Ultralight Thru Hiking Gear List

The Big Three: Pack, Tarp, & Sleeping System

Pack | Gossamer Gear Mariposa Pack. $255. Purchase.
This pack worked well, and everything found it’s place, but I did encounter a few frustrations that I’ve since been able to resolve: 1) Access to either water or camera, but not both, and 2) bear canister pressure causing rubbing on my vertebrae through the foam back pad.

With only the single lower side pocket accessible while wearing the backpack, I had to choose between being able to reach my DSLR or my water bottle. Fearing missing a fleeting photo opportunity, I kept my camera in the lower side pocket, but this meant taking off my backpack for water. Thankfully this problem has been solved by the Bottle Rocket. And for that matter, a mirrorless camera can now be hung off your shoulder strap as well with the Peak Design Capture Camera Clip.

I also had an issue with the seam on the edge of the stretchy mesh that captures the back foam pad. It rubbed on my vertebrae until it was raw and I had to unhook the pad from the bottom capture. I realized the rubbing was caused by the bear canister’s truncated-football shape, which created a pressure point against my back. This was resolved by packing some clothing between my back and the bear canister.

Besides that, the design of the pack was good, the waist belt and shoulder straps were comfortable, with the pockets in the waste belt lending themselves well to snacks or AquaMura. The outer mesh pocket was great for quick layer adjustments or drying socks and the ‘head’ pocket built into the flip-down flap also worked reasonably well – a bit annoying, when the pack wouldn’t stay open because the weight of the pocket was too much, but it’s a good combination for weight savings.

Pack Liner | Garbage bag. $0.25
I used a normal trash bag, but a trash compactor bag is more durable.

Tarp | Discontinued Gossamer Gear Q-Twinn Cuben Tarp. $315. Purchase.
This 47 sqft catenary Cuben Fiber tarp has an incredible coverage/weight ratio. It can be self-supporting with poles and has lineloc adjustment buckles that work really well to adjust the tension of the guy lines. That said, it suffers from the fact that it’s a tarp made of fabric that does not stretch, this is great for sailing, but for a shelter it’s a pain to pitch and makes a f**k ton of noise in the wind. If it’s too windy it’ll begin to flap like a flag, both making a racket as well as tugging on the stakes, eventually pulling them out if the soil is weak. It’ll also move rocks the size of bowling balls which adds slack in the pitch, only making it louder and the tugging stronger. It’s just not great above tree line if it’s windy, which it frequently was. On calm nights in the forest, it created a dreamy, ultralight, large, waterproof lair. When the gable guy lines are attached to tree trunks it’s super secure, but I wouldn’t use this above tree line and Gossamer Gear discontinued the product. It includes reflective orange guy line & a small stuff sack.

Tarp Stakes | 4 Gossamer Gear Titanium V-Stakes. $12 ($3 per). Purchase.
I got four v-stakes for the center gable-peak guy lines as well as the corners near the larger opening (which theoretically might catch more wind and benefit from larger stakes). I also had four generic round stakes found on a previous trip for the remaining guy lines. If I were to do it again I’d get 8 v-stakes for the added staying power, but even those might not always hold. It’s likely that the Fatty’s would be better in such poor soil, but frequently I’d just resort to tying the lines to rocks, although even that didn’t always hold down the sail of a tarp. I highly recommend the V’s rather than the round stakes if you’ll be in sandy soil like the decomposed granite on the JMT.

Sleeping Bag / Quilt | Enlightened Equipment Enigma 20F. $390. Purchase.
A simple and highly customizable 850-fill quilt with sewn foot-box. X-Long is great for my lanky 6’6″ body. I also highly recommend their accomplice 2-person quilt for camping with a romanic partner.

Sleeping Pad | Regular Z-Lite & Large NeoAir Xlite NXT. $43 & $160.
This combo is usually reserved for winter camping, and is probably the least ultralight aspect of my gear choices, but it provides great comfort by allowing for back or side sleeping, which I switch between throughout the night. The combination is also still lighter than my previous XL Prolite4. And the Z-Lite protects the NeoAir, so the setup is durable and redundant.

Clothing

Some people say to only bring clothing that, in your coldest moment, you could don all at once. This is a good trick to help remove redundant, unnecessary clothing. The one exception to the rule is socks, so I’ve started the list with base layers, working up from socks. No matter what, you’ll want to bring two pairs as one will always be getting wet on your feet and you’ll be drying your other pair on your pack. Dry socks are critical to good foot care and if you’re extremely prone to blisters, test out a pair of liner socks as well, which relocate the friction from skin-sock to sock-sock (this saved my feet on Aconcagua).

Base Layers

2 Pairs of Socks | SmartWool Phd Medium Crew. $24 per pair. Purchase.
These socks are the best, I have a couple pairs that are 3 years old and still in my daily sock rotation. For this trip I bought two new pairs and wore each pair once to ensure no defects (both pairs were perfect) before the trip. What’s so great about these socks? Their design very effectively prevents bunching or wrinkles, while they still have plenty of cushion in the toebox and heel area. I’ve tried many other brands of socks, but always use SmartWool socks if I’m going into the backcountry.

1 Pair of Underwear | Exofficio boxer brief. $25. Purchase.
A good pair of underwear for traveling. They’re very comfortable and dry quickly, so it’s easy to wash them on the trail. I’ve tried others, and want to find a good merino wool pair, but thus far I’ve come up empty handed. Let me know in the comments if you have a favorite wool boxer brief.

1 T-Shirt | Icebreaker merino t-shirt. $95. Purchase.
Merino wool is my favorite base layer fabric since it’s odor resistant and incredibly comfortable. I generally stick with Smartwool or Icebreaker due to their superior construction quality and fabrics. Pay attention to the seam location if you’re going to be wearing a heavy pack.

1 Long Underwear Top | Ice Breaker Everyday Long Sleeve Crewe. $90. Purchase.
Again, same as the short sleeve shirt, buy a merino wool shirt with raglan sleeve construction. I’ve had this Icebreaker shirt since 2009 and it’s still the shirt I bring on every trip. In fact, I’m going fly-fishing south of Lake Tahoe tomorrow and I’m already wearing this shirt in anticipation.

1 Long Underwear Bottom | Smartwool. $115. Purchase.
Use 150 GSM weight (“All Season”) for warmer pursuits and 250 GSM weight (“Classic Thermal”) for colder days.

1 Buff. $23. Purchase.
Buff’s are thin, stretchy, seamless, polyester neck gaiters that can be worn scrunched as a single layer, doubled over, or pulled up for a full face balaclava. Lightweight and versatile. I originally purchased this balaclava during my gear up for climbing Mt. Rainier in 2009, but continue to use it on any trip that’ll involve snow.

Mid & Outer Layers

1 Pair of Shorts | REI Co-op Swiftland 7″. $60. Purchase.
I’ve converted to wearing running shorts and no longer bring a normal pair of pants. I have my long underwear bottoms and rain pants, which provide all the warmth required. These shorts don’t stink after you wear them like the On Lightweight 7″ Shorts, which I find to be terrible.

Wool Pullover Sweater | Ice Breaker 320. $200. Purchase.
For the weather on my trip this layer wasn’t necessary, so I only wore it on the ascent of Mt. Whitney during the final morning to at least wear it once before the trip ended. I really like this sweater, it’s actually the only sweater I ever wear, because it’s both stylish and high performing. Be careful though, they seemed to have changed the sizing in their latest batch.

Insulating Jacket & Pillow | Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer w/ Hood. $320. Purchase.
I wore this excellent jacket almost every evening and morning while setting up and breaking down camp. If packed into it’s sleeve it also turns into a great pillow. It also packs into its pocket, but that ends up too firm to sleep on. When I first bought it I thought it was impractically delicate and was going to rip immediately, but I’ve now worn it all over, and have only torn it twice: once with a zipper snag and once hooking myself fly-fishing. I’m certainly cognizant while wearing it that I should be careful, but that doesn’t impede my abilities or actions. If I’m going through thick brush I layer my hard shell on top as protection.

Rain Jacket | OR Helium II. $170.
There was some form of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet) on 7 of the 10 days I was on the JMT so, while I didn’t expect to use my rain coat much, it was in constant rotation. My original raincoat was made by GoLite, but I’ve replaced it with the OR Helium II for significant weight savings.

Rain Pants | Outdoor Research Helium. $130. Purchase.
Basic rain pants. Not very breathable, but only worn when it’s cold.

Gloves | OR Catalyzer Liner Glove. $30. Purchase.
These are super light weight. I originally purchased them to wear as liners while taking photographs in the alpine environment, but they also turned out to be perfect for this trip. They’re a little hard to put on and take off, and feel like they might rip, but thus far have held up for my purposes. Note that they aren’t very warm, especially if it’s windy, but they worked well when my hands began to go numb from cold rain on the south side of Mather Pass and were also useful for the alpine start on Whitney.

Shoes | Altra Lone Peak ($140) or Topo Athletic MTN Racer ($150)
I learned a lesson about footwear hiking the JMT in a pair of La Sportiva’s that destroyed my feet. Since then I’ve been wearing Altra’s to run 50ks, summit Mt Kilimanjaro, among other pursuits, however there is now a new player that is resolving some of the long standing issues with Altras. Topo Athletic’s have better traction and durability than the Lone Peaks, which always wear out in about 200 miles of trail running.

Gators | Dirty Girl. $20. Purchase.
PCTers swear by these. I didn’t know about them before I started the JMT, but I now wear them on long runs and hikes. While on the JMT without them there were sections of trail so gritty and sandy I had to empty my shoes of debris every 2 hours. This becomes wildly frustrating and leads to blisters, that could have been prevented. They have a hundred different fun colors and patterns to choose from.

The Rest of the Gear

Poles | Black Diamond Alpine Carbon Cork. $195. Purchase.
2025 Update: I upgraded to the BD Alpine Carbon poles for my hike up Aconcagua and after that trip have retired by old Ergo Cork. I gave in and upgraded because (1) BD was out of stock of the lower two sections for my old Ergo Cork which are too bent to telescope and (2) it’s pretty annoying to constantly be bending poles. These new poles don’t have that issue, with carbon it’s either shatter or stay straight and continue to telescope and so far these have proven to be burly enough to survive when trapped and leveraged between two rocks. It’s also worth mentioning that I went with these telescoping ones rather than the lighter BD Distance Carbon FLZ because of the increased durability requirements, but I’ll likely get a folding pole in the future for running.

Water Bottles | 2 1L Smart Water Bottles (nice and light) & a 2L platypus bag (most frequently used as a knee pillow at night, but also useful for larger batches of aquamira).

Water Purification | AquaMira. $12. Purchase.
Chlorine Dioxide isn’t quite tasteless as claimed, but it is subtle, especially compared to the old iodine days. The biggest issue is that 7 drops from each bottle must be combined in the cap for 5 minutes before adding to the water for an additional 20 minutes. I ended up keeping the AquaMira in my backpacks waist belt so I could mix the drops on my approach to water, hoping to have the 5 minutes complete by the time I filled my water bottle, to skip that step and then just have to wait the 20 minutes. As long as the water is clear it’ll kill all the bacteria and virus’s (if there are dirty particles in the water it won’t be able to clean the inside of them). I’ve also used it in the tap water in Ecuador to prevent the need to buy bottled water.

Bowl | 16oz Nalgene w/ screw top lid.
Good for mixing protein and “cooking” (soaking) dinner.

Spork | Blue Vargo Titanium. $9. Purchase.
The spork is a camping classic for good reason.

Headlamp | Petzl Actik Core. $65. Purchase.
Lasts a long time on the low brightness setting, but is nice and bright at 600 lumens when needed for spotting or ski/mtb descents, has a red mode for night vision preservation and recharges with a MicroUSD.

Bear Canister | Garcia, rented from Yosemite NP for $5.
I kind of hated the bear canister due to the shape that didn’t fit very well in my pack and rubbed on my spine, but the price was right.

DSLR | Canon 760D + Canon 10-22 lens + UV Filter.
This was the perfect compromise between weight and image quality.

DSLR Neoprene case | Op/Tech USA. $23. Purchase.

Dopp Kit

Joshua Tree 18 SPF Chapstick
Copper tone 30 SPF Sunscreen for arms
Badger 35 SPF Sun Stick for face
Toothbrush & travel size Tom’s toothpaste
Purell hand sanitizer
Dr. Bronners liquid soap, 2oz travel size. Works for hands, body, and clothing.
8 J&J Bandaids. These stick like no other.
Moleskin
Metolius Cloth Tape to tape heels. Designed for climbing, this tape sticks really well.

Left At Home

Tent
Stove

Food

Meal planning is critically important for performing on the trail, however it’s probably the trickiest part of planning due to the variability between individuals and the natural tendency to bring more food than necessary. Any food left over at the end of the trip was unnecessary weight in the pack. With this in mind I still packed way too much food, having a full 3 lb of trail mix left over at the end of my 6 day stretch on the JMT (days 5-10). Thus my pack was 3lb heavier than it needed to be every day for the last six days.

I created my meal plan based on the goal of 50% Carbs, 35% Fats, and 15% protein suggested by Dr. Brenda Braaten at 5000 calories per day. I’m 6.5′ tall & 175 lbs with a very fast metabolism and couldn’t find good data on what my needs would be, but with a revised meal plan I expect it would be possible to consume 4,500 calories per day and maintain weight. Without a body-weight scale in my home it’s not clear if I maintained weight on the trail or lost weight due to the difficulty of eating so much trail mix every day. If my weight did change it was by an insignificant amount.

The biggest lesson I learned was that, as delicious as trail mix is, it’s still loose trail mix, and when compared to a Probars or Snickers bars it takes far longer to consume the equivalent calories with the combination of delivery method and excessive chewing. That might sound crazy, but I got so tired of chewing trail mix. I created an excel spreadsheet before going to determine the proper mix of ingredients, but it immediately broke down on the trail when I couldn’t eat as much coconut flakes as I thought I’d be able to and instead picked out all the chocolate and dried fruit.

Food Resources

• Muir Ranch | Resupply | $70 for 25 lb
• Vermillion Valley Resort | Resupply | $22 for basic mail pickup, but there are a few options.
• Red’s Meadow | Resupply | $40 for mail pickup or $3/day to hold a dropped off package
• Andrew Skurka | The 5,000 Calories Per Day Wilderness Diet
• Thru-Hiker | Trail Food and so much more.
• Paul Magnanti | Going Stoveless
  Thoroughly explains the assumptions, benefits, and lists quite a few meal options.
• Backpacking Light | Forum Post on No-Cooking Food Ideas. Kevin Buggie has a good looking couscous recipe at the bottom.
• Brian Green | ProBar-Heavy No-Cook Meal Plans
• Erik the Black | 5 Day Meal Plan (cooking required)