Originally Posted by
fastfoxengineering
1) not just in case it gets really cold a few nights, it will get cold a few nights. You wear your puffy layer with you inside your sleeping bag to keep you warmer. It'll keep your torso warmer and therefore your overall body will be warmer. Or if you just have cold feet one night you can drape it over your footbox of your bag, etc. And it's just great to wear around camp. I've worn a long sleeve baselayer, microfleece, and down hoody in July/August. Your always colder when your a little damp or wet too. And on the AT.. your always a little damp or wet.
3) for the common man, a canister stove and a GSI soloist cookset. Take the mug if you like coffee and send it home if you don't need it. Add in a long handled spoon and a small lightload towel and your good to go. the soloist is great capacity and has a really nice non-stick finish for cooking in your pot. There are many great manufactures of canister stoves. Snow Peak and MSR are probably the two that comes to my mind first but there are many others that are fantastic. The snowpeak litemax is nice and light and proven. The olicamp ion is nice and light but maybe a little unstable. The MSR pocket rocket is still the industry standard.
4) it's good to have 2x soda bottles to drink from. 1L each is a good size. Smartwater bottles, gatorade/poweraid, etc. There plenty durable, light, disposable (so you can refresh them every so often in town), and they come with free gatorade. A 2L platy softbottle is a great addition as it folds up small and is nice and light. Great for getting a bunch of water for camp so you have enough to hydrate at night, cook dinner, have water for breakfast, and then start your next days hike with some water. What do you plan on using for water treatment?
6) I use a down hoody from montbell. the ex-light anorak. pricey, but worth it to me. You can buy a used one for cheaper. JCpenny, Macys, TJ Max have bargain puffys. Hard to recommend one cause it depends on how much you want to spend. I really enjoy having a hoody one though. The hood adds a lot of warmth for a small weight penalty. Some just get vest.
8) yeah mail them ahead. I didn't know you got 6 weeks out of a box.
9) hand sanitizer after nature calls. every time.
11) in your FAK, main rule is don't bring it unless you actually know how to use it.
12) batteries are gonna get expensive on you. why not take advantage of "free" electricity in towns
13) sure, thatll work. you may never use it
14) duct tape is your friend.