PCT 2025: Gear Review, 13.5 # Base Weight (includes time stamps)

Hey guys, welcome to my channel. So today I'm going to go over all the gear that I'm going to take with me on my Pacific Crest Trail through hike. We're just going to try to go through everything as quickly as possible so this video is not too long and drawn out. And I'll try to just go through everything like by category so hopefully it can run along a little bit faster. If you guys need any more information about anything I'm about about to cover please ask your questions in the comments below. But I'm just going to try to breeze through everything and make this quick. Starting with the backpack I'll be carrying. It is the ULA OM 2.0. I've had this for I think about three years now. Have really enjoyed it. It's done a really good job for me. I was able to customize the colors which was fun and it's about I think it's about 38 ounces. So it's not the lightest backpack out there but it's a pretty pretty light. It's about 64 liter capacity and I do fill every bit of it pretty much. So I don't know how people are carrying the 40 and 50 liter size van. Teach me your ways. But anyway I love this backpack. It fits really comfortably. It has the S straps in the front. Fits my small torso really well and ULA has great customer service so I'm very happy with this backpack. And now let's just go over everything that's going to be in it. Before I get started with the gear just real quick I'm going to be I'm going to be camping over here tonight. This is at Government Canyon State Natural Area in San Antonio, Texas. Decided to come out here tonight so that I could test kind of go through all the motions with setting up my tent and use it on my gear tonight outdoors. And it's supposed to be low 40s so it should be nice and cool. But I've used all my gear before in past hikes and it's always worked really well for me so I don't expect there to be any surprises other than my sleeping pad and I'll go over that here in a minute. But okay so let's go over everything. It's all laid out here. Everything that you see on the table is coming with me except for the plant and the lantern. They're just for ambience later tonight. Okay so starting with my tent that I'll be bringing. I'm going to be bringing the Z-Pack duplex. The blue one and I'm going to set this up later and show you guys everything set up. But it's a Z-Pack duplex and I've been using that ever since I started backpacking in 2019. Absolutely love it. This is actually a new one that I got in 2024 because the other one was basically falling apart. The Dyneema was starting to shred and rip and tear and so it was time to uh and the zippers weren't working anymore so I had to spend the money and get a new one. And then I'm gonna I also did get the footprint to use for it. Some people opt not to bring it. I've done that in the past also. But I really want to protect my investment and I also use this lightweight footprint as a sheet for taking a break. So I'm going to put it back there because I actually carry that on the outside of my backpack. But I like having the tent footprint because it does serve multiple purposes. As far as the stakes go for the tent I'm using six of the MSR groundhogs. Those are the regular size and I really like them a lot. They seem to hold in all kinds of different soils, substrates and all that. And you know instead of fussing with all those little tiny ultralight ones that I use that would break and bend and not work right I'm just gonna opt to bring what's been working for me. And then these two shepherd's hooks I just use on the side lines of the tent on the on those sides that just don't really need like a whole lot of support. The bag I'm using is just a recycled grocery bag that I picked up on one of my trips and it works really really well for carrying everything so I can't see spending money on a stuff sack for that. When that bag's working just fine. Moving on to my pad and sleeping bag. I went back and forth a lot on this and this is one of the reasons I'm out here tonight testing everything. I wanted to bring my Nemo Tensor Wide which is what I brought in 2023 when I hiked. I have no complaints about that other than it just it weighs a lot more than this current system that I'm looking at. This is my Neo Air it's a Therm-a-Rest Neo Air and it's a short pad so it is not your standard length and I'll show you later how I have it set up for me but it only weighs it's like less than seven ounces and I have used it before on trips and it's comfortable but it's you know it's pretty narrow I don't know if you if you've used one in the past you know what I'm talking about you gotta balance on it. I am pint size I'm only five feet tall and I did lose a lot of weight so I'm hoping I'm hoping it helps it feel more feel more comfortable for me than it did in the past. Then I also have two pillows because I am carrying so much less weight in the way of the mattress. I don't feel bad about having the two pillows and the reason I have the second one is because I have had an issue with acid reflux in the past with child diet and I don't know I just don't want to have any problems pop up so I'm going to bring an extra one so that I can elevate my head better and I will show you again later how I have everything set up so you can see what I'm doing with that system but see how that goes. And then as far as my sleeping bag goes I have the Z-Packs Classic and it is a five degree but I think it reads more like a 10 degree and they don't even make the five degree in Z-Packs anymore for the sleeping bags and it is kind of a mummy bag but it also acts like a quilt I think and you can lay it out pretty flat except for the toe box area and so I love love the sleeping bag. I don't want to have to replace it I know eventually I will have to but I definitely want to try to find something that's pretty similar or the same when I have to replace that again. I've already gone over the the footprint that I use for breaks and I can also use that for cowboy camping as well. I have the Therm-a-Rest pad here for break time but also using in the tent and also parting part of my sleep system. I'll show you how I had that set up later and this is cut down I do not have a full length one so this is only six parts. I'm not sure how long the full size one is but I've cut off a lot of it so it weighs less and I don't need the whole thing. Okay moving on to the next category as far as my food system goes very basic and I am going to be cold soaking so I'm not bringing a stove to get started unless we find out there's going to be any crazy weather patterns in the beginning that cold and stormy and might be safer to have a stove with me at that time but in the past when I've had the stove I've usually sent it back home pretty quickly but so the plan is to start with a cold soaking system but if I have to change that throughout the trip I will for safety's sake and possibly comfort's sake like in the Sierra or Washington when it starts to get colder. My food bag is just a generic Walmart reusable bag and it's pretty tough. I think polyester blend super lightweight. I've used that for many trips. I mean the durability is okay and it starts to break down. I'm not opposed to just buying a regular food bag as I go but I just trying to save some money. I'm having to put that money into other gear items right now so we'll replace that later as we need to but for now we'll get started with it and then I have the Talenti jar for the cold soaking and then the lid and that way I can get things rehydrating and secure really well in my backpack because I'm hiking along so it's ready for me when I get to camp and then I have my Nalgene bottle which I use for my like my kachava shakes, you know, my nutrition shakes and coffee drink. It's got the wide mouth on it so I don't make a mess with all the powders and all that. I really enjoy having that easy to clean too and then I've got my Toks titanium short spoon which is really cute and it fits inside the Talenti jar and I can put the lid on it securely so everything fits together really nice in here which is great so it compacts down in size and that's it for the food system. For my electronics, the phone I'm bringing is the iPhone 16 Pro Max and I'm using that to record right now so we won't see that and I have the Anker 20,000 milliamp that I've never replaced yet. I've had this one since I did the PCT in 2019 and for every other trip I've taken and it's always worked really well. I haven't had any problems with it. I'm not quite sure what to replace it with yet if I want something that charges a little quicker but it still works really well, holds a charge well and it seems like I get the right amount of usage out of it between stretches so I really just don't want to change it yet until I know exactly what I want to get and what's going to be worth the extra money to spend because it's a lot of money to replace that sort of thing when this is still working really well. Then I've got the charging cords that go with the charging block and it's just an Anker, I think that's the 30 watt charger and I have the headphones for my phone. I have the NU25 Nitecore headlamp which I absolutely love this. It works so well and it's just got the right settings on it. The battery seems to last for a really long time. It doesn't seem like I ever have to charge it up between stretches either like even like a five, six day stretch it's still working really well and so I really do like and it does have the red light mode on it as well and Nitecore reached out to me and asked me if I would review the NU27. You know I love this headlamp so much I'm curious to see what the differences are so I told them yes I would like to see it review it so they're going to send me one so that I can compare these two and we'll take it out on a fun little night hike and I'll see what the differences are hopefully before I leave for the PCT and then I've got the Garmin inReach Mini that I'll be bringing along and then I'm just carrying all my electronics in this quart size freezer bag. All right let's go over all the miscellaneous pieces of gear that I have and let's start with my umbrella. This is a Z-Pax Lotus. I just replaced this one. Needed it. The other one the material starts to wear down after a few years and it was starting to look like a dark gray color and kind of transparent so unfortunately that coating on here does wear off after a while but I love my Sun Umbrella and I would not change that for anything going out there. I've used it so much on my hikes as you know if you've followed me in the past I do love having my umbrella with me. For the water system I'm going to be using a full-size Sawyer Squeeze and then I have the coupling under here here we go the coupling that goes with that and helps it to attach to the KNOC bag and the water bottle that I'm filtering into and then I can use this little piece of cloth for helping to catch sediment if it's extra dirty water collection so that way it can help to keep sediment from getting into the Sawyer filter and then I have the two liter KNOC bag that I'll be using and everything gets put inside this little mesh bag here and I always have this little clippy thing I put it on the outside of my bag but I make sure I keep the clippy thing on there so it doesn't accidentally fall out of my bag. I also bring three one liter bottles with me from the beginning so I'll have a five and a half liter capacity including my 16 ounce Nalgene bottle. For my bathroom needs I'll be carrying the Kula cloth e-rag and then I also have this Deuce Spades trowel that I'll be carrying and then I just carry all my bathroom items inside this quart size freezer bag and then let's see where do you want to go the Nyoflume bag so that is to act as a pack liner inside of my pack so that I can in case I have to do some water crossings or it's a super rainy day I can protect all my essentials from getting wet and then I also have this auto detailing towel that I'll be bringing and this has come in handy so many times on the trail but I use it for wiping down condensation in the morning when I'm inside the tent, wiping off the outside of the tent I can use it to dry myself when I'm in the public shower areas at campground it's just come in handy so many times and it just it's just the perfect microfiber material that rings out really well where it's almost dry and you can keep using it over and over again even when it's damp and then I have my V-packs rain cover that goes over my backpack and then I have my glasses which I'll fit inside this old crystal light container I don't even know if they sell those anymore but I've had this one for years and I keep this clippy on it so again it can clip to my backpack so I don't accidentally lose them or they you know slide out of my backpack because I do keep those on an outside pocket and so I've got my prescription glasses that I keep inside this microfiber towel that I also use to clean them and then my reader glasses which I'm going to replace with much lighter ones before I leave for the trip and all that fits inside here nicely this is my medical slash repair kit I'll lay everything out if you're interested in seeing what's inside here but it's I got it down to pretty lightweight so it's just things that I need finally but I had to take some things out of there it's too much this is just my personal care kit yeah toothbrush I'm gonna have toothpaste dots in here if I don't have time to make the toothpaste dots I'm probably just gonna buy one of those small travel-sized tubes of toothpaste but I'm gonna try that again I don't like the ones that I bought because they were so strong they made everything smell like spearmint in my bag I didn't like that I'm gonna try to make my own then I have some ear plugs in here inside this green bag I've got floss and I've got some hair ties in here I've got these baby fingernail clippers which are much smaller and more lightweight that's really it for here nothing exciting I just carry that inside the mesh bag my neck knife is the MT Knives neck knife and it's pretty lightweight super razor sharp been on every trip with me so far these are items that I'm not going to be starting with but I'll send them ahead to areas where I'll need them the ice axe and the Cthulhu microspikes will probably be sent to Paradise Valley Cafe so I have them for the Mount San Jacinto area and we'll just I'll pay attention to what's going on as far as what they're recommending as I get closer to that area and then send them to Paradise Valley Cafe if I need them and then they'll be possibly needed for the Wrightwood area again depending on snow and recommendations when I get there and then I'll have everything sent to Kennedy Meadows South so that I will have them for the Sierra I'll have the microspikes the ice axe plus the little baskets that you see there that go on my trekking pools to help with traversing through snow I'm going to go over these worn items here in a little bit but first let's go over the wearables that I'm going to keep inside my backpack I'm going to keep them inside this very lightweight nylon bag it's pretty tough and I can also turn this into an extra pillow if I want to with my extra clothing items right here are all the worn items that were inside of my nylon bag here let's start with our sleepwear so I have the Under Armour leggings that are 3.0 cold gear and then I have Arcteryx thermal layer top that I wear to bed and then I also scroll down here sorry about that I use these for my sleeping socks but those are also just like extra pair of socks in case I need them as well but usually they're just used for sleeping and then I have the Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer puffy jacket and this is a size large I wanted to change it out for something a little less bulky I have lost 30 pounds and you know just trying to cut down where I can but you know it really didn't make that much of a difference in weight they're so expensive I just don't want to spend the money on that right now so I'll make do with the large and maybe look into getting something a little bit less bulky for me later on but it still serves its purpose well for my rain gear I have the Outdoor Research Helium 2 rain jacket and I will be using a rain skirt instead of rain pants and I find that the rain skirt has multiple uses as well which I really like in a gear item and this thing barely weighs anything this is Zcax rain skirt I can use that underneath my sleeping pad for extra protection if I need to I can wrap it around my legs while I'm sleeping if I'm feeling a little extra cold I also use it while I'm hiking like in the morning so there's a lot of condensation on plants and all that and everything's getting wet and it's cold you can just use that to get started and also keeps access like a windbreaker on your legs just like rain pants but it's a lot less heavy and then I also carry a windbreaker this is the Patagonia Houdini and I absolutely love this is another one of my favorite gear items that I definitely want to have with me it's just that perfect temperature for hiking it's a super lightweight but it keeps me just warm enough as I'm hiking and it's breathable so you're not sweating inside of it unfortunately using the rain jacket as a windbreaker doesn't work for me I get too warm inside of it and I don't like it for that purpose and this thing barely weighs anything so one of my favorite gear items and then I'm bringing a short sleeve shirt because I like hiking in short sleeves once in a while or a lot moving along to my buff I have two buffs that I'll be carrying with me and this is in place of using a knit cap a lot of people carry a cap with them and I prefer to use the buff because it has multiple uses I like to use it on my head and I also like to use it as a mask while I'm sleeping if I need it and I can also use it to cover my ears if I'm in extra noisy camp having trouble sleeping so for me it has extra uses and I like carrying that to keep my head warm and I also have a hooded puffy jacket that I wear over top of that and then there's my extra socks that I wear and I do have one pair of extra underwear I'll be bringing but I forgot to put that in this lineup here all right last but not least this is all the wearable items that I'll be wearing on my body well let's start with the shirt it's going to be the Columbia button-down this is the PFG and it's a vented I think they call it a fishing shirt but it's really lightweight material I like it because it breathes well and I've really enjoyed hiking in that versus the sun hoodie this I feel like I can get so much more airflow inside of it and I just feel like I'm suffocating inside the hoodie and I know a lot of people prefer the hoodies for the protection around the face and the neck and all that but you know I've got my buff bandana that I use for that and also my hair that I put over my ears and all that but I like wearing these probably going to be wearing a different color shirt but in the same brand as that one and then I'm going to be wearing shorts a lot these have a liner inside of them that I'm using in place of underwear so but I'll be alternating these shorts with these leggings so I'll be bringing the leggings as well so I have both options to use and then I'm going to be using this Patagonia utility pack and that's just for obviously convenience sake and having things easy to get to that you need also importantly keeping really important items attached to your body all the time when you put your backpack down or go into towns to do errands you always have your money, your ID, your phone you can put your garment inside here if you happen to get in a car for a hitch or something like that but I really like having this with me so convenient I carry my little meds in there my chapstick just things you want to have easy access to and then I'm bringing my prescription sunglasses and let's see let's move along here to the foot the feet so I'm going to wear the Injunji toe socks and then over top of that I'm going to wear the Darn Tough sock combination I've been doing that since 2019 and I've never had a blister I find it to be extremely comfortable my feet don't sweat a lot and I'm just going to keep doing that system because that works really well for me and then I'm going to be using the Dirty Girl gaiters these are new ones that I got this year and then for my shoes I'm going to be using the Ultra Lone Peak 9 so far I really like them a lot these are pretty brand new they're a little dirty because I've been using them for training for the insoles I use the Superfeet greens inside there but yeah that combination seems to work really well for me I'm going to carry my second buff stays on my body or on my backpack and again multiple uses really like having that and then my sunglasses Dash Dash look at the flamingos cute so and then I've got my trekking poles and my trekking poles are the same ones that I've started with I've never replaced these yet I'm missing a tip on one of these but they're still functioning and working well and this is the Black Diamond Ergo Cork trekking pole and those are also for holding my Z-Packs duplex tent up all right let's get all this stuff put back in my backpack so I can go for my afternoon training hike late afternoon and I'm probably going to go up about 45 minutes and then turn around 45 minutes so about an hour and a half training hike and this is pretty steep rocky terrain here so I love to come out and get a quicker workout done okay guys I've returned from my training hike and I got back here to set up my tent and my sleep system so I could show that to you before it gets dark so all right let's show you how I put this together now obviously it's all going to hinge on how this works out for me tonight sleeping with it I have tried it at home and it seemed okay but I didn't sleep a full night with it so basically I start with my I've got my rain skirt here if I'm not using it for anything else it acts as like a secondary protective layer for my pad so I lay that down and then I'm using my backpack I took everything out of it so that there's nothing inside of it there's nothing sharp on the outside of it that's going to hurt my sleeping pad and then I stuffed my first pillow that I have all the way up in there so that's already given it some loft there and then I have this Therm-a-Rest Z-Lite pad here and it's attached with my strap so that it won't slide around which is great because that's going to keep my pillow in place and also provide extra loft the only thing I might do I don't know because it's right against my back I might put a little bit of Velcro here because I have Velcro there and that would keep it from sliding around well my shoulder fits in this space here and actually was pretty comfortable at home so it gave me somewhere to put my shoulders yeah just we're going to try it out tonight see how it works and then down here at the foot I'm going to have my feet hanging off just a little bit but you know there's usually extra clothing I'm also going to use my shoes to put here and then on the other side there and that just it elevates it slightly but it keeps it from sliding especially if you're on a slopey camping spot all right guys well that's going to do it for my gear video camping trip but yeah I'm glad you guys joined me today I hope you enjoyed the video and I'm just going to sit here and relax the rest of the evening I made a little bit of hot chocolate just a little bit of coffee in there just for flavor but not enough to keep me up hopefully and I'm interested to try out my sleep system tonight see how that's going to go it's starting to get pretty chilly out here so I'm getting ready to oh listen that's an eastern screech owl I've been listening to this male and a female going back and forth for quite a while now so pretty cool guys take care make sure you subscribe to follow my PCT journey if you're not yet and we'll see you guys in the next video take care bye