Building the Go Anywhere, in Anything UL Camp Kit

My old backpacking pack has been around since the late 90s. It served me well from backwoods treks to hauling critters out of the Quebec Tundra. It is an old camouflage, external frame pack from some manufacturer that I can't even remember. And while functional it wasn't the most comfortable, but I was a much younger man in those days and comfort wasn't that much of a concern back than. All that matter is how much gear and meat I could strap to it.

But time has slipped by and I don't bounce as good as I once did, so comfort and efficiency are paramount now. Though we are keeping the cost of this kit down I decided I wasn't going to skimp on the backpack for hauling this gear in hike mode. I did a bunch of research, talked to backpacking acquaintances and checked on the old interwebs and decide I wanted an Osprey or Gregory pack. They're pricey though, well over $300 and my frugal blood was rebelling against a purchase.

But I stumbled across a year end clearance on a Gregory Baltoro 65L and ended up shelling out the cash for one. This pack is listed as one of the top three packs in about every comparison I could find and a couple of friends of mine absolutely love theirs. Got it in a Shadow Grey model for $165. This pack will serve as my solo transport along as my overnight hiking pack. Here's a video showing all the cool features that drew me to this back...


And a few shots here at home...
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Shrugging it on, fitting it was quick, instinctive and simple and the pack rested very comfortably on my back. Can't wait to use it!
 
That’s a very nice pack. I spent the better part of a full afternoon at REI recently having my wife try on various different packs by Osprey and Deuter. I was amazed at how much better these newer packs are, just in the last 5-10 years I swear they’re half the weight and twice the features. That rabbit hole runs deep too...

Good choice on the Gregory. Buy once cry once applies to old Scots too ;)

:scottish
 
Perhaps not as low buck as it is ultralight, I've taken on some tips from AT, PCT, and CDT thru-hikers for what works and what doesn't.

It's pretty incredible that their base weights before water and food are considered can be sub 10lbs using dyneema packs and tents. The prices add up very quickly, but the benefits on ankles, knees, shoulders, for example, I believe, are worth the cost.

Take a look at this PCT build:


$250 dyneema backpack that can last maybe 1-2 years
$550 dyneema tent
$450 950 fill downtek quilt


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At the beginning of the trail, water is King. People will carry 4-6 liters at each water source increasing your pack weight to 20-22lb before another 5 lbs of dry food. Of course, when leaving the desert and entering the sierras, the common thing to do is to trade out water carrying for warmer clothes or an extra sleeping pad.

It's pretty amazing what sort of luxuries you can do away with when you just want to survive or make it through a 2900+ mile trail.

Techniques like cold soaking are pretty cool. By putting your meal of dry food into water and waiting until it soaks through before applying heat ends up wasting a lot less fuel to get it to an acceptable temperature to eat.
 
kalieaire said:
Perhaps not as low buck as it is ultralight, I've taken on some tips from AT, PCT, and CDT thru-hikers for what works and what doesn't.

It's pretty incredible that their base weights before water and food are considered can be sub 10lbs using dyneema packs and tents. The prices add up very quickly, but the benefits on ankles, knees, shoulders, for example, I believe, are worth the cost.

Take a look at this PCT build:


$250 dyneema backpack that can last maybe 1-2 years
$550 dyneema tent
$450 950 fill downtek quilt


---
At the beginning of the trail, water is King. People will carry 4-6 liters at each water source increasing your pack weight to 20-22lb before another 5 lbs of dry food. Of course, when leaving the desert and entering the sierras, the common thing to do is to trade out water carrying for warmer clothes or an extra sleeping pad.

It's pretty amazing what sort of luxuries you can do away with when you just want to survive or make it through a 2900+ mile trail.

Techniques like cold soaking are pretty cool. By putting your meal of dry food into water and waiting until it soaks through before applying heat ends up wasting a lot less fuel to get it to an acceptable temperature to eat.
Click to expand...

Great post :cool:
 
More stuff...this time it's about resting the old noggin. Ordered a couple of Trekology Dreamer packable/inflatable pillows from Amazon for around $15 a piece...
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Pillow comes in a 4" tall by 2.25" diameter stuff sack and inflates into a 12" x 18" place to plop your head. These inflate easily with a selectable check valve that can be set in three positions; inflate, adjust and deflate. A nice flocked covering is comfortable to rest on and keeps the pillow from skating away. The pillows themselves are quite comfy. The weight on this are a minuscule 2.8 ounces apiece. We think these will do just fine.
 
Almost there...just filling in the corners of this kit and more stuff came in today. My wife is more civilized than I and though fingers and teeth are just fine by me to devoure food with not so much for Michelle. And don't even mention a spork unless you enjoy feminine, caustic eye rolls. So letting Michelle take the lead on this she procured us a couple of sets of Toaks titanium cutlery. And they're nice! Light in weight at 1.7 ounces yet they feel good in the hand. And Lords be, the spoon is full size. Priced under $20 they aren't too hard on the budget for this kit either...
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Haggis said:
More stuff...this time it's about resting the old noggin. Ordered a couple of Trekology Dreamer packable/inflatable pillows from Amazon for around $15 a piece...
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Pillow comes in a 4" tall by 2.25" diameter stuff sack and inflates into a 12" x 18" place to plop your head. These inflate easily with a selectable check valve that can be set in three positions; inflate, adjust and deflate. A nice flocked covering is comfortable to rest on and keeps the pillow from skating away. The pillows themselves are quite comfy. The weight on this are a minuscule 2.8 ounces apiece. We think these will do just fine.
Click to expand...

The next day's clean t-shirt makes an excellent pillow case for these pillows.
 
The plan last weekend was for a backpacking tromp along the Hickory Creek Wilderness Trail in the Allegheny National Forest but the weather man started calling for torrential rain, high winds and lightening...nope...self inflicted misery ain't our thing.

Yet Friday night was looking good and Michelle wanted to at least try out some of this gear. Luckily for us we are the care takers of the American Adventurist Eastern Proving Grounds, so as darkness was rapidly approaching I was sent over to set up a quick overnight camp simulation...
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The Alps tent sets up quick, gives plenty of room and the dual access doors saves a lot of hassle when late night urination runs happen. The two of us with pads, bags and some sundry gear had lots of room but the high tub of the tent and the arrangement of the rain fly vestibules requires you to crawl in the tent. Gonna have to pack a light weight entrance ground cover in case of inclement weather to avoid tracking crud in. The Klymit pads were pretty comfortable though a tad narrow and the Trekology pillows worked fine once you got the internal air pressure to just the right spot. The night proved to pass by comfortably though we did have a young buck outside the tent stomping his hooves and snorting at us 0 dark thirty in the morning. Luckily for him I was in a charitable mood, comfy in my sleeping bag and really didn't feel like butchering his punk ass.

The real test for this stuff should come next weekend as we have a hike through the flowering mountain laurel of the Penns woods planned.
 
We've been out a few times using the stuff in this thread. A couple over night car camping trips and one backpacking trip. We are pretty happy with the way all our choices are working out so far. One problem we have run into...during an overnight backpacking jaunt down the Old Loggers Trail in Loyalsock State Forest in Pennsylvania we found ourselves hiking farther than we wanted. As our shelter was the Alps tent and the terrain was very rocky we had a devil of a time finding a suitable spot to pitch the tent so we kept keeping on till a useable spot was found. About three mikes more than we were planning that day. I'm talking at the minimum grapefruit sized stones everywhere. But it all worked in the end.

We still need to do a canoe or kayak camping trip but we are running out of seasonable weather for that so...

On the kit front we purchased a couple of the Moon Lence lightweight chairs to try out. Orange for me and one in Michelle's adventure blue for her. We got them for around $30 or so and despite the strangle tangle they fold up in they are pretty sweet. Weight for each chair is 2 lbs, so we'll use these in car/kayak camping mode. I am surprised how comfortable these small chairs are and because of that they ride around full time in the cap storage box of Michelle's Tacoma for general use. We like 'em!

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Some pics from last weekend's last minute run to the Allegheny National Forest. Michelle came home Saturday afternoon from a work charity function and said let's go camping. 20 minutes later we had this kit tossed in the FJ and we were off.

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I really dig 'em and find myself reaching for a Moon Lence over my favorite Pico chairs. The Picos still make better dining chairs though.
 
Haggis said:
We've been out a few times using the stuff in this thread. A couple over night car camping trips and one backpacking trip. We are pretty happy with the way all our choices are working out so far. One problem we have run into...during an overnight backpacking jaunt down the Old Loggers Trail in Loyalsock State Forest in Pennsylvania we found ourselves hiking farther than we wanted. As our shelter was the Alps tent and the terrain was very rocky we had a devil of a time finding a suitable spot to pitch the tent so we kept keeping on till a useable spot was found. About three mikes more than we were planning that day. I'm talking at the minimum grapefruit sized stones everywhere. But it all worked in the end.

We still need to do a canoe or kayak camping trip but we are running out of seasonable weather for that so...

On the kit front we purchased a couple of the Moon Lence lightweight chairs to try out. Orange for me and one in Michelle's adventure blue for her. We got them for around $30 or so and despite the strangle tangle they fold up in they are pretty sweet. Weight for each chair is 2 lbs, so we'll use these in car/kayak camping mode. I am surprised how comfortable these small chairs are and because of that they ride around full time in the cap storage box of Michelle's Tacoma for general use. We like 'em!

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Click to expand...

We purchased the hi-back models and really like them, too. So small and lightweight, easy to pack!
 
Well Christmas came and went and with that came small gifts to add to this kit.

First was a couple of packable lanterns 'cause I get tired of using a headlamp all the time. In my stocking were two of these Sauoki led lanterns. USB or solar chargeable these have a run time of 24 hrs. Weighs in at 6.7 ozs apiece and costs just under $15. Lose 'em, no big deal. Light output is good with three settings; regular, bright and strobe. They have a built in hanger for lofting.
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Also in the stocking was an MSR back country pot scrubber 'cause dishes don't wash themselves and messes happen even when your going lightweight.

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I think I'll add a small carabiner and just clip it to the outside of Michelle's pack. Lol.
 
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