Q: What food do you pack for 6 days on the west coast trail?
A: Good food.
Read on for my full menu.
Food for the West Coast Trail
13 Replies
Category Archives: Gear Reviews
The quest for perfect coffee
Tim got me started on this… I don't normally drink coffee on the trail, and to be honest, I have never really missed it. I do drink it daily at work, and Tim wants coffee on the West Coast Trail trip. I'm always up for a new "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" mission to squeeze into a spare hour here and there.
So what, are the options?
Aquastar mÃœV Filter
At the 2007 Outdoor Retailer Show, Aquastar announced the mÃœV (pronounced "move") water filter.
It looks like an interesting alternative to chemical treatment.
It's a simple UV device that you submerge in water to kill bacteria. Drop it into a bottle or pan of water for a few minutes and wait while the UV ray zap all the little critters.
It can be recharged by simply attaching the leads to a battery. A single charge will treat about 15-20 litres of water, and a single Duracell D-Battery will provide enough juice to re-charge the filter 10 times.
Weighs in at a respectible 2.4 oz.
Available at Aquastars website.
GoLite Sun Dragon Trail Runner
Wow. No, really – wow.
I don't think I have ever put a more comfortable shoe on my foot. Not even big furry slippers. These fit like a glove and it feels like I'm walking on springs.
The GoLite Sun Dragons have been getting all sorts of interesting reviews – most notably for the crazy new suspension sole that was co-developed by GoLite and Timberland labs.
Check out the sole in this picture – it's quite unique:
Available from Backcountry Gear for $95.
Suprisingly REI is starting to stock GoLite gear, and has these shoes in stock. I went to the Flagship store in Seattle recently and tried a pair on – I was sold. I wore them for a week to work to try and break them in – they really didn't need it. However, I did feel quite weird walking in them for a while – it's hard to describe but somewhat loose and bouncy. I took them up Kendall Katwalk for a quick overnight this weekend and they performed really well. I submerged my feet before starting the 7mi hike down to see how well they would dry out. Not bad – they were moist still after 3 hrs, but dried reasonably well.
REI was a terrible place to buy these. The guy that sold them was clueless about how they worked (they have a special insole that adjusts to your feet that doesn't take a rocket-scientist to figure out) and was adamant that we could not possibly think of doing the WCT in these shoes.
They got quite a bad review by Raymond Estrella, as they started to fall apart after 5 days of use. So I'm curious to see how they hold up. I'll report back after the WCT trip with my findings.
Montbell UL Wind Pants
Staggeringly light at only 2.4 oz., these pants promise to protect from a fair amount of rain and plently of wind.
I suspect that they would also be a better mozzie barrier than my current pants.
I wish they made them in lighter colors to help keep the bugs away – but it's hard to complain at this weight.
Not sure these would stand up to a morning of bushwacking, but I usually only wear pants at night to keep bugs out and an extra layer of warmth.
Available from prolite gear for $68.
Ultralight Water Filter Cap
For water purification, I use MicroPUR Tablets. They work great, but depending on where I fill my water bottle up from – I sometimes get "floaty bits" in the water. A traditional water filter would of course remove these.
What I need is a way to filter out these bigger particles when filling the bottle.
Read on for instructions on my home-made solution.
Sand between my toes
The West Coast Trail will be a lot of beach hiking. I have not done much sand hiking before, and I'm wondering how well a pair of trail runners will hold up.
Sand inside my socks between my toes rubbing for tens of miles sounds like a sure way to blister hell.
So I'm thinking some gaiters might be a good idea, atleast to stop the sand entering the tops.
Mountain Hardware makes a 2 oz trail gaiter for $35 from BackcountryGear.
The other option is the eVent Shortie at 2.5 oz and $25.
Or perhaps better yet – the Mont Bell Stretch, at 1.5 oz.
Western Mountaineering Versalite
Theresa gets cold at night. The one big drawback of the cloudburst shelter is that to prevent condensation, we often sleep with the door fully open and facing into the wind. That way the airflow keep condensation to a minimum.
The only way I could convince Theresa to keep the Tarptent, was to get her comfy at night. The highlite didn't do it when the wind howls in and the temperatures drop.
So we took on an extra pound of weight, invested a lot of dosh and settled on the WM Versalite.
Theresa has the short (5'6") model, which weighs in at 1lb 14oz (30 oz). This bag is rated down to a whopping 10 °F and does a stellar job at keeping her toasty warm.
Available from Backcountry Gear for $385.
Backpackers Pantry Pack Bowl
One modification I just made, was to replace our 2nd Titanium Panset with this simple lightweight "Pack Bowl".
Normally we boil water in one pan and use the 2nd to serve food in, or eat breakfast in. It never hits the stove.
This collapsable bowl can be trimmed down to size and holds boiling hot liquids. I trimmed it down to the 1 quart mark and it weighs in at 0.6 oz.
The 2nd panset was 5.0z, so I'm trimming a staggering 4.4oz off my gear list with this addition.
Available from Backpackers Pantry – $6 for a pack of 4.
12/7/2007 Update:
We stopped using this as we found it's large size to be a little annoying. We have since just taken a simple disposable glad tupperware bowl and cut the heavy rim off. This has worked really well, and comes in a little less as 0.5 oz.
Bozeman Mountainworks Cocoon Vest
A bit of new gear I have my eye on is a replacement for my fleece pullover, which at 7oz is somewhat on the heavy side.
- I have been really impressed so far with Theresas western mountaineering vest – it's a miracle at 3oz. However, it's down and useless when wet. Theresa carries it for extra warmth at camp and has a fleece as her primary warm layer.
The Bozeman Moutainworks cocoon vest is an interesting candidate. It's synthetic, and so retains it's warmth when wet. At 5.3oz it would save me a precious 2oz and probably be a much warmer layer.
I don't think I care about sleeves – as my thermal underwear and windproof should be enough.
The added bonus, is that it would give me an excellent boost to my sleeping bag, when the temps really dip down.
Gossamer Gear NightLight Sleeping Pad
Starting at a respectible 7.8 oz, this is a very interesting pad.
It's quite thick and was a good candidate for replacing my thermarest. I trimmed the length down to match that of the 3/4 length thermarest I was used to. This dropped the weight to 6.3 oz – less than half the weight of the thermarest.
Sleep-wise, I have only spent one night on it so far, and it was comfortable enough. I have seen other people recommend taking "Tylenol PM" at night to help get more rest – I might even try pairing those up too.
The biggest downside so far, is that it's bulkier in my pack than the thermarest. To the point where, I'm not sure if I can get 5-6 days of food in my pack anymore with this thing in it.
Order from Gossamer Gear, for about $30.
12/14/07 Update:
I ended up replacing this single pad for the a combination of the torso only pad version and cut down section of insulation pad. This was mostly due to the bulk issue. The two pad total less, coming in at 3.5 oz and 1.2 oz respectivley for a total of 4.7 oz.
Moose Goo
Tomorrow night I'm hiking up Mt. Si. with A Pepsi Can Stove Pot-Stand
In an endless quest to get lighter and lighter in my gear selections, (and prompted by a recent post on backpacking.net) I finally turned my attention to alcohol stoves.
Read on to learn about my pepsi can stove that weighs less than half an ounce.
Continue reading
A 3-Day Sample Menu
I've dug all over the Internet for sample backpacking menus that provide enough calories but don't cost a lot of weight. I have had little success finding good suggestions, so if you have any post-away.
Here's what we typically take on a 3-day trip to feed two of us. We love food, so splurge on a few luxury items on day 1 like apples that are heavy but consumed quickly.
Smith Sliders
Versatile and light at 2oz.
They have interchangeable lenses just like the Rudy Project shades I use.
These work well for Theresa.
Available from Smith Sports
Knee Tendon Straps
On long down hills Theresa knees give her grief. When she puts these one, the grief goes away as these things absorb the stress.
To quote the literature: "Provides compression on the patellar tendon, helping spread pressure uniformly, reducing discomfort and irritation. Compression may also help stabilize your patella, improving its tracking."
So there you have it.
Available from REI for $16.95.
Salomon XA Comp 2 – Womens
Theresa uses the womens version and is quite happy with them.
See my review on the mens pair for more details.
Leki Ultralight Trekking Poles
Not cheap, but cheaper than knee-replacement surgery.
We've recently been converted to hiking with poles. I love the sense of 4wd I get and it inspires me to keep barrelling up switchbacks without getting fatigued.
The are almost impossible to use at the same time as an umbrella, but so far I've been pretty happy with them.
They are quite an investment, so you may want to borrow/rent a pair first to see if you like them.
Petes Pole Page, has some good info on using poles including a little tutorial.
Available from REI available for a whopping $199!
Thermal Gloves
These work really well to defend against the cold. I find if my head and hands are warm, then my body stays pretty warm no matter what.
They are also thin enough to still retain some dexterity when fiddling with the stove or putting up the tent.
Available from REI for $9.
T-Shirt
Nothing too special here.
I like Nike Sphere Dry T-Shirts and they are very light, don't cling and dry out really fast.
I find that I don't usually get cold when hiking as I'm moving so much quicker with trekking poles, so the more breathable the better.
Available from Nike for $25.