Wondering what hiking gear is the best hiking gear for you? I get a lot of people asking me what hiking gear they should buy, but with so many options out there and so many ways to answer the question, it’s almost impossible for us to decide. Questions and phrases like...
- There are so many different price points!
- What gear do I need?
- What should I wear
- How do I choose the right boots, shoes or jacket?
- Should I buy a backpack worth 50 pounds or one worth 300 pounds?
- What's best, a down sleeping quilt or a synthetic sleeping quilt?
- Is Dyneema Composite better than X-Pac?
- Should I buy an ultralight pack or a traditional one?
- Boots vs shoes?
All of this coupled with the different environments, seasons, altitudes, locations and length of the trip!
The list goes on and on
My advice
- Pick the lightest and warmest gear for its weight that you can afford
- Set a budget for your entire kit and stick to it.
- Set an overall base weight limit you’d like to hit.
Practice with as much gear as you can out in the field and switch out or ditch the things you don’t like, need or that don’t work for you
Figure out what’s right for you over time through testing out in the field.
Think about your objective, are you hiking 0 miles for a day hike in the summer?
Or are you doing a 3 month 2000 mile hike around North America?
I’m thinking about switching from a down puffy to a synthetic one
I recently got a new and really cheap rain suit for really bad weather, in place of a really expensive jacket and found that I prefer it over the expensive one. It never ends.
Just always keep in mind the types of hiking, environment and weather you’re going to be hiking in.
Hikers on the PCT regularly have to adapt their kit to fit the desert, sierras and the northern cascades.
It’s no different for someone day hiking, wild camping or section hiking throughout the course of the year.
Above all, buy what you can afford that’s going to keep you safe in the situation you’re going into and that will help you achieve your objective.
Here's a link to a video of the man and legend Andrew Skurka talking about this very topic in much more detail.
He’s a wealth of knowledge and experience and has thousands of miles of hiking and expeditions behind him.
My full kit list
BIG 3
Tent - Zpacks Solplex
Backpack - Atom Packs Atom+
Old backpack: HMG 2400 Windrider
Sleeping quilt - Katabatic Gear 30deg Palisade down sleeping quilt
CAMERA EQUIPMENT AND ELECTRONICS
Canon M50
Canon EF-M 18-150 lens
Compact camera - Sony RX100 Mk5
Drone - DJI Mavic Air (NOT PERMITTED IN HIMALAYAS)
Tripod - Joby GorillaPod
Microphone - Rode VideoMicro
Sound recorder - Zoom H1
Flash bracket
Phone - iPhone 8+
Storage - Sandisk Extreme 64GB
GPS Tracking - Garmin Forerunner 35
Power bank - Anker Powercore+ 13400mah
Headlamp - Black Diamond Ion
CLOTHING
Shoes - Altra Lone Peak 4.0 trail runners
Shoes - New Balance Minimus trail runners
Shoes - New Balance Zante v3
Down puffy - North Ridge Hybrid
Frogg Toggs
HYDRATION
Water filter - Sawyer Micro Squeeze
Vessels - Smart Water bottles
EQUIPMENT AND ACCESSORIES
Groundsheet
Zpacks tent poles
HMG compartment pod
Thermarest Neoair Xlite sleeping mattress
#hikinggear #hiker #ultralight
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