Category: Paraphernalia

Shoes

Paraphernalia7 Comments

Now that we have hiked more than 1700 miles, I will try to write some posts about our gear.

Both Ros and I are on our third pair of Altra “Lone Peak” shoes. We get about 500-700 miles from them. After that the material in the uppers starts to develop holes, and the cushioning in the soles is less. The soles themselves hold up well.

It is good to be able to buy shoes online and know that I can start wearing them without any problems or breaking in period.

Altras are a very popular brand among through-hikers. They are light and comfortable. The toe box is wide so it minimises toe blisters. They are zero drop meaning that there is no height difference between heel and toe as with most shoes. This is supposed to stretch your Achilles tendon and add a bit of strength to your stride. Don’t know whether this is true but we love them and have already bought our next pair ready to use after we finish Washington.

The photo above shows my old pair after 700 miles of Northern California and Oregon.

First gear

Paraphernalia5 Comments

You might be wondering about what gear we are taking – well, the photo above is the gear we are not taking! We do not need a gun (thanks Photoshop) for self protection, although I have read blogs where this is seriously discussed. We do not need an axe, because we won’t need to build a fire or a shelter. Unfortunately Mollie has to stay with Jo. This isn’t a holiday, so we don’t need chairs. Books will be electronic. Everything we need will have to be carried on our backs so you guessed it, the main criterion is weight.

Why aren’t we taking our favourite Big Agnes Copper Spur tent? Well, we have splurged on a super light-weight tent (Zpacks Duplex) which at 640g including pegs is half the weight of the Copper Spur. We can’t show it here as it has been sent for us to pick up in San Diego, along with our hiking poles and Ros’s sleeping bag. I’ll let you know how the tent is once we have used it for a while.

Another area we have saved weight is in our backpacks. Ros has an Osprey Lumina weighing about 850g and I have a Zpacks Arc Blast weighing about 640g. We tried both these packs last year when we did the Great South West Walk in Victoria, and we think they will do us well.

Our sleeping bags are also Zpacks – mine is 570g. Other weight savings come mainly from not taking stuff – we will have only one set of clothes, plus cold weather and rain gear. The spread below gives you an idea of what we are planning to take. I might update you with the actual inventory when we are in San Diego, and have collected the tent, another sleeping bag, hiking poles and of course food and water.