2016 Update: I have redone this with a a new post “5 Pound Practical Ultralight Backpacking Gear List” which I believe is a far better approach to light on the AT. This new gear list is both light and practical. It can be used by many AT hikers to increase both their enjoyment and miles covered per day.

2007 version – 2.4 Pound Extreme Ultralight Backpacking on the Appalachian Trail

sub-5 pounds Full Skin Out Base Weight. That’s all of my pack and everything I am wearing. Overlooking the Shenandoah Valley

Detailed 2.4 lb Extreme Ultralight Gear List (pdf)
90+ mile Fall trip – AT in Shenandoah National Park – 3 days / 2 nights, Nighttime temps near 32 F with wind. One day/night of rain.

Some key gear for 4.8 pounds FSO-BW: Jacks R Better Stealth Quilt (worn in poncho mode), Oware Cattarp 1.5 (cuben fiber version), Trail Designs Caldera cook system, Gossamer Gear 2007 Lightrek Poles (supporting the Cattarp), Inov-8 F-Lite 300 shoes, Gossamer Gear Whisper pack (blue), Rain Shield O2 Rain Jacket (yellow behind pack), and Smartwool Microweight Shirt.

A Brief Summary of the Details

When I first thought of testing out a Sub-five-pound, Full Skin Out Base Weight (FSO-BW) gear kit I thought of early Fall in the Blue Ridge. To be a valid test, I’d need some good rain, some wind and cold nighttime temperatures. I’d need to watch the weather and be ready to quickly head out when the predicted forecast met these conditions. I’d also need to cover a lot of trail miles, at least 75 to 100 miles, to test out my gear. I chose the AT in the SNP because it is more mileage than I’d likely cover in three days and for its significance as a national trail. “AT trail miles” have become something of a national hiking standard.

My criteria for testing sub-five-pound FSO-BW*:

• Hike 75 or more miles in 3 days
• Must have solid rain
• One night with temperatures below 40 deg F
  (possibly approaching 32 deg F)
• Carry own shelter
• Full rain gear
• Cook food (There’s 3 oz or so to be saved here, and many who venture into pack weights this low will opt to go without cooking. I wanted to get under 5 pounds FSO-BW and still cook. It seemed a more elegant way to get there.)
• When possible, gear should be readily available, and reasonable in cost (reasonable for making a Sub-five-pound FSO-BW).

* Using different criteria: Staying in huts and without cooking it would be possible to achieve a 1.9 pound base packweight (see gear list for more details) and under four pounds FSO-BW.

Using the above criteria it was harder to get down to Sub-five-pound FSO-BW than I had anticipated. I quickly realized that my primary gear focus was on keeping warm and dry. To do that and stay under weight FSO-BW, I threw out many of the Ten “Essentials” and gear numerous people would consider essential. For instance: compass, knife, [sun hat, sunglasses, sunscreen]*, warm insulating jacket or vest, gloves, spare socks, long pants, TP, toothbrush/toothpaste, and no underwear. I even considered leaving my watch. On the trip I missed very little of this. The thing I wanted most was the down hood that mated with my JRB Stealth down quilt. (I would have traded my first aid kit and more for the hood.) I also missed dry camp socks at night.

* I had a good summer base tan, only my face and hands were exposed, the leaves were on the trees so the trail was mostly shaded.

Clothing and “gear carried” counts for a lot in FSO-BW. Usually, it is more than your BPW. To make sub 5 pounds, I selected the lightest garments I could get away with. Being a smaller person helps. Many times I went down a clothing size to reduce weight.

Key Gear

Jacks R Better Stealth Quilt

This was my most important piece of gear. The Stealth Quilt is a lighter, sewn-through version of the No Sniveler Quilt. At $200 for a sub-one-pound sleep system with 800 fill power down, it is an ultralight bargain. The Stealth Quilt has a slit in the middle so it can be worn as an insulting poncho. Like Francis Capon in his CDT Yoyo, this quilt was both my “sleeping bag” and my sole insulating garment (Francis used a warmer version). Jacks R Better offers a down hood that integrates with both the Stealth and No Sniveler.

The poncho/quilt system works quite well when you hike without stopping during the day. It eliminates about a pound to a half pound for an insulating garment like a down or synthetic high loft jacket. (In cold weather you hike fast enough to stay warm with a light wool shirt and a rain jacket.) In camp, you use the quilt briefly as a garment to stay warm while you cook and do chores morning and evening, otherwise you’re sleeping under it.

My 15 oz Stealth quilt had 2 inches of average loft (single layer), ½ inch over the manufacturer specified 1 ½ inches of loft. It is rated to +45 °F. The first night was in the low 50’s and I slept quite warm under the JRB Stealth Quilt and easily dried out clothes wet from hiking in the rain. The second night on the trip was around 30 F, or about 10 to 15 degrees below the quilt’s rating. Due to the Stealth’s generous loft (for sub 16 oz bag), I managed to stay warm enough to get reasonable sleep.

Note: One can use a conventional sleeping bag as an insulating garment. This involves wrapping the bag around your torso and neck and then covering it with an oversized shell jacket (e.g. a Rain Shield jacket a size larger than you normally wear) to hold it in place. It is the height of fall fashion and your buddies may laugh at you, but it works.

Gossamer Gear Whisper Uberlight Pack — overlooking the Shenandoah Valley

Gossamer Gear Whisper Uberlight Pack

At 3.8 oz and $60 the Whisper may be the best extreme ultralight deal on the market. I’ve used the Whisper since it was first introduced. In the beginning I had misgivings about the packs paper thin appearance but the pack is remarkably durable. I own two and both are doing fine with a many miles on them. For most UL and XUL trips the volume of the pack is about right. My only suggestion: I wish the pack had side pockets to store food and a water bottle, etc. in a more accessible location. (I hope that Gossamer Gear is developing a Whisper-based pack with side pockets.)

Oware Cuben Cattarp 1.5

This tarp, large enough for two-people in pinch, weighs 3.9 ounces! It uses a new lighter Cuben fabric. The large coverage has another weight savings. It allows a single hiker to use down bag without a bivy to protect it from rain that might blow under a smaller tarp. The Cuben Cattarp 1.5 while expensive for a tarp is still inexpensive compared to most UL tents. You get what you pay for. A tarp or shelter with the same coverage in Spinnaker fabric is almost double the weight. The Cattarp 1.5 measures 8.8 feet long x 7.1 feet wide at the front. It kept me dry with room to store gear and cook. I like the simplicity and ease of pitching a tarp.

Trail Designs Caldera and Beer Can Cookpot

Most times I don’t cook on solo trips. But I thought that it would be more elegant to get under 5 pounds FSO-BW and still cook. In addition, I was doing a lot of trail miles and it is a big psychological boost to have hot food at the end of a 30+ mile day with thousands of feet of climbing. I like my hot cuppa (tea) in the morning and a warm meal and hot chocolate at night. The light weight and high fuel efficiency of the Caldera system is hard to beat. I took two ounces of alcohol fuel for the trip. Weight of the whole system including fuel bottle (less fuel) was well under 3 ounces. Image on the left is a lightened version of the TD stove system that I used (lower capacity and no priming ring stove, stripped down parts) that is not currently in production.

Note: A version of this stove (right image), the Trail Designs Caldera Keg Cooking System is now available to the general public.

Gossamer Gear Lightrek 3 Trekking Poles

New for 2007 is a stronger and stiffer tapered shaft that adds no weight to the poles. These are strong enough for anything trail hiking can dish out. They are also excellent tarp supports. At 2.4 ounces they are about ½ the weight of most aluminum and carbon trekking poles yet cost no more than many high quality poles. Another UL/XUL bargain.

Note: Some will argue to skip the poles and just string the tarp between trees or use sticks for shelter support. I believe, like many long distance hikers, that trekking poles increase hiking efficiency. While I could have reduced my FSO-BWweight by leaving the poles, I believe it would have also reduced my daily mileage. The poles had two other significant advantages on the trip. (1) They clearly prevented me from slipping and falling when I hiked at night in pouring rain and whiteout conditions. (2) They were a godsend for a quick setup of my tarp in the rain that night. I was not in the mood, nor did I have the time, to ferret about in the dark for the right sticks to erect my shelter. I wanted to be under the tarp, in my warm quilt, and cooking dinner.

Inov-8 F-Lite 300 Shoes and Smartwool Adrenaline Socks

Shoe weight matters. Even a conventional lightweight trail runner is too heavy for a sub 5 pound FSO-BW. The difficulty is finding a very light shoe that provides enough comfort and support to hike 30+ miles a day with no foot problems. The Inov-8 F-Lite 300’s are just over 10 ounces per shoe, provide excellent cushion (3 arrow mid-sole), and are easy on the feet. This summer alone, I’ve backpacked hundreds of miles in the magic combination of Inov-8 F-Lite 300 Shoes and Smartwool Adrenaline socks with no problems. This trip was no different. After 90+ miles in three days I had no blisters or serious foot discomfort.

Gossamer Gear Thinlight Sleeping Pad

Probably the highest R value (insulating) pad for its weight, the Thinlight is surprisingly comfortable for the portion of your body it supports. The Thinlight does take up a bit of pack volume. In this case, that was a good thing as my Whisper pack was a bit over-volume for the small amount of gear I carried. I used a 3/8 inch thick pad trimmed to approximately 30 inches long and 16 to 12 inches wide.

Gossamer Gear Spinn Chapps

These were a new piece of gear for me. I was surprised at how well they worked. I have always taken GoLite Reed pants when there’s a good chance of rain. On this trip, I had on and off rain starting about noon on the first day and hard rain from late afternoon to when I stopped hiking around 10 PM. The rain was fairly warm (60’s), with dreadfully high humidity and whiteout conditions for most of the evening. The Spinn Chapps kept my legs just damp and I easily dried out under my quilt that night.

Rain Shield O2 Rain Jacket

I hadn’t used this jacket for a while but it was perfect for the trip. It is less than 5 ounces. The Propore fabric is highly breathable—almost as breathable as eVENT with the same flat moisture curve of a true microporous membrane (as opposed PU based technology including Gore-Tex). Breathability mattered since the Jacket would also be my windshirt. In a day of hiking in the rain (see Spinn Chapps) I arrived at camp just damp and I easily dried out under my quilt that night. The next two days had cold mornings (near freezing) and evenings and I used the Jacket as windshirt over my wool baselayer to stay warm when I hiked. I also used the Rain Shield Jacket as a pillow by stuffing it into its hood. It was my only bulky item left to make a pillow.

Smartwool Microweight Shirt

Initially I considered taking a 3 oz GoLite C-Thru T-shirt. But with no insulating garment and no long pants, my shirt would be my sole warm piece of clothing when I hiked. From numerous years of experience with Smartwool shirts I know that in combination with a shell (in this case the Rain Shield Jacket) and a fleece balaclava, I can stay warm hiking down to the freezing (or even upper 20’s F if I keep moving fast).

Light shelter: We weathered two days of rain and wind, completely exposed at over 11K. Our Gossamer Gear Spinn Twinn tarp kept us dry at just over 4 ounces per person.

A 15 lb pack (with food & fuel) for 7 days in the High Sierra

It’s been six years since Colin dropped 30 pounds from his pack. Time to drop some more pack-weight! Once again the brothers and their sons ventured into the Sierras with even lighter packs. We headed into the Southern Sierras. Our plan was to:

1. Climb from 5K to 11K the first day
2. Spend the rest of the trip traveling mostly off-trail in areas 11 to 12+K, and
3. Fish remote areas, concentrating on finding Golden Trout and native Rainbow Trout
4. And of course, drop some more pack weight!

A Brief Summary of the Details (with pictures below)

Detailed gear 4.7 pound backpacking gear list for 2007 Sierra Trip (PDF file)

While we did not make the huge weight savings of our 2001 trip, we still shaved another 10 pounds from our 2001 packs weights. This brings the total weight savings vs. our 1999 trip to over 40 pounds. Our packs were 75% lighter than in 1999!

• You may want to first read below, “A Brief Text Summary of What Changed,” for our 10 lb of weight savings in 2007
• A detailed analysis of weight reduction between 2007, 2001, and 1999 trips
  (PDF of a fairly large spreadsheet comparing the three trips.)
• A Text Summary of 40 lb of Weight Savings – 2001 Ultralight vs. 1999 Heavy Backpacking

A Brief Summary of the Details (with pictures below)

It’s been six years since Colin dropped 30 pounds from his pack. Once again the brothers and their sons ventured into the Sierras—this time with even lighter packs. We headed into the Southern Sierras. Our plan was to:

1. Climb from 5K to 11K the first day
2. Spend the rest of the trip traveling mostly off-trail in areas 11 to 12+K, and
3. Fish remote areas, concentrating on finding Golden Trout and native Rainbow Trout
4. And of course, drop some more pack weight!

The trip went without a hitch and all equipment performed well even with below freezing temps and a fluke cold front with significant amounts of precipitation and wind.

A Brief Text Summary of What Changed

Savings vs. 1999
Total Pack	Total	Gear	Food & Food storage
1999	55	–	–	–
2001	25	30	23.5	6.5
2007	15	40	29.2	10.8
10 lb	Saved 2007 vs. 2001

While we did not make the huge weight savings of our 2001 trip, still we shaved another 10 pounds from our 2001 packs weights. This brings the total weight savings vs. our 1999 trip to over 40 pounds. Our packs were 75% lighter than in 1999!

Food: Like the reduction from 1999 to 2001, our greatest single weight savings (over 4 pounds) was from food and food storage. Our food “savings” came from taking fewer days to travel a longer trip distance over harder terrain. That is we took fewer days food. This reduction in trip days is due to:

• Both sons are older and in better shape—gaining adult strength and endurance they can hike faster and longer each day.
• The fathers can still hold their own.
• With nearly 50% lighter packs vs. 2001 we all could travel faster and farther each day (but still have plenty of time for fun, side trips and fishing for golden trout.)

Food Storage/Bear Cans: We weren’t in an area requiring bear canisters but we were close to area that did require them. We considered each taking an 8 oz Ursack (without aluminum liner) for our food, but we decided to share an ultralight food hanging system for less than 2 ounces per person. We camped well away from trails and popular areas that bears might habituate. We were fastidious about our cooking and washing up habits. We made excellent food hangs, slept next to our food and were prepared to defend it from Bears.

Packs: Colin and I used low volume, hipbeltless packs with a minimum of features. With strong but light, high tech fabric they are more than durable enough for off trail travel and light mountaineering. On the right is my 10-ounce, home made backapck with durable X-Pac fabric.

Sleeping: Average sleeping bag weight went from 1.75 lb to 1.1 lb using very light hoodless down sleeping bags. Some savings came from using 1 oz Polycryo ground cloths. We slept warm enough in below freezing temps.

Shelter: We shared a 9 ounce Gossamer Gear SpinnTwinn tarp. This two-person spinnaker cloth tarp is less than half the weight of our old tarp with heavier silnylon fabric. We weathered a couple of days of high winds and sustained rain when camping exposed at over 11K.

And this rolling in, is is the ugly weather system that sat on us for two days. Again, no problems under a tarp.

Clothing: We halved the weight of our rainwear and insulating garments by using new lighter technology clothing (a 5 oz vest each was the only warm clothing we brought). Much of this saving comes from substantially lighter fabrics. We added 1.5 oz rain chaps.

Stove/Cooking: We switched to an integrated alcohol stove/pot/cooking system from Trail Designs and Antigravity Gear. This system is lighter than a canister stove. More significant, alcohol stoves are more environmentally conscious than fuel canisters. The fuel efficiency of the Trail Designs Caldera system contributed to a weight reduction in fuel carried for the trip.

The Rest (not included above): A number of small things add up. We saved around 2 pounds vs. 2001 by taking fewer things and lighter things. It pays to look at the small details.

The Start Of My Interest In Lightweight Backpacking

This was a fantastic trip! Fabulous scenery, rugged routes, solitude, remote campsites, and great fishing. Please look at the photos of this trip as they say a lot more than anything I can put in words. Read text about the trip – Discussion of Weight Savings.  Or browse the photos below.

The brood about seven days in. Colin left, Emma center, AA on right. Yosemite Backcountry – Sawtooth Ridge and Matterhorn Peak in the background. Our heavy packs nearly killed us on this trip.

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Why we go to the mountains. View from Camp morning of day 5. The middle three days of this trip were entirely off trail in some of the remotest areas of Yosemite. We saw no one and it seemed we had the whole Sierras to ourselves.

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Day 6. Our final day of off trail. Colin and Emma hike up Slide Canyon in a seemingly endless valley meadow at 10,000 feet. Although they don’t show in the photo, the meadow was strewn with wildflowers.

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Colin and Emma morning of day 2. We had cooler weather for the trip (50-60’s during the day and below freezing at night). We got a late start the evening before, and stopped hiking just before dark. Nowhere to pitch a tent so we bedded down in the shelter of some low pines and used our packs as a wind break. Heavy winds all night. We could hear the bigger gusts coming up the canyon long before they hit us. Emma was so cold that Colin and I had to sandwich her between us to keep her warm enough to sleep.

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Cold morning – day 2. Colin and Emma just before we started our off trail ascent of the ridge in background. One of dad’s “4 to 5 mile easy days.”

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Day 2 – half way up and preparing to ascend the steeper portions of the ridge.

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Day 2 – finally at the top of the ridge! Emma eyes a very steep decent into Upper McCabe Lake. The kids have promised to bludgeon me if I plan any more trips with “4 to 5 mile easy days” of off trail hiking. They are old enough to figure out that “easy” in dad lingo means “you’ll survive.”

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Colin being attacked by his monster Pack!

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Day 4 – another “4 to 5 mile easy day” of steep off trail hiking. Colin and Emma taking a rest before descending into Tulula Lake. We saw a pair of skinny dippers from this vantage point but they were gone by the time we arrived at the lake.

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Emma enjoying some warm afternoon sun in our “kitchen,” a rock bluff overlooking the lake.

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Day 5 – our only layover day. Colin resting on an excursion to a very remote high altitude lake. We had a wonderful swim although the water was very cold. The lake’s shore was lined with late season wildflowers in full bloom.

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Day 5. The kids hiking back down to Tulula Lake.

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Day 7 – Colin and Emma climbing up towards our last pass of the trip.

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Day 7. A brief plunge into the deep and very cold waters of Peeler lake washed away the misery of the day. This was the coldest lake of the trip. I’m guessing the water was not much above 50. We were the only people swimming.

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Day 7. The kids enjoying the last alpenglow of the trip. The pink of Crown Peak reflects in Peeler Lake.