AZT Post Hike Gear Set-Up (7lbs 11oz)

Description

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

AZT Section Gear List - https://darwinonthetrail.com/2017/09/22/darwins-2017-azt-section-hike/

ZPacks Nero – http://www.zpacks.com/backpacks/nero.shtml

Shoulder Pouch -http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/shoulderpouch.shtml

EE Recon Bivy – https://enlightenedequipment.com/recon/

ZPacks 8.5 x 11 Cuben Tarp – http://www.zpacks.com/shelter/tarps.shtml

12 Zpacks Sonic Stakes – http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/stakes.shtml

EE Enigma 30 – https://enlightenedequipment.com/enigma/

ThermaRest Z-lite – http://amzn.to/2wMnqxn

Sea to Summit Aeros UL Pillow – http://amzn.to/2pBDfH7

Sea to Summit Spork – http://amzn.to/2nqpICn

OPsak Food Bag – http://amzn.to/2xtAUBu

HydroBlu Versa Flow Water Filter – http://amzn.to/2yii4ed

Cnoc Vecto Water Container – https://cnocoutdoors.com/products/vecto-water-container

Fenix E05 Flashlight (w/clip) – http://amzn.to/2xtPmcF

Anger PowerCore 10000 Charger –http://amzn.to/2xtBijq

Canon G7X Mark ii – http://amzn.to/2xnpSMt

Iphone 6 Plus – http://amzn.to/2xnzgjl

Skull Candy Headphones – http://amzn.to/2xnLmc3

OR Helium ii Rain Jacket – http://amzn.to/2jTH2hZ

EE Torid APEX Jacket – https://enlightenedequipment.com/torrid-apex-jacket/

Ice Breakers T-Shirt – http://amzn.to/2wM43Vc

Patagonia Capilene LW Tights – http://amzn.to/2wFDDJf

GooseFeet Gear Down Socks – https://goosefeetgear.com/products/down-socks/

Darn Tough Socks – http://amzn.to/2oj9ESc

Columbia SilverRidge Lite LS Shirt – http://amzn.to/2ocpLAv

Nike Pro Running Shorts – http://amzn.to/2wH3KQ8

Buff – http://amzn.to/2oc9yLM

Darn Tough Socks (Low) – http://amzn.to/2wMlULm

Altra Lone Peak 3.5 Shoes – http://amzn.to/2xWDNfC

Dirty Girl Gaiters – dirtygirlgaiters.com

Cnoc Vertex Carbon Cork Trekking Poles – http://amzn.to/2xGdruV

ZPacks Ditty Bag – http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/dry_bags.shtml

Leuko Tape (wrapped around Poles) – http://amzn.to/2xYkDGr

Spyderco Knife – http://amzn.to/2wHxmwZ

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

*** WAYS TO SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL ***

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darwinonthetrail

(Help Support my 2018 PCT Thru with a pledge as low as a $1/month)

Visit our Etsy Shop! - https://www.etsy.com/shop/TravelandTrail

*** Gear Used to Shoot this Video! ***

- Camera -

Canon EOS T6i - http://amzn.to/2kACQOU

- Lense -

Canon EFS 24mm - http://amzn.to/2mSAXSn

- Sound -

TakStar Shotgun Mic - http://amzn.to/2kMsAnM

- TriPod -

Targus 360 Trigger Tripod - http://amzn.to/2kMsU5Y

------Intro & Animation By: BlackStrap Media------

https://blackstrapmedia.com

------- Music By: Mike Boren --------

DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the channel and allows us to continue to make videos like this. Thank you for the support!

Contact information:

Website: www.darwinonthetrail.com

Instagram: Darwin_Onthetrail

facebook: www.facebook.com/darwinonthetrail

Tags: Thru Hike,UL Backpacking Gear,Stoveless,AZT,Arizona Trail,PCT,Pacific Crest Trail,UL Backpacking,Gear Set-Up,Post Hike Gear Set Up,Hiker Trash,UL Gear,Hiking,Adventure,Enlightened Equipment,Torrid Apex Jacket,Recon Bivy,Zpacks,Nero Pack,Zpacks Nero,EE Enigma Quilt,AT,AT Thru Hike,Appalachian Trail

Video Transcription

hey guys it's Darwin so I just got back from a hundred and thirty miles section of the Arizona Trail and I tried a completely different pack setup I wanted to go ultralight on this trip just because I've never done that type of a hiking kit

so my overall kit was seven pounds 11 ounces and that's without food water trekking poles or the clothes that raw my back so let's open it up we'll break it down I'll show you guys what I carried and then we'll talk about what I liked and what I didn't like [Music]

[Applause]

I guess so here it is here's everything I'm gonna go through each piece individually later on I will do a full review on most of this gear that I haven't carried before so if you want some more information on that keep an eye out for those for reviews so first off let's talk about the pack that I used this is the Z packs Nero an awesome 35 litre ultralight pack by z packs so it's just one big main compartment and then here on the side we have two water bottle pockets a big mesh pocket here in the front and if I flip it over I actually made a little bit of a customizing to it which is this Z packs pouch in here I kept my chapstick and my little knife and flashlight in here I kept my camera and my phone so I really love that next up is my shelter so inside of here that is a z-pack stuff sack inside of there is AZ packs eight-and-a-half by 11 foot flat cuben fiber tarp with the guide lines and everything and then I have a enlightened equipment recon bivy so that was my setup that was it just the tarp and the bivi setup it's the first time I've ever used a bivy in the field for an extended trip and I actually really liked it and I will be doing a full review on that shelter system so like I said keep an eye out for that and I'll go more in depth on that the other thing that's in there is a set of z packs sonic stakes I had 12 of those and then a little Cuban fiber stuff sack that those were inside of down here are my Knock outdoor vertex carbon cork trekking poles I put them right here because not only did I use them as trekking poles but I also use them to set up this shelter so those worked out great really loved those poles next up is my sleep system so if we go up here I use the enlightened equipment enigma 30 degree quilt so the Enigma is essentially just like my revelation except for it does have a foot box so does a little bit lighter and that is the 7d version which is actually not available that is a prototype version that I'm testing for enlightened equipment so they have the tindy and 20d that is a 70 again I will do a full review on that later I have a thermal rest Z light cut to torso length so that's actually not a full length pad that is nothing but torso cut to my torso

and then I also use that as my back panel to my Nero bag so I'll go over that here in a little bit kind of telling you how that worked and then I have my sea2summit eros ultralight pillow which you know that's that's like my main luxury item I love that thing and it gives me really great sleep next up is my cook system so all my cook system was was a empty tellen tea ice cream soaking jar and a sea2summit alpha aluminum spork I didn't cook no stove no fuel i cold soaked everything

oatmeal ramen beans and I liked it liked it a lot first time going that long with just cold soaking and I really really dig that I have an Opie sack that is the 12 by 2002 proof bag which I used as my food bag as you can see that's pretty big that kept all my food in there my snacks my dinner my breakfast and it was perfect I didn't hang it in a tree because I was in some desert East sections so just set outside of my shelter all night and I had no problems with critters or anything next up would be my filtration system I used the hydro blue versa flow filter you guys would probably see me do a review on that before I really dug that and then I used the knock out door vecto squeeze bladder which has a big opening on the top I did a pre review of that but I will do a post review and then I just had a little ziploc bag that I kept that stuff in to make sure that my stuff didn't get wet inside of my pouch next up would be to smart water bottles or well one smart water bottle and one aqua hydrate bottle kind of a generic smart water I just mainly carried two liters on me at all and then I had that knock vecto bottle in case I wanted to carry two more liters so a total capacity of four and that was fine I never needed any more than that next up would be a little Z packs cuben fiber ditty bag this is a roll-top waterproof bag and I actually kept that on the outside of my mesh pocket my pack and inside of that I kept my anchor power core ten thousand charger that worked out really great a toothbrush toothpaste have a thing as shit tickets here it's got to have some toilet paper a pair of Skullcandy headphones a Phoenix zo5 flashlight this worked out great I actually kept this in that little mesh pocket on the front of my pack along with my Spyderco knife great little knife and a thing of Burt's Bees lip balm because you know you lips get chapped whenever you're out there also inside of there I kept my little first-aid kit also has a sewing kit and a wider which I never actually used my lighter the entire time I was out there never made a fire never needed it to fire up a stove but always need a wire just in case I have my iPhone 6s plus I use that as my main app I use gut hook and then to take pictures to listen to music and to listen to podcasts when I was at camp and then here I just have kind of a random bag of cables and cords an extra battery for my flashlight charging cables for my electronic devices a little charging block and an extra memory card for my camera and then the only thing that I don't have featured here is the camera that I'm currently shooting on which is the canon g7x mark two great camera it took all of my trail shots all of my video and I really loved that thing next up are the clothes that were inside of my bag so starting up here is the enlightened equipment torrid apex jacket this is brand new to me and it's brand new to everyone its brand new to the market again this is a 7d version so this version is not available and this is the hooded version as you can see that jacket is great I have never really been a synthetic jacket person I've always been a down person that has made me a believer in synthetic it is so insanely warm I really love that jacket can't say enough again I will be doing a full review of that so keep an eye out for that next step would be my new rain jacket which is the Outdoor Research helium - I used to have the helium HD but right before I went my seams finally started tearing on my HD my great beloved orange jacket so I had to let it go this is my replacement this is the regular helium 2 which is a little bit lighter and it worked out pretty good

I had no rain I just used it as a warm layer in the morning whenever I was hiking next up are an extra pair of darn tough socks those are the regular length or a crew-cut I mainly just use those at camp and to sleep in every night and then I have my goose feet gear down socks which you guys might know this is another one of my awesome luxury items my feet get really cold when I sleep at night it can be like sixty degrees out and my feet will still get cold the rest of me will be sweating and my feet will be freezing so I always carry those awesome awesome awesome and then I have an ice breaker merino wool t-shirt awesome t-shirt a little pricey but I think it's been worth it that is mainly just a shirt that I like to put on at the end of the day and sleep in and then I have a pair of Patagonia catheline lightweight tights again mainly just to sleep in just to stay in camp at there was a handful of days where I hiked in those because it was kind of chilly in the morning and then last are the clothes that I wore while I was hiking so I have the Columbia silver ridge light long-sleeve shirt

super breathable it's short sleeve it's long sleeve its sun protective it is a great shirt it's vented super lightweight

really dig this shirt that has become my new favorite hiking shirt my beloved Nike Pro combat running shorts or I guess now their hiking shorts which I took the entire length of the 80 they pretty much been on every hiking trip with me still going strong had the liner inside of there I hiked in the dawn tough low-cut socks something new for me usually I hike in the crew-cut I decided to go with low-cut and they worked out great no liners this time I decided to go without a sock liner and I had no blister problems this time which was pretty impressive usually I have blister problems if I don't hike with liners but I was good then I have my ultra Lone Peak 3.5 s this is the second iteration of this shoe that I have owned I used to own the 3.0 s love those these are the 3.5 s I did a review on them a few months ago and yeah they're still holding in there strong still great my original buff that I've had for years gotta have that or that everyday used it for just a little bit of everything and then this super sweet Arizona Trail mesh back hat was the Hat that I wore everyday and obviously that worked out good it's a hat it could have been any hat and it probably would have worked just great so the only thing that I am missing from this setup are my gaiters so I actually spent the night at someone's house in Pine Arizona and I left my gaiters there so those were being mailed to me so I did have a pair of dirty girl gaiters you'll see those on my gear list the complete written out gear list but they are not featured here because I'm waiting for them to be shipped back to me and that is it that is everything super super minimal kit again 7 pounds 11 ounces - what I was wearing the trekking poles food and water alright guys so that was it that's all that I carried and the reason I decided to carry that kit is I've just never been that ultralight I've had a lot of questions from viewers asking me you know if I'm ever gonna do a pack setup that's super crazy light like lint or Jupiter so I figured just for fun just for giggles I would put that kit together take it out test it and test my comfort level and see what real works for me and what doesn't work for me and my overall general consensus is it worked great for me you know it's usually not my style to go that ultra light but this pack the setup just using a bivy and a tarp it was great there was never a time that I was really crazy uncomfortable or I felt like I needed a whole lot more so that sub eight pound pack really did work for me now would I take a pack set up like this on a PCT thru-hike no absolutely not would I do it on a CDT thru-hike no why I like a little bit more comfort I like a full-size tent I like those things if I'm doing a longer hike now on something like this short section hike that I just went on my whole goal was to see how many miles I could put down and what short of a time I could do it so having a light pack set up like this and having a simplistic pack set up like this was great it worked awesome and I would highly suggest anyone trying a setup like this for a smaller hike but you know that being said there were a few things about this setup that I didn't necessarily like and that I would change so number one let's talk about my sleep system as I showed you in the video I used the enlightened equipment enigma 30-degree that bag was phenomenal there's nothing I would change about it I got down into temps around 25 degrees certain nights at higher elevation and the 30-degree enigma worked awesome it kept me warm every night as I've mentioned before I'm a little bit of a hot sleeper aside from my feet so I was plenty warm especially wearing my apex jacket my torrid apex jacket it kept me warm every single night I was on the trail however the one thing that I did not like about that setup was that torso length Z litepad not because it was torso length even if it was full length I'm just a very bony person and I'm a side sleeper because I am a side sleeper and I am bony when I'm sleeping on a pad like this I just grind into the ground so I

really have to find a super soft pine needle bed to set up on if not I'm not sleeping well and there were a handful of nights where I just didn't sleep good on the trail again it's not because it was a torso length it's not because I was cold it's just because it was too thin so if I was gonna go out and do that hike again I would take that weight penalty and I would carry a blow-up mattress like the one that I carry all the time which is the therm-a-rest NeoAir x-lite is it heavier absolutely it's ten ounces heavier this thing was only six ounces for my torso length so I was able to take ten ounces out of that pack weight but was it worth it to me no it absolutely wasn't worth it just because I know that I could have gotten better sleep so the other thing that I would change about my setup and it worked fine and it worked good enough to get me all 130 miles is my filter as much as I do love the Hydra blue versa flow filter it wasn't so great for some of the water sources that I encountered on the Arizona Trail now on the Arizona trail along with the Continental Divide Trail a lot of your main water sources are cattle tanks so essentially what a cattle tank is is it's just a big hole in the ground that's filled up with rainwater and then cattle drank out of it

so that is your main water source in most places on the Arizona Trail now because cattle do drink out of it and there's a lot of bugs in it it's really nasty water there's a lot of floaties in there so I love the hydro blue versa flow but even though the flow rate is better with using the Nok vecto bottle it still clogged up a lot and I had to back flush it a lot so if I was gonna do this section of trail again I would definitely be carrying something like a Sawyer regular filter just the regular Sawyer squeeze why it has a little bit bigger of a hole a bigger opening in the end so it doesn't clog up as easy now if I was going to go out and hike the Appalachian Trail again where there's tons of Springs and creeks with really clean water this would be a great option but for this section of the Arizona Trail it wasn't so great and then the last thing

that I would change about this pack set up for that hike was gloves I decided not to carry gloves number one I'm in Arizona I didn't think it would get that cold

there were mornings when I woke up where it was 25 to 30 degrees and it was super cold especially getting started hiking in the morning my hands were freezing so I had to do what a lot of hikers do in a pinch and I wore some of my socks as gloves it wasn't great and I would definitely take a pair of gloves if I was going back out so did the socks work yeah

was it inconvenient absolutely so I would definitely take a pair of gloves if I was gonna do that hike again so I guess the final question is would I take this out on another hike and the answer is absolutely I would was i insanely comfortable no and whenever you go this lightweight you're not gonna be comfortable you're always kind of weighing things out it's always comfort / efficiency or efficiency / comfort that's just kind of how backpacking works now there are a few things from this pack setup that I will use on my PCT through hike but something like the pack or the Recon no I won't be using that on my PCT through hike I will however be switching out my jacket my trekking poles and a few other odds and ends that I really liked on this if you guys want to see a full detailed list of that pack set up breaking everything down with links to some of that gear I'll leave it in the description box below and you can go check that out for yourself you have how to change it go over and check me out on Instagram of them 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 plus a ton of pictures from the Arizona Trail so go check those out 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]

[Applause]

you