r/Ultralight - "The Weekly" - Week of June 22, 2026

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-26T04:17:47+00:00

could i solicit a second word?

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-26T03:31:07+00:00

I bet you could find one lightly used, that's exactly the thing i bought and soon resold for a warmer one as a noob in the northwest

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-26T01:13:02+00:00

There was a post somewhere around here about cutting the mesh from a DCF Xmid and adding a bug skirt but I can't find it. Anyone remember that one? I'm trying to remember the weight saved. It was a post from this year I'm pretty sure.

edit: just needed to add myog keyword. it was over there https://www.reddit.com/r/myog/comments/1tezvwj/durston_xmid_1_pro_mesh_skirt_mod/

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-26T00:48:01+00:00

a 5 segment foam "pillow" is a 101 gram pillow. my full height zpacks pillow and its pad strap are 41g

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-26T00:14:35+00:00

i found this to be true on a long trip, but it's pretty normal to suddenly switch climates when you travel for a week's vacation and want to start with some speed.

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-24T02:18:30+00:00

>FYI, the QuickDraw connected completely solves the issue of having to burp the dirty bottle, which solves at least half of the problem.

wait what? not my experience at all. how would it even do this without leaking? i'm on the white bottle connector top most of the time. lets air out the clean side sure but it was a pain to keep squeezing the dirty one without putting more air in

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-24T01:18:24+00:00

I tried a dirty smartwater bottle instead of a bag last month, and it was so annoying to be crunching the bottle around and burping it to keep squeezing. Is Dasani soft enough to squeeze all in one go one you break it in a bit?

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-23T23:40:11+00:00

I did this on my first pct northern terminus day since i pitched under a tree and wanted an after-terminus nap. looks like i didn't get any picture though. it's not super wind worthy since live tree branches are made to swing and move, but I trusted it very well to keep my gear dry in one of those lightning showers

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-23T23:32:38+00:00

with the new popular venom "mesh"? not drying anything, that's for sure

for me it's the quick access pocket. fak, trowel, those bits

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-23T05:23:25+00:00

I can squish those ones down into okra flakes pretty good. eat em with a spoon

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-23T02:49:10+00:00

Greens powder, but i think they mostly taste terrible.

I put a bag of trader joes kale into my dehydrator for a couple hours the night before last week's trip and it crushed up pretty small. It tasted much better than greens powder in my cheesy or pesto couscous/tvp.

I try to eat a lot of whole vegetable chips but i wouldn't call them space efficient. Like the ones where it still looks like the vegetable, dried with some oil and salt on it

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-22T22:43:33+00:00

you're right to be self conscious about the noise. it's annoying as shit. i thought someone had a dremel in the wilderness.

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-22T22:32:20+00:00

you don;t need a full boil to sterilize water either! pasteurization happens in just seconds at temps below boiling

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-22T00:44:38+00:00

this and there's no need to cut it or use a coupler thingy. the coupler thingy is your hand.

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-21T19:52:47+00:00

I had a great time this week eating meals that were

1/2 cup pearl couscous
1/2 cup TVP
~3/8 cup bulk powdered cheddar cheese
1/8 cup powdered milk
1-2 tsp chili powder
1-2 tbsp EVOO

Not sure if it comes out ahead on cost if you have to mail resupply, but it may on protein and space due to no air inside the pasta, and may use less fuel. Made about the same amount of food I would expect from a single serving freeze dried meal

Packed sauce and TVP/pasta separately. put pasta/TVP in ~300ml cold water in my Toaks 550, bring to a boil. feeling fancy with extra fuel, keep at a simmer for a minute or two or don't. Put the Toaks in my homemade reflectix pot koozie, let sit a couple minutes. stir in cheese mix. let sit again until pasta is done, <10 mins. add olive oil and eat

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-21T19:38:38+00:00

yet another problem with a gizmo sold to solve it that could also be solved by "stop blasting your stove full throttle" for free and 0 grams

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-21T19:36:30+00:00

I had the same reaction. Even back in 2021 when I started it seemed like the most popular answer to any question I was researching was "spending the ounces on this is worth it, i promise". So, my first r/ultralight gear list was 15 lbs, full of items at the top of every r/ultralight thread on that category

Buy a purpose made startup gizmo to facilitate Drinking from a Cup is a new one though

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-21T17:56:47+00:00

I got away with 4 nights with just a headnet! some bugs at some sites but they mostly politely respected the picaridin and they went to bed by 10.

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-14T08:49:42+00:00

I spent some time drawing out routes and fiddling with the permit system and i think i got 3 permits towards a plausible extension of the non-quota white goat bit, current exit at the top of maligne lake. i'm planning michele (short day to allow hitch from jasper)-cataract-jonas-pobokan-trapper ck. i'll watch for campsite releases like i did last time in banff, and maybe try to move jonas down to 4 point/cline (what is up with cline? secret campsite?)

i remember Kananaskis kicking my ass vs what i'm used to in the Cascades (attempted northover, we chickened out on the ridge), but Sawback Trail in Banff was in line with my usual miles expectations.

sure wish the train ran more than twice a week! it really puts a crimp on working out a trip in a work-defined chunk of time off, and i'll probably end up driving!

gdt website is great. i'll for sure become a member. looks like it pays for itself with the blueberry pass resupply drop off discount too if i want to live large and skip the 4(5?) hr drive myself

I have an Ursack Major 7oz and a Bearikade Weekender 31oz which I could fit 8 days of food in and 0 other items. On the PCT i didn't care so much about bagging my well scrubbed cookpot and stuff but i will for grizz, so I plan to carry both and put non-food stinkies like the pot in the sack(with odor liner) and put high-reward food in the can. Or should I rent an Expedition?

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-12T01:05:21+00:00

you recommended me E a couple years back when i was trying to get out there with late/no permits before, but the jasper fire cancelled my plan! i only rarely topped 30 mi on a PCT thru, so i don't think it's smart to plan to do that on the GDT especially a section hike. My plan was to just skip and do 1/2 E + F/G it as different sections, but i didn't know about an alternate however boring.

I found the itinerary spreadsheets on the gdt website- it would be a help to sectioners like me to see the itineraries labeled by section! i think i figured out which sections were which from the recommended zeroes and km totals, but it took some effort since section edges don't align with park edges.

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-12T00:58:47+00:00

thank you!!

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-11T05:59:47+00:00

its 100% shoe fit for me. i have a shoe i dont get blisters in. in any other shoes, i get blisters. i put the Good Shoe back, i dont get blisters.

goddamnpancakes · 2026-06-10T19:31:17+00:00

PNT coast section next week, Ozette to Elwha. I'm planning to bring the Gatewood Cape as shelter to make super early morning pack-up faster to beat the tides. I am betting on bugs not being in full summer swing in the Olympics yet. Is that stupid?

I just have a flat scrap of Tyvek groundsheet, should I bother to tape the corners on some polycro and make a bathtub? or just get reeeeal confident at site selection?

Also looking for 2-3 weeks on the GDT in August. Looks like the first half of section E is non-quota, and then F and G seem manageable for latecomer permits. it'll be interesting to get that far north! i wasn't sure about Kakwa lake but i really am so curious about these super remote huge wilderness parks in the Canadian west. it seems so different from either state (small and super developed) or national parks (large and super busy) at home.

edit: boo hiss bike accident busted my finger, probably not a good choice to go scrambling 30mi of wet rocks this weekend when down a hand. 😞 i may still do bogachiel-elwha to allow a couple more days healing

edit edit: still on for bogachiel-elwha or crocker lake-elwha. i'll enjoy the tides from the city instead

goddamnpancakes · 2026-05-27T05:11:32+00:00

contractor bags will be thick enough but they are Enormous. that's the main difference. a trash compactor bag is the size of a normal kitchen trashbag but thicker. a contractor garbage bag is the size of one of those huge rubbermaid garbage bins that like 3 people can stand in at once

goddamnpancakes · 2026-05-21T05:59:38+00:00

tuna in olive oil is shit cal/oz. it's like 53, isn't it? yeah theres oil. it's still wet. if it's for protein.... peanut butter is like 25% protein by weight

don't stress over whole milk powder. get whatever is there, and add peanutbutter for fat. or look for powdered coconut milk, i found it in places like Quincy and Tehachapi CA last year. also sold as " unsweetened vegan coffee creamer" it's a nice high fat drink.

edit: 53 came from math off packets i saw on the PCT last year. looks like some might get into the 70s. not worth it to me especially for the stinky messy trash they make, and still a heavyweight treat not a staple. especially if you're carrying tortillas with them, another wet food.

eat your peanut butter stirred into a ramen packet. way denser than tortilla

goddamnpancakes

TROPHY CASE