For thru-hikers, lightening the load is pretty much a never-ending quest. You can always go lighter. On the CDT I began dropping weight with making some mods to my old ripped hammock and saved almost half a pound of weight as well as a good bit of volume. However, I got sick of always seeming to have the heaviest or largest pack compared to the other seasoned vets on the CDT, so I decided to really lose cut some heft. No more “yeah it is heavier but is just more convenient” attitude. I first turned to my kitchen.
The Toaks 900mL titanium pot (right) shaves 175g (6.2oz) by being a lighter material, smaller, and has no heatsync fins on the bottom. It will take a little longer to boil water but this is a substantial weight reduction.
My old pot could fit an 8oz gas canister inside but if I also stored the bulky stove in there, the lid wouldn't fit. This became annoying as my pot/stove/gas would always jangle loose and spill into my pack.
The hornet stove is tiny, it ditches the piezo ignition, has a smaller burner, and shaves 74g (2.6oz) but more importantly is how much smaller it folds down, see below.
The Hornet Stove also folds down to a much smaller size.
Last is my food bag. The Ursack is made from Kevlar to prevent bears from clawing into your food but I have hiked my way out of bear country. The lightweight Granite Gear bag saves 201g (7.1oz) and the best part is that it opens on the side. Another common annoyance was having to dig down in a tube to find that snack you were dreaming about.
By changing these three pieces of gear I saved 450g (15.9oz) which is pretty dang good. Couple this with almost half a pound from my hammock + no more need for microspikes (12oz) and my pack feels like a feather. Well, not that light but two whole pounds is a very noticeable difference.
Other gear Changes
Another big upgrade is my quilt. I ordered the Revelation by Enlightened Equipment which is pretty much the gold standard in the quilt world for it's warmth-to-weight ratio. Black Diamond also hooked me up with a brand new pair of trekking poles when mine got bent and then rapidly deteriorated. Sections broke, tips wore down, and I managed to cobble them back together to keep them going until I made it home. Lastly, I got new shoes in South Pass City, just in time for the long road walks of the Great Basin in Wyoming and I grabbed some new insoles when back in Maryland.
Quilts against a window. The down in my old Hammock Gear quilt (left) would get squished to the sides and corners due to a poor baffle design, see the light coming through? I would have to spend a few minutes fluffing the quilt to redistribute the down every night or I'd be a cold hammocker. The Revelation has better baffle design and will keep me nice and toasty at the higher elevations of Colorado and the chillier nights as Autumn arrives.
bent and broken. Big thanks to Black Diamond for hooking me up with a brand new set!
My old sneakers, boasting almost no tread left and cushioning that was so compressed that I was rocking THREE insoles to make up for it.