4 Day Solo Backpacking Trip With Lightweight Low Budget Gear

i think you're too young for coffee you look like a skinny little thing [Music] so [Music] [Applause] mm-hmm i am finally out on a real trail now nobody in their right mind would be in georgia on a trail in the middle of august but here i am the pine mountain trail is relatively close to my home and it's a little over 20 miles long so i figured doing an out and back type thing would give this budget gear a pretty good test run plus doing an out and back means i'm relying on myself only and i don't have to fool with hitchhiking or resupplying and that way i'm coming into contact with as few people as possible the good thing about where i'm at though is that i've got the green tunnel and there are plenty of water sources it appears that i may have made a mistake wearing a tank top with a new pack because it's tearing up my shoulders pretty good on day two this one not so bad this one's where the camera sits so that makes sense but uh yeah i might end up having to fashion up some duct tape sleeves before it's all over with apparently this is known as elephant rock it's kind of a stretch but i can see a trunk and an ear and i walked back through there to make sure there wasn't anything else and there's not so behold elephant rock do oh my god when it's a windy spiders really go for a ride at night you know what i mean like how do they not get motion sickness [Music] she said nobody was supposed to know about this i almost just walked into this fella lady oh pretty big web you got here ma'am right across the trail [Music] well i hope you catch you a good meal tonight what madness is getting on here hey everybody wants a bite you're cool looking i'm doing something with this booty [Music] huh critters of the night go go go you can do it you can do it today is clean sock day which also for me happens to be new sock day today and that means today is also trail laundry day on this trip as i mentioned i've been testing out some budget gear and everything that i have on like my outfit my shoes these trekking poles all of it was under 500 or right around 500 of course with the exception of like my in reach and my camera equipment and my cell phone etc but like but everything that you could take and go backpacking all the gear was around 500 i think just a tad bit less and i even went and got an adidas tank top because i wanted folks to see that they could go to a thrift store and get the name brand stuff you ain't got to wear walmart clothes unless you want to nothing wrong with that no shame in walmart clothes so i got this tank top and then some pretty nice running shorts gently used from a highfalutin thrift store as far as socks go i just got a cheap pair from walmart that are synthetic not cotton and then i wore a sports bra and some synthetic underwear that i already had so you can do this [Music] ferny the big loblolly pine tree that actually is really a very large loblolly country [Music] it's been a while since i've busted out a pair of frog dogs since my free hike of the at actually smells dumb but uh anyway as always so far they're working pretty well and maybe it sounds silly but i'm actually pretty excited tonight that i get to test out the budget scent in the rain because you ain't fully tested a tent until you throw it in the ring so well i got a good rain test in last night and i'm happy to announce that the tent didn't leak at all but being a single wall tent there certainly was some condensation but i think with how hot it's been it's at night been anywhere from the upper 60s to lower 70s that i was in the prime situation for condensation anyway i did take a handkerchief a couple of times through the night and wipe the tent walls off which seemed to help it wasn't dripping on me so it wasn't like a steady drip but when the rain would start thundering down then i guess the vibration of the drops on the outside hitting the tent wall i just got some misting if you will on my face and stuff while i was trying to sleep and of course on everything else but nothing was like soaked this morning so it's a single wall tent you can expect that i did only have one vent hole open because i was concerned that it would rain in that it did not so that's pretty exciting both event holes could be used to help with ventilation and maybe that would have helped the condensation enough probably not enough to where it wasn't missed in on me some but you know any ventilation is definitely better than none of course i'll do a more in-depth review on all of this gear once i get back home all right i've taken enough spider webs to the face today so my trekking poles are preceding me down the trail and i feel like indiana jones entering a cave with a torch makes up that's cool i can tell i'm getting close to the end of the trip because i'm starting to see food on the trail tell me that that doesn't remind you it's a little rough around the edges but it reminds me anyway of a mcdonald's hamburger bun like think cheeseburger i mean that kind of looks like the bun i've actually been pretty impressed with the way the trail runners have performed i figured they would kill my feet i was a little worried they would especially because they're not a zero drop shoe they don't have a super wide toe box but if you're not going on a through hack and just beating yourself up continuously you know if you're doing shorter trips like this one they've worked for me now everybody's feet are different but as far as the tread goes and you know as long as i have the proper size they've done well i haven't found myself slipping and sliding anymore or anything like that the first day or two the pack was kind of rubbing on my shoulders where i'm wearing a tank top but it's actually not bothering me anymore so i'm thinking that my skin was just kind of like what in the heck is this just rubbing on me got used to it and you'll find that with backpacking sometimes you might think that some of your gear is going to be problematic and then surprise it works out and there's something else that you thought was perfect that ends up not working out this pack with the weight of all of my camera gear and several days of food it certainly does not carry as comfortably as some of the other packs that i have when i was on the sheltoe trace trail and i was attempting to test this budget gear up there i had an extra pound or two of camera gear and like another day or so of food and the pack was pretty uncomfortable at that point it's definitely much more comfortable this time so i would hazard a guess that if your base weight is somewhere around 15-ish pounds you know i could see what mine is exactly after this uh but and then you've got you know three or four days of food that you'll probably be okay but i can just tell that after a certain point this pack isn't going to carry as well as another pack that might be a little bit more pricey but for a 60 pack that's not too bad now i certainly notice some differences in the gear that i use to through hike that cost much more but all in all this is a pretty good setup for somebody who's just getting into backpacking and doesn't want to invest a ton of money until they're sure they want to or like if their kids are wanting to get into it and you know how kids can change their minds like every other day about what they're into i mean shoot i still do that i just feel like this rock is pretty i think that the pine mountain trail would be a great place for beginners who are a little nervous about getting out because there are points of access all through the park where the park ranger can come get you if you're in trouble they have a special number to call plenty of water sources nice camping areas there are even several actual road crossings to where you could do a shorter trip than the whole shebang if you chose to it's just got everything that you could want as a beginner and it's even got some pretty things to see and even though it's been hotter than hades in a wool suit it's it's been a really enjoyable trip i don't normally get on the this year has been trash and hopefully next year's better bandwagon because i think you know every year really has its ups and downs and that's just the way it's always going to be and some years are better for some people and worse for others but 2020 has tried me on that it's just kind of just been a whole big mess but i think just getting out on trail spending some solo time to relax and be in my brain and just enjoying nature is really something that i've truly been needing yay she never looked so pretty you

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 175,063

Rating: 4.9502697 out of 5

Keywords: budget, backpacking, gear, solo, hiking, thru-hiking, outdoors, pine mountain, Appalachian trail, pacific crest trail, continental divide trail, cdt, pct, rivers, nature, bugs, travel, summer

Id: 750XXc1xHyU

Length: 16min 10sec (970 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 26 2020