1,000 mile hike gear review

This post is an overview of each piece of gear that I used. Since returning from my hike, I’ve been asked for gear advice and have answered a number of questions about my gear. I will give each piece of gear a grade and explain why it received that grade.

Tent: Big Agnes Tiger Wall 2 person

Grade: B

This tent served its purpose. It was ultra-light, easy to set up, and packed down well. I opted for the extra weight of a 2 person tent instead of a 1 person tent. The 2 person tent was the perfect size for my 6’2″ body, leaving me with extra room to store gear inside with me. The rainfly was easy to attach and ‘guys’ out leaving 2 vestibules that easily stores my back pack, shoes, and any other misc. items.

There are a few downsides to this tent. First, the 2 person was great for ME. This is a 2 person tent, and 2 people would be extremely cramped. Next, the tent didn’t come with enough stakes and line to properly tie out my rainfly. I had to buy additional. I believe this is so they can say their weight falls below a certain popular parameter. The tent is extremely delicate. I began my hike without a footprint to set my tent on and the tent suffered multiple small tears on its floor. The rainfly had problems with the zipper hanging up. A nearly $400 (full price) tent should not have these issues. I bought mine on a good year end sale. Will I use this tent on my next hike? Yea, probably, unless I find an irresistible deal on a different brand.

Sleeping bag: REI Igneo 17 degree mummy sleeping bag. (extra wide option)

Grade: B+

This sleeping bag was really comfortable. I opted for extra weight of an extra wide sleeping bag because I’m 6’2″, wide shouldered and broad chested. This bag was extremely comfortable and fit me perfectly. On warmer nights, I would unzip the bag and use it as a blanket. The zipper didn’t catch or jam (a problem different bags sometimes have), felt very comfortable, and is thru-hiking light weight.

The reason why I didn’t grade this sleeping bag with an “A” is due to the rather tricky marketing scheme. It’s called the “17 degree” sleeping bag. I got rather chilly when the temperatures dropped below freezing and ended up sleeping with 3 layers, including my “puffy” coat. A quick look at the manufactures label reveals that 17 degrees is the “survival” temperature. The “comfortable” temperature is 28 degrees. It should be called the “REI Igneo comfortable to 28 degrees” sleeping bag. One other slight complaint is that this sleeping bag takes up a bit more space than other sleeping bags. This doesn’t count off of my grade because, in their defense, I used the extra wide sleeping bag, so, this will be larger than their regular size. Would I use this sleeping bag on my next trip? Yes, I love the feel of it and can simply layer up if I need to.

Thermarest Neo-Air air up sleeping pad.

Grade: A

Thermarest really has a great product with their sleeping pad. It’s extremely light weight, packs up really small, and is quite comfortable for it’s size. I know of a few other hikers that had problems with their Neo-Airs puncturing. I don’t hold this against the brand because setting up an inflatable mattress in the desert, which is full of cactus and other prickly mattress puncturing flora can wreck havoc on any air up mattress. The only downfall to this pad is that it is very noisy at first. When rolling over in my sleep, it sounded like I was rolling over on newspaper. This noise does fade with use. Would I use this again? Absolutely!

Osprey Exos 58L backpack

Grade: C+

The Osprey backpack is complicated for me to grade. I know many others will disagree with this grade, but, overall, this backpack never really fit me with 100% comfort. Throughout my hiking, I was continuously adjusting the many different places it can be adjusted.

The good: The pack did serve it’s purpose and got me through 1,000+ of hiking without tearing. The durability of an Osprey would receive an “A” grade. the Exos is very light and appears to be geared towards a thru-hiker. It’s very well padded in the shoulder and waist areas.

The bad: There are no outside vestibules or pockets. I would love to be able to hold regular water bottles in outside pockets and remedied this by buying extra large 1.5 liter water bottles, storing them in the outside pouches. These pouches have holes in the bottoms. I have no idea why. Next, the pack never fit me right. I continuously adjusted the many different adjustment points. My shoulders and hips bruised from this pack. I don’t bruise easily. Lastly, this pack IS NOT waterproof, nor did it come with a waterproof cover. It’s absurd to sell a thru-hiking pack that is not waterproof. I lined the inside of the pack with a thick trash compactor bag. Would I use this again? I may opt for a heavier full framed back pack next time.

Henschel Hat… Grade: A-, Great quality, fit great, but lacks tie down for wind. Be sure to waterproof this hat before hiking.

Tifosi brand sunglasses… Grade: D- Poor lens quality. Very easily scratched, low quality lens. Suffered multiple scratches early on. Don’t use this brand.

Head/neck buff (also called sun-gator)… Grade A+ (see above pic around my neck). This was, by far, my favorite, most used piece of gear/clothing. I’ll never go on a thru-hike without it. My wife bought this for me to wear. I had never used anything like this, and packed it as an afterthought. I thought, “what the heck, it’s lightweight, so why not”. After 2 days of hiking through the desert sun, the bottom one-third of my ears sunburned so badly they bled. My face also burned. I saw other hikers wearing buffs around their face to block the sun. Even 50 SPF sunscreen doesn’t work when you’re in full desert sun for 12 straight hours, every single day. I ended up wearing this buff over my head, pulled back so that only my face showed, blocking the sun. The buff then covered my face, mouth and nose, only exposing my eyes, resembling what a middle-eastern woman would expose, when it got very windy and dusty. I never felt hot when wearing it. This buff also kept my head and ears warm at night when sleeping. I could double it over my ears to block noise and pull it over my eyes at dawn to block light. This buff was also used to filter sand out of water before purifying so that my purifier didn’t get clogged with sand. This is a wonderful piece of gear that can be used for a multitude of reasons. Don’t go on another hike without one!

MSR extra small cooking stove with titanium cooking pot and Walmart cold soaking tupperware. Grade: B+

At first glance, it seems doubtful that this tiny little cooking stove would work, but don’t judge a book by it’s cover. This tiny little stove performed flawlessly. It’s easy to operate and easy to fold up and stow away. The negatives are that it’s affected by the wind. I had to cup my hands to block the wind. It began to make a strange noise by the end of my hike. Maybe it needs to be cleaned? I’m not sure. Also, the titanium pot is ridiculously expensive. Look for a cheaper option. Will I use this cooking system next time? Yes.

Black Diamond carbon fiber treking-poles with cork handles. Grade: C-

For the money I paid for these poles, I expected them to perform better. First, I had problems with the poles not maintaining their original length. They’re adjustable length, locking into place. My ideal length was 135 and I had to keep re-extending them. Also, I fell on Mt. San Jacinto, and had to dig my pole in to keep from sliding down the mountain. The pole bent into a “C” shape. I straightened the pole by butting it up against a tree and bending it back as straight as I could. The snow cups kept falling off and I eventually lost one of them. Will I use them again? Doubtful. Look for something better.

Columbia Omni-Shade long sleeve shirt. (see pic above) Grade: A

This shirt was great quality, fit great, and allowed adequate air flow to the skin. The long sleeves can be rolled up and buttoned up to make it a short sleeved shirt. Great quality shirt but rather expensive. Will I use it again? Yes, for sure.

Columbia (sorry, can’t remember the exact name) pants. Grade: B-

The belt that came with these pants broke. The back right pocket developed a hole. Danny, AKA “Falls” had the exact same pants and his pants developed a hole in the exact same place. Probably a factory design flaw. The inside of one of my pockets developed a hole. For the expensive price of Columbia pants, I’d expect better quality. Will I wear them on my next hike? No.

Socks, “Darn Tough” brand. Grade: F

These socks are renouned for their lifetime warranty. I had 3 pair and 2 of the 3 pair developed holes and all 3 showed excessive wear and tear fairly quickly with much of the wool wearing off of the socks after a few washings. The problem with their “lifetime warranty” is that very few outfitters will honor this warranty. Wear them again? Probably not. I will experiment with different, cheaper ‘smart wool’ socks.

Shoes: Altra “Olympus” shoes. Grade: B+

These shoes are much different than their very popular sister brand Altra Lone Peak shoes. The Olympus has much more cushion than the Lone Peak shoes. I was surprised to not find one single other pair of Olympus on the PCT/OCT. People tend to stick to what’s popular. Each pair lasted approximately 600+ miles, counting miles hiked at home to break them in. Luckily, my feet never swelled one bit. Most hikers’ feet will swell and increase 1 to 2 sizes when hiking this far, rendering shoes worthless that were purchased before their hike. My feet never got any bigger. One issue I did have with these shoes was that the insoles did wear out rather fast and I had to wear after market insoles to counter this. Will I use Altra Olympus again? Yes, for sure. I love the extra wide toe box.

Underware: Ex-Officio. 3 pair. Grade: A.

Do I really have to explain my underware??? They fit great, felt good, and the quality was excellent. Will I use this brand again? Yep.

Smartwool 250 long sleeved hooded sweat shirt and pants. Grade: B+

They felt very comfortable. I slept in these. Other thru-hikers might argue that these are unnecessary weight. They are rather heavy. I wanted to be comfortable at night and it was mentally uplifting when I could change out of my hiker cloths into something that I could sleep in. Would I use them again? Absolutely.

Sea to Summit brand air-up pillow. Grade: A

Some may call me a trail wimp using an air up pillow. Sure, it’s a luxury, but for me, comfort at night is key. I will gladly carry the extra weight. Use next time? Wouldn’t spend another night in a tent without it!!

UnderArmour Storm weather proof wind breaker. Grade: A+

This is my second favorite piece of gear, next to my buff. I wore this jacket every night while sleeping, when it was windy, and when it was foggy or lightly raining. It had a hood and fit perfectly. I bought it off of the Kohl’s department store clearance rack for $9!! Would I wear it on my next hike? Yes!!

Spyder gloves. Grade: D+

The gloves weren’t waterproof, which is a problem on the PCT. They only kept my hands warm down to about 35 degrees. I will find a better pair to bring on my next hike. They were light weight, which is why I originally opted for them.

Mountain Hardware Ghost Whisperer ultralight coat. Grade: D+

For all of the hype and money, this coat was really disappointing. The down quickly clumped, causing multiple cold spots and it wore tightly. The XL I wore was very restrictive. The quality seemed adequate as it held up to the elements, but, it wasn’t comfortable to sleep in or wear for an extended period. Will I wear it next time? I’m not sure. I’ll try to find something that feels better.

I phone 8-xl or whatever it’s called with the Anker 20,000 battery. Grade: B+

The I-phone 8 was flawless. I used an Otterbox protective cover. The cover was great, but it was rather heavy and lots of dust/debris somehow found its way under the plastic screen. The Anker battery was outstanding, charging my phone 9 times from empty or a dozen plus times from 25-50% life remaining. 2 downfalls with the Anker battery were that it took 6-7 hours to charge and it was very heavy, weighing in at 20 ounces!

WordPress blogging platform. Grade: D-

WordPress was a thorn in my side from the very beginning. WordPress recently completely overhauled their platform, coming up with “Gutenberg”. Many of their old extensions, called “widgits” didn’t work with their new operating platform. I had to pay somebody to keep up the ‘behind the scenes’ stuff with WordPress. I had multiple issues with this program suddenly dropping my posts, not behaving with my phone, or simply glitching. Now, I receive 2-6 emails PER DAY that show spammers subscribing to my blog. An example is the email joesaysviagraworks@gmail.com or something like this. Another is something like travelsingapore@jane.com.

Every single person I know, with NO exception, that uses WordPress, complains about the constant maintenance requirements, glitching, and overall issues that WordPress brings to the table. You have to be very proficient with this program to make it work successfully! I will try to find something else that is much more user friendly, and will continue to further educate myself on WordPress in hopes of making it work for me. It sure has potential!