Guerrilla Camping 101.1 Revisted - The Red Pack

Guerrilla Camping 101.1 Revisited – The Red Pack

Ah gear. At no time do I enjoy the materialistic and consumerist routine of cataloging my possessions like when I make a pack list. But it is an obligatory post. It determines what kind of pack one carries and shows where one is coming from.

Since writing the first GC blog nearly two years ago, my pack has refined itself into a more professional rig as I prepared to start walking hundreds of miles rather than dozens. The pack below is not a small financial commitment and is overkill for most pedestrian adventures. It is a pack that can be carried alone, but which was prepared for two person trips with certain items dispersed. (One person carries the kitchen, the other carries the bedroom.) It is also, as described below, capable of supporting me comfortably in desert heat, or winter snow. Much of this gear gets boxed or left behind for normal climates. If you are looking for a cheap single person bug-out-bag, see my previous blog.

Yes, I carry a heavy pack. I like the exercise, and except for that foot injury that happened when I had the entire thing confined to one pack while walking down a rocky mountain road in the dark in old shoes, it has done well for me. If I could run with the old pack, I can sprint with this one when it is properly adjusted, and has taught me why molly replaced alice in the military.

This is not a complete list, instead it is for comparison to the original blackpack I wrote about two years ago. Eventually, I will do another packlist, but right now, it would be immense as I start to set up a permanent camp. (Uh, where do I pack the picnic bench?)

The Red Pack:

His: Gregory Palisades (5100 cubic inches)

Hers: Gregory Forester (4000 cubic inces)

Kitchen

MSR Whisperlite International with stainless pot, screen cleaning kit and diffuser
(2) 1 liter SIGG fuel bottles
Titanium Fork and Spoon
Titanium lid Lifter
Assorted baggies and nalgenes for spices. (I never use film canisters any more. TAP plastics sells VERY cheep small plastic bottles which DO NOT SHOOT PEPPER IN YOUR FACE!)

Water

MSR Mini-Works Pump
Platypus 3 liter hydration bag
1 Litre Nalgene
3 gallon sil-nylon water bag (Collapses to size of tennis ball)
Portable Aqua tablets, no PA plus

Bedroom

Sierra Designs Omega (4 season convertible with fast pack ultra-light option
MAC Donner 20 degree rated bag (How do you give up on a sleeping bag called the donner?)
Thermarest Pro-Lite 3

Clothing

2 dickies over shirts
2 duo-fold inners.
1 pair transformer shorts/pants
1 Pair jeans
1 Pair rain pants
1 pair light long johns.
1 Polar Fleece sweat shirt
1 Ultra-Light shell coat
1 long sleeve t-shirt
1 pair polar fleece liner gloves
1 pair thinsulate lined leather gloves (fire proof, very important for me)

Tools

Compass
Map / Journal bag with mechanical pencil, leads, and pen.
First Aid Kit in a small canvas pouch. Includes splinting and suture materials.
First Aid Kit (provided by Red Cross on shoulder strap)
Gerber Camp Hatchet (Fiskars makes a lighter one I wish I had though)
Leatherman Blast multi-tool.
Sewing Kit with fish line, hooks and lures
100 Feet of 550 parachute cord in various lengths
The 100 feet of 3000lb test climbing rope w/ two carabiners and 8 foot section for Swiss seat usually stays at the cabin.

I've probably left a few things out as I typed this without turning around to look at it, but is is still packed by the door from my office, ready to head to the hills at the slightest whim...