JMT Post-Hike Gear Review

all right i finished the john muir trail if you want to see what was in my pack stick around [Music] hey guys scott here from outdoor adventure films first off i gotta thank my man chris for this awesome new backdrop uh no i'm not standing in the middle of the woods right now my man chris hooked me up with this backdrop that he made uh he's at woodallorian on instagram so check him out um so this is what i want to go over today i finished my john muir trail hike and i wanted to show you what i brought along on the trip to get me by for three and a half weeks what all was in the pack so i'm gonna take you outside to see what all i had in the pack but um first off a little disclaimer this isn't a full review on all the items it's not designed for that i'll kind of tell you my thoughts on some of them but if i forget to mention or don't have that exact model number of something or exact name uh brand name then i'll mention it in the description below so just check it out but uh let's go outside and see what i got hey guys scott here again from outdoor adventure films it was about six months ago today i was actually probably somewhere around mammoth about two thirds the way through my john muir trail hike wow time flies well today i wanted to go over with you all the gear i brought on my hike and just a little bit of hell worked out for me i'll do full reviews later but uh just want to kind of show you what all i had in the pack here so let's start with that let's start with the pack i went with osprey's rook sack so i knew that osprey was a refugee reputable brand [Music] i had good reviews on it good suspension system good warranty what i wanted though too was to cut down weight so rather than go for the atmos which has a lot of bells and whistles a lot of pockets on the outside i went with the rook sack which is just a real basic empty sack with just a couple pouches over here for water bottles and anything else you want to stuff here um not a lot of other other pockets on it now it does still have the brain on top with a big pocket on top and hip belt pockets here very comfortable hip belt very comfortable straps there uh next uh on the big three pack tent sleep sleep system will be my sleep my tent i went with the big agnes fly creek i was very happy with this i went from having a completely freestanding tent before to this is a semi-free standing it has poles you don't need to use your trekking poles it'll stand on its own but in order to get full use of the full footprint in order to make room in there for everything you need to stake out the guidelines and so it's it's kind of a hybrid and i was real happy with it what it did do was cut off about three pounds from the previous tent i was using the old rei dome tent i was using next is my sleep system i went with an air mattress i do not sleep well on the foam mattresses so i went with an air mattress and i actually went with my wife's air mattress because it's a little smaller is a little more packable and a little lighter so this is the rei brand [Music] women's air mattress and i was very happy with it it worked just just fine for me the only thing that hung out uh was my feet hung off the bottom but that's not a problem for me that bothers you then you might want something full size uh something that fits your height i was okay with this i mean some people only use a torso length mattress i wanted something a little longer than that but i i was okay with my feet hanging off next part of my sleep system was my sleeping bag i went with a kelty cosmo down sleeping bag again i you're not going to see me going for a lot of real high dollar high end items i'm not that kind of backpacker i'm more of a budget backpacker and uh kelty is a good middle-of-the-road brand it's not a cheapie it's not a super high-end one either it's a 20 degree down bag and it worked just great for me most the nights were so warm because it was august when i went on the john muir trail that i was able to have the sleeping bag at least halfway open most the night there was one night one or two nights where it got below freezing where i had it zipped all the way up but even on those nights it kept me warm there was only one night where i put on my fleece and i'm going to get to close in just a minute but other than that just sleeping in one layer and this kept me warm every night next on my sleep system some might consider this a luxury item which it is uh but it was uh i'm glad i brought it and i'll bring it again for every other hike was a air pillow i used to just pack up my clothes in a inside my jacket or in another pillowcase and sleep on that and i could get by with that but uh this was fifteen dollars made by trekology on uh that i got off amazon and i figured for 15 bucks give it a try how could i lose and it was great slept well on it it held its air uh i kept it in place by using a shirt to hold it in place over my air mattress and slept like a baby on that moving on um to my clothes actually i'm going to move on uh one other item a backpack item this is actually an ultralight day pack that i brought with me that's because i was summoning whitney and i was keeping uh my pack everything else at a base camp basically we started horseshoe meadow went north and we're basically bypassing whitney but i wanted to take the the day hike up the backside of whitney and summit whitney so rather than bring all my gear i kept everything down at camp except for a day pack filled with just the the snacks water and extra clothing i needed for the cold potentially cold temperatures up there and this little day pack did great i'd have to wait to see again what the the actual weight of this is but it's it's extremely light lightweight and again this is the four monster backpack it's called four monster and has pouches on the sides for water bottles has the main pouch and another zipper here kept my snacks and things like that in here kept my rain gear and anything else i needed in there going back to my main pack i did bring a trash bag as extra added protection for my items inside so i just line the inside of my pack with the trash bag then my sleep system went in and all that so everything and my clothes so everything stayed nice and dry it started pouring rain before i could get my rain cover over my backpack everything still was dry but then with the rain cover and this it was just good peace of mind keep everything dry last thing you want after a rainy day day of hiking in the rain is to put on wet clothes at night sleep in a wet sleeping bag so i just i did encounter a bit of rain on my trip so i was happy to have dry things when i got to camp okay let's move on to clothing now basically what you see me wearing other than this hat is what i wore on the trail i like these moisture wicking shirts i just use the ones i get at races if i run a marathon 5k something like that i keep these and i use them not only for running but for hiking i think they're very comfortable to hike in if they get wet from sweat or rain they dry very quickly they also are very packable they pack down really small and light so what i do is uh wear this for sure i have the kind of convertible pants they've got the utility pockets that i use to keep my phone in and i'll keep other other things in the pockets but also if it gets too hot i can take off the legs and put them in my pack and hiking shorts too i chose merrell trail runners of shoes and darn tough socks extra pair here i can't say enough good things about my merrell trail runners and darn tough socks 25 days of hiking and i didn't have any blisters i've had blisters on shorter trips than that so i can't say enough about that combination um like i said i i didn't wear this hat being a redhead light bare skin i need that sun protection so i brought this hat to where i wore this every day um what i did do as far as other things i brought i brought one spare short sleeve moisture wicking shirt that way if i didn't have time for my laundry to dry out i always had a clean shirt to wear this long sleeve shirt it's another moisture wicking shirt i used usually around camp at night i usually didn't have to hike in this it was usually warm enough i was in short sleeves so this was a good shirt for maybe some early morning hiking if i got up early and it was cold but usually this was around camp in the in the mornings and evenings um like i said i used darn tough socks i brought an extra pair just so every day i had a clean pair to put on and i didn't bring my sleeping socks out here i'll have to grab those later and show them to you but i always wanted a separate pair of um clothes to sleep in my uh sleeping socks and my thermals which i'll i'll have those out here in a minute uh extra pair of underwear i always want a clean pair of underwear every day my trusty knit hat this kept me warm around camp again i really didn't have to wear this hiking i think the only time i wore it hiking was summoning mount whitney it was pretty cold and breezy that morning uh down down around freezing temperatures and breezes so this kept me warm there and a buff buff face mask whatever you want to call it this is a year of covid so i may not have had one of these or brought one of these if it hadn't been for coven but now i won't go on a hike without it i really liked having it for a couple reasons so what this was great for was on a hot sunny day i had it around my neck kept the sun off my neck for sun protection also if it was hot i could dip this in a creek get it wet put it on my neck cool me off conversely on those cold mornings cold evenings i kept this dry and it kept my neck warm so it was great for both reasons and then of course passing people on the trail sierra of covet cover my face and make sure i was polite to those other hikers i passed for a jacket a little different than most i know a lot of people use puffy jackets i have this fleece jacket columbia jacket that i find extremely comfortable i love this jacket kept me warm like i said comfortable so i will definitely be using this until it wears out i will say when it wears out for a couple of reasons i probably will transition to a puffy jacket just there's it's hard to beat them they're so packable so light and warm and i have learned more recently for environmental reasons they might be better too than the fleece that when you wash it it sheds the material so um might go to a puffy next but for now i love this place and uh i wear it around town and hiking it's great that's it for my clothes moving on to oh one more thing clothing item uh my rain gear once again i don't go for the high dollar items i always try the budget items first and uh what i found for the most part they worked out great for me frogtogs i have used these on multiple trips i actually had to break them out and wear them in the rain i had to break them out on the high sierra trail a few years ago they kept me dry on the john muir trail used them a few times kept me dry they're cheap they're relatively light and i always kept them right up here on top of my pack where i could get to them quick to started raining okay last items of clothing cover are what i slept in every night so i slept in my rei co-op thermals uh they worked great i only used them for sleeping if i had been hiking in really cold temperatures in the snow or blizzard conditions maybe i would have worn these but i didn't even wear them the day i hiked mount whitney i think i think i brought them in the little day pack but didn't use them those are just for sleeping that way i had something nice and clean to sleep in every night also these socks i never hiked in these these were strictly for sleeping in so i had nice clean warm socks these are really thick wool socks i don't know the brand but you know it was nice to have those separate socks just for sleeping in for food i used the bear vault bb the big guy i ate uh the first stretch of our trip we had a 12-day food carry so there's no way i could go any smaller than this in fact this was stuffed to the brim so i'm very happy with this also with the taller one it gives you a seat at camp either a seat or if you've got somewhere else to sit gives you a table to work on so i really love this bear canister comes with me on every hike now the rest of my cook system i'm still using an old pot that was handed down to me thank you uncle darrell handed down to me several years back and it's just an rei pot and works great fits my whole meal in it and then i'll use it for heating up coffee in the morning oatmeal in the morning and i cook on the msr stove a small small one here i just like this because once again like i said before you know i try to keep my weight weight down on the trail i'm not an ultralight backpacker but i do try to keep the weight down and this is very functional so i was real happy with this guy heated up my water super quick boiled my water and uh just goes right on the top of one of these fuel canisters right here just screws on uh as far as the fuel canister i actually went with a bigger size than this because like i said i did have that long carry with no resupply the first half of my trip um this is just a four ounce i believe i actually went with the really big one which was a little bit overkill i think it was 16 ounces and it actually lasted me the whole trip i never had to buy another one of these um probably what i would do if i were gonna do that hike again is bring an eight ouncer and a halfway through um and buy a new one another eight ouncer that would have been uh that way i would have been carrying such a big fuel canister uh to light my stove light fires i bring brought matches as well as one lighter or uh coffee in the mornings i had my little uh it's a sea to summit cut and this one is the one that holds two cups so two cups right here see the summit drink my coffee in this every morning it's great real packable packs down nice and flat it just went right inside my pot when i packed up my utensil is my daughter's girl scout fork spoon combination hey i used what i've got and it worked great so no jokes please but uh worked great um i always kept a sponge towel to wash my dishes with afterwards uh this cook system this pot came with this uh net to kind of store everything in pack it all in holds it all together when it's packed up or at night all right let's move on to some of these other smaller items here before these smaller items uh let's talk about tracking poles i did use trekking poles all the time these trekking poles are made by outdoor products again a real budget item i can't remember what i paid for them i've had them for so long but they last for many years and they work great they they're telescoping so they expand and uh as you can see i wrapped duct tape around the top that way if i need any duct tape it's right there ready for me and i don't have to bring a separate roll of duct tape and try to pack it away somewhere so for water what i did was a couple years ago i moved to the sawyer squeeze and that that's a game changer for me so i bring the smart water bottle coupled with the sawyer squeeze and i love that combination i moved away from a couple years ago i was using the the pump water filter and that just got to be real got old real fast and this i just fill up my water in the creek put on the sawyer squeeze drink right through it and uh it's worked great i'll do a separate review on water filtering at another time or i'll really go to depth about all this can do um just another one little side note here as i swap out the top for a sport cap i like that better it's easier i think you're drinking out of you can flip it open with one hand you don't have to touch the part your lips are touching like you do with this one so when your hands are dirty out there in the woods i like that better i think it's cleaner my sunglasses wear those every day my arnett sunglasses let's talk a little bit about safety i brought this little container that held some band-aids things like that i just kept it in my hip pocket so it was easily accessible along with this i just kept it in the plastic this plastic baggie it's a ace bandage and some gauze in case there's something that a band-aid couldn't handle also what you don't see here is i brought sunscreen and chapstick again fair skin i used sunscreen every day chapstick every day even if you don't think you have fair skin up there in the high altitude you got to protect yourself bring sunscreen chapstick with spf protection and keep yourself safe up there that was for safety moving on i knew i wanted to make a video for my family of this hike so i really was really important to me that i kept my phone charged the entire trip so i brought this solar charger phone charger so i hung this off my back every day off my backpack and kept it charged and then at night i would charge my phone off of this because it was such a long hike and i knew that this charge is extremely slow in the sun i also brought a phone charger that runs off batteries that did add some extra space and weight that i normally wouldn't want to carry in any other shorter hikes there's no way i'm bringing this this was wasn't really happy with this basically you would get about three quarters of a phone charge off the batteries that went in this and then the batteries were done so this was much better for charging my phone it's just it takes a long time to charge in the sun but uh so for most hikes it's just going to be this guy that it'll be more than enough for most hikes even a probably a two-week hike three-week hike this this might get you through uh headlamp again a budget item energy sorry energizer headlamp that i wore uh i only the only time i ever hiked in the dark was the morning i summoned at mount whitney uh the other times i was just using camp um so i do suggest definitely bringing a headlamp but um uh you know depending on your your hiking style if you don't do a lot of night hiking you probably won't need it a whole lot probably don't need to bring a lot of extra batteries might be a good idea to bring one extra battery or at least one set whatever your yours takes i did bring extra batteries a little overkill more than i needed next kind of while we're talking about safety items and things like that were my thomas harrison maps uh these were great i mean could i have gotten by without them of course the john muir trail is very well marked and i wouldn't have gotten lost but what this really did was each night i would sit down and look at this and kind of plan out my next day and it really helped with planning you know where where i wanted to get to where i might camp altitude so i could look what's the weather look like do i want to really move on at this higher altitude when there's potentially a storm coming which i ran into a lot of storms so this has you can see the trail you can see the altitudes i strongly advise even if you're using an app like gut hooks or something like that i'm a strong proponent of paper maps electronics can fail this channel generally isn't going to fail even even if they get wet i kept it in plastic but these are supposed to be water resistant they're kind of a kind of have a filmy layer on them to protect them i have an old watch with a broken wristband that i don't wear on here but i keep it in my hip pocket and uh hip belt pocket and then at night the main the main reason i have this is to set uh an alarm i didn't want i wanted sometimes to turn my phone completely off at night so i didn't run down the battery at all and so i used this guy to wake me up at six in the morning that's pretty much the only reason i brought that so this item here i hung off my backpack this is my trowel you know you bury your business on the john muir trail i don't think these are mandatory yet but they probably should be and they probably will be at some point i talked to a ranger who said she spent the whole day burying other people's bathrooms so um don't do that that's just disgusting other hikers have to come across it the rangers have to deal with it it gets into the water so make sure you bury it use a trowel bring a trowel i also wanted to fish on this trip so uh this is my little tackle kit here i'll have my fishing pole in a minute to show you um for my my tackle kit all i used was a plastic bag to keep it in i brought a couple of lures some extra treble hooks uh some extra weights a very small lightweight stringer and then for pliers i just use these medical little tiny forceps here they work great much smaller and lighter than actual pliers this is the fishing pole i brought with me the brand name is escaping me right now but i'll post it in the description below this is a telescoping backpackers fishing pole and i loved it it worked great it might be a little a little heavier than some others so it did add some weight to my pack but it was kind of nice it was great for fishing it's a full-size reel you could probably get by with a smaller reel but it's what it came with and it it expands to full size if you watch my movie you'll see me fishing with it a couple times and i caught a few fish on it so i i like this fishing pole i'll definitely be bringing it again on my next hike and the one thing i brought that i i did not use it all i thought i might need some extra rope to hang clothes on something like that uh never use this once so i don't know i i think probably in the future i won't bring this i didn't out of 25 days never found a use for it so that's something i think i'll leave at home next time i did keep a little short strand of it on my pack to just hang um if i had any wet clothes that were still wet or anything like that when i started hiking i stuffed them up there so that's probably all i need i don't think i need all this okay so what i didn't have outside for you were my toiletries just a few things that i had to to get by out on the trip uh i had to bring a little little soap so i brought this dial soap container with me some shampoo swab shampoo i brought the aussie moist mega conditioner uh half a bottle listerine as you can see i only made it through half the bottle i only needed half the bottle and uh i mean just because you're out camping backpacking the woods doesn't mean you don't want to look good so i brought the sculpting gel and glaze number eight styling gel so i had that with me on no i didn't have any of that stuff sorry corny dad jokes had to do it no really what did i bring on the trip with me um so here we go first off i did bring sunscreen uh this isn't the one i brought with me i'm not trying to make a joke again about a big container um i just ran out of the container i brought so the one i brought with me was just a little bit smaller than this it was a 50 uh plus uh spf sunscreen though like i said i've got uh bare skin so i always wanted to have a good protection out there on the trail next my fancy toiletry bag here what do we have inside of course toothbrush a must i brought the small toothpaste um i brought one of these with me and had one small one in each of my resupply boxes same thing with the chapstick this one is spf 15 and same thing i brought one with me and i had one in each resupply bucket as far as soaps and deodorants there's different schools of thought on that um i've gone some trips where i've as they say embrace the stink on this one i decided you know kind of last minute when i was shopping i found these this small thing of soap and a small deodorant and uh you know what these were really small and light and i figured you know what why not let's try taking these and i was glad i did i i went to bed clean every night i was able to get cleaned up by getting a rag wet from a creek or lake and use some soap and then use a little deodorant and i was clean every night when i got into my sleeping bag which i liked i didn't have any funky smelling sleeping bag by the end of my 25 day trip so um i know i i think i'm gonna go ahead with uh bringing soap and deodorant on uh my next trip i liked it i enjoyed staying clean and always bring hand sanitizer with me on the trail could have that keep your hands clean uh also even though i did bring the soap and deodorant um i bring some some wet wipes in a little plastic baggie on each trip uh that way if i'm somewhere where i you know say i get caught sleeping somewhere where i don't have a water supply nearby me and i want to conserve the water i do have i can use those or maybe i've already cleaned up but i'm walking around camping my flip-flops my feet get a little dirty i can use those wet wipes before getting in bed so always bring what wipes with me on the trip on the trail too last item i did bring incent insect repellent um brought this little guy right here it's a repel 100. i went in august and i was very fortunate um mosquitoes weren't bad at all i never pulled that thing out i never had to use it i think at camp one night mosquitoes started coming out and it was time to go to bed anyway so i never had to put that on which is kind of nice because that gets you all greasy and everything and you know it's good to have if you need it but i try not to use it so those are my toiletries for the trip of course i brought some toilet paper too i don't have that here but uh any toilet paper will do oh one more thing i always brought a baggie of aspirin vitamins and imodium ad the aspirin would be just in case there's some issue with altitude sickness i never had that problem on this trip uh vitamins i take every morning with my breakfast and then a modium aed i'd never had to use it but i was on a trip where it would have been really nice to have it for somebody so it could be a lifesaver on a trip i probably won't go on a trip without it if not for me for for somebody else that's on the trip with me in case somebody needs it that's for uh that's an anti-diarrheal out on the trail that can be really dangerous dehydrates you really quick so good to have that just in case so that's what i had in my pack on this trip on the john muir trail if you found this video at all useful or entertaining then please hit like and subscribe and i'll see you next time you

Channel: Outdoor Adventure Films

Views: 9,805

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Id: BHNVezqzJE0

Length: 29min 3sec (1743 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 04 2021