Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Backpacking gear question

Hi everyone,
I just returned from 5 days/4 nights in the Sierras. In over Cottonwood Pass, 1 night at Chicken Spring Lake, 2 nights at Soldier Lake, 1 night at Cirque Lake. I certainly wasn't setting any records for mileage but I had a good time and for my first backpack in ?? years it was a great success. Here's feedback on some equipment you advised me on.

My pack weighed 40.5 lbs starting out. That seems pretty heavy for 5 days. As I unpack it I will consider every item that I didn't use to evaluate if it was worth carrying. I know right now that I carried 2 more tea bags then I used so, next trip, there will be 2 tea bags less weight.

The pack weighed 35 pounds on return so I used 15.5 pounds of consumables.

The Osprey Aether 60 pack was very comfortable...but there is a serious design problem with hydration. The hydration sleeve is useless because it would bulge into the main compartment and, worse, the tube would be blocked by the bear can or something else. I met a man with an Osprey Atmos 65 who had that exact problem. The side pockets, where you might carry water bottles, are a really stupid design with tight elastic around the top and middle. Hardly encourages staying hydrated. I ended up carrying a liter bottle in a net sling attached to a shoulder strap. I really loved Osprey as the bottle bounced against my ribs with every step. I will take it back to REI and see if they can suggest a fix. If not, they can have it back.

Viewranger GPS for android phone: I paid $20 for a set of maps and downloaded the altitude files (free). I think it's really good. Never having had a stand-alone GPA I don't know what Viewranger lacks but it tracked me on the route I had previously entered. Of course, I was on trail all the time except for the layover day at Soldier Lake so a GPS was hardly necessary. The one time I could have used it at Soldier Lake I didn't have it with me. But once on the trail when I was tired and wondering how far it was to my next objective I fired up the Galaxy, opened Viewranger, waited while it found a satellite, and then it told me I was very close. The most useful thing was the unplanned rest stop I got while using it.

Viewranger is headquartered in England. The distance files are available in US miles and yards but the altitude is in metric. It's not their problem that the US still uses a medieval measurement system. I will download a stupid to metric conversion app.

I'm really glad I took Akichow's advice and got a shell jacket. I had some rain but, even more, it was just handy to have in camp.

The REI Quarter Dome tent: after I wrote that I bought one I got a PM from someone who returned theirs because of problems putting it up without wrinkles which slapped in the wind all night. Armed with his experience I saw a way to stretch the wrinkles out of the foot end of the tent. It involves not following the directions and using an extra stake at each bottom corner.

There are a few items that that weight extra ounces that I will carry anyway. One is an air pad instead of foam. My old knobby joints say without it, there's no deal. Another is a metal U Digit trowel instead of a plastic one. It's that much easier to use.

I didn't take many photos, since a full pixel weighs more than an empty one but here's a shot of the setting sun lighting up the top of a cumulus cloud at Soldier Lake. Within 1/2 hour it was pouring rain with thunder.

NO, damnit, I can't see how to include a photo with the posting. Use your imagination - it was really nice.


NO, it's not there, I can't see how to include a photo in a posting.

I just completed a 3-day backpack trip out of South Fork, in the Sequoia NP. My equipment choices have continued to change and the weight I'm carrying has gone way down - to about 35# for this trip.

My aim is to have the right equipment and enough strength to be able to do 7-day trips. (My longest trip last year was intended to be 5 days but slopped over to the 6th morning.) I think I have the right equipment and enough stamina to do that now.

Pack: I started with an Osprey Aether 60 last summer. I tore the hell out of it on the traverse above Lake Italy to Bear Lakes Basin, and it rubbed open sores in 2 places on my back. I traded it for a Gregory Baltoro 75 which was much more comfortable but too heavy (5/10 for the small). I recently bought a Mountain Hardware Ozonic 65 and that's what I carried in Sequoia. At 3/15 it instantly cut a pound, 11 ounces off my load.

Another major equipment upgrade was to a Wild Ideas Bearikade canister. I wouldn't shell out the big bucks for one until I was sure I would be doing a lot of backpacking. Once I was clear about that I was ready to spend my kids' inheritance on it. I'm glad I did. It's only 2 ounces lighter than the BearVault 450 but it holds so much more it's worth the difference.

I traded my REI 1/4 dome tent in for a Big Agnes Fishhook 1 Ultralight. Its gimmick is that instead of zippers it uses plastic hooks and loops. It weighs less than 3 lbs including the footprint, is easy to set up, and stable in high wind. I also switched to a NeoAir sleeping pad instead of the REI 1/4 Rail pad which cut over 1/2 pound more off the load and has a higher R rating.

The ViewRanger GPS on my Samsung phone works great. The way it is supposed to be used is that you open a map of the area you'll be hiking in on a computer and mark out your route and waypoints. Instead of that, I just block in the complete area with waypoints at the corners and download that. The entire area shows up on my phone complete with trails and all the detail of the USGS topos. I can then have it mark my route so I always know where I am.

The PDF Maps app also works well. It downloads the USGS 7.5 series topos directly to your Android, bypassing the need for a computer, and tracks your route. The only disadvantage is if your trip covers more than 1 map the transition is awkward. I also installed Polaris Navigation on my phone but I will uninstall it. Finally, I have an app called GPSFix which is faster than anything else in getting a GPS location fix which is then available to any other app.

Note: I didn't return the Gregory Baltoro to REI. There was nothing wrong with it and staff had really worked with me to get the right equipment. If anyone wants to buy a used Baltoro 75, size small, used but in exc. condition at 1/2 the original price let me know. It's the Cadillac of packs and, like a Cadillac, it's heavy.

Thanks to everyone on this Board who gave me info and advice as I got into backpacking after a layoff of about 20 years. I'm having a great time!
Burt