Gear Information - Jack
Hey again,
Today I'm going to write a little bit about one of my favorite hiking related topics - gear. I'd consider myself a hiking gear fanatic! I'm always browsing the internet for the newest and lightest weight piece of hiking gear to add to my collection. How I see it there are three ways to go about buying hiking gear.
1. The cheap method: It is possible to get all the gear you need to do a long distance hike while being frugal. There are youtube videos where a person will challenge themselves to buy all the gear they need for their hike for under $200! Thrift stores, garage sales, online forums, and borrowing gear are all effective methods for gathering gear while on a budget. In fact, most of the gear you need to hike long distance you can probably find around your house!
2. The enthusiast method: Your average camping or outdoors enthusiast will often times already have some nice hiking and camping gear laying around. This involves middle of the road gear (price-wise) that will last a long time, but is not top of the line equipment. Your average priced hiking gear will certainly get you through any and all trips you'd like to plan although it may be a little heavier. There is a group of people, however, who are a little crazier about their gear choices.
3. The hardcore/ultralight method: This method is for the hardcore, ounce shaving hiker that will spend a few hundred dollars to shave off less than a half a pound of weight. Most hikers in this range will have a pack base weight (weight of the pack not including food, water, fuel and worn clothing) of around ten pounds. This is the category where I find myself. I have spent many hours online shopping, and researching the most durable and lightweight gear. While this is not the most affordable method, it will correlate to miles hiked, and the condition of your body at the end of the day.
Being a lightweight hiker myself, I can see other benefits to leaving a few luxuries at home. Personally, I see ultralight hiking as a form of asceticism.
Asceticism - Is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. (Wikipedia)
Ultralight hiking involves giving up the comforts of home, and living a more simple life. While lightening your pack may not be for the sole purpose of pursuing spirituality, I think there is a spiritual element to being out in the wilderness with nothing but the bare essentials.
All this being said, here is a link to my gear list: https://lighterpack.com/r/f5f2yf
This is everything I will be bringing with me this summer, minus food. I have listed MOST of the weights for the items, but there are a few pieces missing and some are inaccurate. I will update it as soon as I can to show the true weight of the items I am bringing.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to read about what we're doing! I'm sure Stephen will be posting a little bit about the gear he chose to bring as well. We also plan on doing a more in-depth description of why we chose some of the gear we did.
-Jack
Today I'm going to write a little bit about one of my favorite hiking related topics - gear. I'd consider myself a hiking gear fanatic! I'm always browsing the internet for the newest and lightest weight piece of hiking gear to add to my collection. How I see it there are three ways to go about buying hiking gear.
1. The cheap method: It is possible to get all the gear you need to do a long distance hike while being frugal. There are youtube videos where a person will challenge themselves to buy all the gear they need for their hike for under $200! Thrift stores, garage sales, online forums, and borrowing gear are all effective methods for gathering gear while on a budget. In fact, most of the gear you need to hike long distance you can probably find around your house!
2. The enthusiast method: Your average camping or outdoors enthusiast will often times already have some nice hiking and camping gear laying around. This involves middle of the road gear (price-wise) that will last a long time, but is not top of the line equipment. Your average priced hiking gear will certainly get you through any and all trips you'd like to plan although it may be a little heavier. There is a group of people, however, who are a little crazier about their gear choices.
3. The hardcore/ultralight method: This method is for the hardcore, ounce shaving hiker that will spend a few hundred dollars to shave off less than a half a pound of weight. Most hikers in this range will have a pack base weight (weight of the pack not including food, water, fuel and worn clothing) of around ten pounds. This is the category where I find myself. I have spent many hours online shopping, and researching the most durable and lightweight gear. While this is not the most affordable method, it will correlate to miles hiked, and the condition of your body at the end of the day.
Being a lightweight hiker myself, I can see other benefits to leaving a few luxuries at home. Personally, I see ultralight hiking as a form of asceticism.
Asceticism - Is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. (Wikipedia)
Ultralight hiking involves giving up the comforts of home, and living a more simple life. While lightening your pack may not be for the sole purpose of pursuing spirituality, I think there is a spiritual element to being out in the wilderness with nothing but the bare essentials.
All this being said, here is a link to my gear list: https://lighterpack.com/r/f5f2yf
This is everything I will be bringing with me this summer, minus food. I have listed MOST of the weights for the items, but there are a few pieces missing and some are inaccurate. I will update it as soon as I can to show the true weight of the items I am bringing.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to read about what we're doing! I'm sure Stephen will be posting a little bit about the gear he chose to bring as well. We also plan on doing a more in-depth description of why we chose some of the gear we did.
-Jack
When Stephen posts his gear list he will go into more detail about what each of the items are for and why he chose them.
ReplyDeleteOsprey pack ftw Jack
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