Desert backpacking

Foggy Bryce Canyon in 2010

While my housemate holds down the fort this weekend, I'll be heading off to Utah to backpack at Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks.  The lack of water there will push me back to a bigger backpack from GoLite and my Mountain Smith Daylight lumbar pack.  Not much bigger, just enough to fit a 3 liter Camelbak and the larger 1 liter bottles that my Mountain Smith can carry.  This will add at least 5 lbs to my total loaded back weight.  I'll hike less miles because my muscles will get tired and start depending on my titanium repaired backbone sooner.  Bryce Canyon is one of my favorite places.  Zion National Park is amazing too.   I'll let you know how it goes.

Zion in 2011

Updated Gearlist (No Cooking)

RikSak and Items in RikSak	Ounces	Pounds
Sleeping bag -Western Mountaineering High Lite	16.00	1.00
Hexamid Twin Tarp with Extended Beak & Bugscreen	11.60	0.73
Silk sleeping bag liner - Cocoon	4.50	0.28
Nightlight Sleeping Pad 19 x 29 x 3/4" (torso length)	3.65	0.23
RikSak	2.10	0.13
RikSak and Items in RikSak	37.85	2.37
Daylight Lumbar Pack and Items in Lumbar Pack	Ounces	Pounds
Mountain Smith Daylight Lumbar pack	13.60	0.85
Personal locator beacon - Delorme InReach - 8.3 oz	8.30	0.52
Droid Bionic cell phone	6.65	0.42
Extra batteries (2 AA, 2 batteries for Steripen)	2.60	0.16
Emergency Kit	3.45	0.22
Water Purifier - Steripen Adventurer Opti	3.55	0.22
Extra pair of wool socks	3.45	0.22
Water containers - two 1 liter PowerAde bottles	3.40	0.21
Varga Titanium Stakes (8)	1.65	0.10
Sunblock and bug protection	1.45	0.09
Painter's drop cloth 6' x 4.5'	1.55	0.10
Toilet Paper	0.60	0.04
bic lighter	0.75	0.05
Hand sanitizer	0.55	0.03
Pack towel (cut in half, half for body, half for food)	0.60	0.04
Driver's license, debit card and health insurance card	0.50	0.03
Knife - Swiss Tech Utili-key	0.45	0.03
ZipLit LED and Princeton Tec	0.40	0.03
Toothbrush	0.20	0.01
Walmart bag to line bag	0.25	0.02
ZipLoc	0.20	0.01
Whistle	0.15	0.01
Maps & guide in phone (scanned in)	0.00	0.00
Lumbar Pack and items in Lumbar Pack	54.30	3.39
RikSak and Lumbar Pack with their contents	92.15	5.76
Base weight without clothing, glasses, IDs and consumables	88.70	5.54
Consumables	Ounces	Pounds
Food 2 days (~24oz per day)	48.00	3.00
Water 1.5 liters (average, start with 2 @ 70.40oz)	52.80	3.30
Consumables	100.80	6.30
Total packs and items carried in packs (line 10 +line 44 + line 51)	192.95	12.06
Worn clothes & trekking poles	Ounces	Pounds
New Balance GTX Hiking Shoes	33.50	2.09
Patagonia Pullover Jacket	12.10	0.76
Black Diamond-Distance Zpoles	12.00	0.75
O2 Rain Jacket	6.70	0.42
Synthetic short sleeve shirt	5.80	0.36
Nylon shorts (with mesh liner)	5.35	0.33
Socks (1 pair wool, 1 pair liner)	4.95	0.31
O2 Rain pants	4.75	0.30
Liner gloves	1.90	0.12
Synthetic Baseball cap	1.80	0.11
Rx Sunglasses	0.85	0.05
Worn clothes and trekking poles	89.70	5.61
Total carried in packs, clothes worn and trekking poles	282.65	17.67
OPTIONAL ITEMS
Thermal underwear (top)	11.85	0.74
Thermal underwear (bottom)	9.10	0.57

Finished Segment 5 of the Colorado Trail (Part 2)

Items in my lumbar pack:

• Mountain Smith Daylight Lumbar Pack - because of my back surgery and my inability to bear the weight of even a small amount of gear ABOVE the site of my surgery, I had to modify where I carry my gear.  I basically had to become an ultralight lumbar packer.  Fitting everything in a lumbar pack has proved to be impossible for me so far.  That is the reason I carry less than 3 pounds of the bulky but light items in my RikSak.  However, the remainder is carried in my Daylight Lumbar Pack, which weighs 13.6 oz.  I could reduce that weight by cutting off the handles on the top, the buckles that go to the shoulder strap, the interior pocket and the elastic cord on the front of the pocket.  I haven't done it yet.  I know, am I truly an super ultralight advocate if I haven't done even that?  About this lumbar pack, I have modified it.  While carrying about 11 pounds, the buckles for the belt and the buckles that are part of the Delta Suspension System aren't secure enough.  I get all four of the buckles where I want them and I tie the straps in place, otherwise, they will start loosening.  Obviously the lumbar pack wasn't intended to carry this much weight so I'm doing the best I can.  Just like when people who AREN'T ultralight backpackers and test ultralight backpacks by stuffing them with 35-40 pounds of gear and stuff (something an ultralight backpacker would NEVER do), I'm using this lumbar pack for something different than it was intended but by tying off the straps behind the buckles, it works for my purposes.  
• DeLorme InReach 2-Way Communicator with GPS - this unit is 3 oz heaving than my Spot Communicator was but I was SO HAPPY with it this trip for the following reasons:

• The InReach sent progress waypoints the entire time it was on, it didn't stop.
• All messages I sent were actually received by my recipients.
• My recipients could reply back to me even when I was in places that I didn't have cell service.  The messages were sent and received through the InReach unit.
• I was able to download all my trip details when I returned.
• I was able to download all of Colorado's topo maps onto my Android device, Droid Bionic for me.  The maps work even when I don't have cell service and didn't even require me to be connected to the InReach unit.  The resolution was excellent!  I could use the topo maps and my location on them with the GPS in my phone to know how close I was to the trailhead or my car.
• Droid Bionic - I love using this phone when I'm hiking so much that I need to buy another battery or a solar collector to charge it.  I love it for the following reasons.  





• GPS - with the DeLorme maps, I can use it anywhere for which I download the maps, which unlike some other Android apps, almost all of Colorado was contained in 4 maps.
• Pictures - I can take pictures with a GPS location attached so when I download the picture with my waypoints of my trip, I can know where I was when I took the picture.  I still need to learn to take better pictures with the Droid, but I was happy with it.
• Music - I could listen to music if I wanted
• I can text (when I get a signal) to give status messages or I can text through the DeLorme InReach unit any time.
• It did go from about 60% to 20% battery capacity overnight after I turned it off.  I need to figure out what happened there.
• Snow Peak Trek Titanium 1 liter cook pot with lid - now there are multiple sizes.  Mine looks the closest to the Trek 900 Titanium.  I didn't use it on this trip.  I had just set up my tent without the trekking poles.  I was a little frustrated with how low the ceiling was because I chose too short of a stick.  I already had my shoes off.  I ate one item and crawled into cocoon liner and sleeping bag to try to go to sleep.  The next morning, I was so cold, I wanted to get walking as soon as possible so I just ate food that didn't need to be cooked before packing up my silk liner, sleeping bag and tent to start looking for the trailhead.  After not cooking 2 planned meals, I have decided to try not cooking for my next trip and leaving my cook pot, wood alcohol, bottle for alcohol, Spork and alcohol stove at home.  That will almost save a pound and LOTS of room in the lumbar pack.  I'll keep my lighter in case I need to start a fire for another reason.  The only downside is that I use my cook pot to get water from streams because its opening is big enough to use my Steripen to disinfect my water.  I'll have to bring a substitute.  I usually use it to boil water to cook oatmeal, pasta or coffee.
• O2 Rainwear Original Hooded Rain Jacket - I really liked this jacket.  It was a lighter alternative to my Sierra Designs Hooded Shell.  I liked the hood.  It fit my baseball cap and didn't hang past the bill.  The flap over the zipper almost always folded the wrong direction.  I used the jacket to shield me from the rain and wind.  It also kept my baseball cap on during the wind.  Since my sleeping pad is only the length of my torso, I zipped up my jacket and put the foot of my sleeping bag into my jacket to cover my legs.  It made a big difference.  When it is warmer, I'll also put my thermal jacket inside my rain jacket for additional insulation.  However, since the temperatures got down into the upper 20's with my 35 degree bag, in the night, I opted to wear my thermal jacket instead.  I don't know the reason, but I felt warmer overall having my torso insulated more.
• Cocoon Mummy Silk Sleeping Bag liner - this was an interesting decision for me and on this trip I was so happy to have it with me.  Since I invested several hundred dollars on my sleeping bag, I wanted to keep it clean so it will last a long time.  Normally, I get in my liner first, then I get into my sleeping bag.  It makes up for any drafts I have in the sleeping bag.  Cocoon claims that it adds 5.3 degrees to the warmth of your sleeping bag.  Wrapping the liner around my ears and tightening up the hood on my sleeping bag so that basically only my nose and mouth were out made a huge difference.  When I get home, I can wash my liner.  It increases the life of my sleeping bag.  For me, it was worth the additional investment in cost and weight.
• Extra batteries for the InReach and for the Steripen - I didn't use them this trip but are a necessary backup for me.  I could have used an extra battery or two for my phone.
• Emergency Kit - some ultra lighters like to really cut this short but I carry minimal quantities of all of the following:
• small scissors for cutting moleskin
• bandaids and moleskin
• alcohol swabs
• tweezers
• Advil, antihistamine, decongestant (I always need them)
• Chlorine tablets as backup for my Steripen
• antibiotic ointment
• fire starter and waterproof matches
• Steripen  Adventurer Opti water purifier - I love this device.  You scoop up some water, put the Steripen in the water, press the button, and 90 seconds later all the germs are sterilized.  Almost all other methods take a long time, especially with really cold water.  It sterilizes viruses and bacteria.  I wipe the edge of my container with an antiseptic wipe as well before pouring my water into my water containers.  I carry chlorine tablets as a backup.
• Extra pair of socks - some people go without these.  I like having something to change into if I get my feet wet.  I took off my shoes and stepped onto the marsh, getting one of my feet a little wet on the bottom.  I was SO happy that I had another pair.  The first pair dried in the bottom of my sleeping bag.  I wish I had been able to find the first pair when my feet started getting cold in the middle of the night.  I would have put on the liners and both pairs of wool socks if I had been able to find them.  They were there in the morning but I couldn't find them in the middle of the night.  
• 2 PowerAde Zero containers - I usually buy two sugar-free PowerAde Zeros and carry them in the mesh pockets on my lumbar pack.  They barely fit.  I can't take straight Gatorade with all its sugar.  I have an insulin reaction so I use the sugar-free PowerAde.  I refill the bottles with sterilized water after I drink the PowerAde and usually add some kind of sugar-free drink mix that replaces electrolytes.

I'll continue on with the rest of my list soon.  There are a lot of items to go and each one of them is about 2 oz or less, but fulfill a valid purpose for me.

Mountain Smith Daylight lumbar pack

I did buy a Mountain Smith lumbar pack - the lighter weight version called DayLight.  It only weighs 10oz which is kind of heavy considering that I have backpacks that weigh 16oz but I'll keep waiting for innovations in this area.  I took it with me to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks.  It worked great.

Since that time, I have been doing a lot of research on ultra-ultralight gear.

What I am thinking is that I will pack my bulkiest gear and clothes (but very light) in a super light backpack made by Gossamer Gear, called a RikSak.  It is supposed to only weigh 2.2 ounces.