Staff Picks 2023

The weight given for the McHale Custom Pack is shown as “1.9 lb.”  I have a McHale pack and it weighs nowhere near that.  McHale packs are by far the most comfortable packs I’ve ever carried and I think they are the best designed, but they are not the lightest.  Perhaps the weight shown is a typo?

Can the Kokatat be altered easily. I think there’s a place in Boulder, but I’d like to find someone local.

I love those water bottles…

I’m curious…what’s the appeal?  (This is BackpackingLight after all!)  It’s a 20-oz bottle, 32mm mouth, no tether for the lid, weighing 3.2 oz.

Ryan intro’d the new bottle with, “I wanted something a little lighter and a little larger than a 16-oz Nalgene…”  Well, a hard-sized 16-oz Nalgene (with lid tether) is exactly 3.2 oz, and the soft-sided (milky color) version is 2.5 oz.  So the new bottle fails the lighter test.

For comparison, I’ve got some 20-oz Gatorade bottles (no lid tether) I’ve been using since about 2008 (i.e., they’re durable).  With a 35mm mouth, each weighs 1.5 oz.  I have one with a 32mm mouth and it’s only 1.2oz.

Todd, this is what Ryan has to say about the bottle

Tritan plastic is heat-tolerant, making it a great option for hiking with hot coffee or soup without leaching bad plastics into your food. In addition, Tritan is a highly inert material, which makes it great for storing flavored drinks, soups, coffee, tea, or alcoholic beverages without taking on the taste and smell of the contents. The 20-ounce capacity is perfect for shoulder strap or hip belt use or easy retrieval from backpack side pockets. You can see the page with his info and short video on my link above or HERE .

What Brad said.

The only gear I have purchased in the past 2 years either replaced something worn or wearing out (XMid Pro 2 replaced an 9 year old Duplex), or performs SIGNIFICANTLY better (MH Airmesh LS top and Timmermade Alpha Direct 90 hoody, both much lighter and much warmer than what was replaced).

Raingear – I’m long done with the newest bling.  Now using a $25 Saphirose zippered poncho from Amazon or a Frogg Toggs jacket and sil rain skirt. They can be replaced many times over for the price of one high-end jacket.

I think there’s less chemical leaching.

I haven’t bought a ton of new gear but a few things stood out (remember I’m in Alaska so my needs are a bit different then hiking a trail in Colorado).

La Sportiva Trango GTX Boots. I used non waterproof trail runners for years. For fall trips in Alaska I decided that waterproof boots were worth the weight. I found my feet were wet and cold almost as soon as I began hiking on the soggy tundra. The whole “dry your feet out hiking” worked in Montana but not on Alaska caribou hunts. I tried Altra boots and the lightest Salomon boots I could find. Both fell apart pretty fast. Eventually I spurged for a pair of Trangos at full price. The first hunting season they were perfect. After a very abusive 2023 season I wore a few small holes in the upper.  I patched those up and they seem to be mostly waterproof again. Probably as durable as you’re going to get with a shoe this light.

Glass I sold a rifle to fund Tract Toric 10×42 Binoculars and a Cabelas 16×45 spotting scope. Light? Not really. But they help a lot for filling my freezer. And they are fun. Last fall my son and friends had a blast watching grizzly bears, black bears, caribou and moose at long range. Even if you aren’t a hunter some basic glass can enrich a trip by allowing you to see the animals undisturbed.

Love my MH Airmesh hoody.  Kept it under a shell backpacking in stormy weather this past spring (no puffy) and, underneath an older Patagonia Micropuff hoody/over a Capilene lightwt baselayer, took it on a walk at 15°F last week.  Just the puffy and baselayer was ok at 30°F, so estimating it’s good for at least 15.

A little more durable than the Alpha Direct stuff, it still needs some babying if not under a shell though (a door corner, then a dog’s paw nail put a couple “dents” on a sleeve).

Water bottle companies drain our springs while blocking access. I go through a couple SW bottles a year. While they make good water bottles, they’re thick plastic with a business model of single use. Backpackers are their biggest advertisers. I cringe every time I buy one.

…Right now less is more satisfaction…

There really is an almost spiritual joy in being comfortable and safe in the woods with a minimum of gear.  Just what you need and only what you need.  Other than my FAK, if something isn’t used in 2 or 3 trips it generally finds its way into the “unused bin”.

https://www.aquamaestro.com/category/still-water/glaceau-smart-water#

I think that means it’s tap water.

From the article Terran Terran posted…

…Smart Water begins as an artesian spring in Northern Connecticut. After the water is distilled, a balance of Magnesium, Potassium, and Calcium is introduced, adding electrolytes.

From Wikipedia…

Distilled water is water that has been boiled into vapor and condensed back into liquid in a separate container. Impurities in the original water that do not boil below or near the boiling point of water remain in the original container. Thus, distilled water is a type of purified water.

I’m not sure I see any difference based on where the water came from.  Is water distilled from a municipal water supply any different from water distilled from “an artesian spring in northern Connecticut”?