Gear for a 9 Day Western Arthur Range Hike

This has got to last for a nine day trip. It's packing day. Let's go. Hi everyone. Mouser here. On this channel I do travel, hiking. I look at the gear I use and take you on some of my walks and adventures that I head off on through Tasmania and throughout the world. This week we're looking at the gear that we're taking for the Western Arthur Range. A trip I'm heading off in just a week's time with Woolser. Woolser's coming along. We've done this trip before together. It was some 12 years ago but we're ready. We know what we're doing and we're going to have a look at the gear. Please like and subscribe below if you're enjoying the video. If you saw the last video we went through all the food we're taking on this trip on that video. You can check that out down below. Link is in the comments below. Today we look at the gear. So on a trip like this I like to be warm. I don't like the cold. There is nothing worse than being cold at camp and you've got to pack appropriately. That doesn't mean you need to take a mountain of gear. You just need to take the right gear for the right conditions. Now Tasmania can get very wet. It's renowned for being wet especially in the southwest where we're going. You can expect torrential rain all year round. Some of the areas of the west coast get two meters of rain a year I think. But anyway I digress. We're going to start from the ground up looking at clothing first then we'll go through the gear. Firstly socks. Generally it doesn't matter how long my trip is. If it's anything longer than one night I will generally take three pairs of socks including the pair I wear. I'm a big fan of the smart wool socks. That's what I've got on this trip. I've got some of their hiking, hiker socks I think they're called. I've got my tent socks which are a bit thinner than the hiking socks. The hiking socks I've got a medium thickness. If I was going winter I would take something a lot thicker and I'd probably take an extra pair of socks. So I've got my tent socks there and then I've got my backup socks if things go pear-shaped and it gets really cold. These are a thicker sock and they're my spare sock. If I get to sort of day six or seven I haven't changed socks yet and I'm feeling pretty crazy I might put on some fresh socks which will be nice. Next up jocks. I don't know how many people talk about the jocks they're taking a walk but what the hell we're showing everything here today. I've just got a pair of a merino jocks here. Spare pair plus the pair I'm wearing. That's it. Nine days two pairs of jocks and again like the socks I might change them after seven or eight days if I'm feeling extravagant. I always walk in shorts. I do have long pants just in case I need them but generally regardless of the weather I'll be walking in a pair of shorts and I love my Patagonia baggies. They're a great short but they're very similar to other things you'll buy at places like Mac Pack, REI, places like that. They're just a lightweight short that dries quickly and one pair for the whole trip. That's all we need. In terms of a t-shirt I take this icebreaker 150 zone woolen t-shirt and that's what I wear every day on the track unless it gets really hot then I do also a very lightweight Patagonia running shirt that I use for running funny enough but this is a great lightweight shirt I'll wear it to bed at night while I'm on the track too and it packs down to virtually nothing. With thermals I've had these Patagonia thermal weight thermals for years they are great and I've got tops and bottoms I've got the zip neck so if I'm wearing it while I'm walking which I quite often do on those cooler mornings I can unzip it to regulate the airflow. Patagonia thermal weight thermals love them. For when I'm in camp I have some lightweight Montaigne prism pants they are a great pant that I found I've got a few different fleece pants and things but these are the lightest and they the warmth they give you the warmth to rate ratio second enough can't beat them they're kind of like a synthetic shiny material stuff they are a good pant good around camp and they also zip and button at the bottom if you wanted to wear them walking which I never have good pants and they pack down into a little bag to nothing as well which is important. Now concentrating on the top layer of warmth that's generally all the pants I take the thermal pant the Montaigne pant and a pair of shorts that's it. On the top layer though I take much more I've got my base layer thermal the thermal weight Patagonia thermal then I have a Patagonia zip neck one I think it is don't know if you can get these anymore they've replaced them with the Patagonia air shirt but which I have as well but this is just a bit lighter and it's got a hood which I find useful on those really crazy days when we're in really bad weather I have worn this all day along with my thermal and along with a jacket along with my external shell GORE-TEX so this one will always come with me every single trip because in the middle of summer we have had some crazy conditions you've seen that on other videos check out the link below to the one in the Southern Ranges in particularly where we really copped it and I had to wear this all day and that saved my bacon so great jumper. One thing that I always don't decide upon taking until the very last minute when I'm in the car about the hike will be a vest this one here is the Arc'teryx down cerium LT vest just really lightweight it's only about 130 grams it's a great vest it's down so not the best for the wet conditions of Tasmania but it's just lightweight and I'll wear it only in tent and at camp I won't hike in this because I don't want it to get wet but just that extra layer of warmth when I'm at camp if it's really cold I like this and I reckon this will be coming on the trip and it packs down to nothing at 130 grams why wouldn't it. Next up is probably my most important layer warming insulating main insulation layer which is my jacket that I wear in camp I can also double up and wear this thing on the track if I need to it's a synthetic insulation garment and this one is a newer version it is the Arc'teryx nuclei jacket for the last sort of five to ten years though I have always worn Arc'teryx insulating jackets I find them good I find their warmth to weight ratio really good and this one is a great one it's lightweight it's about 330 grams and it's got a hood hoodie good jacket sort of slightly water-resistant too you can wear it under your external shell when it's raining so it really keeps you warm and again it packs down to nothing which is an important factor for me when I'm packing. Next up is my beanie system so I take two beanies normally one is a lightweight smart wool beanie all the links to this stuff will be down below to this gear can't remember the name of them all off the top of my head funnily enough but this is my smart wool beanie this is what I wear walking this is what I wear to bed this is what I wear when I'm in camp and if it gets extra cold because this is a thinner beanie I do also take this beautiful Montbell Montbell chemise beanie this one here which I've had for years and it's still going strong it is a fantastic beanie what I really like about the Montbell chemise fabric is these ear warmers here they're beautiful on a really cold windy day. Sticking with the chemise theme we're getting into gloves so my glove system that I take I have adapted over the years you can look at blogs like thehikinglife.com, Camhome and done tens of thousands of miles of hiking. He first put me onto the chemise gloves and beanie and that is the nice glove for in camp I tend to not wear them on the track too much I don't need to with my other gloves I'll show you and that is the nice lightweight pair of gloves to put on I always have them dry in my pack when I'm at camp and it's getting cold. In Tasmania you've seen us on these other videos bashing through scrub really tough conditions and we always wear scrub gloves. These are just a pair of garden gloves from your local garden center I love these the ninja maxim group X they're a good glove they last forever these have done several trips and they're still going strong and they're only about $6 so that is a great pair of scrub gloves and they come on every trip and I also use them just when it's wet and cold and raining walking on the track they keep your hands warm as well in the wind and even when your hands are wet in these they tend to stay pretty warm and it's only in those real cold windy snowy conditions that I need to bring out these big guns the Temrez show up gloves which are the best gloves I have ever had these are awesome I have tried them all I've tried Gore-Tex gloves I have tried I have tried Montane prism gloves I've tried North Face gloves but these gloves which I think are made for Antarctica are light and they are impenetrable in scrub and in rain I had to buy these in from America online I had to order them in they were quite expensive about fifty or sixty dollars in the scheme of things compared to Gore-Tex that is quite cheap but I've had them for about five years and wear them all the time they are incredible when you're cold and bitterly cold your hands are frozen you can barely move you put the Temrez on and within five to ten minutes you can maneuver them again you can move your hands and they thaw out very quickly in the Temrez even if they're a bit damp inside so they're great gloves I recommend getting a pair we'll try and find a link and leave it below for you so around camp I like to wear a pair of shoes it's nice to have something dry to put your feet in and the ones I've found are these Exped sort of down shoes they keep your feet pretty dry when you've got to walk step outside quickly the base of them has a like a rubberized sort of sole and the water tends not to get in but if it does they dry out quick so good pair of shoes for around camp and they weigh very little next up is my external shell my rain protection the most important part of any clothing you're taking a trip protects you from the elements protects you from the weather protects you from the wind protects you from the snow and I've had this one since about 2016 2017 and I've tried a lot of jackets over the years but this one the Vida AR from Arcteryx I couldn't recommend it highly enough in Tasmania it's a great jacket and this will be doing another mission on this trip I've just re-waterproofed it it is starting to wet through a bit on hikes but it's what happens when you're in scrub all the time so I've given it a treatment with re-waterproofing product and it will be good to go will be protected and I can wear this I can adjust all the hood I can do all that stuff great jacket final shell layer is a critical part of Tasmanian bushwalking it is your over pants your waterproof pants and the last three years on these missions I've had to buy a new pair each year because they have been destroyed by the scrub my favorite and most comfortable pant was the Arcteryx Vida SL pant it fitted well it was comfortable you didn't feel like you had them on and you didn't feel restriction of movement but they're just not up to the Tasmanian wilderness two pairs of them destroyed in two years completely destroyed and ripped to shreds way to wreck a pair of $300 pants I've also got the Arcteryx Vida AR pants they're really heavy-duty very tough made from the same stuff as this but they're at about 400 grams they're a bit too heavy for me for this trip so I wanted something lighter so we've gone the Patagonia h2 no h2 no torrent shell pants they are quite thick and sturdy I think they'll be up to the task I think they're good and we're not really in scrub this time it's more scrambling and rocks and we're on tracks which is nice for change after the last few years scrub bashing and out in the bush it's going to be nice to be on a track it is the Western Arthur range and stuff can still get destroyed there next up cap this is just a Salomon running cap that I use for running again obviously it's pretty obvious when you say it's a running cap but I wear this out in the track it's very lightweight it's got good protection I may or may not take a Patagonia wide brim hat which I like I think I probably will I will decide that on the day boots these Scarpet Terra boots about what you want in Tasmania is a pair of these leather they are really hard wearing this is my second pair of these and I've been in Scarpets for years I've tried the Salomons the 4d GTX something or other but these ones are making a big comeback this year they're a solid boot and I know they're up for the task and we will get a few more trips out of them yet that's for sure also another thing that goes in my clothing bag is this little lightweight Sea to Summit air towel very small very lightweight about 40 not even probably 15 grams I reckon guessing we take that just to splash the face and dry off and dry the hands luxury luxury next we're into a sleeping bag oh or are we no we've moved into a quilt and this is the Katabic Gear Ousek it's lightweight it's about half the weight of my regular sleeping bag which is a Patagonia Patagonia yeah that's the one so if it's looking really cold I will take the Patagonia otherwise the Katabic Gear Ousek that's coming all the way all the way sleeping mat you cannot go wrong with the Therm-a-Rest Neo Air X-Lite this is a regular length I've got the extra-large at this time we're taking the regular length mat save about 150 200 grams by not taking the extra long one I'm 195 centimeters this this will be fine I think the advantage of having four kids and a wife is that when you go camping you need lots of sleeping mats hence I have a good selection of sleeping mats to choose from when I'm going on a long trip the Neo Air X-Lite you can't go wrong I also take a patch kit in my first aid kit in case this gets a leak nothing worse than having a leaking mat while you're on the track that happened last time we did the Western Arthur Range and Eastern Arthur Range to Woolza and we were having to fix his mat out the track luckily we took a kit it was freezing cold he fixed it by finding the hole by putting it in hanging lake and looking for air bubbles good fun moving right along navigation I always take my trusty compass haven't had to use it for a little while but it's always there just in case I need it that's a Suunto compass I've had it for years still going strong we keep that in the pack for every single trip what's that we've got a whistle you always need a whistle in there too you never know if you'll need that in terms of modern navigation I have a Garmin inReach Explorer Plus been using that thing for years I love it it is a great piece of equipment and that just sits in my pack turned on all day I can send track points if I want to my loved ones and it syncs with my phone so I can navigate off my phone if I need to as well as my watch which I take the other great thing with this is it's got an SOS functionality in this range we're going to we have a bit of phone reception so it's good for that factor too that you can use it to raise the alarm if you need to speaking of the watch I take the this is a Garmin Fenix 7XXL or something I upgraded a little while ago and this is a great watch it's got solar it's got navigation I use it for all my running that I do and it's just generally a great piece of equipment and on the track I can navigate with this watch I can see where I am I pre-plot all my routes into my watch and my GPS device and yeah it's a great piece of equipment that I love takes me it comes in every trip navigation still we've got the map that's a 1 to 50,000 TASMAP map I always get them laminated from Geographica based in Hobart in Tasmania these are a great map they've got all the details where you're going to be I will probably also take a Tasmania Southwest 1 to 250,000 TASMAP just because I love sitting at camp looking through maps it's good another thing we do take is track notes here is the Bible of Southwest Tasmania this is the John Chapman Southwest Tasmania book I've been using that book for 25 or so years it's updated every few years that's the most recent edition we take notes from that both take photos on our phone so they're in our phone and I will take printed copies of the specific notes I need printed onto waterproof paper in my pack from navigation we move straight onto safety and that starts with a snakebite kit you can buy these at hiking stores you can buy them online these are a snakebite kit it's got two triangular bandages and two compression bandages they come on every walk that I do never had to use it yet let's hope we don't have to use it then we've got our little first aid kit as a pharmacist in a past life I take this stuff pretty seriously so in there I've just got range of pain relief I've got blister kits I've got band-aids I've got cushioning I have got a little bit of second skin that sort of stuff any ailment I've had in the past be it blisters or cuts or abrasions or I have suffered on a trip everything is accounted for in this first aid kit it does weigh a bit it's probably about 500 grams but there is nothing worse than been miles from anywhere and having bad blisters and not been able to treat them so I highly recommend taking some equipment even if you've done thousands of walks like me sometimes you can get some blisters happens happened last year you would have seen that on the video last year it happened then got a couple of blisters on each foot which is not fun and we've got these little band-aid blister kits which just worked an absolute charm so we've got some of them as well as the elastoplast blister kit there's enough in there to keep us going if we get a blister on day one which we shouldn't but if we do it's there next up toiletries again little bag here with some stuff in it I've got a bit of sunscreen little 50 gram tube I've got toothpaste a little bit deodorant just you know just so I don't stink that is about it also a little mirror in there so I can wear contact lenses I just change them over and I've got a little mirror in there for that obviously in addition to the toiletries you need to take toilet paper on the Western Arthur ranges there are there are toilets they call sputniks you will understand why when you see one in a future video but they are based at the campsites if you get caught short on the track you need the trowel so that comes one thing I did forget to mention was with my sleeping equipment I've got this little pillow this is a nemo philo elite something tiny little pillow blows up very comfortable I like taking a pillow I know you can just put all your stuff in a stuff sack or whatever but hey luxury and it weighs nothing on to little luxuries we'll call them this is undecided yet but we may take a tarp if the weather is looking bad it is nice to have a tarp set up outside this is a MSR through hiker 100 wing tarp which comes on a lot of trips it's pretty light it's got some pegs in there and it's easy to set up at camp even in windy conditions it's it can provide some shelter we can also set it up at lunchtime if it's really bad it's I think we'll probably take it don't know yet we'll let you know out on the track and that's just in the question mark box Western Arthur range you do sometimes need to pack haul we didn't need to last time but you still got to take a bit of rope this is a climbing rope very thin sort of line to just do pack hauling if we need to with a carabiner on the end so we can quickly connect the packs on and off if we need to lower them or lift them along the way through some of those really steep sections of the Western Arthurs hopefully not but that's got to come essential one of the luxuries that always comes on every trip with us is our Helinox ground chair this chair is close to 10 years old but it is beautiful it is a great chair it sets up in seconds I think my records about 23 seconds I take on every trip I can set it up at lunch I can set up quickly at camp I can sit there in the morning at camp and the pouring rain straight after we packed up camp put my boots on in a nice comfy chair I love it and sets up quickly that's quick that's my record next up is cooking we are taking a Jetboil Minimo on this trip it's a 1 litre pot two of us it'll be plenty and we will take two canisters for the trip I think that would be plenty as well but they're the 230 gram canister and I think that's all we'll need is two of them I take my long spoon Cedar Summit mountain laurel designs you can get them anywhere these are pretty common now and super lightweight and great for having those dehydrated meals a good old Swiss army knife the black diamond Z something carbon FLZ poles are coming I don't take poles very often but when I've got 30 kilometers of plane walking to do at the end of the trip along flat button grass planes these will be making a big appearance as well as on the first day where we've got a few hours long button grass planes pretty monotonous terrain but those poles make a big difference and going up so much climbs as well they will be good so they're coming along spare shoelaces or you can double up by taking just a bit of spare string but I recommend these nothing worse than breaking your boot laces and having nothing to repair them with. Lighting we've got the Pepsil Bindi had this for a long time it's so lightweight it weighs nothing it's rechargeable with the battery I take and it is a good option for just around camp and you can even walk with this if you needed to but it's just really light and a great Pepsil torch I've got lots of Pepsils but this is the one that comes on every trip. I also take a torch for this in the tent it's another luxury but that you don't need to take but this is a Goal Zero Lighthouse Micro that is a good little thing it hangs in the tent and it's recharged by USB you can charge your phone off it if you had to and yeah it's got the torch there it's got the lighthouse there and it's a good option great just having the tent at nighttime without having to worry about a head torch. Another luxurious item I take is this Therm-a-Rest Neo Air Micro Pump is a luxury but it just you just plug it into your sleeping mat when you get to camp and pumps it up for you you can just leave your mat to inflate. Now we're down to the general sort of stuff technology I take a Charmist 23,800 milliamp battery on this trip that should be enough to charge my phone for nine days it should be enough to charge the head torch if I need to. Glasses case this is just a swimming goggle one I found at a sports store that I can fit my prescription sunglasses these glasses in there as well as a regular pair of glasses but I take all of them unfortunately that is what I'll protect them in. I scratched the hell out of my glasses last year on a walk and I need some protection for them so that's what we're going with. We've got a drink bottle to mix up my electrolytes in this weighs nothing it is a Hydrapak squeezy drink bottle thing what's this called what's this Hydrapak called? Yeah the Hydrapak squeezy drink bottle thing it is a 1 litre and is good. In terms of other drink vessels we've got the MSR Dromedare Dromlite. Dromlite? Is it Dromlite? Yeah. Dromlite 6 litre bladder and that sits in the front of my pack it's got a cap that I carry but also it's got this hose which I bought separate and that connects to my pack so I can have a swig while I am walking that's a great addition doesn't mean I need to take an extra bladder which I used to do I just take this one bladder and on those days where water is scarce I can carry up to six litres in this a litre in the Hydrapak and it's good especially in Tasmania where those really dry days where you cannot find water. Here we've got the little Sea to Summit inshule cup I think it's called it's nice and light it's about 45 grams and I take that for reconstituting my cold soaked lunches which you saw in the last video that I talked a little bit about I've got the old empty Gatorade container screw top lid it's great again recommended by the Hiking Life's Cam Honan on his blog he put me onto this when I read a blog post once and it's a great great option you toss everything in here for your cold soaked lunch your beans and stuff and goes in there screw the lid up with the water sits in the pack at the front of my pack in the front pocket and it's ready at lunchtime. Finally we're on to bits of camera gear we've got for this trip the Joby Gorillapod 4k or 5k I think it's called and that is the lightest tripod I've got I've taken heavier tripods before the Peak Designs travel tripod is fantastic it's what this camera is on right now that you are watching me from for this trip I'm just going to go with that it's lighter and I don't think I'm going to need a crazy tripod I want to do as much by hand as possible and not use a tripod unless I'm doing some astrophotography or something like that we also take my iPhone that's that comes on every trip the navigation communication whatever then I take a camera very similar this one I'm actually recording this video on the camera I am taking and but it's about the same size as that it's a Sony a7 for along with a G Master 16 35 millimeter lens it's an awesome lens you're watching me through that now I love that camera and I'll also take a couple of the Peter McKinnon V&D variable neutral density filters they will come with me as well as well as a Sony microphone on top of the camera which you are listening to me now on that's the kit that I take with the camera it weighs about 1.6 kilos all up the camera the microphone then the V&D are another couple hundred grams I guess but I just love been out there I love photography and I'm still learning I'm not that good but it's coming along and I love to take the gear to try and give me the best chance possible to get the best images and videos possible out there I put the camera in this hyper camera pod nice and lightweight straps at the front of the pack and is a good option if you're carrying a big camera like this so that comes in addition to that we'll also take a GoPro we'll probably also take an Insta360 X3 for the 360 degree stuff you can't fly drones here so that won't be coming but the Insta360 is a good option instead of a drone it gives you that aerial sort of perspective and will be a good option on this trip I think so we'll take that as well finally a shelter you've got to take a shelter and this one we're taking the Big Agnes Copper Spur HVUL 3 Mountain Blow good tent not as big as our regular Mother Hover the MSM Mother Hover has been a staple in our kit for years we've been using this for a year the Big Agnes it's got integrated little LED lighting which is nothing to write home about but it is a good tent for two people we will take that and it's pretty good in Tasmanian weather conditions used it before and that is what we're taking on this trip you might have a look at that better in another video later on but that is the tent we are taking the Big Agnes Copper Spur HVUL 3 with Mountain Blow wrapping up gators you need gators in Tasmania even places like on tracks I don't tend to use them as much but we'll still take them anyway I did a trip I did a trip a couple of years ago where I forgot my gators and it was all off track and it was no good the off track scrub bash you can watch that down below that was a crazy trip with no gators always come there the Cedar Summit Quagmire gators made out of canvas bulletproof we'll get a couple of years out of these generally in Tasmanian conditions I recommend them Gore-Tex gators and stuff don't rate them they don't last but these do Quagmire are about the only gators I would ever use and you've got all your little bags your stuff sacks waterproof ultra-seal stuff sacks these are all generally Cedar Summit lightweight ultra-seal that's the food bag I use I'll have two or three food bags I will have my what I call my kit bag that is a I think that's a Mountain Laurel Designs little Dyneema fabric bag I put my camera bits and pieces in there stuff I need to access quickly while I'm on the track then I will have that bag there for my warm jacket my thermals my gloves my beanie while I'm on the track easily accessible at the top of the pack then I've got a Hyperlite Mountain Gear pod there my clothes go in that I also wrap my clothes in a plastic bag or something just because there's nothing worse than getting stuff wet on the track this one the most important bag apart from the pack is the pack liner you can just use a big trash compactor bag but this is a good Cedar Summit ultra-seal bag and finally the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Porter 5400 bag that is my pack of choice has been for a few years it's awesome it's got the integrated pocket which is my only complaint Hyperlite if you're watching is the these things on the front pocket probably overloaded a bit but they broke so I've got carabiners and stuff on there but a top notch pack it lasts forever and that will take a big load will fit all this in there no problems it's waterproof roll roll top closure like that it's taken a beating this thing but it will take some more yet and it is a good pack you'll see Woolz is out there he just got a new one on my recommendation again then of course we've got all the food there which you saw in the last video but that'll all condense right down you'll see that when we do a packing video sometime that's the gear we take that's what we're doing and yeah maybe we'll even do a packing session before we go but until next time see on the track