Here we attempt to cover a lot of the little things we brought along. It is quite possible we missed a few items.
Basic Gear
Trash compactor bags – we lined our backpacks with a white scent-free trash compactor bag to protect items from rain, and to aid in finding objects in the bag. We found one bag worked fine for three months.
Dry bags / pump sacks – most items were placed inside of smaller bags to help with organization or to protect items from the rain. For example, here are some of the bag categories that we used:
first aid,
privy,
lunch & food overflow,
sleeping bags,
clothes,
electronics, and
some small bags holding back up supplies and rarely used items (e.g. spare contact lenses, marina key, matches, mirror, patch kits).
Sea to Summit is the dry bag brand most often found in stores, but I am not happy with their clasp system and have avoided purchasing more from them. We are very pleased with the Wise Owl brand 10-liter dry bags used for our sleeping bags.
In 2019 we purchased a Big Agnes pump sack to inflate our sleeping pads, and started this hike with it. It was also used to hold clothing. About mid-way through this year's hike the seal around the valve failed rendering it useless. By then Sondra had switched to another brand pad which had its own pump sack that did not fit the Big Agnes valve, so Jimmy just used his own breath to inflate his bag each night.
Future considerations: Several hikers used lightweight electric pumps to inflate their pads. If we hike together on another backpacking trip, this may be worth the purchase and weight, otherwise the pump sack option is just fine.
Bandanas – we each had one. These are extremely versatile and were used extensively.
Sit pads – When Sondra purchased a new sleeping pad, she cut up her extra foam pad into two sit pads. These were strapped to the outside of our packs and used when sitting on logs, pavement or wet rocks. Sometimes we placed them in front of our packs creating a lounger seat, as shown in two of the photos below. These were totally worth the extra weight.
Bandanas and sit pads go together like peas and carrots
Safety pins – large safety pins were attached to the outside of our backpacks. These were often used to dry out laundry.
Sunglasses, readers – Jimmy brought sunglasses and Sondra’s eyeglasses automatically transitioned to sunglasses when the sun was out and she was very pleased with them. Jimmy hardly wore his sunglasses, but was glad to have them the very few times there were needed. He also brought readers that were pretty scratched up to begin with. Eventually he replace them with a pair found in a hiker box (similar to a free pile at a marina).
Pocket knives – Both had knives. Jimmy’s was high quality, but heavy. Sondra’s knife was a free handout from a conference and somewhat light, but half-way through she found a lighter weight knife in a hiker box.
Trekking poles – This hike started out using the Leki poles used in our 2019 backpacking trip. Both of us broke poles along the way, and found that the heavier aluminum poles can survive more mishaps than the lightweight carbon poles.
Headlamps – Prior to this hike, we purchased two Nitecore NU21 rechargeable headlamps and were very pleased with them.
Cell phones – Cell phones are used for so many purposes on the trail, just like when off trail. A lot of the trail did not have cell service, especially in very remote areas, or in valleys so most of the time we kept them in airplane mode, but still could use our electronic maps (GPS works even when in airplane mode), electronic guidebooks and the camera features while hiking. With both of us carrying phones, we were comfortable in having redundancy in making emergency calls (if cell service was available) and access to maps in case one phone was lost.
Headphones – to reduce weight and the need to charge more electronics, we started out with corded headphones. Sondra’s headphones stopped working while on trail and we were unable to find headphones with Apple’s lightning connections in tiny towns, so we purchased cheap Bluetooth headsets that worked great for the remainder of the hike. They sipped energy slowly and did not impact our on-trail charging capabilities.
Electronics charging – Our electronic charging equipment was kept in a dry bag and included charge cords, wall plug(s), and a charge bank. On the trail we used the bank to charge our phones up each night to about 80% capacity, and the bluetooth headphones during the second half of the trail. The Anker PowerCore Lite (10000mAh) charge bank was purchased in 2019 and was fine for four days / three nights of hiking. When out longer than that we needed to be extra conservative with using our phones on trail. Other items (Garmin watches, Garmin InReach, headlamps, the charging bank) were charged during our stops in hostels.
Garmin InReach – We already had this device on the boat, so it was easy to grab it for the hike. Sondra wore it on the strap of her pack, tracking each day’s hike for friends and family to follow. She was also able to communicate with other InReach users in locations where there is no cell service. When Jimmy had cell service, he was able to communicate with her using his cell phone. We felt it was worth the extra four ounces of weight.
Emergency Equipment
Medicines we started with: Ibuprofen, acetaminophen, antihistamine, antidiarrheal pills, antibiotic ointments, disinfecting wipes, cortisone cream
Wound care we started with: Adhesive bandages, gauze, butterfly strips, medical tape, moleskin
Items added: Athletes foot cream, gold bond medicated powder, Leukotape
We started out with more quantities than needed and let the inventory reduce as items were used. For wound care, gauze and tape is really all that is needed.
Next time we will cover personal gear (24-51).
24-50
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