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  1. #21
    Registered User gbolt's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Miel View Post
    Are camp shoes or some kind of waterproof sandals on this list?

    Why both a beanie and a baseball cap?

    (I'm trying to help with my thoughts, not criticize.)
    Can't Answer for the OP but I use waterproof Sandals (Crocs) for water crossings and to get out of hiking boots in camp and the late night bladder trip.

    Beanie is for Under 40º head covering and the baseball cap is for over 40º as well as Sun Protection. I use an OR Swift hat that is very breathable but still holds in a little bit of heat. I like the Bill of the Hat to work with my Rain Jacket to keep water off my face. The Beanie is so light weight but needed for Cold and Sleep. I also have added a Buff that works as a scarf, dew rag, or balaclava to work with either the Beanie or the Cap.

    I think it's a great idea to carry both or even all three. Chosen correctly, the weight is still ultralight. Hope this helps and is not critical either.
    "gbolt" on the Trail

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  2. #22
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    sleep with a knit hat on and if you fill a nalgene bottle with boiling water and wrap a t shirt around it and stick it in your sleeping bag, you be you will be lots warmer.
    If you find yourself in a fair fight; your tactics suck.

  3. #23
    Registered User Siestita's Avatar
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    How cold will it be? To answer that question one needs to have some idea where you will be hiking. You live in North Georgia and are relatively new to backpacking, so perhaps your next trip occur somewhere in the southern Appalachians, either on the AT or in some other attractive area. Also, it may matter when during May you'll make this trip. Late May is usually considerably warmer than the beginning of that month has been.

    Do some research to learn how low night time temperatures are likely to go at the particular time and place that you will be taking this trip. One way to accomplish this is to google: weather channel almanac monthly average (town or zip code near your hike). Then anticipate that upper mountain temperatures, even camping in locations sheltered from the wind, may be 15 degrees cooler than conditions are down lower in towns.

    Sleeping out in your yard overnight sometime soon there in Cummings, at the end of March or the beginning of April, could be a good means of testing how warm and rain worthy your shelter, sleeping bags, pads, and clothing will be up in the southern mountains during a mid-May or late May trip.

    Lots of discussion here on White Blaze focuses on the challenges of staying warm while during late winter or early spring camping on the AT. Late May will be a cooler time to hike and camp than July and August typically are, but it will not necessarily be 'intensely cold' in your region at that time. But, the combination of rain and cool May weather can produce challenges.

    Attend closely to your rain gear, and to the warmth layers, such as fleece garments, that you will wear underneath it. Once you assembled that clothing, take it out soon for some long rainy daily hikes soon, in early April there in North Georgia.

    Learning to backpack is easiest to initially accomplish during dry weather with pleasant (cool or slightly warm) temperatures. Then, one can gradually become accustomed to living outside in cooler and wetter conditions.

  4. #24
    Registered User Siestita's Avatar
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    There appear to be some obvious ways for the two of you to reduce your pack weights, both to make room for some warm clothing and to make "simply walking" easier.

    You list three different types of light sources, a lantern, flashlights, and the lights in your beanies. Leave the lantern at home, or in the trunk of your car. Competing with you for the 'Dork of the Year' Award, I have one of those beanies (Panther Vision), that I received as a gift from my non-hiking wife. The hat's instructions say that it should never be immersed in water. So, that beanie's light, which is not strong even at the best of times, may fail to work some night after being exposed to rain. I carry that beanie for sun protection, not light. My "go to" light that gets used every night on the trail is a very small, very cheap headlamp that is powered by two watch batteries. Two of those tiny headlamps, or perhaps two tiny hand carried LED lights, might completely fulfill the lighting needs of the two of you.

    Propane stoves, and their weighty canisters, work well for car camping but are very heavy. Butane canisters are lighter, so consider possibly getting one of those little stoves. Or even better, "build" yourself an extremely simple alcohol stove.

    I own four manufactured backpacking stoves (one white gas, one butane, two alcohol) that sit at home on a shelf these days while I instead backpack with a lighter home made alcohol burner. The burner is simply a Fancy Feast cat food can, empty, with the lid removed. It's pot support is a piece of wire mesh/hardware cloth. I made the windscreen by folding a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil. Perhaps if I were going to regularly cooking for two people, rather than just one, I would "upgrade" to larger diameter can (such as for 6 1/2 oz. of tuna) in which the alcohol fuel would produce heat more quickly, while consuming fuel more quickly. I carry alcohol fuel in a plastic 20 fluid oz. soft drink bottle marked as 'Poison'.

    You carry a "Pot Set" and "Cutlery". It's possible that some of those items are needed for the simple cooking that you'll do during our upcoming trip. Take as few pots, etc, as you'll absolutely need.

    You list both "Ponchos" and "Frog Togs". Either of those can reduce your exposure to rain, so why carry both with you?

  5. #25
    Registered User Siestita's Avatar
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    "We like the low weight high carb foods, it just works for us I guess."

    What matters is how many calories particular foods generate per ounce. Carbs, such as sugar and flour, produce only about 100 calories per ounce, dry weight. Fats (think olive oil, vegetable oil, nuts, peanut butter) produce between 180 and 220 calories per ounce of weight. So, adding fats (within reason) to a backpacking diet can be helpful for lowering one's pack weight. The challenge for people like me to to then stop eating those fats when I return home after hiking trips.

    Cheese ( a mixture of fat and water, with some protein) typically produces "calories per ounce" comparable to sugar and flour.

  6. #26
    Registered User LittleRock's Avatar
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    Bring some gloves and wool socks - your hands/feet are usually the first parts to get cold.
    It's all good in the woods.

  7. #27
    Registered User displacedbeatnik's Avatar
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    A beanie and a good lower body base layer. I have been toasty with these two things on even with my sleeping bag rated not good enough by ten degrees. Not ideal, but that shows how much they help.
    AT Leapfrogging in 2016i (Central Virginia next) http://walkinghometodc.wordpress.com

  8. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by gbolt View Post
    Hope this helps and is not critical either.
    It does, thank you.

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