Planning the west coast trail in 10 months, been planning for a while. Last night I brought out the digital scale and started a spreadsheet only to come to a conclusion that my pack, even with a year of slowly acquiring gear, is going to be way too heavy. Right now I'm sitting at 47lbs total gear including worn, (34lbs if you don't count food+water), and I've already skimped on how much food I think I need... I eat a lot.
rough gear list is here https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byk...it?usp=sharing
includes someone else's west coast trail gear list as a comparison, and a space where I was weighing extra gear to try pick something. (green gear in the packing list has actually been weighed)
Now what bugs me the most is not that I'm carrying too much gear, but that my gear is too heavy. Particularly my sleeping system. I have a 4lb synthetic 15F bag, a CCF pad that has moisture on it in the morning (which makes me think it isn't the cause of getting cold), but I'm still cold at 45f to 50f unless I wrap my surplus poncho liner overtop (which adds another 2lbs), and that is with using a long sleeve base layer. I am a side sleeper. When my poncho liner doesn't cover part of my sleeping bag, I get cold there.
Unfortunately a TQ+BQ combo isn't in the budget right now, nor is a nice down bag. Nor is buying everything lighter, it was bad enough splurging $40 to order a titanium cook set, though that shaved a whole pound off my pack list (and likely will be the cheapest pound reduction to come)
I'm already planning on ordering a warbonnet superfly with the expectations of needing more than the stock HH asym tarp for windy wet misty camping. Will this help much for staying warmer with an enclosed pitch?
Unfortunately I haven't slept in a tent in years so I don't know if it is the being in a hammock part or just me that I'm cold in that bag. I'm 6'3 and 165lbs, so I'm really not carrying any internal insulation.
I'm really considering trying to make a hammock sock, in the hopes that everything I've read about microclimates will let me drop the 2lb poncho liner in favour of a 1lb or less sock. Downside is my sewing experience can be narrowed down to the 1 hour I slaved to make a crude cape for halloween one year. Just hoping increase in warmth is possible without too much condensation problems.
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