Steelcranium - Arizona Trail Journal - 2017

Gear For The Continental Trail

Gear for the CDT
Gear for the CDT includes (starting top left, from L to R):

Click on any link to go to actual gear page site.

Hyperlite Medium Roll Top Stuff Sack
Feathered Friends Flicker 20 degree
Thermarest Neo Air XLite pad is underneath
Hyperlite Windrider 2400 Dyneema Cuben Fiber pack
Z-Lite pad: small section of pad cut and used as a sit pad/insulation pad, carried on top of pack
On the Z-Lite pad:
Keith Titanium 220ml double wall mug
Toaks Long Titanium Spoon
NUUN electrolyte tube
Tent Lab Deuce of Spades trowel
Sawyer squeeze filter
Black Diamond ION headlamp
Black Diamond Distance Carbon-Z trekking poles
The WHITE SQUARE is a folded up 3x8 piece of Tyvek Home Wrap
Evernew 600ml Titanium pot
Trail Designs Ti Sidewinder (Out of whats pictured, I carry the windscreen/potholder only in the Tyvek storage sleeve and that nests inside my pot)
Zelph Modified Starlyte stove
Platypus .5L bottle (red) used for Alcohol FUEL
Feathered Friends EOS Down Jacket
Altra Lone Peak 3.5, size 10.5 (one full size larger than normal).
ZPacks Duplex tent (2014) drab colored rectangular object on bottom left. This ones got about 80+ nights on it. Well see if it can last 125-150 more! Im only mildly confident
small LOKSAK with mini Bic lighters, 2 Gerber STL 2.0 knife
Aqua Mira 1 oz drop bottles Part A&B
small LOKsAK with lip balm, sunscreen, eye drops, etc
ANKER 15w PowerPort Solar Lite 2 charger
Fluxmob BOLT2 backup batter/wall charger
Yellow bandanna. Above, lightweight Buff, white
Small (6x 8) Hyperlite DCF11 stuff sack. Dont waste your time or $ with the lightweight DCF8 fabric it just doesnt last. More on this later.
Two 4x 6 plastic zip locks contain:
gear repair
personal care
contact lens supply
Blue ZPacks Bear Bag and a 28 x 20 OPSAK heavy weight zip bag.The company is called Aloksak. Essentially, the Opsack is food grade while the Loksak is not. REI sells these too.
Hyperlite small DCF11 Pod
contains extra socks, lightweight sleep underwear, rain gear, gloves, etc
Aqua Hydrate 1L bottles (x4). I like these better than the popular (and more readily available), Smartwater and Lifewater bottles that many hikers use as the Aqua Hydrate bottle walls are a bit thicker and the bottoms dont deform as easily as the others. They travel well on the airline too.

Hyperlite small 2400/3400 Pod

A pair of Altra Lone Peak 3.5 shoes with 2-3 layers of SeamGrip over a selected area of the toe box for reinforcement.
Altra Lone Peak 3.5. in a Size 10.5 one full size larger than I used to wear in the Lone Peak 3.0 model. Im between sizes on these things and I hear a lot of users mention sizing is weird in the 3.5. While having aggressive looks, The Lone Peak sole is fairly effective over a wide range of terrain. Its a shoe that will cover a little bit of everything, never excelling in any one specific type of terrain. Ive worn trail runners with much more effective out soles than the Lone Peak but that often comes with other trade offs. Im happy with the range of terrain the Lone Peak will cover, and thats ideal during a thru hike.

The Lone Peak is padded well: soft enough to effectively cushion joints over the repetition of strides over a long hike with weighty pack, but still remain sensitive and nimble underfoot. In a size 10 my big toe will softly touch the end of the shoe when walking on anything graded 5 or 6 percent downhill. In the size 10.5 I have a wee bit too much room in the toe box and my big toe will slap a bit on the top part of the toe box.

After wearing both a size 9.5 and 10 on the trail Ive decided to settle on a size 10.5. To take away the bit of volume I mentioned, I use the Rockplate which came with a pair of Altra Superiors. Its basically an 1/8 dense but flexible piece of plastic. I place the Rockplate insert underneath the foot bed that comes with the Lone Peak. The Rockplate takes away a bit less than 1/8 of volume from the entire shoe. Not much, but it makes a difference. So I now have shoes that will fit but also have enough room to accommodate the swelling of my feet from hiking 15, 20, 25 miles per day. Theyre not perfect shoes but theyre reasonably priced and good enough to make the miles, especially when I take the time to put a good layer of Seamseal or Aquaseal on them before wearing the first time.

MONTBELL Tachyon Anorak windshell, blue (1.5oz) Not the new version (2018) but the 2015 version shown here.
MONTBELL Torrent Flyer 2.5 Layer Gore Tex PacLite shell. The Japanese version from the global site which is awesome to order from. The Japan sizing has shorter sleeve lengths, not so much extra room in the belly and upper arms. I swear are Americans all tall, portly, with big long arms?
Not shown:

SPOT Gen3. Bought used off eBay for $ 70. I am begrudgingly carrying this stupid thing so my wife and mom can track me easily. I can believe a new one cost $ 170 and the basic service required is $ 200+ tax a grand total of almost $ 400! This is one of the the biggest rackets going in thru-hiker and outdoor gear circles. Ugh.
iPhone 7+. No 8 or X upgrade in the budget. Broke glass during AZT. Will have Guthook app for CDT loaded and using as main navigational tool.
Maps various amounts of pre-printed topos and a few state road maps for broader reference.
Yogi town guide pages Ill carry each state, one at a time and get rid of the used pages as I go.
ADDING IN PAGOSA, CO and carrying for 2-3 weeks:

Camp Corsa Ice Axe
Snowline Chainsen Light Spikes 30% lighter than Microspikes. You can find them cheaper, too.

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