Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike #1: Intro and Gear
The Pacific Crest Trail is where my passion for hiking truly began. Earlier in life I had hiked plenty of miles and slept at too many sketchy campgrounds, but my thru-hike of the PCT was my very first foray into backpacking, and is when and where I fell in love with the outdoors.
Jill (then girlfriend, now wife) and I were living in Massachusetts when the Pacific Crest Trail first became known to us. We had both graduated college in Oregon before shipping up to Boston (aka flying) on a whim in search of a new adventure. The Pacific Crest Trail first entered our world when Jill stumbled upon Wired’s 2011 PCT thru-hike blog. Jill became infatuated with Wired’s story: her strength, her struggles, and her persistence.
In turn, Jill introduced me to the Pacific Crest Trail and together we were amazed at the grand scope of such an undertaking. How could something so huge and amazing exist? How could anyone actually complete such a monumental, awe-inspiring journey?
A couple of years rolled by after our initial discovery of the trail. We had moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where I worked as a Starbucks store manager and Jill began her career as a civil engineer. As time slipped by the Pacific Crest Trail swam through our thoughts, scratching at the insides of our skulls as if it were a memory that didn’t yet exist, lingering in the back of our minds like a story from a past life waiting to be relived, retold.
It was a dream that we decided to make a reality, and so we started the planning process, first figuring out financially how long it would take for us to build up enough savings to quit our jobs and survive for a year without income (we assumed work wouldn’t be found easily after the hike was over, and we were right), and then came the logistical planning.
The Pacific Crest Trail
Two years of scrimping and saving went into padding our bank accounts while we purchased all of the gear and guide books that we thought we needed in order to not die out there on the trail in. The first month would be all desert walking for crying out loud, and then we were going to climb into the snowy Sierra Nevada? Good grief Charlie Brown.
Suffice it to say we had enough time to analyze the upcoming trip down to every detail. We over-planned and spent too much money on unnecessarily new and shiny gear, but we wound up having one helluva good hike. It was the most awesome experience of our lives.
Jill and I blogged every single day of our hike. At night in our tent (and the occasional motel room) one of us whipped out our phone and wrote down the day’s story into our WordPress app. We took turns journaling the journey, then uploading the words and our pictures for our friends and family to see.
Long story short— after our adventure was over I edited the posts and we turned our backpacking story into a book called Adventure and The Pacific Crest Trail. It was something I created for the two of us to have and look back on to relive our trail memories, but I found that others were interested in reading our story as well.
Now that I’ve created Better Hiker, I want to share some of my story with you here on the website. You can still buy the book for easy reading on your Kindle or to see the beautiful pictures in print on your coffee table, but you’ll get a chunk of it here as well, for free.
I must admit that journaling in a tent on our phones after a long day of hiking didn’t result in Pulitzer Prize winning posts, but the writing has been refined through editing and the entires became more descriptive and engaging as we journeyed further into our Pacific Crest Trail hike. I hope you enjoy our story and that you learn something from it, whether it be through our successes or failures.
PCT Thru-hike Gear List
Here are the gear lists we started with. Some of you veteran long-distance hikers will see that we were well-stocked and weighed in well above any diehard ultralight limit. Newbies take note: you don’t need a bowie-knife. My father offered me his blade before I left on my trip. I accepted it, thinking that it would look badass strapped to the side of my pack, and I also didn’t have the heart to turn him down, though I wound up mailing it home by the time I arrived at Kennedy Meadows.
Since Jill and I thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail together we shared a few items like our tent and battery which helped cut down on each of our individual base pack weights. Though the weight of each item is reflected in the tables below, the totals were adjusted to reflect the shared usage items that were only carried by one of us. Do these lists look similar to what you would have taken on a thru-hike?
Jill’s Pacific Crest Trail Starting Gear
| GENERAL GEAR | |||
| Item | Description | Cost ($) | Weight (oz) |
| Tent | Tarptent Double Rainbow w/liner | 342 | 41 |
| Sleeping Bag | Zpacks Down Solo Sleeping Bag 10 degree | 455 | 23.3 |
| Sleeping Bag Stuff Sack | Zpacks Medium Plus Stuff Sack | gift | 1 |
| Backpack | Gossamer Gear Mariposa Ultralight Dyneema | 243 | 27 |
| Sleeping Pad | Therm-a-Rest Neoair Xlite | 110 | 12 |
| Ground Cloth | Gossamer Gear Polycro | 5 | 1.6 |
| Eating Utensil | Summit Alpha Light Spoon | gift | 0.4 |
| Headlamp | Black Diamond Spot | 30 | 3 |
| Water Filtration | Sawyer Squeeze | 40 | 3 |
| Backup Water | Aquamira Drops | 13 | 3 |
| Water Bags | Platypus Platy 2 L (Carrying 2) | 26 | 2.6 |
| Water Bottle | Smartwater bottle | 1 | 2.6 |
| Bandana | Miscellaneous (Carrying 2) | 4 | 1.5 |
| Potty Trowel | Deuce of Spades | 20 | 0.6 |
| OP Bag | Loksak OPSak | gift | 3 |
| Food Bag | Zpacks Roll Top Blast | 30 | 1.4 |
| Weight (lbs) = | 6.66 lbs | ||
GEAR FOR SIERRAS |
|||
| Item | Description | Cost ($) | Weight (oz) |
| Bear Canister | BV500 | 70 | 41 |
| Ice Axe | Black Diamond Raven | 48 | 17 |
| Microspikes | Kahtoola MICROspikes | 60 | 13 |
| Weight (lbs) = | 4.44 lbs | ||
CLOTHING IN PACK |
|||
| Item | Description | Cost ($) | Weight (oz) |
| Rain Jacket | Mountain Hardwear Plasmic | 80 | 10 |
| Rain Pants | Marmot Precip rain pants | 38 | 8 |
| Gloves | North Face fleece gloves | 11 | 1 |
| Wind Gloves | North Face Over Mittens | 35 | 1 |
| Warm Hat | Mom Knitted Beanie | gift | 3.5 |
| Insulated Jacket | Mountain Hardware Ghost Whisperer | 163 | 6 |
| Extra Socks | Darn Tough | 13 | 1.5 |
| Warm Tights | North Face Long Underwear Tights | 35 | 5.5 |
| Sleep Shirt | Smartwool Microweight Long Crew Top | 52 | 5 |
| Sleep Socks | Fuzzy Target Socks (Gifted) | – | 3 |
| Bug Headnet | Sea to Summit Head Net | – | 1.3 |
| Wind shirt | Patagonia Houdini Women’s Wind Jacket | 69 | 4 |
| Bug Pants | Coghlan’s Bug Pants | 12 | 2.5 |
| Weight (lbs) = | 3.18 lbs | ||
WEAPONRY |
|||
| Item | Description | Cost ($) | Weight (oz) |
| Knife | Leatherman Style CS Multitool | gift | 1.4 |
| Weight (lbs) = | 0.09 lbs | ||
ELECTRONICS |
|||
| Item | Description | Cost ($) | Weight (oz) |
| Cell Phone | Samsung Galaxy S4 | already owned | 4.5 |
| Personal Locator | Delorme InReach SE | gift | 7 |
| Cell Phone Case | Lifeproof Fre Galaxy | 30 | 1.5 |
| Headphones | Samsung earbuds | – | 0.5 |
| Watch | Casio SGW300-1AV | 40 | 2 |
| Weight (lbs) = | 0.97 lbs | ||
TOILETRIES/DITTY BAG |
|||
| Item | Description | Cost ($) | Weight (oz) |
| Toothbrush | Zpacks Ultralight toothbrush | 3 | 0.7 |
| Small Mirror | |||
| Gauze | |||
| Period | Diva Cup | 40 | |
| Chapstick | |||
| Hand Sanitizer | 3 oz bottle | 3 | |
| Leukotape | |||
| Antibiotic ointment | |||
| Toilet Paper | |||
| Sunscreen | |||
| Ibuprofen, Pepto Bismol, Immodium, Benedryl | |||
| Needle, Floss, Straw | |||
| Duct Tape | |||
| Waterproof Matches | |||
| Mini Bic Lighter | |||
| Weight (lbs) = | 0.9 lbs | ||
NON-BPW CONTRIBUTORS |
|||
| Item | Description | Cost ($) | Weight (oz) |
| Shirt (desert) | Railriders Shirt | 35 | 6 |
| Shirt | Icebreaker Tech T Lite | 35 | 4 |
| Shorts | BOA Apparel Shorts | 20 | 3 |
| Shoes | La Sportiva Helios | 58 | 19.5 |
| Socks | Darn Tough | 10 | 2 |
| Underwear | Icebreaker hot pants | 28 | 1.5 |
| Sports Bra | Icebreaker Rush Bra | 60 | 4 |
| Gaiters | Dirty Girl Gaiters | 19 | 1 |
| Sunglasses | Suncloud Cutout Polarized | 50 | 1.5 |
| Hat | Ball cap | – | 3.5 |
| Hiking Poles | REI Traverse Shocklight | 45 | 16 |
| Weight (lbs) = | 3.88 lbs | ||
| Total Cost = | $2306 (after calculating shared items) | ||
| Total BPW Desert= | 11.90 lbs | ||
| Total BPW Sierra = | 16.34 lbs | ||
Arthur’s Pacific Crest Trail Starting Gear
GENERA GEAR
| Item | Description | Cost ($) | Weight (oz) |
| Tent | Tarptent Double Rainbow w/liner | 342 | 41 |
| Sleeping Bag | Zpacks Down Solo Sleeping Bag | 455 | 20.4 |
| Sleeping Bag Stuff Sack | Zpacks Medium Plus Stuff Sack | gift | 1 |
| Backpack | Deuter Futura Vario 50 + 10 | 160 | 70 |
| Sleeping Pad | Klymit Inertia O-Zone | 70 | 12.2 |
| Ground Cloth | Gossamer Gear Polycro | 5 | 1.6 |
| Eating Utensil | Sea to Summit Alpha Light Spoon | gift | 0.4 |
| Headlamp | Divine LED Headlamp | 24 | 3.5 |
| Water Filtration | Sawyer Squeeze | 40 | 3 |
| Water Bags | Platypus Platy 2 L (Carrying 2) | 26 | 2.6 |
| Trowel | Deuce of Spades | 20 | 0.6 |
| OP Bag | Loksak OPSak | gift | 3 |
| Food Bag | Zpacks Roll Top Blast | 30 | 1.4 |
| Writing Pad and Pen | – | 5 | |
| Weight (lbs) = | 10.36 | ||
| GEAR FOR SIERRAS | |||
| Item | Description | Cost ($) | Weight (oz) |
| Bear Canister | BV500 | 70 | 41 |
| Ice Axe | CAMP Neve — 50 cm | 66 | 17.1 |
| Microspikes | Kahtoola MICROspikes | 60 | 13 |
| Weight (lbs) = | 4.44 | ||
| CLOTHING | |||
| Item | Description | Cost ($) | Weight (oz) |
| Rain Jacket | Packa poncho — 33D | 125 | 10 |
| Sleep Shirt | Smartwool midweight longsleeve | 50 | 9.5 |
| Gloves | Outdoor Research Wool Gloves | 40 | 2.25 |
| Warm Hat | Gifted knitted beanie | gift | 2.5 |
| Insulated Jacket | REI Revelcloud Jacket | 80 | 15 |
| Extra Socks | Black dress socks (switched to Darn Tough after 700 miles) | – | 2 |
| Sleep Socks | same | – | 2 |
| Bug Headnet | Sea to Summit Head Net | – | 1.3 |
| Wind shirt | Salomon Dynamics Soft Shell | 85 | 11 |
| Weight (lbs) = | 3.47 | ||
| TOILETRIES | |||
| Item | Description | Cost ($) | Weight (oz) |
| Toothbrush | Zpacks Ultralight toothbrush | 3 | 0.7 |
| Glasses and Case | – | 3.4 | |
| Gauze | 0.4 | ||
| Contacts | – | 2 | |
| Solution | – | 1 | |
| Survival Medic Kit | SOL Survival Medic + Kit | 10 | 4 |
| Hand Sanitizer | 3 | ||
| Toilet Paper | 2 | ||
| Sunscreen | 3 | ||
| Weight (lbs) = | 1.22 | ||
| WEAPONRY | |||
| Item | Description | Cost ($) | Weight (oz) |
| Knife | Bowie Knife (why though?) | gift | 15 |
| Weight (lbs) = | 0.94 | ||
| Electronics | |||
| Item | Description | Cost ($) | Weight (oz) |
| Camera | GoPro Hero3+ Black | 434 | 4.8 |
| External Battery | EC Technology 18000mAh Ultra Slim | 30 | 15 |
| Phone | iPhone 5S | – | 4 |
| Phone Case | driSuit | 20 | 2.25 |
| Weight (lbs) = | 1.63 | ||
| Non-BPW Contributers | |||
| Item | Description | Cost ($) | Weight (oz) |
| Shirt | Smartwool Men’s NTS Micro 150 Pattern Crew x 2 | 120 | 12 |
| Shorts | prana Talon Shorts | 27 | 5 |
| Shoes | Brooks Cascadia 9 | 90 | 25.4 |
| Shoes (sierras) | Mammut GTX | 127 | 64 |
| Underwear | [Ex Officio sport mesh boxer briefs | 30 | 2.5 |
| Sunglasses | Suncloud Cutout Polarized | gift | 1 |
| Hat | Ball Cap | – | 3.5 |
| Prescription glasses | Nike specs | – | 0.5 |
| Hiking Pole | REI Shocklight Hiker Staff | 70 | 10.2 |
| Weight (lbs) = | 7.76 | ||
| Total Cost = | $2541 | ||
| Total BPW = | 16.33 lbs | ||
| BPW Sierra = | 20.78 lbs | ||
We’re packed and ready to walk, let’s head out onto that trail! From here on out the posts are going to be the journal entries from our daily Pacific Crest Trail grind. You’ll get to experience the highs and lows Jill and I lived while backpacking this amazing National Scenic Trail. Happy trails and happy reading. Click here to go straight to the next post or follow the link list below.
Do you have any questions about our decision to hike or the gear we took?
Thru-Hike the Pacific Crest Trail With Us
Follow along each and every step of the journey.
