{"id":3441,"date":"2023-09-19T18:25:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T18:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/19\/preliminary-gear-status-part-i\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T23:28:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T23:28:20","slug":"preliminary-gear-status-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/19\/preliminary-gear-status-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Preliminary Gear Status Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
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I certainly learned much on the trail back in 2018.  Despite nearly five-years of preparing, there is no better teacher than the trail itself.  By the time I was finished, my kit was perfect.  For the most part, my kit for the AT will be the same.  Because I bought high quality gear, they handled the hike quite well.  Still, some pieces will need to be replaced.<\/p>\n

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Without further ado, here is the preliminary gear list for my 2024 attempt of the AT.<\/p>\n

Preliminary Gear List<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

Big Three<\/h3>\n

My ULA Catalyst<\/a> withstood the PCT, and countless backpacking trips on the IAT (Ice Age Trail), the Superior Hiking Trail in 2021, and the Portuguese Camino this year.  There are some tears in the exterior webbing and some wear and tear where the struts meet the bottom, but other than that, it is in excellent condition.  I’ll use a trash compactor bag to create a waterproof section in the pack.<\/p>\n

My 20-degree Enlightened Equipment Revelation<\/a> is a bit lumpy now and has been relegated to a quilt to watch TV on a cold winter day.  It is still very comfortable.  Enlightened changed the sewing pattern in 2019 to prevent the down from travelling.  Unfortunately, I have the 2016 model and much of the down has travelled to the footbox.  I’ve tried fixing it according to their video instructions to no avail.  As this quilt is my last line of defense against hypothermia, I’ll replace it.<\/p>\n

One critical piece of advice I heard before I hike the PCT was Invest in Sleep<\/b>.  A good night of comfortable sleep is critical to success.  I am a middle-aged side sleeper.  I need extra padding at the hips, so a regular sleeping pad is not going to cut it.  I’ll carry my Thermarest Pro-Light Regular<\/a> I used on the PCT with the addition of a Thermarest Z-Light Sol<\/a> that I will fold up to give me that extra padding for my hips.  This is the same combo I carried for the PCT.  Yes, it is 33.3 ounces, but it increases my likelihood of success.<\/p>\n

I loved my zPack Hexamid Solo-Plus<\/a> on the PCT.  I loved the removable bathtub.  When it rained in Washington, I would detach the dry bathtub and carry it in the waterproof part of my backpack.  When I would set up my tent at the end of the day, I would strip out of my wet clothes and into my warm quilt with a dry floor.  Overall, the shelter handled the whole hike.  The only issue was the zippers.  They failed at Crater Lake.  Fortunately, mosquitoes were not an issue in Oregon or Washington.<\/p>\n

When I returned home, I replaced the zippers according to zPack’s instructions.  It also has a couple of pin holes that I have patched.  It is good for a weekend trip, but not for a thru-hike of the AT.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, zPacks no longer makes a Hexamid with the mosquito netting.  Its replacement is the Plex Solo Tent<\/a>.  The big difference is that the bathtub is not removable.  The weight of this new shelter is just 13.9 ounces.  The Hexamid Solo Plus weighed in at 19.7 ounces with the bathtub.  The other issue is the cost.  The Plex Solo is a cool $600, which is quite a bit.  There are a number of cheaper options and I have to consider that there are shelters on the AT.  I may consider a cheaper option.<\/p>\n

Replacing the sleeping quilt with the same model is a no-brainer.  I’m still deciding on the shelter.  I know that zPacks makes excellent gear.  I just have to decide if I want to drop $600 for something I may not use if a shelter is available.  I will ponder that some more.<\/p>\n

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I certainly learned much on the trail back in 2018.  Despite nearly five-years of preparing, there is no better teacher than the trail itself.  By the time I was finished, my kit was perfect.  For the most part, my kit for the AT will be the same.  Because I bought high quality gear, they handled … Continue reading Preliminary Gear Status Part I<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-at2024"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3441"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3442,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3441\/revisions\/3442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jphikes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}