Below is my gear list, broken down section by section. Clicking
on the name of an item will bring up a new window with additional
information about why I chose that particular piece of equipment.
Clicking the B next to an item will take you to an online retailer
where you can learn more about the product and even buy it.
The above list does not include weights for food, water, fuel,
and water purification tablets because these weights depend on
the number of days I’ll be hiking and the availability and
quality of water sources.
I eat about 1 3/4lbs of food each day consisting of two hot meals
(breakfast and dinner) made by adding boiling water to freeze
dried food. I don’t do any actual cooking in my pot, so
cleanup really isn’t necessary. The rest of the day I eat
energy bars and assorted snacks.
I use Esbit solid fuel tablets to heat the water on my homemade
stove. I use two tablets per day and each tablet weighs .5 oz.
I use Katadyn MicroPur water purification tablets. They kill
bacteria, viruses and cysts and are extremely lightweight. A ten-day
supply with spares weighs only .7oz. I usually use two tablets
per day.
For desert hiking I may carry as much as a gallon of water with
me. I spread the water between a 32oz Gatorade bottle (much lighter
than a Nalgene bottle), a 1L Platypus pocket bottle and a 2L Platypus
bag. I also carry an oven bag that can be used to carry water
in an emergency. Spreading the water across multiple bags helps
protect me from losing all of my water if a bag springs a leak.
So, for a three day hike I would carry 5.25lbs of food (3 days
* 1.75lbs/day), 3oz of fuel (3 days * 2 Esbit tablets/day * .5oz/tablet),
approximately .3oz of water purification tablets and anywhere
from 2lbs to 8lbs of water depending on conditions. Using the
gear list below that would give the following total weights:
| 3 Day Hike |
| Base Weight +food, fuel, pur tabs and min water: |
19.4lbs |
| Base Weight +food, fuel, pur tabs and max water: |
25.4lbs |
| Max Weight (carried) +food, fuel, pur tabs & min water: |
23.0lbs |
| Max Weight (carried) +food, fuel, pur tabs & max water: |
29.0lbs |
On longer hikes the use of Esbit tablets and the MicorPur tabs
really cuts down on weight. On a ten day hike I would carry 17.5lbs
of food (10 days * 1.75lbs/day), 10oz of fuel (10 days * 2 Esbit
tablets/day * .5oz/tablet), .7oz of water purification tablets
and anywhere from 2lbs to 8lbs of water depending on conditions.
So for a ten-day hike, the total weights would be:
| 10 Day Hike |
| Base Weight +food, fuel, pur tabs and min water: |
32.0lbs |
| Base Weight +food, fuel, pur tabs and max water: |
38.0lbs |
| Max Weight (carried) +food, fuel, pur tabs & min water: |
35.6lbs |
| Max Weight (carried) +food, fuel, pur tabs & max water: |
41.6lbs |
