Equipment Comments

A few things came to light on the Eagle Creek/Wahtum trip:

As usual we tend to bring stuff we think we need but don't really. I carried a full 3 liters of water (about 6 pounds) in the Platypus bladder for a two day trip when water was readily available all along the trail. Carrying a small Gator Aid bottle and just refilling as needed would have saved my legs a lot of effort.

I'm so impressed with the mummy bag (The North Face Cat's Meow 20F) and Thermo-Rest Z pad sleeping on top of the snow. Our lakeside camp temperatures had to be in the mid to upper 20's and I stayed warm all night.

The Big Agnes UL2 tent was easy to set up, stake out and very comfortable with plenty of room to sit up and change clothes as needed with minimal effort. At tear down in the morning a pool of ice water had formed under the tent foot print and I never knew it was there. Nice!

MSR's Pocket Rocket is awesome. For $40 and the no nonsense quick setup and operation, it works for me. The guys struggled a bit lighting their super lightweight alcohol stoves and they do work very well but once again I'm choosing just a little more weight for convenience.

Columbia's Omni-Tech rain gear worked perfectly keeping me bone dry and yet breathable so I didn't overheat. I loved that even with a loaded pack I never felt constricted in any manner. The gear worked perfectly for golf and now for backpacking as well.

I came to the conclusion after this trip that my Osprey Aethos 60 is just too big for my needs. I'm not carrying enough stuff to utilize all 60 liters of space. After logging 13 miles each of the two days and slogging through snow going up and down hill I felt every single ounce of weight in my pack. I can save over two pounds going to the Osprey Atmos 50 and be that much more confortable. Thanks to REI's return policy a pack swap is in the cards very shortly.