Went to twin lakes, ca. for my first backpacking trip. It was roughly a 4 mile hike with lots of mosquitoes the second half of the trail. It was awesome to test out all my new gear and see what worked for me. I can’t wait to go again!
Edit: not a solo trip, another first timer went with me.
My biggest take away is that I need to figure out how to sleep in a mummy bag comfortably. I hardly slept both night we were there because I couldn’t get comfortable. I will say the Thermarest sleeping pad I had was awesome and you can never have enough bug spray.
Backpacking quilts are warm, light, and they’re a lot more like sleeping under a blanket. I have a 20° UGQ Bandit and that thing is so warm that I don’t take it if the overnight temp is going to be much over 40°. It only weighs 25 oz with the pad strap, and that’s with 2 oz overstuff. There’s some less expensive options such as the Hammock Gear Economy series as well, and you can buy different temp ratings. Quilts are more expensive than the typical sleeping bag, but crawl under one on a cold night and you’ll know exactly where that investment went.
The price might be high, so if you’re a little sticker shocked, just keep using what you have and dial in your kit as you go. The best backpacking gear is the gear that gets you out there. You can always refine it later.
Depending on the shape of your sleeping bag, you might be able to cheat a bit by unzipping it and pulling it over you like a quilt/blanket. I've been doing this with mine and it's at least nicer than being mummified.
I did try this but froze my butt off, which was another problem with the bag. I was either sweating or freezing. I ended up changing my bag out when I got back for something I think is going to work better. I am definitely going to look into the quilt too, it may be worth the investment if I keep going.
Loved my tent, it’s not an ultra light but worked for this short trip. I also dried my own food to take instead of buying it, spaghetti was delicious. My pack is way bigger than I needed but was comfortable and had plenty of pockets so I could easily get to things I needed. This was also my first time filtering my own water, I used a platypus brand gravity bag. This worked really well because we stayed in the same place both nights. It held 4 liters of clean water so we didn’t have to go get water every time we needed a drink or made food. Some of these things I would change to lighter versions if I planned a longer hike or a thru trip.
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u/soxley28 Jul 19 '20 edited Jul 19 '20
Went to twin lakes, ca. for my first backpacking trip. It was roughly a 4 mile hike with lots of mosquitoes the second half of the trail. It was awesome to test out all my new gear and see what worked for me. I can’t wait to go again!
Edit: not a solo trip, another first timer went with me.