Z Packs Arc Haul Zip 64L w/ shoulder/belt and top side pockets
Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2 - with good quality tyvek material for tent pad
Feathered Friends Swallow Nano 20 - switch to WM Caribou MF for summer
Therm-A-Rest NeoAir Xtherm - w/ inflation bag/patch kit
travel size 'my pillow' in stuff sack - I'm sure I'll get laughed at but see details below (I'm also about to field test the Therm-A-Rest compressable pillow for comfort/size in pack and see if I want that instead)
3 cup titanium pot set up for denatued alcohol - pot, burner, stand, windscreen, spork, ect.
small titanium trowel - TP - Wipes - hand sanitizer
3 - 1 PT smart water bottles with sawyer and MSR Trailshot microfilter - that's a little over the 2L recommended amount to carry at once and it all fits on the outside of the pack easy to get, along with my bear mase (yea, I'm carrying bear mase).
bear hang kit with some extra rope, odor proof opsak and should I get a rodent proof bag also like a Grubpack or something?


all the clothes I plan on starting with including what I'll have on at any given time:

2 sets - Smartwool 150 base layer top and bottom - 1 for camp/sleep clothes
1 - Smartwool 250 base layer bottoms
1 - Smartwool 250 base layer hoody
3 - pairs boxer briefs - 1 for camp/sleep clothes
2 - pairs Darn Tough hiking socks
1 - pair Farm to Feet - camp/sleep clothes
1 - long sleeve polyester t-shirt
2 - short sleeve polyester t-shirts (3 in summer) - 1 for camp/sleep clothes
1 - pair hiking pants, Columbia zip-offs with pockets
1 - lightweight pair polyester shorts (?) - could probably go without but very light, more comfortable as shorts then the zip-offs and a good/fast drying bathing suit to

Feathered Friends Eos down jacket
Carhartt polyester winter hat with ear flaps and face mask
buff type headwear for summer
ultralite Frogg Toggs suit with custom tyvek piece going up my back under jacket and over pants for extra protection where pack sits (works great)
New Balance 910v3 trail gortex shoes
RedHead Ragin' water shoes - camp shoes
some gloves (still undecided which ones)

more misc. stuff, I'm working on a complete check list and actual pack weight in the next week or 2 but I'm thinking 30-35LBs with water/food but I always seem to pack heavy on the food and come home from my trips with a lot. I heard under 30LBs but I'll get there for sure after sending home winter gear, I hiked with 35+ most of the year on weekend trips and it wasn't bad - I know those are 'weekend trips' but I think I'll be good at 30-35 (tops full on water/food). Pack weight coming soon.

I tested this gear on a very cold 2 night trip, much colder then I'll see on the AT and I was fine. Tuesday late morning was about 20 degrees for a high when we went out, it got down in the low single digits at night and then only up in the lower teens for a high wend. Wend night got down near 0 and thursday was only predicted to be 11 for a high. We ended thursday early afternoon. The sleeping bag would be good well below zero with my base layers but that was about my limit for hiking in that gear, especially with a -20 or more wind chill thursday. I had the down jacket on thursday as we left but other then that I hiked in my 150 and 250 base layers along with 2 polyester layers in the teens and even single digits with no wind, comfortably. Jacket required if I stopped moving much.

My main concern is the down bag keeping dry, I have a Sea to Summit deep river dry sac (overboard probably, I know) for the bag and jacket so getting wet in rain isn't a concern. More so what was discussed in a recent thread about breathing in the bag and even more of a concern is the bag seems to pick up a tiny bit of moisture just from the air at night, or maybe morning. At least sometimes. It's not much and I didn't even notice a couple times till I took it back out of the stuff sac after packing away on a trip. Seemed dry when I packed it away but a tiny bit moist when I took it out the next night. All I did was fluff it up and it seemed to dry quick. I like to get up early and start hiking in the dark a little so I wont have sun to dry it in the morning if I do that... if I have to switch to something synthetic I will if keeping the goose down dry becomes a huge issue.

The travel size 'My Pillow' is certainly laughable but it also works great! Field tested at least 30 times/nights so far and still fluffs up like new, I can stuff it down to 4"x4"x4" or smaller. Good sleep is one thing I wont compromise with clothes in a stuff sack or a cheap inflatable, this thing has proven to give me a great sleep this year. Honestly, having held up this good so far for $20 I'd gladly dispose of it for another whenever needed and wouldn't feel bad about it. That said, I'm looking forward to testing out the Therm-A-Rest compressible to see if I like that better.

As far as water if that doesn't sound like enough I could swap 1 or 2 or the 1 PT bottles for 1 QT and then just not top them off if I don't need the full capacity. I plan on changing the bottles every so often but they hold up pretty good.