I thru hiked the AT with my Hennessy Ultralight explorer with sil hex tarp, Mt Washington 4 underquilt and WM 20 deg Alpinlite sleeping bag. They served me well and I know they would suffice just fine on the PCT starting mid April.
However I want to lighten my pack.
I am fairly well set on changing my sil Hex tarp for a Cuben tarp from Hammockgear and my sil poncho for a cuben packa, this saves me about 19 oz if I am not mistaken.
I carry a neo air for ground sleeping and I am not prepared to forgo this, the problem has been that the NEO is single use, I found it essentially unusable inside my hammock.
My thoughts now are to switch to a Blackbird 1.1 double and use the Neo between the two layers and supplement with something really light for extra insulation. I want to get similar under warmth to my JRB Mt Washington4.
Does anyone have any reccomendations. The Neo (or something similar) is coming along no matter what so the savings come from replacing the Mt Washington UQ with supplemental insulation to go with the NEO.
Another change I am considering is to replace the WM bag with a 0 deg topquilt from Hammockgear (I have a 40 deg topquilt but for me that would not do except for Nor Cal and Oregon)
I carry down pants (lighter than long johns and warmer) and a down jacket so I have camp gear that will extend my temperature range. I also carry a Kleen Canteen which with a sock serves as a very effective hot water bottle when the weather is cold.
I will not have an opportunity to test out prior to my hike beyond a few hours in the back yard, temperatures in Lubbock probably wont be close to So Cal desert or Sierras and an overnight outside is painfull with barking dogs and EMS sirens. I need to get it close to right first time. Of course if I get it wrong my wife can ship my existing gear to me but that would be a lot of wasted money.
Any help would be much appreciated.
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