Ask Darwin Q&A #45 (Answers)

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

ThermaRest Neo Air - http://amzn.to/2lHBzII

Bear Vault 450 - http://amzn.to/2EFZy3F

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

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,PCT,Pacific Crest Trail,PCT Thru Hike,Backpacking,UL Hiking,UL Backpacking,UL Gear,Hiking,Hiker Trash,Camping,Adventure,Arizona Trail,AZT,CDT,Long Distance Trail

Video Transcription

hey guys it's Starlin here with my weekly QA to answer more of your questions if you want to ask 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 then next week I'll answer as many as I possibly can alright so let's go ahead and get into this week's first question have you ever heard of flip flop hiking and if so what are your thoughts so yeah a flip flop hike is taking a long distance trail and usually splitting it up between two different sections so instead of hiking it northbound and say start in from point A and going to point B or southbound going from point B to point a you hiked one section half way and then you flip up and you hike another section so there's a lot of different ways to do a flip-flop hike and it seems like the flip flop through hike has become really popular over the last handful of years especially last year on the PCT because of all the fires and the snow that was in the Sierras a lot of hikers were just having to flip-flop even though they didn't intend for their hike to go that way as far as my thoughts on it I think it's great anyway that you can hike a trail and get out on the trail and do it in your opinion what are some products the outdoor industry is lacking in development or research and design are there any pieces of gear that you think could be made better for through hikers slash backpackers so that's a really good question I think that the Outdoor Industry does a pretty good job of making kind of everything that we need one thing that I would like to see the bigger companies do is not necessarily develop a new product but it takes some of the products that over the years they've kind of put a lot of bells and whistles on and just simplify them a good example are packs I think that there's a lot of companies that make really good packs from granite gear to a spray even Gregory makes some pretty good packs but my problem with them is they seem to be too cluttered with extra straps and compartments and pockets and stuff that you don't really need on a back

pack take it back to the basics because the end of the day having something basic on the trail in my opinion is a lot better than having something with a bunch of bells and whistles aside from that I don't think that there's anything that the outdoor industry isn't making I just think that some companies need to make the things better or simplify it what do you think about alternative ways of blowing up an inflatable pad I'm learning there is a big problem with mold growth in pads if you use your mouth to blow them up do you worry about mold in your pads and any thoughts on the pros / cons of using other ways of inflation um so I have molded my pad right now not gonna lie um I've always used my mouth to blow up pads I've never used like a pump sack or a little pump or anything now as far as the pump sacks go I think they're a really good idea if you need a stuff sack in your pack anyways so say you need a good stuff sack for your sleeping bag or your quilt I think getting one of those pump sacks and using that as a stuff sack that can also double as a pump sack is a really great idea but I've never personally used them as far as I know I've never had a problem with the mold that's already inside of my pad that I have now it's never made me sick at least I don't think so

thermal wrists actually just redesigned the NeoAir which is the pad that I use and it has a big opening in the front so you can kind of gather a bunch of air and then roll it instead of blowing into a nozzle so I think that that would eliminate a lot of mold problems and if I end up picking up another knee lair that's probably gonna be the one that I grab but yeah I guess that's just a thing if you have an inflatable pad and a nozzle you're gonna get mold in it last year was my first year for overnight trips and I'm hoping to start doing through hikes what seems to be the biggest mistakes that people make in the first year and/or through hiking um obviously it's all opinion I just put out a video about hike your own hike in my opinion I think that the biggest mistake that most hikers do is when they start a thru-hike they bring way too much gear there's an old saying in the hiking community that we pack our fears and insecurities and I'm guilty of that myself whenever I first started doing really hardcore backpacking and whenever I first went out and did my first thru-hike on the 80 I did carry too much crap things that you know I thought that I would need because they seemed like a good idea but then when I got out there I realized that there was really no need for it at all as crazy as it sounds when you're doing it through hike and you're on a trail from four to six months you need a lot less than what you think that you do and that's why you'll see a lot of through hikers packs that are super simple and super lightweight because they've done hikes before and they know that you don't really need that much to live in the woods and hike for four to six months now again the whole gear thing is totally debatable you should always do what makes you comfortable and it's really important to get out as much as you possibly can and do shake down Heights and figure out what works best for you and what doesn't what you're comfortable with and what you're uncomfortable with and plan accordingly and carry the right gear for your setup with your upcoming PCT hike are you planning on going north or south considering the weather predictions with a bean and El Nina so I am gonna be going northbound as much as I can I'm really hoping that we have a really dry winter there's not a lot of snow in the Sierras because I want to go northbound the whole way last year there were a lot of hikers that had to switch their hike up and do something like a flip-flop where they hiked pretty much to Kennedy Meadows and then they had to flip up and then hike a big section and then come back and do the Sierras I'm gonna try not to do that I'm a little bit of a purist when it comes to kind of going one direction on a trail I don't even really like backtracking if I have to so I am a total northbounder when it comes to through hikes now on small section hikes day hikes stuff like that it doesn't matter I'll kind of go wherever but for the PCT I'm going northbound what do you think of Hyperlite Mountain Gear um Hyperlite Mountain gears not bad I know there's a lot of hikers that use it I've personally never owned any gear from Hyperlight I'd give their stuff a try I just haven't yet as far as quality and stuff from what I hear the quality's really good their customer service apparently is kind of lacking because it's some past stuff that might have happened to another youtuber um but I'm a Z packs guy I have been for years I don't know why I just really like their gear I like their customer service I like the way their stuff is made but one of these days I might grab some hyper light Mountain Gear stuff and give it a try how do you keep your nasty shoes from freezing at night how do you keep batteries and all your gear charged / working when it doesn't get above freezing so as far as shoes go if they freeze they freeze lately I've tried to start bringing my shoes in my tent with me unless they're like really muddy or wet or something and just the warmth inside my tent I'm sure helps them from freezing up too much but I've had it happen multiple times out on the trail if you're dredging through water during the day on your hike that night they're just gonna freeze and pretty much in the morning you try to beat them out and kind of break them and get them as unfrozen as possible put them on your feet and start hiking eventually they warm up and they're not too bad as far as batteries and electronics if it's really cold and it's below freezing I always sleep with that stuff in the foot box of my quilt I'll put my camera my extra backup battery charger and I'll also put my water filter in my foot box to make sure that I'm creating some warmth around it to where it doesn't freeze I don't always do that but usually if it's like 20 or below that's when it goes in my foot box have you given any thought to your bear canister strategy on the PCT through yet

like which brand size and how will you carry it so right now the bear vault that I have and then I'm planning on taking with me is the bv4 50 I haven't taken it out a lot on the trail I did use it in November whenever snuggles and I were up in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park because they do require a canister up there but as far as what my strategy with it is is I'm not going to be carrying it for the first seven hundred miles obviously and then I'll be picking it up in Kennedy Meadows and pretty much carrying it until I don't have to carry it anymore the good thing is I'll be meeting up with snuggles every once in a while like every few weeks so she'll be able to pick it up from me and then it for some reason I need it again she can always meet me somewhere and bring it back far as where I'm gonna put it I'm gonna put it in my pack the pack that I use which is the Z packs arc blast has plenty of room for all of my gear plus a canister I can even use the bigger bv 500 if I want to but right now I'm gonna try to stick with the 450 when are you going to start the PCT will you give us some idea when you will be at certain sections of the hike I'd like to meet you on the trail somewhere near the Waldo Lake area and maybe hike with you a day or so is that something you would want to do or do you want to keep your hiking itinerary secret so I don't want to keep my hiking itinerary secret exactly I will be out on the trail for almost three weeks before I actually publish any of my videos from the trail but I will keep a pretty constant update on my Instagram account and my Facebook page so my start date is April the 3rd and I'll be leaving from camp oh and heading towards Canada as far as people coming out and hiking with me I might do that that might be something that I do maybe I'll announce a certain place that I'll be because yeah I guess that would be pretty cool but for the most part I'm just gonna try to get in the zone get into that hike and enjoy it as much as I possibly can by myself I will be doing a weekly video from the trail but like I said it will be about three weeks back and the only thing that will be pretty regular and constant will be my Instagram account what's the plan for snuggles as you hike the PCT in 2018 do you plan to have snuggles follow you north in the new adventure mobile and meet you in towns that you plan on resupplying in kind of like your own mobile trail angel that can ensure your water caches are full when you need them etc so snuggles is not hiking the PCT with me obviously um but she will be following me up the trail but I probably won't meet up with her as often as what you would think she's pretty much gonna be doing her own and I'll probably see her about once every two or three weeks she will be meeting me at places like Kennedy Meadows so I can trade some gear out before I go into the Sierras she'll meet up with me at the California Oregon state line and then probably again at the Oregon Washington line and then probably a few places in between as far as water caches and stuff no she won't be meeting up with me and doing any of that but she does have plans to go and do some trail magic why she's driving up the trail not just for me but for everybody but pretty much she's gonna be doing her own thing while I do my own thing and then we'll be working together to put out videos and Instagram photos so you guys can follow along all right guys last question of the week it all sounds a bit driven Darwin whatever happened to slowing down and enjoying Mother Nature Christ on and on like mind you I get into this mood too don't you ever just start a little later and enjoy your coffee maybe or sit down Midway and enjoy the scene so there's this big misconception that just because you hike fast and that you do big miles that you're not enjoying the hike and it's totally false I hike fast and I hike big miles just because that's the way I like to hike I hike fast because I have a really long stride and I come from a running and cycling background so I just like to move fast now because I'm trying to rush or get some particular place but just because that's how I move I move fast as far as hiking big days like 2530 miles A's I do that just because I don't really like hanging out at camp I rather be hiking you know I rather get up at 7 a.m. trying to take my time in the morning packing up breaking down camp and then I like to hike till 5 p.m. every single day now some days the day is harder and I might only hike 15 miles or might only hike 20 miles but on days where there's nice cruzi flat terrain yeah I'll absolutely just go hike 25 to 30 miles just because that's my style as far as enjoying it whether I hike two miles or I hike 30 miles in a day I'm always enjoying the trail as long as I'm out on the trail and I'm not sitting behind a cubicle I'm enjoying the trail I'm being one with Mother Nature if you will and from time to time I also love just stopping in the middle of the day and taking a siesta taking like a thirty minute to an hour nap on the side of the trail so here just because I hike fast and because I hike big miles doesn't mean I'm not enjoying myself and I'm not taking it all in I think people just take things in and enjoy things in a different way alright guys if you want to ask a 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 so this is the last day that we are here in Joshua Tree California I'm really gonna miss this place because unfortunately we are leaving tomorrow and heading to the east coast now I'm not going to give up exactly where we're going on the East Coast yet but stay tuned and I'll fill you guys in because I have a couple plans for the next two months they haven't had a chance yet go over and check me out on Instagram I've been 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 types if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already as always guys thanks for watching you