Monkman Provincial Park 6/22/2015 — 6/25/2015

  •   Category Price Weight
  • Shelter and Sleeping $0.00
    1.37 kg
  • Cooking and Hydration $0.00
    0.23 kg
  • Packing $0.00
    2.01 kg
  • Safety $0.00
    1.05 kg
  • Clothes (Active) $0.00
    1.9 kg
  • Clothes (Storm) $0.00
    1.65 kg
  • Recording $0.00
    0.16 kg
  • Miscellaneous $0.00
    0.93 kg
  • Consumables $0.00
    4.6 kg
  • Total $ 13.89
    kg
    • oz
    • lb
    • g
    • kg
  • Consumable 4.61 kg
  • Worn 2.9 kg
  • Base Weight 6.39 kg

Post-Trip Notes

Pack Shakedown

The Big Threes

Stone Glacier Solo with KRuX

An overkill for regular backpacking. Originally meant for backpack hunting for sheep, elk and moose in mind. Part of the weight cost is due to the quieter Cordura fabric.

Many packrafters, guides and trail maintainers also use this brand for non-hunting purposes. The competitor Seek Outside Unaweep Fortress 4800 / 5800 clocks in with similar weight at 1.13 kg except with noiser and more water-resistant X-Pac fabric.

There is no reason to use Stone Glacier for a 3-days summer hike. Most people owns at least two or three backpacks for different purposes. ULA Ohm 2.0 (938 g) or Epic, Mountain Laurel Design Exodus (510 g), Hyperlite Mountain Gear Porter (862g - 1.4 kg), ZPacks Arc Blast (600 g) or the Osprey Eja 58 (1.14 kg - 1.16 kg), KS Ultralight KS40 (380 g) would place the base weight under the 4.5 kg "ultralight" category.

The ability to keep lots of food in a bear-bag with the pack's load shelf became an advantage later at Willmore Wilderness Park](https://lighterpack.com/r/3srah4).

Locus Gear Khufu CF3

Adversited for 1.5 persons, but backpacking communities insist Khufu is for two people. Girlfriend did not have a good time with mosquito net being too close above her head. Upgrade to Hapi for better head clearance.

Swapped out with a MSR Hubba Hubba NX (1.76 kg) for Willmore Wilderness Park multiday hike. The Khufu is fine for solo.

Sea to Summit Nano

Too filmsy to camp with a bear-reactive dog. Need to find a more suitable mosquito protection for shelters. Maybe consider a more resilent mesh for Locus Gear Khufu (370 g) from the tent's manufacturer. Otherwise, Sea to Summit is fine for solo purposes.

If switching to Hapi, then mesh (400 g) is available.

Coghlan's Stakes

Coghlan's can be picked up at any store. They are prone to bending due to being made from 6061 aluminum. MSR Groundhog (13 g) and the Mini (10 g) or Easton Nano (12 g) on the other hand would be more durable, made from 7075-T6 aluminum, and shave off about 50 g from the sleeping and shelter system. There are carbon fibre alternatives such as Ruta Locura Sorex (6 g).

Carrying along skewers just in case was unnecessary. Skewers are prone to bending and don't have enough surface area to grip. Many come and go over the years but Vargo Ultralight titanium shepherd's hook tent stakes (8 g) remains a staple.

Enlightened Equipment Revelation Elite 30ºF

Since Monkman Provincial Park averages at a temperature lows of 5ºC to 10ºC, the 30ºF (-1ºC) quilt is perfect. Near the water, temperature remains constant.

Originally the quilt was meant to be combined with a 20ºF synthetic over-quilt for autumn as well as winter-camping near -30ºC. To go down to -40ºC, one needs a 10ºF down-filled quilt with well-insulated mattress and facial / head protections.

Weight of the quilts are affected by the denier of the fabric, quality of the fill, temperature rating and whether or not the footbox is sewn. Only way to save weight is by backpacking in warmer climate (e.g. 40ºF and 50ºF) or purchase the Enigma to shave off 40 g. Theoretically one can get away with a 40ºF (5º) quilt for a weight saving of 85 g for a combined total weight-saving for 125 g. But it's safer to have a buffer down to 0ºC when necessary.

For couples, there are the Enlightened Equipment Accomplice (880 g) and Sierra Designs Backcountry Bed Duo (1.78 kg).

Cooking and Hydration

Evernew EA252 0.9L

Only way to get lighter is to downsize the pot or compromise structural integrity such as the easily-crushable beer-can pot (20 g). Or just Ziploc cooking and cold-soaking. Comfort level varies from person to person.

One can conserve pack volume with Mountain Laurel Design 475mL Titanium Mug (39 g) with Ruta Locura Carbon Fiber Lid (6 g) and but sacrifices for fuel efficency would have to be made since wider pots distribute heat differently.

Otherwise, if one want to forego the stuffsack for simplicity for a weight penalty, then there is the Vargo BOT.

0.9L is good enough for most purposes. Maybe purchase the Evernew ECA253 1.3L for couples-hiking assuming 750 mL per person is sufficient, and the 1.9L was discontinued, but we already have Open Country 4-qt which was purchased for winter-camping.

Platypus SoftBottle

Personal preference. Some people like Platypus for compacting down. smartwater uses the same sport tops, threaded similarly, weighs the same, tall and rigid.

Packing

Stuffsacks

ZPack Cooking Pot Sack (5 g), home-made can be as low as 3.4 g.

Clothes

Half a kilo can be shaven off by investing into performance-driven clothes.

Columbia rainjacket

Lightweight rain gears can be a hit or miss. Some are heavier and can sustain long days of rain while others can only withstand a few hours. Popular lightweight options are Outdoor Research Helium II (180 g), Marmot PreClip (290 g), Rab Flashpoint (185 g), Patagonia Houdini (96 g). More durable options include Patagonia Torrentshell (354 g) and M10 (260 g) as well as Arc'teryx Alpha AR (340 g), Alpha FL (295 g), Beta LT (350 g) or Haglöfs L.I.M. (200 g).

Fleece jacket

Fleece is fleece. Some are heavy, some are light. Different bands have different cuts. Polartec tends to last longer while generic ones pill easily. It's difficult to recommend a product since they all end up weighing the same regardless of price. Recognizable name-brands include Patagonia R1 Pullover (275 g) and Arc'teryx Delta LT ​(221 g).

Didn't have the money nor could figure out which brand of filled-jacket to buy which could cut down the weight by half. Choices include Montbell Plasma 1000 (116 g), Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer (175 g), or Arc'teryx Cerium LT (255 g). Considering the weathers in the Northern Rockies, synthetic alternatives such as Montbell Thermawrap (198 g) or Patagonia Nano Puff (284 g) might be better.

driWEAR baselayer

Icebreaker 150 LS, Smartwool 150 Sport Hoodie, Ibex Hooded Indie, Patagonia Capilene Midweight Crew (153 g), Minus33

Coghlan's Mosquito Headnet

The gold standard is Peter's Head Nets (12 g). Sea to Summit makes a similar Nano (11 g). Given how easy head-nets are to tear while bushwhacking, it is best to use whatever available at the local store and replace when necessary.

Merrell Moab Ventilator

Owned for a few years, but was never subjected to rain or creek crossings until recently. Shoes never dried out properly. Ended up getting blisters due to improper fit.

Safety

Suunto MC-AD NH

Outdoor Research 30L

A few caveat, most readily available bear-bagging kits are 10L which can store up to three to four days worth of food or four to six for 15L. The 30L stuffsack was repurposed from kayaking.

Instead of using a 30L, it's better to deploy two or three separate food hang bags on long unsupported trips. Lots food puts a lot of stress on the hang point of a single bear-bag. Multiple bags means less stress on the hang point.

Mountain Laurel Design Pro Bear Bag System (116 g) and ZPack Bear Bagging Kit (96 g) comes with everything including a rock sack, carbiners and guylines. The Dyneema Core guylines alone would halve the weight of Nite Ize.

Ultra-Sil Nano Dry Sack (24 g - 46 g). Comparable cuben fibre drysack bags

To be honest, Ursack Major (215 g) or Bearikade Weekender (879 g) is simpler. Simplicity and ultralight are not the same concepts.

50' Nite Ize with Carabiner

The Nite Ize was repurposed from winter shelter kit.

Black Diamond Contour Elliptic Shock

Bit heavy with the foam grips and aluminum. Could try to lighten it up by stripping it and adding cork from Gossamer Gear. Locus Gear CP3 (310 g), Black Diamond Alpine Carbon Cork (486 g), Komperdell C3 Carbon Compact (338 g).

Concerns