Packing

Cut for hiking nonsense.

I've got almost everything I need for my backpacking trip.  I have the trail selected (a small section of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Trail between Babyfoot and Rough and Ready Lakes) but are not sure how many days I want to stay. Since this is a trail run, I'm not going to be doing a lot of distance hiking.  More of the find a camp, setup then explore hiking.  I plan on camping closer to the Rough and Ready Lakes than Babyfoot Lake simply because Babyfoot is a very popular place and I want to be a bit farther out than that.

Anyways, my gearlist so far consists of:

Backpack
Map, compass and GPS
Tent
Sleeping bag
2 Sleeping pads (1 for me, 1 for Conker)
Water containers (Camelbak, Nalgines, military bladder thing)
Stove, fuel and lighters
Mess kit
Rope
Clothes (long johns, jacket, pants, extra shirt...)
Raingear
Flashlights & candle lantern
Emergency shit (reflective thing, whistle, 2 first aid kits, etc...)
Iodine tablets
Bigass knife
Towel (never know when you'll need one)
Mini pillow
Carabiners

That's all I can think of right now.
Together, without food and water, it all weighs about 30 pounds.  I was aiming for that as a dry weight.  Even with extra things like an additional flashlight, huge knife, extra sleeping pad and pillow I'm still not over my dry weight goal.  I like that.

So!  I plan on carrying at least 5.25 liters of water. Key words here being at least.  Most likely closer to 7 liters.  When hiking I drink a shitload of water.  I normally go through only 1 1/4 liters a day but on hikes I easily double that.  But honestly, who doesn't?
There is water in the area I'm going to so if I decide to stay longer than my water supply enables I can.  I don't have a filter but I've got iodine and a stove to boil water with.  I always do two forms of purification to water since I'm paranoid about living things in it.
I've got to carry more water with me anyways since I'll have Conker with me, and I'd rather have more than less at the end of the trip.
I also need more water since I like tea, hot chocolate and oatmeal.  And without water you can't have any of those.   And since Conker is going to be eating a lot of oatmeal (and sardines) I need a larger than normal supply.
With that comes from around 10 to 15 extra pounds.  Still not a bad amount.

Extra items.  I like to have backups, that is why I carry two cigarette lighters and a flint-steel.  (no matches dammit)
I've also had flashlights break and get lost, that's why there's two of them and a candle lantern.  I have run across the occasional dumbass who doesn't have a flashlight and given one to them.  Yes, I can be a nice person if I want to.
Towel... I've gone on enough hikes and needed one when I didn't have it.
I'm sick of using my jacket as a pillow, especially when it gets cold and I need it.  I cannot count the times I've worn my jacket inside my sleeping bag just because I wanted to, so I'm bringing a pillow.
Two first aid kits?  Well, I'm bringing a dog with me and the first one isn't big enough to carry all the shit I want so why not bring another?

I really cannot think of anything else that I need.  Sure there's a couple things I can't remember that might be nice to have around, like a deck of cards (tosses into pack), but as far as essentials I think I've got it covered. 


I really want to go tomorrow but I'm going to hold off until at least Saturday to make sure I've got everything.