Gear Update 4
Running Total - $1544 (Definitely not a cheap hobby)
Not included in our running total:
$30 two knock off buffs (Covid purchase and for home walk use)
$80.00 America the Beautiful Pass (for MI trip and RMNP entrance)
We bought this because of Covid and for simplicity. Many parks are not doing daily passes right now and with RMNP’s new timed entrance, they are no longer listing the $35? week pass we had planned on purchasing. We figured with the annual pass, we don’t need to interact as much with rangers vs buying entrance passes. Probably we would have only spent $50 on entrance fees this year, but we are considering the difference in price a convenience purchase towards a good cause.
Thing that we dropped:
20 oz each two Klymit Static V Ultralight Insulated sleeping pads
1 oz? in sleeping pad connectors and Velcro
While not really a change, I decided after the June trip to keep my backpack and so I took some scissors to it. I had previously thought there was a bit of gap in the shoulders when I pulled the load lifters, even though I didn’t see one at home and it didn’t sway or feel uncomfortable. After taking photos on the June trip, I realized there isn’t a vertical gap even when the load lifters are all the way down (my preference), it’s just that the outside edges gap a bit...to small to even see on the photos. I read the thread on Dan Durston’s pack and what some folks, more articulately than I, described as issues with the should strap for that pack is exactly what was happening with mine. I decided I didn’t care since it’s not uncomfortable and hopefully the foam will be less rigid over time. I found all the other packs at I tried on at REI too be much more irritating and I otherwise like my pack. (I didn’t like the osprey trampolines, others’ thickly padded backs, or any bag where it was rigid above my shoulders, which ruled out a ton of bags.) I don’t think it’s worth the time or effort right now to find a pack that has the pros of mine + better straps.
The biggest purchase in our update was switching to a double pad, but it was one of the cheapest ones we could find. Also since our old ones were Klymit we knew we’d probably like it. Hopefully we can recoup some money by selling our individual ones. We lost six inches of width and the foot tapers, but we had taped it out before buying and thought it would be big enough. Testing it out at home, it seems really comfortable, much better than trying to join two single pads together. We’ll see how it performs next week.
For the Ursack liner, bears are extremely rare in the part of Michigan (Southwest) where our next trip is. But this excursion will be the most similar to our RMNP trip, at least in terms of mileage and nights out, so we want to pack as closely to our planned list for RMNP as we can. (Well we're actually doing more mileage to make up for the lack of elevation.) It looks like we’re going to easily fit three nights of food (for two) plus toiletries in the Ursack. Our RMNP trip is four nights, but the first one is at a campground with bear lockers so that extra night of food doesn’t have to fit in the Ursack. It helps that we’re continuously packing less food per day. I think we started out packing twice as much food as we are now.
The rest of the purchases were small accessories, bug/tick control, and some items to beef out our emergency kit now that we’re going places that are a bit more remote. It’s crazy how it all adds up and we tried to go easy with the add ons. We wanted the power charger for the longer trip, since even on airplane mode they seem to get very low after two days of photos etc. The Opsack we got to reduce smells. Our Ursack and DH’s pack lid smelled like beef jerky after the last outing, even though we double zip lock baggied it...which isn’t how we want either to smell! I’m also thinking of ditching the jerky for more trail mix and bars because it’s so smelly. That would have been cheaper than the OPsacks...
I bought the nitecore after resisting the urge to spend $$ on lighter headlamps. Ours were two for $15 and 3 oz each. The cool 1 oz ones are $30-50 each. So it wouldn’t be a cost efficient way to save weight/space. The nitecore I bought because it’s relatively cheap and so small it can fit in a more quickly accessible pocket if needed. It’s also more convenient to throw in our daypacks for day hikes. Who knows, maybe we’ll ditch the headlamps for two nitecores. We don’t hike at night and rarely use the headlamps at camp anyways.
Things we added:
$117 Massdrop Klymit Ultralight Insulated Double Sleeping Pad 35.4 oz
$14 two Opsack 12 x 20 (only plan on using 1 per trip)
$12 two Opsack 10 x 9 (only plan on using 1 per trip)
$16 Permethrin pump spray 24 oz
$15 six MSR mini groundhog stakes (tent didn’t come with enough)
$9 Picaridan repellent lotion 4 oz
$40 Ursack aluminum bear bag liner 9.2 oz (required for RMNP)
$7 taxes
$8 65 ft of 1.8 mm neon paracord for guylines
$6 two plastic emergency whistles
$16 6000 mAh Jackery Portable Charger 5.5 oz
$4 taxes
$6 mini droppers to repackage Aquamira, hand sanitizer, & soap
$2 10 pack fire starter tabs (for emergency kit, only packing a few)
$7 3 pack Nylofume Pack liners (plan on using 1 each)
$10 Nitecore Tube light .32 oz
$4 six line-lok guyline adjusters
$3 shipping
$16 more Permethrin Spray
$6 two bandannas (one to test as a pee rag and one to filter water)
$5 antibiotic cream packs
$5 emergency mylar blankets
$5 antibiotic cream packs
$5 emergency mylar blankets
$30 two knock off buffs (Covid purchase and for home walk use)
$80.00 America the Beautiful Pass (for MI trip and RMNP entrance)
We bought this because of Covid and for simplicity. Many parks are not doing daily passes right now and with RMNP’s new timed entrance, they are no longer listing the $35? week pass we had planned on purchasing. We figured with the annual pass, we don’t need to interact as much with rangers vs buying entrance passes. Probably we would have only spent $50 on entrance fees this year, but we are considering the difference in price a convenience purchase towards a good cause.
Thing that we dropped:
20 oz each two Klymit Static V Ultralight Insulated sleeping pads
1 oz? in sleeping pad connectors and Velcro
While not really a change, I decided after the June trip to keep my backpack and so I took some scissors to it. I had previously thought there was a bit of gap in the shoulders when I pulled the load lifters, even though I didn’t see one at home and it didn’t sway or feel uncomfortable. After taking photos on the June trip, I realized there isn’t a vertical gap even when the load lifters are all the way down (my preference), it’s just that the outside edges gap a bit...to small to even see on the photos. I read the thread on Dan Durston’s pack and what some folks, more articulately than I, described as issues with the should strap for that pack is exactly what was happening with mine. I decided I didn’t care since it’s not uncomfortable and hopefully the foam will be less rigid over time. I found all the other packs at I tried on at REI too be much more irritating and I otherwise like my pack. (I didn’t like the osprey trampolines, others’ thickly padded backs, or any bag where it was rigid above my shoulders, which ruled out a ton of bags.) I don’t think it’s worth the time or effort right now to find a pack that has the pros of mine + better straps.
The biggest purchase in our update was switching to a double pad, but it was one of the cheapest ones we could find. Also since our old ones were Klymit we knew we’d probably like it. Hopefully we can recoup some money by selling our individual ones. We lost six inches of width and the foot tapers, but we had taped it out before buying and thought it would be big enough. Testing it out at home, it seems really comfortable, much better than trying to join two single pads together. We’ll see how it performs next week.
For the Ursack liner, bears are extremely rare in the part of Michigan (Southwest) where our next trip is. But this excursion will be the most similar to our RMNP trip, at least in terms of mileage and nights out, so we want to pack as closely to our planned list for RMNP as we can. (Well we're actually doing more mileage to make up for the lack of elevation.) It looks like we’re going to easily fit three nights of food (for two) plus toiletries in the Ursack. Our RMNP trip is four nights, but the first one is at a campground with bear lockers so that extra night of food doesn’t have to fit in the Ursack. It helps that we’re continuously packing less food per day. I think we started out packing twice as much food as we are now.
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| Testing out the Ursack capacity |
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| Still room, yay! |
The rest of the purchases were small accessories, bug/tick control, and some items to beef out our emergency kit now that we’re going places that are a bit more remote. It’s crazy how it all adds up and we tried to go easy with the add ons. We wanted the power charger for the longer trip, since even on airplane mode they seem to get very low after two days of photos etc. The Opsack we got to reduce smells. Our Ursack and DH’s pack lid smelled like beef jerky after the last outing, even though we double zip lock baggied it...which isn’t how we want either to smell! I’m also thinking of ditching the jerky for more trail mix and bars because it’s so smelly. That would have been cheaper than the OPsacks...
I bought the nitecore after resisting the urge to spend $$ on lighter headlamps. Ours were two for $15 and 3 oz each. The cool 1 oz ones are $30-50 each. So it wouldn’t be a cost efficient way to save weight/space. The nitecore I bought because it’s relatively cheap and so small it can fit in a more quickly accessible pocket if needed. It’s also more convenient to throw in our daypacks for day hikes. Who knows, maybe we’ll ditch the headlamps for two nitecores. We don’t hike at night and rarely use the headlamps at camp anyways.
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