet – The cuben just didn’t hold up.
Knife – Lost my first one at the Whitewater Preserve Trout Farm in southern California. Bought a new one in Bend, OR. So no, you don’t NEED a knife, but it’s really convenient to have one.
Maps/Guidebooks – Halfmile’s maps are the way to go. Everyone who had something else (Wilderness Press books or Eric the Black) and was hiking with someone who did have Halfmile’s maps just ignored their own materials.
Reading books – I figured very early on that I was never going to read on trail. I was just too tired. At breaks I just wanted to sit and relax, and in the evenings, I just wanted to sleep.
Notes – I added a Sharpie. Good for making signs and labeling things

ITEMS WORN/CARRIED
Hiking Shirt – I liked this shirt. I was very glad to have long sleeves and the thumb holes made for built in gloves for hand sun protection. I got some awesome finger tan lines. The sleeves wore really thin by the end and my shoulders got really tan through the shirt. Also, mosquitos had no problem biting through the fabric. I would consider a bug-shield/permethrin treated shirt if I knew if worked.
Hiking Pants – I really liked these pants. They are very lightweight and dry fast, and are pretty baggy so they move freely. I bought a replacement pair a size smaller in northern California.
Shoes – Very happy with these. I spent a lot of time and energy trying on shoes before the trip and I think it paid off. I had a lot less foot and blister problems compared to a lot of other hikers. I went through 4 pairs of these, which I think is about average. The uppers held up really well, and I replaced them each time due to the tread being worn down.
Underwear – Doubled as bathing suit. I bought a second pair in Bend, because it’s just nice to have clean underwear day halfway through a section.
Bra – No complaints. Comfy and lasted the whole trail. Doubled as bathing suit.
Sun Hat – Looked ridiculous, but no more silly than all the Sunday Afternoon hats, and functioned well.
Sunglasses – I lost my cheapo sunglasses somewhere between Allentown and San Diego. Thankfully, Girlscout scrounged up a pair for me at Scout and Frodo’s house. It wasn’t until I broke them around Sonora Pass that Goose informed me they were fancy pants $200 Costa Del Mar sunglasses. #%$&!!! I replaced them with some cheapies in Bridgeport and realized there is a big difference between cheap and nice sunglasses. But I’m still not going to spend $200 on sunglasses.
Trekking Poles – I didn’t realize just how much I liked the Leki Makalu carbon poles until I lost one in a river crossing in Yosemite and tried to find a replacement. At first I bought Black Diamond Z-poles. The wrist strap broke off one the second day I used it. They also flexed way too much for my liking. I returned them to REI and replaced them with some Komperdell carbon poles. The locking mechanisms on Komperdells really suck. I returned these poles to REI as well. I’m still looking for a suitable replacement.
Watch – I lost my original watch in Warner Springs. I did without until Bishop where I replaced it with a $12 Kmart watch that did everything I needed.
Headwear – Wore it all day everyday, used it as a pillow case over my stuff sack of extra clothes at night.

SIERRA STUFF
Ice Axe – I rarely used it, mostly just for glissading, but was glad to have it.
Bear Can – No choice in this matter really
Booties – I was having trouble staying warm at night in Southern California. On the coldest nights, I would wear ALL my clothing to bed and still be cold, especially my feet. I bought the Western Mountaineering down booties, and they helped a lot. My hiking companions say they liked me a lot better when I had the booties. I didn’t carry them after Burney, but didn’t need them.