Greetings, all. I'd love to get some feedback on my first UL gear list (see my profile). I have warm weekend excursions in the North Georgia mountains in mind here. I have the option of including a bug net, but I'm not sure it'll work too well under the low ceiling of the tarp poncho. I'd obviously have to wait until after a rain shower to set up my tarp since that's also my rain gear. Hmm.. Also, I've never used the drops before, I'm used to more immediate gratification with a traditional filter or UV sterilizer. Do you all wait four hours before drinking? Are three 1-liter bottles enough?

Neal,

Nice list. It's difficult to critique unless I be very critical. In that case, nix the knife and the towel. Go with a razor blade and use your bandana as a towel. Also, you could repackage your sunblock into a minidropper bottle to get down to about 0.4-0.5oz. On longer trips I like taking a small knife with scissors in case I need to do some toenail work, but a razor blade is just fine for weekend trips.

Do you carry a small repair kit?

Drops are kind of a personal thing. I've used them. I can tolerate them. But...I'm also willing to carry the extra weight of a gravity filter. When I use drops, I only wait 30 minutes. And 3 1 liter bottles are plenty. I only carry enough for 2 liters...most of the time I only use 1 liter. I just recently got a 1 liter bottle from Rum Runners that I'm going to try out in a few days. Lighter than a platypus bottle, but it looks like it's built well.

I use micropur tabs, similar just a single tab vs drops and I typically wait an hour or so (at camp we'll fill bottles in the evening and they get the full 4 hours, but rarely any other time)

the amount of water carried is so dependent on where your hiking I don't want to make any recommendation- I carry as little as a single liter bottle on trips where water is plentiful, I've carried as much 6 liters (two 2 liters and two 1 liter bottles) in New Mexico

I also use a poncho/tarp, but have found that there is no way I can use this setup w/o a bivy- curious how your making out w/o one

I agree you can re-package further on the sunscreen, also on the hydropel- a little goes a long ways, I use the very small "jars" for my hydropel http://www.ultralightdesigns.com/products/packing/miniJar-1.html

also possibly room w/ your bug spray for just a long weekend, mine weighs 0.2 oz and have been out with 4 days w/ it (granted it's 100% DEET so maybe I can get by w/ less?))

leatherman and a SAK- I'd say one or the other, I'd also say no to a razor blade :)

you could probably get by w/ a little less duct tape- my repair kit ~ 5' of duct tape, two safety pins, large needle w/ 30# spectra fishing line, two patches for my neo air, single use crazy glue only weighs .4 oz

I use MSR's smallest towel (Nano?) and found that to be adequate

do you have any pics of your windscreen setup? I have a wetfire stove as well

Looks good.

You could bring a trash bag with face and arm holes torn-in to use as a 2 oz poncho when your poncho tarp is pitched. (Tear the holes, don't cut, as cut holes tend to rip larger easily.)

You don't have a map and compass on your list. I carry these on-person along with a whistle and Photon light. I think your pack has a whistle, but I like to carry one on-person too since they're insignificant in weight.

I vote for taking a knife rather than razor blade.

The sunscreen might be too much if you'll be mainly in forest cover. Otherwise, don't forget the sunglasses.

The thin stakes don't hold very well in forest soils here in the Appalachians and foothills. I use 8" Easton and MSR Groundhog stakes. The thin ones might work if you put large rocks or logs on top of them.

I don't like using purification drops. I like the Micropur tablets, but sometimes I bring a filter, and other times I don't filter or treat the water at all.

Do a dry run trip in the backyard before a real trip. I learned quite a bit just by doing this.

Edited by AndyF on 08/13/2011 09:54:27 MDT.

Hi Neal.

Looks good. I just got back from a five day UL trip w/ tarp--the one night when bugs were bad I just wore a 0.5 oz headnet to sleep. Worked okay, except mosquitos buzzing in my ears were annoying. Earplugs fixed that.

Re: water treatment. I've quit treating water I consider low risk, but when I do treat I only wait 15 minutes (Aquamira drops). My understanding is four hours is just for cryptosporidium, which I'm not worried about where I hike (wilderness northwest). Some would consider my choice foolish, and they may be right. I've also quit carrying more than about 1/2 liter if I know water sources are frequent. I've still been carrying 3 liter capacity (1 liter poweraid bottle, 2 liter platy), but I use the inflated platy as a pillow. I'll likely drop the platy in favor of something smaller/lighter in the near future, but like the insurance of having two water containers. I also like the low empty volume and multi-use of the platy bladder.