Trekking Fast & Light Seminar Gear Reference

by Brian Lewis

Equipment & Clothing

• consider making your own gear (save $$):
• http://www.backpacking.net/makegear.html
• http://www.verber.com/mark/outdoors/gear/homemake/index.html
• for stoves/cookware see http://zenstoves.net/
  and http://www.andrewskurka.com/advice/technique/fancyfeaststove.php
• or buy, but at a discount:
• http://spadout.com/
• http://www.steepandcheap.com/
• http://www.sierratradingpost.com/
• http://www.rei.com/outlet
• Also consider local thrift store or Army surplus store for (some) clothing
• see http://www.magnanti.com/miscwritings/3hundred_challenge.htm
• some excellent small “cottage industry” companies
• http://gossamergear.com/
• http://www.ula-equipment.com/
• http://tarptent.com/
• http://sixmoondesigns.com/
• http://www.mountainlaureldesigns.com/shop/index.php
• http://www.simblissity.net/
• some larger/other online sources (there are many …)
• http://www.prolitegear.com/ (focuses on lightweight gear)
• http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/catalog.html (ditto)
• http://www.backcountrygear.com/ (wider selection)
• http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Home (decent prices, a few light things)
• http://www.zappos.com/ (shoes)
• gear reviews:
• http://www.backpackgeartest.org/
• or just google specific gear item along with the word “reviews”
• online forums for gear and various other (could use domain-constrained search):
• http://www.backcountryforum.com/
• http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums
• http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum
• consider weighing gear (“base weight” and/or “skin-out weight”):
• look in particular at big 3 (shelter, sleeping bag, pack)
• Best is a postal scale accurate to a gram; can get overall weight from a bathroom scale
• if want to really geek out, make a gear spreadsheet. Some examples:
  http://tinyurl.com/dwctd
• Part of weight savings come from lighter stuff, part from simply eliminating stuff you don’t need

Some food-related ideas:

• http://www.trailcooking.com/ (freezerbag cooking)
• http://www.aforkinthetrail.com
• http://www.onepanwonders.com
• http://www.packitgourmet.com
• http://www.harmonyhousefoods.com
• http://www.ziplink.net/~24601/recipes/bprecipe.htm
• http://www.bullhorn.org/pct/food.html
• http://hikinghq.net/food.html

Books you could consider: (caveat: I’ve not read all of these personally)

• Lightweight Backpacking & Camping: A Field Guide to Wilderness Hiking, by Ryan Jordan
• Lighten Up!, by Don Ladigan
• Trail Life: Ray Jardine's Lightweight Backpacking, by Ray Jardine
• The Boomer's Guide to Lightweight Backpacking, by Carol Corbridge
• Fixing Your Feet, by John Vonhof
• and a short video: Lighten Up DVD ($5): 33 min. by Glen Van Pelski (of Gossamer Gear) http://tinyurl.com/kndlmp

Obtaining maps:

• in addition to buying (expensive) paper maps at a sporting goods store, there are more cost effective options to getting topographic maps. One is to purchase your state version of National Geographic Topo software, http://www.natgeomaps.com/topo_state.html For $100 you can print as many topo map pages as you want for anywhere in the state. Compare that to paying $5.50 for a single Green Trails map at REI.
  There are also free options, but in general these require a little more computer knowledge and patience to figure out. This isn’t necessary a complete list and is subject to change, but options include:

o using Terraserver data and a free tool called USAPhotoMaps via http://jdmcox.com/

o Another is via the USGS Store, http://store.usgs.gov/
Click the “map locator” link to the left, follow instructions on the right side of the screen to find a particular USGS mapsheet, then click “download” to get the mapsheet in pdf format

o Another option is http://libremap.org/ which allows you to obtain the same sort of data in .tiff format