PCT 2020 | Post hike gear list and review

welcome back in this video I'm going to be going over my entire gear loadout - a couple a little bits from the PCT this year so let's go hello Russ here bringing you the best tips and inspiration for hiking around the world if that is your thing then do hit that subscribe button below for more content just on that every single week next to me I have my what I would say the final gear hit load out from my Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike this year I made it 210 miles to the i-10 underpass and this is the second backpack and kind of like the second setup that I had because when I got to Idlewild when I decided to kind of stay I switched out my atom picked up this ula circuit 50 liter completely made out of robic nylon and just because I wanted a little bit more room and wanted some more options for resupplying so I wanted to carry more food carrying a bit more water carry a few extra layers because I was in snow pretty much most of the time even in the most southern points of desert so yeah this is basically it so I'm gonna run through all of the warm weight is inside including my phone I'm currently wearing flip-flops so I could show you the trail runners that I was wearing so I'll get to that in a minute so I'm just gonna run through what's on the outside of the backpack and then work my way in is packed in pretty much the exact same way how I would pack it the things that I'm missing from this loadout my stove gas my poly crew ground sheet and my ice axe are the only things that are missing from this now everything else apart from food and water everything else is in this backpack so imma run through it now from the outside on the inside and yeah I can't actually remember how much this backpack weighed in total and I haven't got my weighing scales on me they haven't been able to go pick them up because of this whole thing so I think what take a guess on how much you think this backpack weighs leave it in the comments and I'll send a little something out to whoever gets the closest weight to the nearest gram we'll get to like the nearest gram so ya ever do let's open this bad boy up okay so as I said all the warm weight is inside the only thing that I can't obviously put in the pack right now is my trail runners these are the outra Lone Peak 4.5 I had I bought these in an REI in San Diego 120 pounds by 160 dollars something like that held up really well got a full review if you click the link up here when it's ready that should be up there right okay so let's start diving into the pack start on the shoulder strap pocket these are optional with the you relay circuit so I've got these as well just keep my phone inside that shoulder strap pocket and these are also made out of robic nylon and they've got plenty of cushioning and everything on the inside as well whereas left side pocket we've got a 1 liter smart water bottle with a sports cap on it also got my Southern California section maps these are just yeah I think they're the National Geographic ones are pretty good sort of downloading and printing the half mile PCT map so don't think they're doing the app anymore either I just thought I'd go for these new National Geographic ones they seem to be pretty good I actually quite liked having the maps in the morning so I can just check out what was going on throughout the day what the kind of elevation was there's only so much you can get from gut hooks so having a paper map and compass is definitely beneficial unless you're an ultralight person and you don't want to bother next up in this side pocket we've got one of my fricking poles these are the Black Diamond Alpine carbon core also the other one is in the other pocket around these of probably the best trekking poles that I've ever used a very lightweight very sturdy very comfortable they're very easy to use there's no twisting involved you just use the little clips which are fantastic haven't had to tighten them or loosen them once they're still as they were when I got them through the post next up I think it's the last bit in this side pocket is my tent stakes so I've got two ovx cheapo ones which are quite big like these y-shaped tent stakes they came from a larger set but I thought I'd just have two big ones as well as another six of these MSR mini groundhog tent stakes just to save on a bit of weight the two larger ones are just used for the main guys on the z packs or Blixen i've got just for the front and the back so it just gave them that little bit of extra support on the main ones yeah that's the tent stakes kind of flex on a log and I haven't thought about where I'm gonna put the gear when I've got it out the pack so I'm gonna probably just chuck it on the alright let's flip this bad boy around and go in the other side pocket so we have another one liter smart water bottle this is for dirty water always keeping the filter on top I actually have a little white cap to make sure that I differentiate which bottle has the dirty water in it or if hasn't been filtered and then instead of using a pouch I would just collect in this one and then squeeze into the freshwater one with the sports cap on the top so but don't really want to use these kind of knock back tape out to send more think like they're really easy to break and I don't want it carrying an extra thing if I'm already carrying a bottle I'll just collect the dirty water on that and squeeze it through into a clean bottle sometimes I'd have three one litres and then a half liter in the really dry bits but mainly I was just carrying two litres at a time it was very cold very wet start to the PCT I've got a little inch worm on my dragon power look at that don't know if you can see that little inch worm okay carry on so we've got the other Black Diamond Alpine carbon cork as you can see over 200 and sumit miles plus the raza visenteno and a lot of other trekking in between the cork on the hand or has started to get creek pretty grubby but that's probably the only wear and tear also on the stem of these trekking poles are got a little bit of Gorilla Tape I always carry that I've probably included the Gorilla Tape on there in each of my other videos so just a nice little hack there okay that's both of the side pockets empty now we're going to look at the hip belt pockets okay first up in the right-hand hip belt pocket is my sun god sunglasses they're very light all made of plastic cost about 40 quid and customize your own but my old flatmate gave me this pair very good very good at keeping the UV out but kept my eyes very safe and comfortable anything I did find was that the lenses could get scratched up pretty quickly it's fine you know these things are gonna happen but a little bit quicker than I expected son got sunglasses next up in the right hand hip belt pocket is my nightcore and new 25 head lamp highly recommended very lightweight could have done with taking this big strap off but yes when we very good ran out of battery once when I was coming across the San Jacinto Mountains but it's very easy to charge once I've plugged my cable into it wear it while it was charging very good headlamp next up in the right hip belt pocket I also kept my smidge head net which was good for mosquitoes and bugs and things actually because it was so cold never wore this thing once on the PCT but definitely worth having you never know when you're gonna need one the last thing in the right hand hit that pocket was my compass just a very simple silver compass set bearing till which peak or insect map all of the things that you need to do lots of people don't carry a map and compass definitely there were spots that on the suneson and mountain range if my phone died and I had no other way of navigating or telling where I was definitely a map and compass would have been needed at that point all right that's it in the right hip pocket it's looking the left one now first thing in the right hand hip belt pocket is my headphones these are just some sennheiser cheapo they brought 35 quid got them on Amazon they're actually quite good quality thing is I didn't really wear these much while I was hiking I would only wear these at night at camp or when I was in a town and I was trying to get to sleep and wanted to watch a film was something that I'd never wear them and listened to music while I'm hiking because of those Rattlers in the dip next in the left hip pocket is my z packs d CF wallet very lightweight just kept a few cards in it they actually sent me this for free along with a couple of other bits to try on the PCT so thank you very much as he packs very kind of you just got a couple of bank cards and everything like that got my ID things like that that you would keep in a wallet next to the left hip belt pocket with my top tracks eyedrops I suffer from hay fever and allergy so any dust or pollen that gets in my eyes I tend to have really itchy red eyes so always keep the ball on that next up is some comics lip balm I really like this lip balm because it doesn't get all messy inside the cap because it's got just a tiny little hole and you just squeeze a little bit out and put it on your lips and sort of those kind of Pritz ticked star ones that you have to twist to get out it's less messy and less grubby so definitely prefer using the comics next up is my inhaler model automatic his reasons then I've got my lighter that's for light Musto for burning off any loose threads starting a fire if you ever get the chance to do that on the PCT but yes always good to have a little bit right now and last but not least in the left hip belt pocket is sunscreen just some cheap 30 factor 30 sunscreen that I've got in some store out in the US so that's everything on the hip pockets let's dive into this massive stretchy front pocket the first thing that's in there to be honest this isn't actually in order of our rabbit fur I usually just keep this extra soil squeeze water filter pouch just in case one of my bottles broke I just keep these as a spare these are very easily broken as well but I've also managed to get another sports cap on there just for in case I lose that sports cap so I got a spare one of those as well next up in the big fat pocket is my stove now of course the only thing that's missing from the stove is the stove gas but I couldn't take that home on the plane but this is an MSR pocket rocket to stove it came to the cup some grabbers the stove itself and everything like that all can fit inside this little cup which is really handy next up in the front pocket is some baby wipes I usually carry a massive back piece and they'll last for ages they're just really good for when you have to go dig a cat hole and do your business and polish off afterwards any messes obviously pack them out then bury them but they're a very good addition to three hikers backpack stemming from that is my poot kit and that basically contains and you just put this back down on the floor the poop kit basically contains a is contained in the ziplock back and you've got some TP obvious some hand sanitizer very good for these current situation times I like to keep my body glide inside the poop kit just because this is good for chafing you're gonna be rubbing this in places that are a little bit grimy so I don't really want to be putting this where clean hands are gonna go so I'll keep this in the poop kit and of course my juicer spades trial very good bitter kid to have thing is I was walking for a lot of the PCT with my ice axe which I don't have with me today and never thought to use the ice axe as a trial instead of using the trial so if you've got an ice axe and instead of using a trowel just dig a hole with your ice axe is probably a good way to do it and less effort now I've also got some nail clippers and some tweezers here which are a very good addition to a poop kit so you keep all of this kind of nastiness in this one bag it's nice and neatly tucked away and it's always in the front pocket of my backpack so if I need to go I then have to go rummaging around inside the backpack I can just rip it out and off like go in this forest there is literally tons and tons of these little caterpillars can you see that there are tons of them buddy ok next up in the massive front pocket for the PCT I have my Patagonia micro property and possibly one of the best thermal insulated jackets I've ever worn or a synthetic it's really warm compared to a down one it's not quite as warm as what you would get with the same kind of filling is down but essentially because it's synthetic you can wear it a bit more as an active layer it doesn't matter if it gets too wet as long as someone gets soaking wet and but yeah a little bit of moisture isn't gonna affect this as much as a down one next up in the massive front pocket is my Outdoor Research helium 2 it's a really tiny little wind slash rain jacket seam-sealed very lightweight very packable kept me quite dry on the PCT even there's some driving rain but over time the coating on the inside has started to degrade and I was getting quite soaked around my cuffs around my shoulders and any contact points with the backpack on my skin but yeah not a bad jacket alright so that's pretty much everything on the outside of the backpack I think it's good time now to actually talk about the backpack itself so this is a ula circuit it's a 50 litre made completely aerobic nylon and a few other little bits I found actually after switching out from my Adam I actually really liked how comfortable this backpack was and I really liked how spacious it was it gave me a lot of options I like how this this front pocket is massive you can just you can put so much stuff in this front pocket compared to my Adam which was a lot smaller people were literally looking at my Adam on trail and be like what is that it's the smallest backpack for this you can I could have kept going with the answer might think the only problem was is this situation with Kovac just completely changed everything and I just felt a bit like I was out of my depth with resupplying due to like so many things being closed I just thought let's get a bigger pack and get a few more options and a bit more room so I can chop and change what I'm carrying and this pack offered that the back panel it's a super comfortable the hip belts really comfortable as well it's not removable like the anthem and I really love this robic material brick and durable like this thing could take a beating it's nowhere near as light as my accent at all but in terms of something that's gonna you know last I'm gonna keep this thing for years and if I want to use it it's there my pet peeves about this backpack in particular well it doesn't have a bottom pocket and I really really missed my Zee side compression straps which were just that little bit of elastics is whatever's in this side pockets can just ping into that and you know it was just a really good little feature of my item that I miss I didn't like the the ice axe loops on these I think you got to here and they kind of attacks like up here which is fine I just thought it was it wasn't as easy to put an ice axe inside these loops and the last thing that didn't quite gel with me with this ula circuit is the amount of webbing that's just hanging off of this thing everywhere so I actually ended up trimming the hip belt webbing straps I could do a trimming the load lifters webbing straps as well and the Y strap I think what I'd like to do is get a bear canister put that on top see how much room I actually need look at that that is a lot of webbing I mean it's fine it's good to have enough in the beginning and then trim down like that but yeah it's just a lot of webbing but probably not yeah I'm really pleased with this backpack and it was definitely a good choice okay the last thing that's that's the outside the backpack before we dive in it's my little sit pad just a cheap little sit pad that I bought somewhere I actually can't remember probably from Amazon good little sip pad opening the wide strap and the sides relief side compression straps over there cord I want to put this pack on the floor now it'll be easy to get everything out so the first thing - the food is my Opie sack so this is a I think the green one is actually supposed to be used for food and the black one be used for like technology or something but I think what I was told is if you have putting food in these things you want to go for the green Opie sack and inside as well as the food to be honest with you in terms of food all I was eating the entire way it was ramen mashed potato incident mac and cheese and things like this trip lousy in things like Snickers bars and Reese's Pieces we've dried like loads of dried through keeping us hydrated like kids and using my stove every night to be honest what I was cooking wasn't anything special and I'll definitely do a video on more food-related stuff in the future but also in my Opie sack was some spare Ziploc bags and I was just portion out all of my food reuse them and wash them whenever I needed to I'll just add some spares in there in case I wanted to pack out some extra stuff and have enough Ziploc bags so yeah Oh Peter Ziploc bags had a my food in it that was it just really worked next up in the main compartment of the pack is my Z pack softbox tent usually I also keep my poly crew groundsheet but that thing was so knackered by the time I was finished with the PCT they I'd been using that for way more than 200 miles I've been using that for like six months prior to the PCT my last cut out there I just decided to bin it when I got to the airport it was so dirty I didn't want to take it on the plane but yeah he packs all extant full review up here in the card which should be floating up there okay there's a little tiny compartment inside this backpack I think there's two actually one on the back and one on the front but in the back one I've got a little ziploc bag and that contain my permits my ID and my passport everything there so this is a really good safe little place to put my permits an ID and everything before I was using a Deepak's little satchel thing and I left all of my stuff in that on the bus as a lot of you already know so yes passport in that little pocket okay the next thing inside the main compartment is this DCF kind of zipped back from z-pak they sent me which is really kind actually found this is fantastic for putting all of my electronic gear in so it's really easy to access and the electronic stuff is quite heavy so I didn't want to keep it all in the zip lock which is really easy to break so I'm just gonna run through everything that's in there now so this is just a little case to put one of my SD cards in it it's really handy really lightweight could carry about 12 SD cards inside there and all of them were 128 gigs because I was ready to be filming that entire day and not one I didn't wanna have to mail out any SD cards so little carrier was really cool this is my multi adapter USB charger a little insignia one got it from Best Buy in San Diego somewhere that was a really cool thing to have I actually had a little blue one for a UK adapter but brought that with me and was like might as well just get one for the US so I don't have to carry the adapter that was handing the Hat next up is my anchor Power Core 20,000 milliamp hour batteries is the anchor power cord a central one I think the only difference is it's also got a USBC type input as well as a USB micro micro USB input so it's a really good fat bank I used to have a thirteen thousand milliamp power one but that could charge all of my gear for about five to seven days no problem next up is my garment inReach mini didn't use that once thankfully and actually I didn't do any tracking or anything I just kind of switch it on once a day and keep it on when I was going through like a sketchy part so when I was going over the Sam sinto I'd kind of have it switched on but anything apart from that I didn't really have it switched on just to save the battery next up in my electronics bag is my Sony rx100 been using this for absolutely donkey's didn't want to take a big camera or a drone so just had this had the little wind mufflers on the top which was absolutely fine for blurting out all of the wind so yeah that coupled with my iPhone I love Promax whereas just the a brilliant pair of cameras to have for a thru-hike didn't cat didn't weigh much and I had three lenses on the phone one lens with a zoom on it on the camera I had an ND filter on the camera it's just a really good little cell okay next up in the main compartment is my Cotulla micros mics these things I carried them from day one got straight off of the terminus at the Mexican border I've spoken to a few friends and they said you're gonna frickin need those especially starting it like mid March and they weren't wrong within day two it was already snowing and it was starting to settle and I was getting ice on the floor so if you're starting the PCT mid to late March definitely get yourself a set of these they just strap straight over your trail runners all your boots whichever you're wearing they're really they're quite lightweight they're much lighter than crampons and without these I would have been slipping and sliding all over the place in the San Jacinto so yeah definitely get your hands on some micro spikes if you're starting anywhere between mid-march to mid-april like I think there's even still snow up there in the San Jacinto so definitely get yourself a pair of Micra spikes but inside the main compartment I also have a DCF pack runner which I'd keep all of my things in I didn't want to get wet so let's just have a look at what's in there now so the first thing that's in there just rolled up really roughly is my sleeping pad this is the therm-a-rest NeoAir X like I've had it for absolutely years never got a hole in it the vowel is starting to leak a teeny tiny bit but apart from that this thing that's held up really really well next up is my clothes back and inside the clothes bag basically it's all kept in a SIL nylon stuff sack that my sleeper crook came in and so I'm just gonna crack that open now okay so inside the similan island stuff sack is a pair of massive ski gloves I found these at 20/20 vision which is like a little trail angel spot halfway through the desert and found these on the table and the story with these is I wouldn't have picked these up I would have left them there but beforehand I saw a glove on the trail about 100 about 50 miles before and didn't pick it out because I thought I'll someone will come back and get it didn't think oh if I picked it up I could actually give it the person up the trail anyway friend I think his name was Ben and he came back was a have you seen the glove I was like mate I didn't even think about picking it up before I'd just leave it there anyway I would have left these there had that not happened but I thought you know if someone's left them and they're probably up trail so I'll pick nice and I never saw anyone come back to get them so I just kept them I'll tell you what these saved my fingertips in the san jacinto i would have had such cold fingers yeah I was really lucky to find these these are called head outlast and they've got a little heat pack pocket and everything they're a little bit busted up but they kept my hands really warm next up is a pair of shorts these are just some Patagonia Striders these are the best shorts I've ever worn for hiking they're really comfortable they've got a lining on the inside so I don't wear anyone underwear while I'm through hiking you've got a little elasticated pockets on each side there drawstring an elastic and one of the best things about it's got this little zippy pocket on the back and that's where I keep my little tiny penknife and on that it's got a toothpick it's got some scissors it's got it's got a nail file it's got a little mini knife it's a really good that's what you need in terms of a knife very rarely had to use it but mainly I'll just use it for the scissors and the nail file and that's all I had so it's always there in that little pocket and if I'm using it I could just reach back boom there it was next up is my Rohan expedition woven polyester shirt so it's really comfortable this is the best hiking shirt I've ever worn hands down it's gonna last it's very well put together it's very comfortable it fits me very very well I'm 37 inch chest and an 18 inch torso and that fit me - spot-on it's got pockets three the poor yet just a really good shirt it's long sleep and you can roll up the sleeves and tie them up halfway up the sleeve as well so yep Rohan expedition shirt next up was an REI co-op hat so this is a really cool cat you could wear it like that just as normal or if you were getting really hot and you're getting a bit sunburned on your neck you could then turn it into a desert cap as well just like that and it's got this little thing it pulls down keeps your neck nice and covered away from the Sun so another multi-use cap in two different modes I really like these hats they're better than just a normal son because if you just want to cap you've got a cap if you want the Sun Hat as well well next up is my little neck buff have this one for ages good for keeping to sweat off your head good for keeping the Sun off for keeping you warm good for keeping the driving wind and rain out of your face I think a buff is a must-have for any through hiker next up is my base layer top I think this is this is merino wool this one had this for quite a few hundred miles on other trails including the Rotter visenteno up in Scotland and yeah it's just a really good one came with bottoms as well but they broke very very quickly because merino wool can be quite delicate but yeah marina wool base layer top this is made by ice breaker by the way and the bottoms I actually use from my old set just because the merino wool set broke and the bottoms are from a dare to be and these are a synthetic material as well so they don't break as easily keep your legs warm I thought I found the trouser the bottoms are better if they're innocent fake as opposed to the Reno walk bastards they're everywhere ok next up in the clothes bag is some Salomon mitten / gloves so these are kind of like dual purpose so they are normal gloves just like this and then they've got mittens on the top so they'll kind of cut the wind I found as soon as these get wet if it's cold these are things these are completely useless so it's really good I found that massive pair of ski gloves you definitely you definitely want something that's a little bit more robust than this if you're going really early in the season next time in my clothes bag is just my little berg house kind of beanie hat it's really lightweight really thin but it's just enough to cover your ears and keep your head warm if you've got your insulated jacket and everything else you're gonna be absolutely fine with just a little hat like that next up is my ultra gaiters these just went over my ankles on my trail runners and would just keep all of the dust and grit out on the desert floor so definitely good to have a set of Gators for the PCT and I'm just gonna get all of the rest of it out now so okay all that's left in there now is a few pairs of socks so the socks I had was two pairs of Dan tuff kind of ankle length socks I didn't I don't like wearing the full massive length socks to go up to your knee boots and very simple Dan tuff socks are really good very comfortable so I had one pair of in gingy which are the tow kind of socks specially like little mini gloves for your toes really good just in case you start getting blisters I think I leave all these twice didn't actually start getting any blisters on the trail anyway but it's good to have another pair of socks and the last pair of socks is these that I just picked up in Idlewild as I was passing through I went to the gear store there and they showed us the conditions of the San Jacinto I was like right I was gonna get a pair of these I thought maybe there'd be a little bit gimmicky but honestly when you're wearing trail runners that are really porous and can let all the water in if you've got a pair of these waterproof seal skins socks on they were amazing that kept my feet so dry and they're breathable because the three layered and honestly like don't don't worry about if it's snowy and wet up there if you're wearing trail runners if you've got a pair of these on yeah they added quite a bit of weight and space to my clothes bag but at the end of the day my feet were dry and warm while I was walking through the San Jacinto so seal skins waterproof socks because it's just one more thing left inside this bag and that is my katabatic gear saw watch which is kept inside my VCF back the catback gear Sawa is a 15 degree fahrenheit I usually have a catback gear palisade which is 30 degree Fahrenheit which is good down to freezing I would have been seriously cold out there in the San Jacinto if I was wearing that using this this thing probably saved my bacon that night up in the hills when it got really cold I got caught in the storm but I was in my tent in this I had my insulated jacket on and I was totally fine up there a little bit a little bit chilly but I wasn't freezing and shivering my butt off I did end up having a comfortable night's sleep as soon as the wind died down so yes yes I watch okay everyone that's basically it that's all of my gear that I took with me - a couple of bits on the Pacific Crest Trail this year the whole 210 miles of it that I managed to do thank you so much for watching if you have any questions at all let me know in the comments section below thumbs if you like this video sub if you loved it and I'll see you in the next one

Channel: The Trail Hunter

Views: 14,077

Rating: 4.7640119 out of 5

Keywords: Pacific Crest Trail Gear, Pacific Crest Trail Gear List, PCT Gear, PCT Gear List, PCT 2020, Pacific Crest Trail 2020, PCT 2020 Gear list, pacific crest trail thru hike, pct thru hike gear, PCT thru hike gear list, pacific crest trail packing list, thru hike, hiking, long distance backpacking, triple crown, thru-hiker, thru-hiking, PCT, Pacific Crest Trail, Backpacking

Id: f-DSo7_vk24

Length: 28min 38sec (1718 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 01 2020