We thought we'd give you a little update on our progress and our preparation. First off, we've made a few purchases since the first post!(REI is having a HUGE SALE right now!) Second we're getting closer to 1 Year from when we plan to start, meaning we can start working on some things that we practically couldn't before. (It's kinda like a wedding, you can plan and plan and plan, but there are some things you have to wait to do).
Onto the Gear!
We now both have our packs that we'll use for the duration of the hike. Coincidentally, we both chose the same bag, because it seemed to be the best fit for our trip and we both were simply pleased the most with the fit of these bags.
The Deuter Act Lite 60+10 & the 65+10 (guys have to carry more stuff).
They are essentially the same pack, the Woman's is more shaped for a woman's body, and the men's compensates for the fact that Preston has no hips (like most men) which is important because the hips support the majority of the weight. An awesome pack, by a really old company, they've been making trekking packs since the late 1800's.
Next: Our Tent! We're really super excited about this baby. The tent is usually one of the heaviest items in the pack. Ours however, is not :) We purchased a Big Agnes, Copper Spur UL2 (The UL stands for UltraLight). This is a super light tent, super spacious (we can both sit upright on opposite sides and still have about 20" between us without our heads hitting the tent, the tent has two Vestibules (covered area outside of the tent provided by the rainfly for storing gear and cooking in inclement weather) and folds up in a tiny little package all weighing less than 3 1/2lbs. One of the benefits of hiking with a partner, is you cut weight by sharing equipment such as the tent, so that's about 1lb 10oz per person for what will be our home for 6 months.
So that's our shelter from the storm, our home away from home.
Bags:
Sleeping bags have come a long way even from when we were little kids. (which was soooo long ago...) Backpacking Sleeping Bags have to be a combination of lightweight, warm, ultra-compressible, and in our case, interconnectable. We once again picked the same bag, just the male and female versions. Abbey's is more curvy and has significantly more insulation, and because women sleep colder than men, the temperature rating is the same as Preston's but his has less stuffing. We opted for the 'Long' versions, because there is nothing spacious about these babies. Given their constrictive shape, the feel a little bit cramped and if you were claustrophobic, these probably wouldn't work for you. The extra 6 inches from the long versions allow us to put our clothes at the bottom so they're nice and warm when we put them on in the morning. Also there is room for things like a metal water bottle full of hot water (think *heated blanked*).
There are two choices to make when it comes to backpacking sleeping bags, down or synthetic. We chose the synthetic version because of two things, 1. our lifestyle 2. because synthetic insulation still provides warmth even if it's wet, where down becomes completely useless with exposure to a few drops of water. We'll be encountering over 28" of precipitation throughout the duration of our hike, so this was a no-brainer.
The bags weigh about 2 1/2lbs each, but provide a 20 degree warmth factor and compress to the size of a small watermelon.
We're in the process of finalizing what clothing we'll be taking, and are trying out a few items that we already have. We'll keep you posted on what we find. We're focused on having the most minimal amount of stuff, that provides multitudes of functions and can withstand the rigors of tough day to day use for 6 months.
We'll also be able to test out our new tent and sleeping bags while beach camping @ Olympic National Park this summer!
Thanks for reading. We love you all.
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