Ask Darwin Q&A #28 (Answers)

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** Stuff/Gear I Mention in this Video **

Therma-Rest Z-Lite - http://amzn.to/2eIlEue

ZPacks Rain-Kilt - http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/cloudkilt.shtml

Travel & Trail Vlog Episode 0.5 - https://youtu.be/aN5HFJEpnj4

AT Gear List - https://darwinonthetrail.com/2016/05/03/darwins-2016-at-gear-list/

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Tags: Appalachian Trail,AT,AT THru-Hike,Thru Hike,Hiker Trash,PCT,PCT Thru Hike,Pacific Crest Trail,Backpacking,UL Backpacking,UL Gear,Hiking,Camping,Adventure,CDT,AZT,Arizona Trail

Video Transcription

as its Darwin here with my weekly Q&A to answer more of your questions if you want to ask question for next week's Q&A you can either leave it in the comment box below or send me a video question over to Darwin on the trail at yahoo.com and then next week I'll answer as many as I possibly can all right so let's go ahead and get into this week's first question I know you plan on filming your upcoming PCT hike but are you planning on uploading them while on the trail maybe sending them the snuggles to edit and upload so yeah I am gonna be filming my entire hike and I'll probably be putting out like a video a week that's the plan no I don't plan on actually uploading them from the trail since snuggles will not be hiking that trail with me I'm actually gonna be sending off the footage to her she's gonna be editing it and uploading it and doing all of that to make sure you guys get to come along on that hike with me and then at certain times she's actually gonna be coming out and meeting up with me on the trail hiking some small sections and filming me while I'm out there so I've been working with snuggles really hard on how exactly we're gonna do it and how I'm gonna be filming it and I'm really excited to show you guys what I have in store wondering if you or anyone you know has ever used a raincoat looks like a good option for a light alternative to rain pants so I have personally never used a raincoat but I know a ton of hikers that have used to kill now I've looked into possibly getting one of those and using it but since I always hike in shorts I'm not really a rain kill or rain pants person I usually just deal with getting wet and then when I get to camp I just drive myself off and put a dry pair of shorts on that I have in my pack so I personally probably wouldn't use a raincoat unless I was going I don't know somewhere where it was just really hardcore gonna rain all the time then I might consider one but yeah there are a lot of really great rain kilts out on the market and I think the Z packs actually makes one that's a Cuban fiber one packs down super tiny so that one might be worth checking out if you're thinking about getting one hey Doron my name is Luke 15 years old and someday I want to do the Pacific Crest Trail so I was just wondering what jobs are there that exists that you wouldn't have to quit to to do the Pacific Crest Trail because you obviously can't take four to six months of vacation preferably a lease for me and the music industry cuz I love music and I just want to do something in the music industry someday

so yeah just basically what jobs could I have that I wouldn't have to quit to do the Pacific Crest Trail so yeah thanks so Luke that is a really awesome question and it's actually one that I get a lot and there's no real easy answer for that because there's not a lot of jobs that will give you that time off you're right unless like you have some really high-profile a job and for some reason you've been working years and saving up tons of vacation time most jobs are not going to give you four to six months off to do a thru-hike so the reality of it is most of us have to quit our job now sometimes you get lucky and that job is willing to take you back whenever you do quit like last year whenever we went back out on the 80 and finished up that last six hundred miles I went into the outfitter that I worked at and told them that I needed to quit and they told me that I'd have a job waiting for me when I got back so every once in a while you get lucky but most times man you have to quit your job and I think that's a reason why a lot of people don't do it through hike because they're scared of that security and maybe this is the wrong advice to give you but you're young so right now would be a great opportunity before you get into a hardcore long-term job to go ahead and take advantage of that save up as much money as you possibly can and then quit the job go do your hike come back and find another job and if you get lucky the place that you're working out will just give you your job back but yeah there's no great answer for that most of us just quit do you use a pump set to inflate your therm-a-rest at camp so I've actually gotten that question a couple times I've never used one of those I've seen people use them and they're super cool and super convenient but yeah I've never carried one I just you know use my breath to where I'm almost gonna pass out to pump it up if I really need to and that's why lately I've been kind of considering going with a closed foam cell pad like the therm-a-rest Z light just because when I get to camp I don't want to blow a pad up I don't even want to take a big stuff sack and roll air into it I just want to lay it down and go bed but they are super cool and they look super convenient so check it out and let me know what you think of it do most people start with the 80 because it's considered easier than the PCT no and that is a huge misconception the 80 is not easier than the PCT actually statistically speaking from elevation charts and the actual hike itself the Appalachian Trail is a much harder trail mainly because of the elevation gain and loss on that trail you're constantly going up coming down going up coming down

we're on trails like the PCT or the CDT you're gonna go up in elevation and then you're up at elevation for a long period of time before you drop back down so physically the Appalachian Trail is a harder trail I think why a lot of people pick the 80 though is because it's a much more social trail there are a lot more people out there and there's a lot more trail towns and a bigger trail community so it tends to be mentally easier because you have people that can kind of lift you up and help you along the trail or when you're hiking something like the PCT or the CDT it doesn't have as big of a trail community around it so you really have to know what you're doing when you get out there there's longer stretches that you have to carry food there's longer stretches where you have to carry water and you're not gonna see as many people out on those trails so I think mentally it's harder but it's definitely not physically harder than the 80 at all but I know a ton of hikers that started with the PCT is their first trail and then whenever they went to do the 80 they ended up saying the PCT was much easier and mainly because of that elevation gain in moss hey Darwin I was out hiking the George Mickelson trail in the Black Hills before a foot injury forced me off so anyway now I'm watching the clips from a rest area heading home instead of on the trail like they planned my question is this in the two days and the 32 miles on the trail I had absolutely no appetite no man that's not a common problem I am constantly hungry when I hike even if I go out for a day hike and I'm just putting down like five to eight miles for the day I am starving by the time I get done hiking that being said I have a pretty high metabolism I've heard stories that there are a lot of hikers that go out to say hike the 80 for the first time and in that first week they're not really that hungry I don't know if it's nerves or just because their body's burning through those extra fat stores on their body but it usually takes about a week and a half to two weeks for hike or hunger to really set in aside from that every hiker or through hiker I've ever known is like a human garbage disposal they can't stop eating food and I'm no different I need a ton of calories most time during the day when I'm hiking about every two hours I need to put something down whether it's a Clif Bar or jerky or a tortilla maybe a scoop of peanut butter I constantly need to eat and mainly it's because I have a super high metabolism anyways but when I'm hiking it gets even worse two pieces of jerky and 32 miles I'd be crawling to get off the trail I know you have at least three hats surly bikes Osprey packs and a Devil's Backbone brewing hen what else do you have in that hat collection that's a great question yeah as most of you might know I love mesh back trucker hats they are my favorite at one time I owned a stupid amount of them believe it or not now I just have a handful so I have my surly hat I still have that Devil's Backbone hat that I wear every once in a while when I hike but at this point that thing is beat to hell I've put so many miles on it and then I had this super sweet new Z PAX hat I actually just picked this guy up at PCT days when I was out in Cascade Locks and this is probably the Hat that I'll be wearing next year on my PCT through height but yeah man that's it whenever we moved into the trailer we had to hardcore simplify so all the hats had to go hey Doran this is Izzy with my trail buddy tiny we just recently found your channel and we love it so thanks for all the great interview put out there you mentioned that sometimes you make a bit of extra money through gear review and I was just wondering how you get into that do you need a substantial social media presence and following or could anyone potentially do that so yeah that's my question on our last three day backpacking trip I really felt the limitations of my gear so that's why I'm looking to upgrade and thought that maybe gear review would help ease the financial strain of that so thanks and looking forward to you next videos so that's a great question and actually that was quite a while ago and I no longer have that gig anymore so for a while I was actually testing gear for a company that will remain unnamed let's just say that it wasn't really working out between us and yeah I made a little bit of income but the truth about it is reviewing gear is really hard to make money on basically because those companies don't really want to pay much for a gear review but they are willing to give you free gear which is always awesome now there's a handful of companies out there that you can look into and you can always just code call different companies and say hey I'm looking at doing gear review is there anything that you have that you'd like me to review but I can tell you first hand it is really hard because a lot of companies don't just want to give up products to people so as you asked it does help to have a bigger social media standing like if you have a lot of views on YouTube or maybe a big Instagram following are a lot of friends on Facebook companies want to see that you can have a big influence on a lot of different people but yes it is very very hard to get into that and it's definitely hard to actually make money off of it what are your experiences and thoughts on frameless packs like the MLD Exodus I've used a heavy four point six pound

Keltie trekker 65 on a few section hikes and well I really like the load transfer I'm looking to upgrade to something a lot lighter so Justin that's a good question and frameless packs are kind of tricky if you're considering a frameless pack the number one thing that you need - no our frameless packs are made for insanely low base weight most frameless packs on the market are made for base weights between five and seven pounds which is insanely light you need a base weight between five and seven pounds because once you put a lot of food and water on to the pack you're right around 20 pounds fully-loaded and most of those packs are rated at about 20 pounds anything over that can stretch your back out stress the pack out and start breaking things so number one unless you have a low low low base weight don't consider frameless packs now if you do have a super light kit yeah you might consider that if not just consider an ultra light framed pack like the pack that I typically carry which is the Z packs arc blast a pack that can carry well up to 30 pounds in his crazy crazy light weight so before you consider getting a frameless pack maybe look at what your base weight is and what you can be comfortable with now I've actually been recently looking into a frameless pack myself z packs makes another pack called the Nero that is basically the arc blast without a frame and it's simply because I'm trying to put together an ultra ultra light kit for a section hike of the Arizona Trail and it's just because I've never gotten down with a base weight that low so I figured it was about time to start experimenting but again I'm shooting for a base weight between five and seven pounds anything over seven pounds I wouldn't use that pack and mainly because I know that when I put that food and that water in there I'm gonna be exceeding the limits of the pack so make sure you're comfortable before you decide to pull the trigger alright guys so if you have a question for next week's QA you can either leave it in the comment box below or send me a video question over to Darwin on the trail at yahoo.com and the next week I'll answer as many of them as I possibly can

so if it's Tuesday and you're watching this video tomorrow morning snuggles and I hit the road and head for Flagstaff Arizona I'll be posting a bunch of pictures on my Instagram account and then I'll actually be filming the first episode of travel and trail so keep an eye out for that coming within the next week because we are going to be traveling this week I probably won't put out a video on Thursday so if you don't see one on Thursday I apologize but we're insanely busy and I promise you'll get one

the following week they haven't got a chance yet go over and check me out on Instagram I'm posting a lot of new photos lately of some of the things that snuggles and I have going on throughout the week plus some pictures from some past hikes if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and as always guys thanks for watching [Music]

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