Okay, any glaring oversights? Thank you thank you thank you.

Main Gear:
Granite Gear Vapor Trail backpack
Tarptent Contrail
Alcohol Stove
WM Alpinlite bag
Ground Cloth, tyvek
TiGoat poles

Clothes:
Upper:
Sun Shirt
Pata Wind Shirt
Pata R1 Hoody
Pata Micropuff Vest
O2 Rainjacket for desert
I'll take a short hiking shirt instead of the sunshirt, and a better rain jacket (marmot precip), in the mountains.
TOO MUCH?

Lowers:
2 pair underwear
shorts
Pata Zip off pants
long underwear
(no rain paints, i'll deal)

Feet:
running shoes
2 pairs socks

Head:
big hat
warm hat
sunglasses

Other:
small swiss army knife
med kit
stretchy nylonish gloves
small compass
aquamira
2 platypus bottles 2Liter
small journal
Ipod 4g with solar charger
book, maps, etc.
duct tape

Do you have the floorless version of the contrail? If you do the tyvek ground sheet is a good choice. The tyvek is overkill IMHO if you have the floored version. I use a GG polycyro ground cloth with my floored contrail with good results. The polycyro is 4 oz lighter than a tyvek sheet and packs up alot smaller.

Some comments based on my experience on the PCT.

1. Bring your sunshirt for the whole hike. And consider sun gloves for your hands. Your hands will fry in the desert with trekking poles.

2. Bring more than 2 pairs of socks, probably three at any one time. Wash them constantly. I frequently changed socks twice a day in SoCal.

3. Have fun. I haven't finished yet, but I've thoroughly enjoyed my time on the PCT.

I'd ditch the Rainjacket and just stick with the windshirt in the desert.

Consider adding another couple L water capacity for the desert. I'm no expert on this (i'm thru-hiking this year too), but surely you're gonna need AT LEAST 6 L in certain sections. Of course you can play it by ear, but at least check the asabat water report online before you leave and make sure that 4 L will work for you until you get to Lake Morena or somewhere where you can buy more bottles if need be.

2 pairs of underwear? Hey, I know this is very personal. A man who doesn't hike in underwear probably shouldn't give advice, but on the AT I never saw anyone with more than one pair.

A rain jacket for the desert does sound kind of dumb. That being said, I spent a month in the canyonlands with 6 days of downpours, and a week of heavy snow. Go figure.

Thanks for the advice guys.

pc

One more thing Stuart, if you read this. I do have the floorED contrail, so I'll bring a lighter ground sheet. I have some silnylon sp? that my friend gave me. Is that stuff waterproof? It certainly is light. Can I cut it or will it fray? Also, is it easy to get this GC poly groundsheet? Do I order this or can I find it at REI. I live in Austin, so sometimes it's hard to find lightweight outdoor gear.

well, i always wonder how everyone calls southern california on the PCT the "desert." i mean, there is some desert involved (e.g. Mojave corner in Antelope Valley along the aquedect, edge of Anza-Borrego in Scissors, etc.) but most of it is chaparral and other arid ecosystems. not to split hairs, but i guess the point is that throughout all of that, you spend some time at high elevations where rain, snow, and bad weather are definitely possible. the lagunas, san jacintos, san bernardinos, san gabriels. in 2003, people got completely snowed off the san jacintos, i think.

anyway, i'd suggest having some warm clothes, some kind of rainshell/poncho, hat/gloves, etc. for the socal section. of course, most of the time you'll be very hot, so it's a balance of course. get by with the minimum that you'll be safe and (mostly) comfortable with.

have a great hike!

The polycryo groundsheet can be ordered from Gossamer Gear:
http://www.gossamergear.com/cgi-bin/gossamergear/polycryo_ground_cloth.html

When I did the PCT, I enjoyed having a tough piece of Tyvek to throw down anytime anywhere for breaks, naps, siestas, and sleeping. But the polycryo is pretty tough stuff too, and packs VERY small and light.

In SoCal you'll probably get quickly used to not setting up your Contrail often, but just sleeping out under the stars. You'll just need enough groundsheet to "protect" the floor of the Contrail and/or sleep out on and keep your sleeping bag clean.

Edited by DaveT on 04/07/2008 16:01:47 MDT.

Hi Patrick.

Im in Australia, and I'm jealous! One day Ill take a few months off for a PCT thru-hike.

But make sure you take a camera!!! I didnt see it on the list...stuff the weight, some people want to see where you have been, and its nice to be able to put a nice photo up on the wall at home to always remind you of the good times out in the wilderness.

Adam

I've never used polycryo, nor have I hiked in a desert, but as I understand it, polycryo is heat shrink plastic and isn't appropriate for high temps. Be sure you figure this out before you plan on using it.

Suggestions: Just use your zip-off pants for shorts, not a separate pair of shorts. Your ground cloth does not need to cover the entire floor of your shelter. Make it the size of your sleeping bag. It is nice to have lightweight waterproof over mitts in case it is both raining and cold. It does not take much cold to make the fingers numb enough to make small tasks difficult. I also like the Golite windshirt, one model has a hood and zipper front. These pack small fit right in a pant pocket, can be worn for warmth, rain repellant, and to bed, ie. another lightweight layer. When drying a wet pair of socks, hang them from your pack with a safety pin. Rotate wearing two pair of ankle length socks, use a crew length pair only worn while in camp.

Edited by rambler on 04/12/2008 15:04:27 MDT.