[at-l] Lightweight gear lists?

[kellyswhitman at hotmail.com (Kelly Whitman)]

>>sunglasses
>
>Bring the cheap pair you don't care about.  (IMHO)  You don't need them
>for much of the trail, and a pack isn't kind to glasses.  I got a pair at 
>the
>dollar store which performed admirably.

I'll be bringing an older pair of Ray Bans.  My contacts are made of 
slightly reflective material, not so much so that I look like a cat at night 
or anything, but the contacts can really magnify glare under the right 
conditions, and I need good protection for that.  I don't mind spending 
money to protect my eyes, even if it means the sunglasses will get beaten up 
in the pack.  Putting the glasses in a sock and sticking that inside my 
cooking pot is a decent glasses case.

>They don't weigh anything.  Bring several.  I had more problems with
>hair restraint device failures on my section hikes than I would have 
>suspected.
>Also, make sure they're in colors that contrast with the rest of your gear 
>so
>you can actually find them.

Ooo... good point.

>>2 titanium pegs
>
>2?  Why 2, specifically?

Er... for staking down the rain fly?  Stakes.  Maybe peg was the wrong word. 
  I've lived in so many places I never know what people call what where I 
am, LOL.

>>Triptease
>
>I love this stuff.  I use it for everything.  Bring more than you think you 
>need.

Great, will do.

>>waterproof matches
>
>and a small lighter.  If I didn't have a lighter, there'd have been a lot
>of cold meals for me.  Some days matches just won't light.

Good suggestion.

>>silnylon combination rain poncho/pack cover (will make)
>
>Think about adding some kind of leg strap.  My poncho moves
>around on me a lot.

That's interesting.  How far down does your poncho go?  Where would you add 
a strap to it?  I was planning on making it more of a long rain jacket, like 
the Packa (I came up with the idea of a poncho/pack combo cover the other 
night and then I found out about Packas the very next day.  Rats!!  Thought 
I had a marketable idea, there).  Since I'm making it myself I can customize 
it (I can sew and I don't need see the need to pay $110 for something when 
silnylon is $2.50/yd).

>>toilet paper
>
>How about Purell in 1 oz bottles for cleaning up after potty breaks?
>Also, I like to carry a small platypus bag with a squirt top for hand 
>washing.
>I keep it separate from the rest of my water to try to limit contamination 
>from
>dirty hands.  I just keep a few ounces in it.

That's a good idea.  Yeah, I was reading Kestenbaum's book and his advocacy 
of using leaves and/or sprinkling a little water on yourself.   He said to 
always wash after going to the bathroom... drinking 1+ gallons of water per 
day, and the resulting number of times you'd have to go to the bathroom, it 
didn't seem like the 1 oz. of soap he brings would cover that much hand 
washing.

>>ear plugs
>
>Definitely.

Heh. The critter sounds in the woods don't bother me one bit, but the 
critter sounds in a motel definitely can, and I'm not happy robbed of a 
night's sleep that I had to pay for!

Kelly Whitman
INTP
-----------
"There ARE no other women like me."  -- 7 of 9

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