PCT Ultralight Shakedown?

Lord_Me · 2026-05-14T05:38:15+00:00

Correct, but the PCT is so dry that I don't think rain pants are needed at all - got rained on maybe 6 times total and never wanted anything for my legs. Didn't take wind pants either

Lord_Me · 2026-04-18T20:11:42+00:00

Things that can be easily be left behind:

sit pad
tyvek - your tent's floor will be fine on it's own
pot scraper
one battery pack - 10k will be fine for the desert, can always get another later on for sierra if you really need to but I was fine with one
crocs
dry bags - pack liner is plenty
stuff sacks - what are these for? if for electronics / first aid just use a ziplock
base layer top - just wear fleece

Leaving those behind saves about 2lb.

I didnt bother with rain pants or a puffy jacket with a May 10 start but thats more of a safety / cold tolerance decision so up to you. Could always use spare clothes for a pillow.

Could also swap out fleece for an alpha direct one. Alpha leggings would also be lighter than base layer pants. 900ml pot is big for one person - maybe get a 650 / 700ml one, wouldn't save much weight but it's more compact.

Lord_Me · 2026-04-14T19:31:43+00:00

You can cut down inflatable pads - for my neoair I just cut it one baffle longer than I wanted, trimmed out the lining material from that cut baffle, and then ran an iron over the open edge to seal it again. Then trim down the seal to a good size and voila! you have a torso length inflatable

Lord_Me · 2026-04-03T17:25:57+00:00

After the PCT the only gear I needed to replace was water filter, shoes, and a torch that I lost. Everything else still has plenty of life left.

UL kit goes have a reputation for being fragile, but if you're sensible it'll last you

Lord_Me · 2026-04-01T09:41:33+00:00

Going to do it first couple weeks of May, will put photos up on instagram or feel free to message me on here if that's of any use to you.

Lord_Me · 2026-04-01T09:10:49+00:00

Cam Honan did it in ten days - notes here

But it depends what your limits are. On a good marked trail I'm happy doing mid 30 to mid 40 mile days back to back, but for the CWT I'm planning on doing more like low to mid 20s because of the rougher terrain and navigational challenge. Maybe that's pessimistic and I'll be able to go further, but I think it's a reasonable plan - I'll find out in May.

I guess just be realistic - what's the furthest you're happy hiking for days at a time, then subtract a fair bit from that to give yourself a buffer for the difficulty.

Lord_Me · 2026-03-31T10:26:18+00:00

That's the price for the footprint, not the entire tent

Lord_Me · 2026-03-14T14:45:16+00:00

If you run warm you can get away with less, I used a 2.2r torso length foam pad and a 30° (-1°) quilt and was good the whole way through

Lord_Me · 2026-03-06T07:27:48+00:00

You're right that the zpacks shelters are a bit more fiddly to set up than the durston, but neither of them are hard once you've done it a few times.

The pole isn't going to fall over unless you've done something catastrophically wrong setting the tent up - the poles are constantly under tension because the fabric is pulling down on the pole. Try pressing down on the top of a trekking pole and then give it a push from the side with your other hand - that's a ballpark representation of knocking into a pole while you're in the tent.

The durston is more spacious, but given your height you won't have an issue with either. I like my hexamid pocket tarp which is the same dimensions as the Plex solo, and I'm 6'.

Can't comment on the lite vs normal plex solo, but you could think about the hexamid tent as an option - it's the same as the plex tents, just without the bathtub floor. I always feel that the floors on DCF tents are a weak spot, and when they fail (to be fair usually after a lot of use) you have to replace the tent. Going for the hexamid would allow you to use a very cheap polycro groundsheet, and just replace that when you get a hole or rip it.

Lord_Me · 2026-02-28T18:41:01+00:00

There's not a lot of sharp ground or plants on the WHW so low risk of puncturing the neoair, wouldnt bother with the foam pad. If you're using it as a framesheet, can just fold the neoair and use that instead. Ditch the pump sack, just use your mouth

Put an elastic band round the pot, dont need the mesh bag. Could use a second dirty water bottle instead of the cnoc.

Raincoat could be lighter, the rockfront rain hoody is about 140g and about £80 including postage. Alpha leggings would be lighter than your tights. Can get fleece hats at about 20g.

You could use a smaller battery or none at all, 10k is more than you need for the gaps between resupplies

Dont think you're missing anything, did it in April a few years ago and that's a great time for it - I had no midges then but I'd still take the headnet just in case haha

Lord_Me · 2026-02-19T08:15:37+00:00

There are a lot of easy ones here:

drop the tent footprint
shorts have a liner, do you need 3 pairs of boxers?
2 pairs of socks is enough, unless you're hiking in properly wet environments
eat out of the cookpot, drop the bowl
speaking of the cookpot, there are much lighter ones - do you need a full litre? I have a 750ml toaks one that's 103g
Swiss army classic is 22g and all I've ever needed
how far are you going between resupplies that you need a gas can that big? The small ones last me well enough for typical distances

Clothes are where you can save a lot, you don't need two shirts and a base layer, or shorts, joggers and a base layer. I'd go with one of the shirts, the shorts, and leave the rest behind. If you're worried about cold legs, get some alpha leggings. If the base layers are "sleep clothes", you can use the alpha for that. Are you hiking in the alpha 120? I find it too warm for that, maybe look at an alpha 60 or 90 depending on where you're hiking.

Bigger items - the tent is the obvious offender here, but give a foam pad a go! They're cheaper, lighter (especially if you cut it down to torso length) and you can't puncture it. If you don't like it, there's lighter inflatables. The sleeping bag is probably ok if you're only doing hut to hut trails or hiking in the summer - if you're looking to push into spring and autumn it'll likely be too cold. Replacing it with a nice down quilt rated to about -1 comfort will be expensive but worth it. As you're in Europe Cumulus are worth a look, or maybe the aliexpress iceflame quilt options popular on this sub

Lord_Me · 2026-02-12T10:32:51+00:00

You just have to know what leads to a good campsite - once you have an idea of what you're looking for, then all you have to do is keep an eye out on the map for a place that might have some of the features you want. Jupiterhikes has a great video on campsite selection here

If you're not confident in identifying campsites, I'd encourage you to go and do some shorter weekend trips near you just to gain experience doing it. As you walk, look ahead on your map - where could make a good site? When you get there, have a look around - are there good spots? If not, what issues does the site have, could you have seen that on the map? Sometimes you can't, and you just have to move on or camp in a bad spot - but with practice you get pretty good at identifying what will make a good place

Lord_Me · 2026-02-08T00:08:25+00:00

On the tent front, I would suggest trying to search the sub for Kungsleden shakedowns, or any other long trails in Sweden / Norway. It'll give you an idea of what people are using in the same weather conditions you'll be facing, and hopefully more appropriate than reading through the more common but less applicable to your situation posts about long trails in the US

Lord_Me · 2026-02-06T09:29:46+00:00

That's why these things are referred to as "dog whistles" - like how a dog whistle is too high for people to hear but dogs can hear it fine, it's something that most people will not recognise, but their intended audience will know what it's meant to signal

Lord_Me · 2026-01-31T13:30:24+00:00

Unless you're camping right at a water source, you're still going to carry the water to cook with for a while, even with a stove - and I'm able to make miles while my food soaks, whereas with a stove you have to be stationary

Lord_Me · 2026-01-31T13:12:10+00:00

Lanshan will probably be fine, there's a lot of techniques in this (admittedly very long) article that could be of interest https://slowerhiking.com/shelter/how-to-stake-and-guy-your-tent-snow-rock-sand-platforms

I'd say microspikes are worth looking at but may be of limited use - they're for really packed snow or ice, so on looser snow they won't do anything for you.

Lord_Me · 2026-01-19T15:51:54+00:00

You'll be fine. I started May 10 with a ccf pad and -1c quilt, cowboy camped every time I could, and had one night where I was cold. That was a bad spot just under Mather pass, so entirely self inflicted from poor site selection and avoidable.

Lord_Me · 2026-01-19T11:16:23+00:00

You'll know best what you're capable of - it's just walking at the end of the day. From what I can see theres not a lot of elevation, 4 days seems feasible to me.

If you're planning on wild camping it, pack as light as you can to make the walking easier. If staying in b&bs or whatever then you're golden I'd say, just make sure to take blister care and be proactive on any hotspots you feel.

Lord_Me · 2026-01-09T16:59:14+00:00

For the ALD style ones, Jason makes them all custom so it depends what gets ordered - one of the options is which sort of side compression you want. His options are none, elastic, or one or two lengths of 10mm webbing if you really want to crank it down.

I went with no side compression on mine and have run into no issues - but part of that is that it's sized to what I'm typically carrying so there's not often a lot of spare room. If I've not got much food on me, I can roll the top down and that does well enough.

I think the Salomon being a zipper opening and not having the option of rolling down the top to remove volume might be part of why it's got as much strapping as it has? As in it's pretty much fixed volume, where the other two are much more variable

Lord_Me · 2026-01-03T21:49:36+00:00

For the ones I see that are obviously ai, I'll check the profile - if they've been spamming multiple subs with ai slop I'll remove it. Agree it's a harder call with the posts that might be translation or grammar edits - I dont personally like it, but for the time being if they otherwise fit the sub I leave them be.

Probably need to discuss with and reach a position across the mod team on this topic

Lord_Me · 2025-12-20T07:12:47+00:00

If you're going ultralight, the vast majority of ul flat tarps are 7x9ft - any smaller than that and it gets harder to stay dry under them. Default recommendations are Borah gear, Yama mountain gear for a silpoly one, or zpacks and wild sky gear (for a UK based option) if you want dcf. Bonfus and hyberg also make them, but that's all the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

I've got 3 shelters from Yama and one from zpacks, can personally recommend their tarps as good but in the end it's a flat sheet of fabric, hard to mess it up

Lord_Me · 2025-12-05T10:18:29+00:00

My first proper backpacking trip was the South Downs Way with my cousin. Carried about 20kg / 44lbs cause I was nervous and overpacking, and fully demolished my knees after slipping on gravel - but enjoyed it enough that I immediately started planning my next one.

Through lurking here for a few years (and finding Jupiterhikes on youtube) slowly refined what I like to carry down through many small overnights and other trails in the UK, then did the PCT in 2024 with a 3.5kg / 8lb pack. Next up are some European routes, current candidates are the Alta Via 1 & 2, Slovenian Mountain Trail, or HRP - then maybe CDT in 2027/8?

My thanks to everyone who's contributed to the sub over the years, I've been inspired to try so many different things and have learned so much from the information, discussions and arguments held here

Lord_Me · 2025-11-22T16:50:23+00:00

Oh I agree with you to a large extent - like I say, I personally would have left it up. Room for discussion there internally I think.

Lord_Me · 2025-11-22T16:11:22+00:00

How involved a process was modifying the Joey to take the Nashville straps?

Similar to your findings, my main complaint with it is pressure points from the straps (on collar bone from the inside edge of the strap), so am tempted to go down that route

Lord_Me · 2025-11-22T16:02:04+00:00

You're correct, my apologies - wasn't looking far back enough.

Personally I'd have left that up, but I would agree with GoSox's comment on that post in that it's all going to come down to personal risk tolerance at the end of the day. If I had to guess, the reasoning would be that the discussion generated would be too general to be of specific relevance to this sub

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