New Gear!!!

After the Mullens Cove backpack I decided it was time to make a few gear purchases. Of course I wanted to lighten up if I could.

I decided to get a lighter down jacket. I did a previous post on the Montbell Ex Light Down Jacket which weighed in at 4.7 oz. (med.) with 1.4 oz of fill. Well these just came out so I decided to look for a sale instead! I found the Montbell Ultra Light Jacket on sale for $85 at Bent Gate Mountaineering, http://www.bentgate.com/ I just couldn't pass this up. The jacket retails for $145 so this was a pretty good deal. It's a women's large and weighs in at 7.5 oz. with about 1.8 oz. of 800 fill powder.

I've been using a Nike down jacket with unknown fill that weighed in at 24 oz. so this purchase has saved me a little over a pound! I got the Nike jacket last January at Dick's on clearance for $99. It's warm but not light. Now I'm hoping the Montbell will be light and warm! This is my downfall on going ultralight...I just can't stay warm. So I'll be trying the jacket out next weekend on a two night trip to GSMNP.

I picked up some super light rope/cord for tying up my food bag and rigging my tarp. It's .9 oz. for 50 ft. of reflective AirCore Pro Dyneema cord with 12 cam-locking tensioners. This is from Bozeman Mountain Works and was about $15. My old rope was from REI and weighed 2.9 oz. for 50 ft.

I bought a Ultralight Equinox Poncho/Tarp from http://www.campmor.com/ for $39. It weighs in at 7.7 oz. now here is my rationalization for this purchase: In a previous post I was griping about the Tarptent Rainbow misting on me after being rained on for two days straight. So I am thinking this piece of gear can be used as a pack cover or poncho (although I have rain gear) and then strung over my tent as a rain fly if I'm expecting foul weather. I wont bother taking it if the weather is to be nice or for overnights. I got it in particular for a week long AT hike coming at the end of the month. I like the idea of a little added insurance for my down sleeping bag. SO...as far as weight goes this one adds to the bottom line! Boo! My pack cover weighs in at 2.2 oz. so that's an increase of 5.5 oz., I could use the poncho instead of rain jacket and pants and decrease my weight but then I can't wear it and cover my tent with it so I'm a bit stuck there. I could take it on overnights only when it would really be an issue for my tent. Well, it will all work out eventually! For now let's say 5.5 oz. gain plus a big gain in confidence that my tent will stay dry on rainy multi-night trips!

Finally, I picked up a 2 pack of polycro ground sheets from Gossamer Gear. The pair was $6 and each one weighs 1.7 oz. compared to the 4.7 oz. ground cloth I was using (an old silver emergency blanket). So, I got a 3 oz. savings for $2. It may weigh even less once I set up my tent and cut it down to size.

So, there you have it. I may be able to grab a few more things once the tax refund check comes in! ;-) I have reduced my total pack weight by one pound with the purchases I made this time.

Hike Report- Mullens Cove Backpack

On Saturday March 21 we went to the Prentice Cooper Wildlife Management Area to backpack the Mullens Cove Loop. It is a short loop, 10.2 miles total. We had 10 folks from the Murfreesboro and Nashville Tennessee Trails Assoc. chapters on this trip.

On Saturday we hiked along the ridge overlooking the river and on Sunday we hiked out crossing numerous ATV trails and along a picturesque creek.

I didn't have any new gear on this hike. Upon futher consideration of this I decided it was time to purchase a few items!

No backpacking....bah!

Nope, no backpacks as of late. I really want to get back out there though. Oh well, in the mean time I'm doing a little gear stalking....I have a few purchases I'm trying to talk myself into.

I think I'll do a few posts on some of the gear I'd like to have and maybe post some gear reviews if I can get my hands on any.

1. Montbell SUL Down Jacket weighs an obscene 5 oz. but only has about an ounce and a half of down. Not sure if it's enough to keep you warm in winter but it seems like it would be a great shoulder season pick. Still waiting on some gear reviews before spending the bucks!

2. ThermaRest is coming out with a sleeping pad to rival the Big Agnes. It's a 3" thick pad but only has an R value that will take it to freezing and my BA will go down to 15 degrees. It's a few ounces lighter but I'm not sure if a few ounces is worth $125+ it will be available in May 09.

3. Golite Ultra down quilt rated to 20 degrees and weighs 19 ounces. I'm coveting this one...I must admit. At $180 it's not bad for that temp rating IF you like quilts vs. sleeping bags.

4. I'm still wishy washy on my alcohol stove. I'm looking at a small canister stove like the pocket rocket or similar weight.

5. I gotta find some decent rain gear...I can't believe I've put this off for so long! I just can't seem to make a decision...almost too many choices out there.

Well those are the top needs/wants....well see what actually gets bought.

Gear Report- Tarptent Rainbow

I had no new gear on the South Cumberland hike but I did have an issue with my Rainbow. This was the first time it had been in the rain so I was anxious to see how it would preform. I put it up around 3pm on Friday, it rained overnight to some degree but I couldn't say how much the rain woke me up three times but I slept very well so I don't know if the rain was constant or intermittent. Beginning around 11am Saturday it rained very steady until 3pm. We got a few hours break and then it started up again about 6:30pm. The rain kept up steady but light all night.

Around 4am I woke up feeling light mist hitting my face! I got my headlamp on and couldn't see any leaks so off it went. Another minute later there it goes again just a light little mist on my face. OK, light back on and now I look around some more and see there is water droplets on my sleeping bag...my down sleeping bag. This is not good. So I get my bandanna and wipe it all off and check the seams again and they seem to be holding out just fine so I lay back down with my light and wait. Sure enough after a minute when enough rain drops hit there is a little mist that sprinkles down on me.

It's like the fabric has finally become saturated and the pressure from the rain drops pushed a bit of water through the tightly woven fabric. There wasn't much to do except pull out my extra garbage bags and drape them over the sleeping bag to keep the down from soaking. I don't think it would have though it was such a small amount coming in but I didn't want to carry a sodden, heavy bag back. After posting my problem on backpackinglight.com message boards it seems this is an issue with single wall tents you just have to plan for and live with. So I may look into an ultralight tarp or maybe a sleeping bag cover to have just in case I know rain is in the forecast.

South Cumberland State Recreational Area Backpack

Three of us did this trip over Thanksgiving weekend. It was my first two night backpack. We hiked in from Stone Door along the Big Creek Gulf trail to the Connector trail and set up camp at the Sawmill campsite. It was cool and cloudy and the forecast for Saturday called for rain! We hiked to Schwoon Spring for water on the Collins west loop and then back to the campsite. After setting up camp we gathered enough firewood for the weekend and cooked dinner. This was the second trip out for my Tarptent Rainbow and I was interested to see how it would preform in the rain.



* Photo of rock retaining walls along the historic Stagecoach road

On Saturday we took the precaution of covering our firewood with a garbage bag and took off up the trail to hike the Historic Stagecoach Road. This was a trail I had wanted to hike for quite some time. The rock retaining walls that were built by slave labor are still visible and quite interesting. We hiked on to the South Rim trail to the Stage Road campsite for lunch (we had decided to leave our campsite intact and just dayhike on Saturday). Just as we were getting settled into our lunch the rain started and it didn't stop for several hours. We hiked back to our camp in the rain stopping to fill our water bottles at a small creek. We all decided to hunker down in our tents in hopes the rain would taper off.

My raingear did not hold out! I hadn't purchased "ultralight" raingear yet and was using Stearns brand waterproof breathable jacket and pants. I think I should have seam sealed them because they failed right at the top where the zipper meets the hood. Basically I was soaked from my neck to my waist on my front side. Luckily, we were keeping a fairly brisk pace so I didn't get cold but as the temps dropped with the rainfall I could see that hypothermia could have been an issue had we had more than a couple of miles to cover. After changing into dry clothes and reading for a while I began to get in better spirits. The rain stopped around 3pm and we all jumped out of our tents and quickly got a fire going. We managed to dry out most of our wet gear...thank goodness...I was not looking forward to putting that soaking wet rain jacket back on!

* drying out our gear!!!

Sunday morning we got an early start and hiked in just a steady mist for an hour or so. It cleared up for a while but finally got around to raining on us with about a half mile to go. The rain gear held out long enough to get back to the cars. We made tracks to Mary's Diner for a big buffet lunch and then on to home.

I didn't have any new gear on this trip but came to the conclusion that raingear needs to be a purchase I make soon!

Pack weight was right at 30lbs., this was heavier than usual since I carried two days of food, an extra t-shirt, extra change of underwear and the heavier raingear about 25oz total (since giving up the 10oz Dri Ducks that shredded on the first use!). I could have skipped the extra clothes as I really didn't need them.

Gear Review- GSMNP trip- Ridge Rest and REI Kilo Flash

After getting cold on the Hobb's cabin hike I decided to make a few additions to my gear before the Smokies backpack 2 weeks later. I love my Montbell Super Stretch Down bag but it is only rated to 30 degrees. I just can't afford to buy the SS 10 degree bag. So I thought I'd try a technique I learned from a hiking friend Craig. He uses two bags in the winter in his hammock. So I thought I'd try the same technique. I would still use the 30 degree Montbell as my main sleeping bag since I love the stretchy fabric and I'd add another light weight bag over it like a quilt.

Since I didn't have much time and I really wanted to keep the cost down I decided on a REI women's Kilo Flash. It's rated to 35 degrees and weighs only 20 oz. which makes my total weight 43 oz. or 2 lbs 10 ozs for both bags. I am hoping to get well into the twenties with both bags. I do sleep very cold which is vexing since I hike very hot! On this trip the technique worked perfectly. I don't think it got much below the mid-thirties and I was quite warm in the two bags. I slept in long john top and bottom and a light fleece. The fleece came off in the night as did my socks. The second bag mostly stayed in place...I can see how this would work better in a hammock...it slipped a little but as it was warmer than I expected it wasn't a big deal. The REI bag was on clearance for $114 from $180...now it's down to $70 on the http://www.rei.com/ site. This is a good, warm, light bag and for that price I'd grab one while they are available!

I also took a Therm-a-rest Ridge Rest closed cell pad that I picked up at a yard sale for $4. It retails for $25 and weighs on my scales 12.4 oz. I thought it would be a good addition to my Big Agnes Air Core 15 degree pad. It was too warm to tell a difference though. It's light and I will probably take it once it gets colder out. Right now it is doubling as a yoga mat so at least I'm using it!

Gear Review- GSMNP trip- Granite Gear Vapor Ki

I had been using the Deuter Futura Zero 40 SL through the summer. It is a 3 lb. 1oz. pack but I wanted the mesh Aircomfort back to keep cooler and less sweaty. However I really wanted a lighter pack that held more (2450 cu in). (http://www.deuter.com/)

I was really at capacity in the summer and knew that I would need more room when I wanted to pack down stuff, longjohns, etc. On the Hobb's cabin trip I was able to check out a Granite Gear pack that Sara was using. I liked the look of it and she had good things to say about it. I had done research on the Granite Gear packs before so seeing one in the field pushed me into ordering one.

I got it on sale for just over $100 after doing an online search (retail $170). Can't remember what company I went with though. It lists at 2lbs. 5ozs. and 3600 cu in. It only cuts a little more than half a pound off my weight but I gain over 1000 cu in of space! I am not sure I like the lidless design but it's ok so far. I was able to fit all my gear in comfortably. I added a down jacket and pants, a second down sleeping bag, wool long johns, closed cell pad, and my Jetboil. These are items I didn't have on the last trip.

The pack is super comfortable. I could have gone lighter but I wanted something with the adjustable load lifters and a good padded hip belt. The pack has two large open pockets and two small zippered pockets and an area on the front to strap a sleeping pad or jacket. I am still getting used to not having the lid for additional storage. GG sells an attachable lid but I don't know if it's worth the moeny or the extra weight...it seems really small on the web so I will have to consider this for a while. Other than losing a bit of convenience with the lid I am really enjoying this pack...it is much more comfortable than the Deuter.