Carrying 15-20 lbs of camera gear means we need to keep our survival necessities as low as possible.  We typically aim to keep our non-camera gear essentials below 20 lbs including backpack, shelter, clothing, food, water, etc.  Luckily we live in a day and age where you can do that without making much of a sacrifice. 

Storage:

Pack liner dry bag 1.8 oz

Smaller dry bag for toiletries  .49 oz

Shoulder Pouch .49 oz

Medium dry bag .71 oz

Top side pouch .49 oz

Side belt pouches  .74 oz

Food Storage 3.4 oz

Water and Cooking:

Sawyer Lightweight water filter 2oz 

BeFreeLightweight filter with better flow 3oz

Water Storage (Just use smart water bottles, or gatoraid bottles) these’re cheaper, lighter, and seem to retain less icky smells compared to Nalgenes.

Soto Windmaster stove 2.3oz

.6 liter pot 3.3 oz

Cooking Pot Stuff sack that fits perfect .14oz

Other stuff:

Sat Phone that saved our butts 7.1 oz. This phone is fairly affordable, has great battery life, and worked for Chris in the Mountains of UT, CA, CO, OR, WY, and more. It’s not rated well on amazon, probably because people are comparing it to a smartphone. It’s just a basic phone, and since it relies on orbiting satellites miles up in space, expect periodic call drops. That’s the nature of sat phones.

Black Diamond Headlamp 3.25 oz Not the newest or the lightest, but the light quality is nice (not too blue), and it doesn’t suffer from parasitic drain. (When the batter slowly drains even when not turned on)

Tent stakes  .3 oz ea 

Tent stake bag .09 oz

Sit Pad 1 oz Most of the group uses these. Though Chris doesn’t need it. The world is his sit pad. 😉

Cordage .5 oz Made by a small cottage manufacturer called Lawson Equipment. We recommend the “iron wire”

Thermarest Neo Air Xlite Mattress 12oz. 4.2R value. Pretty standard these days for backpackers.

Clothing:

Super warm BlackRockGear UL Beanie .5oz (As seen on Benny’s head in HIGHLINE)

Best UL rain pants  Only 3.4oz!

Vertice UL rain Jacket 6.2 oz  

A lighter rain jacket option if you don’t mind the extra $70 4.4oz

Chris’s new favorite hiking/climbing pants 10.6oz Durable, lightweight, slightly stretchy, breathable, and nice looking enough that Chris’s wife lets him wear them in public.  

Smartwool T-Shirts 5oz-ish These used to wear out quickly, but smart wool recently improved them in 2020, and now they are awesome! Durable, breathable, odor resistant, and nice looking for in town.

Thermal Weight Baselayer Hoody – Chris used the MEC T3 which is now discontinued.  This Patagonia version is basically the same thing. He uses this as an active warm layer or under a shell for wet conditions. 7.7oz

Thermal Weight Bottoms – same story as above. You can get  these instead. Bummer Patagonia costs so much more. 4.7oz

Best socks ever 1.9oz. Defeets last long and have good odor resistance too. Much better than Smartwool or Darn Tough.

Underwear 2.3oz. These Arcteryx underwear are light and dry fast, but they’re pricey and not amazing.

Best wind jacket 1.7oz 

Neck gaiter 1.1 oz Can be worn as a neck warmer, face cover, used as a bandana, etc.

Chris’s favorite sun shade hat 2.8 oz. Though others preferred this  Zpacks trucker hat at 2.4 oz

Shoes:

Everyone’s feet are different, so it’s harder to pick a “best” item for that. Here’s some notes that may or may not be helpful.

-Chris loves his Brooks Cascadia 12 trail runners. (now discontinued, but he stocked up with 10 pairs). They held up well and he had no blisters on the hike.

-Gordy hated his Brooks Cascadia 12 Gortex edition.  Ironically, the breathable waterproof gortex made his feet sweat so bad he developed many bad blisters.

-Many of the guys from HIGHLINE were testing the Brooks Caldera’s, which were quickly destroyed by the rocky Uinta terrain.

-Benny and Matt love their  Altra Timp 1.5’s.

Hygene:

Tiny UL disposable toothbrush thingies .1oz Though some of the others prefer this instead.

Nifty disposable baby towels .1 oz each.  These are stronger than paper towels. Not as big though.

Soap: A brand called Basic H2 is Chris’s favorite. It cleans well, and doesn’t leave residue like Dr Bronners. 

Toilet paper: Just use your sleeve. It’s ultralight and reusable.  

Everyones tastes are different, even within our own team its hard to agree on what the best hiking food. Above is Chris’s cookless food spread for 7 days. Below are just a few ideas. 

BREAKFAST: Chris recently discovered Green Belly Bars. They aren’t amazing, but they’re pretty good, healthy, and taste different than the average food bar. They aren’t cheap, but are double the size of your average clif bar so that helps justify the cost. For coffee, Chris just eats these in the morning. Matt prefers cold soaked oatmeal. (Regular quarter oatmeal soaked overnight). But this makes Chris gag. Others prefer ProBars or poptarts. 

LUNCH: Most of us just snack throughout the day. On Highline, Matt ate salami and cheese in tortillas, Steve and Redbeard ate a lot of Ramen, Joe at a lot of crackers with cheese. Chris really likes these shortbread cookies. Benny snacked on Skratch labs gummies.  Keeblers cheese and crackers are a staple, Chips are also great. Just buy a big bag and smash them up and stuff them in your bear canister or food bag.  Payday bars are yummy, high calorie, and don’t melt and get all messy in hot weather.

DINNER: Chris likes  Pepperoni and shelf stable cheese in a tortilla. It’s a convenient satisfying dinner that requires no cooking. He used to love the PackitGourmet cold soak chicken salad, but has burned out on it. If you’re bringing a stove, The Bella Pasta from Evergreen Adventure Foods is amazing. If you’re looking for something super cost efficient, Idahoan mashed potatoes are super cheap, delicious, filling, and are readily available at most grocery stores.  For extra protein Chris likes Simply Snackin individually packaged jerky.

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