Gear for the PCT - Cook System & Water Storage

Description

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

CNOC Vecto Water Container - https://amzn.to/2H3Cc9s

Sawyer Squeeze Filter - https://amzn.to/2H2Ff1D

Vargo BOT 700 - https://amzn.to/2H2lZ4u

BRS UL Stove - https://amzn.to/2GLsScU

Alpha AL Spork - https://amzn.to/2GNKB3c

Light Load Towel - https://amzn.to/2EbgBJi

Zpacks Food Bag Kit - http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/bear_bag.shtml

Vargo BOT 700 Review - https://youtu.be/zA_ALVRqDl0

PCT 2018 Desert Protection - https://youtu.be/XLpq9rymvUY

PCT 2018 Ditty Bag - https://youtu.be/zAYHEuKKexU

PCT 2018 Big 3 - https://youtu.be/dmxUCozeCdg

PCT 2018 Clothes - https://youtu.be/FWoadnU5YUQ

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 77D - http://amzn.to/2zf5OQ9

- Lense -

Canon EF 24mm IS USM - http://amzn.to/2zeJuWU

- 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

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Tags: UL Backpacking Gear,UL Hiking Gear,PCT Thru Hike,Pacific Crest Trail,PCT,UL Hiking,UL Backpacking,Hiker Trash,BRS UL Stove,Vargo BOT 700,Zpacks,Food Bag,CNOC Vecto,PCT Gear List,Thru Hike Gear List,Long Distance Hiking

Video Transcription

hey guys it's Darwin here with my final gear for the PCT video and today we're talking about my cook system yes I said cook system and my water storage system for my two thousand six hundred and fifty mile thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail

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all right so if you guys are not familiar with this series I started it last year I wanted to break down my gear setup into different categories so you could see just my clothes system or just my big three or my cook system and water storage so if you haven't had a chance to check out all the other gear for the PCT videos that I've done I'll put links to all those in the description box below and then in about two weeks I'll be putting out my final gear list a full spread showing you guys everything that I'll be taking for my thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail today we are talking about water storage and cook system yes I said cook system you guys know that I'm a huge cold soaking fan but there are some times out on the trail that I want to cook so I am taking a full on system first up let's talk about water storage now what I have decided to take is about a 5 liter capacity so because there is that first 700 miles in the desert

obviously there are times where I'm gonna have to carry more water because it is a big dry section now averagely people will carry between 5 & 7 liters of water I'm gonna go with 5 and then if for some reason I have to pick up some extra water storage I can always grab some extra bottles when I am in a town now the first thing that I'm gonna be carrying are the tried-and-true smart water bottles so I'm gonna be carrying 3 of these 3 1 liter bottles if you notice two of these have a sports cap on they're the reason that I like the sports cap is the one that I keep up here on my shoulder strap obviously I just want to be able to flip that open real quick and take a drink but the other reason is the sports cap is actually very good for being able to back flush your Sawyer filter if you are using some sort of a squeeze filter now either the Sawyer filter are the Hydra blue but that is why I choose to go with the sports cap now the reason I don't put it on my third bottle is because if for some reason I have no time to filter while I'm hiking I use my third bottle for dirty water so most of the time I'm gonna be putting clean water in it but there are times where I might want to fill it up with dirty so having that different cap definitely helps me figure what not to drink straight out of the bottle that is three liters of water storage so I'll be caring and then the second piece of gear that I'll have for water storage is my NOC vecto water container now the NOC vecto water container is a two liter water bladder and I've done a review on this if you guys want to check that out I'll put a link up here but essentially what it is is it has a big wide mouth opening so it allows you to collect a lot of water at one time two liters and then the other side actually has a little screw top lid that allows you to thread on a filter straight on to the bottle so then you can squeeze it out now that's what I'll be doing with it most of the time and then putting my water in my three smart water bottles but it is two liters so if I have to I can always fill this up with water strap it to the top of my pack and that's where I come up with having a 5 litre water storage capacity now speaking of a filter to thread onto here the filter that I'm gonna be taking for my entire hike is a classic it's the Sawyer squeeze regular now I did have one of these crap out on me for the first time ever on all the years that I've used a sawyer squeeze out on the pin holy trail it got clogged up with something i think that it's calcium from tap water but i had to throw it away and this is the one that i actually picked up on the pin holy trail and i've added this little tip to it that actually allows me to be able to back flush it a lot better so if you had this blue tip on your sawyer filter and you have these sports caps it actually fits right on there snug and then it allows you to squeeze water through it and back flush the filter without having the syringe so multifunctional piece of gear now i've been getting a lot of questions lately about why I'm not using my Hydra Blue versa flow filter that I use on the Arizona Trail um I like that filter a lot but kind of the same reason that I don't carry a sawyer squeeze mini is the flow rate is just really slow even with those hydro blues the flow rate is better than the sawyer squeeze many i found out but it's still not as good as the regular sawyer and the regular sawyer

only weighs a little bit more so it's definitely worth taking over one of the minis just so I don't have to worry about back flushing it as much now with the little cap up here my Sawyer squeeze weighs in at 2.6 ounces on my scale my nock vecto water container also weighs in at 2.6 ounces on my scale and each one of these smart water bottles weighs in at 1.4 ounces making my entire water storage system come in at nine point six ounces so 9.6 ounces is not too shabby for five liters of water and a way to filter it all right next up is my Cooke system again yes I said Cooke system I know that I stress a lot that I love cold soaking but the truth is I really only want a cold soak for the first seven hundred miles of the PCT in the desert and then when I get to Kennedy Meadows I wanted to pick up a stove so I could cook hot food through the Sierras now it's not because I think it's gonna be colder necessarily it's just because it's a change of pace whenever you eat cold soaked food for so long it kind of becomes boring same is cooking backpacking food out on the trail it kind of becomes boring so just having a way to switch up that's why I wanted to trade it out so the original plan was to carry my tell NT cold soaking jar up until Kennedy Meadows and then get rid of that and pick up my Snow Peak mug and my stove instead I have switched to the Vargo bot seven hundred titanium screw top mug now I recently did a full review on this talking about what I really liked about it and what I didn't really like about it some of the nuisances if you guys want to check that review out I'll put a link up here and I'll put a link in the description box below but essentially what it is is it is like my Snow Peak mug except for it has a screw top lid so I can cold soak that first seven hundred miles but when I get to Kennedy Meadows I can put it on a stove and cook with it as well now the Vargo bot comes in at four point eight ounces which isn't too bad it's a little bit heavier than my Snow Peak mugs but since I don't have to switch it out with the 20 jar it's definitely worth the extra weight for me and because I'm not gonna be switching out my cold silken container for my cook mug I will also be carrying the entire trail the BRS ultralight stove now I have talked a lot about this stove but I've now been using it for about a year and a half and it's excellent it is insanely light coming in only at point nine ounces so not even an ounce for this thing and that's point nine ounces with it's a little stuff sack that it comes with and because it weighs so little I'm just gonna carry it all the way from the beginning that way if for some reason I'm in the desert and I want a hot meal and I'm just tired of cold soaking all I have to do is pick up a fuel canister and then I have a full-on cook system with the pot so totally worth caring like I said under an ounce I'm just gonna put it my bag and kind of forget about it and just in case I need it it is there I have a big mini lighter because you know you don't need a regular-sized Bick the big mini comes in at point three ounces and this is the second big mini that I've had in a while the first big money that I had I used it on the entire Appalachian Trail and it never ran out I never ever need more than just a big money I have a light load towel so this is something that I used to carry on the Appalachian Trail I haven't carried one in a while but I like having one so if I am cooking or cold soaking in my pot I can use this to kind of wipe out my pot or really clean my spork off or anything else these things are super cheap it weighs half an ounce for this big old towel so it's definitely worth keeping that in my cook system so that's coming with me and then last but not least is my spork so this is my tried-and-true sea2summit alpha aluminum spork it's funny because I have bought titanium ones but I always seem to come back to the alpha aluminum one it only weighs in at point four ounces and yeah it's perfect it's nice and long so I can get down into like one of those backpacker pantry mills if for some reason I'm eating one of those and well there's not much else to say about it it's a spork and spokes are just great next up is my food storage now for the first seven hundred miles I'm going to be using something different than what I'll be using whenever I get to the Sierras when I get to the Sierras I'll have to pick up a bear canister so I'm not gonna show that in this video I'm either thinking about carrying the bv 450 or the bv 500 I have a 450 I'm sure if it's gonna be enough room so I might be picking up a 500 right before I go but what I will be carrying all the way from Mexico to Canada is my bear bag so my food bag and what I use is the Z packs Cuban fiber I think they're called blast food bags now I had one for years it's what I used and put a ton of miles on it finally gave out on me it started leaking because all the seams started to finally come apart so I had to order a new one but it is a ton of room to put all the food that I need in I think that the new ones are actually bigger than the old one that I used to have and then along with the Z packs bear bag it also comes with a bear bag hanging kit which is a small rock bag 50 feet of Z line and a little carabiner so I can throw it up in a tree to get it away from bears or chipmunks or raccoons or whatever other critter is running around on the ground that wants to eat my food now like I said when I do get to certain parts of the trail I will have to carry a bear canister however you don't have to carry a bear canister for the entire trail so I will use this about 90% of the time on the trail and then use the can when I have to the bear bag and the rock bag and the carabiner and the Z line and all that comes in at 3.3 ounces which is pretty light to do all that it can do and store all the food that it can store now I think that the bear canister weighs over two pounds so man I wish I could carry this the entire time but you gotta follow the rules and Leave No Trace so my entire water storage system and filter and cook system and food storage comes in at ten point four ounces so ten point four ounces for all of that is pretty groovy for my pack setup and I'm pretty happy with that

alright guys so like I said I will be doing a full final gear video spreading out all of my gear and showing you that but if you haven't had a chance to check out all the other gear for the PCT videos I'll put links to all those in the description box below then go check out my ditty bag my clothes set up my big three and my desert protection video if you haven't had a chance yet go over and check me out on Instagram I'm posting a lot of new photos throughout the week plus I'll be trying to post a picture day

from my PCT thru-hike as long as I have signals 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

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[Applause]

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