October 21, 2026
Totals add up the 28 of 30 items with a listed weight.
Base · 130.8 oz
Your shelter is what turns a bad night into a safe one. Pitch it at home at least once before the trip: a first pitch in wind and fading light is where things go wrong, and knowing your stake-out order fixes most of it.
10°F rating, 10°F below a 20°F night (not stated as comfort or lower limit). Where a maker publishes a comfort rating, plan to it; otherwise keep the rating 10°F or more below the coldest night you expect. Being too warm is fixed by unzipping.
R-4.5 clears the R-4 floor for shoulder-season nights. Cold ground steals more heat than cold air. A bag's rating assumes an insulated pad under it: pair a 20°F bag with a thin pad and you do not have a 20°F system.
50 L carries 3 nights of this kit. Buy the pack last and size it to the gear you actually have. Fit matters more than a few grams: the hip belt, not your shoulders, should carry the load.
Nothing is warm when soaked — "warm when wet" defies physics. If sustained rain is likely, synthetic loses less than down.
"Water-resistant" is not rain gear. Hypothermia is possible above 40°F once you are wet and windblown, which is why the shell is required even in summer.
A fleece midlayer dries fast and takes the sweat on the move, which keeps the puffy dry for camp.
A dry top kept for camp and sleep, never hiked in. Sleeping in the top you hiked in carries its sweat into the bag.
Filter everything you drink from a source. Ice inside a hollow-fibre filter can ruin it, so below freezing it sleeps in your bag.
Size your capacity to the longest dry stretch between sources on your route. The empty bottle counts in base weight; the water in it is listed with food and fuel.
Headlamp, not flashlight — you need both hands to pitch a tent in the dark.
Your phone is a great map right up until it is cold, wet, or at 3%. Carry navigation that does not depend on it, and know how to use it before you need it.
An actual kit, not a token one. Tape a hot spot the moment you feel it, not at camp.
A small blade and a strip of repair tape cover most trail fixes.
Sunscreen goes in every season: snow and altitude reflect more sun than a summer trail does.
An odor-proof liner, not bear-resistant storage. Check your park first: many require a hard-sided canister, and the liner goes inside it.
A canister stove boils water with nothing to prime or pump. On a cold night a hot drink is warmth, which is why the stove is required in this season.
One bank, one cable, everything on the same connector. Cold cuts lithium capacity by roughly a third, so the bank sleeps in the bag.
Shoulder-season trail ices at elevation. This is slip-on trail traction, not an alpine crampon. Check current trip reports; carrying traction on a melted-out route is dead weight.
A warm hat for cold evenings and mornings in camp.
The DCF Whisper pitches on 7 stakes and comes without them. Two packs of 6 cover them, with 5 spare.
Worn · 58.9 oz
The top you hike in every day. A hood and long sleeves cover your neck and arms from the sun, so less skin needs sunscreen.
New shoes or boots on trip one are how you get blisters on mile three. Break them in on a loaded day hike first.
Wool or synthetic, never cotton.
Quick-dry synthetic, never cotton: cotton holds water and stays cold once it is wet.
Poles take load off your knees on descents and steady you at stream crossings. They extend to 130 cm, and the DCF Whisper needs a pole set to 130 cm. On this list they also pitch the shelter.
Consumable · 171.3 oz
Planned at 620 g (about 1.4 lb) a day; adjust to your own appetite.
About half a litre per hour of hiking — 2 L covers roughly four moderate hours between sources.
377 g gross: 230 g of gas plus 147 g of steel you carry the whole trip. Boils roughly 16 L.