Due to my wife having a hip replaced in late June I didn't get much backpacking in this year. I finally was able to do a 5 day, 42 mile trip in late Sept. I did a trip report and posted pictures on my Flicker acct. Here I am going to review some of the gear used. What I liked and what I would change. The first major change was using a McHale LBP36. I bought this pack for 3 reasons. 1) Darn you Nick Gatel. 2) Due to my wife's hip replacement I will be carrying more weight than I wish to with my Ohm. 3) This is a retirement gift from me to me. Due to a drier than normal year we dry camped two nights and going into camp with about 5 quarts of water got my pack weight up to aprx 28#. That pack sure made it an easy carry. The side pockets are large enough to carry a full 2 ltr platypus. The workmanship and attention to detail on this pack are incredible. It weighs 63 oz with 2 side pockets, 2 hip belt pockets, back pocket and summit flap. It is worth every penny I spent on. Thanks Nick! I used a ridge rest with a GG torso pad for sleeping along with a Katabatic Palisade. I am going back to my Kooka Bay pad. With one night getting down to near freezing I was just OK after putting on most of my clothes. I like sleeping warm and under those circumstances would use my 20 degree quilt the next time. For water purification I used MicroPur tabs. I didn't like waiting for water and will use my SteriPen Opti the next time. I loved my tarp. Twice we had less than optimal pads and the tarp is really adjustable. However during bug season I would use a net tent with it. The other major change was my camera. I was using an Oly XZ 1 and was very impressed. It will do everything I need it to. My gear list is in my profile page. Also, a big thanks to Mark Ries for coming along.

Hi David,

Interesting post but, speaking as an English teacher:

>Please don't post a topic in one long paragraph. Much too difficult to sort out the info. I know your English teacher taught you how to make paragraphs with transitional sentences from one paragraph to the next.

>When listing gear it's best to TITLE and describe
i.e.
3. SLEEPING PAD(S)- my Kooka Bay pad is light and comfy.

This helps enormously for readers of your post to quickly cut through the chaff and find the gear topics.

You get a B+ for content and a C- for form.

Eric,
Thanks for the critique. I was just too lazy.

Make that grade a b- he had a Z-rest.... at least the body is still holding up good David :)