Favorite Hiking Gear

I've hiked over 1,600 miles in the last three years and I keep an up-to-date list of all of the gear that I use to go on these hiking trips and create videos for this YouTube channel. This is my annual favorite hiking gear video. I'm going to go through it all, share what changed, and help you build your own kit. My pack is a Hyperlite 2400 Southwest, made in Maine, and it's a beast. I love this thing. I got the black version, I think the large size. I'm 6'2 and it fits me well. I couldn't imagine going on a hike without this thing. It's in almost every hiking video I have and I've been hiking with it almost from the start. For over two years now this has been on my back. It presses down fine for a day pack and then expands out and has the volume I need for a multiple day hike. I think the most I've ever done was like a week. It's got all the pockets I need. I can reach all of them while it's on my back. I can grab water from the sides. The fanny pack front pockets are just perfect for my phone and little things. I still have no holes, no real damage, just a little bit of wear and tear dirt here and there, but I love this pack. My tent is still the Nemo Hornet One Person. I'm a big guy but it still fits me perfectly. Keeps me dry. Keeps the wind away. It is lightweight and I have memorized its setup and tear down. It is so quick. I'm still using the same 20 degree UGQ Bandit down sleeping quilt. No complaints. Keeps me warm. I've kept it clean. There's no holes in it. Still going. I'm still using sleeping liners even though I change them out every so often because they get dirty or damaged. They help to keep my quilt clean and it's like a mini sleeping bag inside my sleeping bag because it's much easier to clean and replace the liners than the bigger sleeping bag. The type doesn't matter too much. I use silk. It's a little more expensive but the lightest weight and feels pretty good compared to the others. I'm still sleeping on a Therm-a-Rest Neo Air X-Lite. The yellow one. It is a luxury item and I have noticed that it's a little deflated when I wake up in the morning so there might be a hole somewhere. It's just a lot of work to try to find it and repair it so until it's like completely deflating every night I'm not going to replace it or repair it. Still using this inflatable four section pillow. My head fits right in the middle and it keeps it there all night because of the four sections. I switched to this two lamp 1000 lumens USB rechargeable headlamp. It's very similar to the one I had before but now it's just got two bulbs so it's a little brighter and still works pretty great. I bring a beacon on every hike. The Garmin inReach mini GPS. I, you know, fingers crossed haven't had any incidents yet. Haven't had to make any emergency calls with it. Haven't really used it that much because I use my iPhone for tracking mileage and distance and looking at a map so let's hopefully keep it that way. I can't remember exactly when I switched to the Katadyn BeFree water bladder. I remember my friend Ryan on the Hong Kong hike showing it to me for the first time and recommending that I switch to it and I was skeptical but wow this is the best change that I've had. I am good with water, you know, this is the best way to carry water to fill it up in a stream, filter it, and drink it. It's quick, it breaks down, it's lightweight. If you don't have one of these hiking I highly recommend trying it out. I've got two of them, one one liter and one 0.6 liter. I only fill up the one liter when I'm going somewhere that doesn't have water. If I'm going over a big pass but typically I'm just filling up the smaller 0.6 liter one keeping it at my side and honestly not even keeping that full like having that half full for most times. If I have enough streams I'll fill it up as I go as I need water because I don't want to be carrying extra water weight. I don't always boil water and cook food on trail but when I do I'm using a Jetboil Micro Mo at the moment and its igniter sometimes doesn't work so I always have a backup little lighter to light a fire in case I need it. Nothing better than a long metal spork. Just get one and you'll probably keep it for the rest of your life. Once you use wilderness wipes you never go back. I take a couple per day just for cleaning up or going to the bathroom. They're fantastic and luxurious. Not every bear vault is the same but when I can get away with it according to the rules I will use a bear vault medium size. This is small transparent and holds all of my food and smelling things for when I'm trekking through bear country but of course places like the Adirondacks and some places in California you need the heavy duty larger black bear cans and I usually just rent those. An umbrella is a new addition to the gear kit and I am team umbrella. At this point it's reflective on the top side and black on the bottom and if I'm hiking in the desert or a lot of sun I will use this. If it's raining I will use it especially when it's raining and I'm walking through a forest where it's just constantly dripping that's the best time to use it because if you're exposed like going over a pass and it's raining the wind is just going to mess up your umbrella. So this is good for a lot of sun in a desert area or a rainy forest rainforest type situation. I'm shooting videos when I'm hiking so I'm usually carrying a tripod but when I'm not I love using trekking poles these z fold tri section carbon fiber ones are pretty good from black diamond. I've broken a couple you have to be careful but I will use them when I'm descending not shooting or just going through a tough section and man they make me so much faster and it's so much safer and nicer with them. I am still using the original micro spikes all the way back from I got cheap ones I didn't even buy expensive ones and they're still surviving the rubber did not break yet I don't use them all the time but when it's snowy icy they give me extra traction I just throw them over my shoes and they get muddy so one thing that I've done is I've had a little clip that I keep with them so after I use them and they're and they're disgusting I don't want to put them in my pack with my stuff because it'll get all dirty so I attach the hook the little clip to the back of my pack backpack and I let them kind of just flop around and dry out before I put them inside that's a good little tip I switched my duffel this year to a Patagonia 40 liter black hole it's like a bright red it's kind of waterproof-ish if I was really going through rain or had it like with a porter up a mountain like Kilimanjaro or something I would still put all my stuff inside a plastic bag but it's pretty heavy duty it has a backpack option for going through the airport for clothing I am still 100% team sun hoodie I've got the same type of light gray sun hoodie with thumb holes it's great for getting your face and your neck and your arms out of the sun I don't have to put on sunscreen as much with this thing if I've got snow reflecting light up or if I'm in a really sunny area for exposed periods I will put sunscreen on my nose my face my chin and sometimes just my hands but the sun hoodie does so much to keep me warm keep me away from the wind keep me away from the sun this is my favorite piece of gear that I own I haven't changed my shorts either they're short black they've got pockets that zip up so things don't fall out if I am putting stuff in there my Patagonia micro puff is still going strong bright orange hopefully it's easy to spot me on trail if you see me wearing this there are a couple tiny holes from runaway embers from campfires but other than that no need to get repaired it's still great I did lose my dark blue shell that I had before I forget where it was tragic so when I went to my Dolomites hike the Alta Via 2 in Italy I had to buy a new rain shell right before the hike and I got this North Face lighter blue shell it's very similar yeah it works for pants I'm still using the same Patagonia light joggers I have destroyed the butt area just from sliding and sitting it's a very thin material so I can't blame it so I've had to get it repaired like three or four times at this point and every time I take it to the tailor they kind of laugh I absolutely love people socks some random brand that I found online they're wool they're black I've got long ones for the winter short ones for the summer I'll take the long ones on a hike and they never give me blisters I love these things a new year a new Brooks Cascadia this time the 16s no complaints if you want to save some money you could buy the older versions I'm sure they would be totally fine I don't exactly know what's changed with the 16s versus the 15s but I think I started at the 13s now so let's see how high this number can go looking forward to the 17s dude and still team trail running shoes versus boots I want to be quick I want to be nimble I don't want anything extra on my ankles the trail running shoes are where it's at super helpful to pair a running cap with the sun hoodie usually have the two in junction the one that I have right now I like because the the bottom is black the top is white so it reflects light and I can tighten it down so the wind doesn't blow it off my head still using Warby Parker black sunglasses still using the same winter hat the Muji hat but if it is a cold hike somewhere summiting a cold mountain somewhere I'll probably get a warmer hat so the next section will be all about the video gear that I use to make my silent hiking videos on these trips but first I want to say this is the third favorite hiking gear video that I've made and you'll find the other two plus over a hundred vlogs tutorials and guides when you become a member of this YouTube channel when you leave comments on videos or chat during a stream you have a badge that shows up it's very easy to know who members are and how long they've been pledging their support so visit the YouTube channel on desktop and click the join button to become a member today thank you so much to all of the members who are helping me to make more videos and keep them ad free I'm currently shooting on a Sony a7s mark iii mirrorless camera for its size and weight the quality absolutely crushes especially when you need every ounce of weight saved when you're hiking out there this camera is fantastic I pair that camera with a Sony 20 millimeter f1.8 this is a change that I made from the 16 to 35 and I like having a prime it's been a good test 20 is wide enough to get that pov aspect but having the 1.8 sharpness is pretty nice for inside shots when I'm outside shooting wide hiking walking shots I'm using like higher apertures so the 1.8 close depth of field shallow depth of field really shines when I'm inside and doing like isolated product special shots for some videos this year I was using a Panasonic Lumix and I was doing that because they asked me to test it out but obviously I'm back to Sony you know what I like I like the size and weight and color of this camera and it's been working out I'm using the same Rode NTG microphone a shotgun on top with a nice dead cat and I made this excellent purchase this little metal small rig handle for the microphone it's small keeps it intact and it just has a shock mount it's great I use a Joby 3k on top of some carbon fiber sticks and this is a small lightweight option because it's not that heavy of a camera I can use this more photo ball head for the tripod instead of like an actual panning because all of my shots are just locked down so a photo setup kind of works for me but I've tested a lot of tripod sticks these ones are the perfect height for the weight and the size and the speed of taking them out and putting them back I'm so fast with this pair because I've done it so many times still using a Peak Design cuff strap but tied around the pack in the front just hanging I like to put my camera there and then just hold it like this while I'm hiking because it keeps it you know at the ready if I ever need it but then I can also rest my other hand and then hold my tripod sticks with the other one and that's kind of how I hike most of the time two 256 gigabyte SD cards inside more than enough for any hike I always have more than enough room it depends on the hike but I'm packing anywhere from three to six Sony Z batteries I usually use one for every two days so they they last so long they're so good I got this third party Sony charger for the batteries you can do two at once instead of just the one that comes with the camera an iPhone 12 max pro a portable battery for charging my phone and headlamp airpods for music podcast audiobook occasionally when I'm feeling you know tired or just need to pick me up I'll tell you some lower the rings at the right moment elevates the experience of any hike a new addition are two dry bags the four liter sea to summit view dry bags I like them I they keep my stuff dry I put all my electronics in one I think my drone stuff in the other one for a drone I'm currently using the mavic air s2 I think they just came out with the three but I'm still happy with what I have especially when I've dropped hundreds of dollars on extra batteries and I edit all my videos on this 2020 macbook air this is the m1 edition and that's about it you know there are other items that I use for editing my home office I also have this pc that I record and stream on you can find all of this in the gear page there's a link in the description of this video with you know prices and weights and of course links to buy it yourself so make sure to check that out it has all of the information and of course remember that you know the gear isn't the most important aspect of having fun and hiking outside but the right kit is efficient it helps you go faster be lighter and keeps you safe so of course if you have any questions leave them down below give this video a like if you've made it this far I'm uploading a ton of videos so make sure to subscribe I plan on doing Q&A streams after every hike and major video upload on this channel and of course members will show up special in the chat so hello members I also have plans to start doing a special stream series where I watch your hiking videos thank you so much to everybody uploading their own version of silent hiking videos to youtube tagging my name in the titles of the description sending them to me I love that I hope to inspire people to gain confidence to go out and hike and document the trips themselves and I get a lot of submissions so I would like to set aside a time to watch these videos and to pick one to share on the community page so other people can share and watch that video as well I'm excited to make more home vlogs travel vlogs tutorials as well as hosting group trips my first one in March is Guatemala Olympic National Park Switzerland I want to go back to Italy I have a group trip for Patagonia at the end of the year as well as a ambitious Peru hike that I'll be opening up with four slots pretty soon going back to Iceland yeah there's a lot to do a lot to see and I would love to do my first road trip hike with my puppy Sasha once she's old enough and can handle some longer distances I can't wait to take her up to the Adirondacks or New Hampshire to do some smaller hikes in the area I can't wait to get her in a video see her hiking she definitely is a hiking dog one thing that I would really appreciate is you helping me out by subscribing or at least just stopping by to say hi on my new gaming youtube channel I don't only just hike I also play video games and love to hang out with friends playing Halo Age of Empires Factorio I'm a huge nerd for factory building games I also want to play Stardew Valley with Mika my girlfriend so follow there there's a link in the description if you want to check that out you also might notice a new channel I've made Craig Adams Clips I'm clipping everything from the past but also going forward pulling a lot of clips from hiking videos and whatever I stream and upload you might start to notice that I think it's more of an algorithm based thing I don't know if you want to subscribe to it but you might start to see those pop up on your home page on youtube hopefully so click on those give it a like hopefully it spreads around more I have a TikTok you can follow me on TikTok I've been back and forth on whether it's fun or good but it's here to stay I you know I've just been kind of uploading my Instagram stories that's something I've been doing for years now and I think it makes sense to you know make vertical short content I plan on doing more so check that out and of course I still have Instagram I haven't deleted it yet Winter Craig hasn't gone full Winter Craig yet never go full Winter Craig so follow me there for Instagram stories updates and photos but thank you so much for watching take care