Lowering the Barrier to Outdoor Adventure

In April 2022 hungry flames rose from the campfire and warmed my hands. Stars filled the sky on this chilly night in Campo California. The laughter of strangers turned friends filled the air. It was the night before my first long hike. A 6 month, 2,650 mile walk on the west coast. I was embarking on a continuous footpath through California, Oregon and Washington on the Pacific Crest Trail. My mind raced with excitement and fear as I laid on the grass searching for constellations. It was too late to turn back. I was determined to haul my backpack to Canada, eventhough it was bursting at the seams.

Six months before the hike I was overwhelmed. I needed to buy a tent, figure out what to eat, and answer a million other questions about trail life.

I read gear blogs and realized just how much I didn’t know. Down vs. Synthetic, Quilt vs. Sleeping Bag, Dyneema vs. sil-poly, a seemingly endless list of decisions.

On top of picking gear, I needed to remember what gear I already had and how much it all weighed.

I bought gear with good reviews and checked all the boxes from a handful of “20 gear essentials for a thru-hike” articles. My 22 pound pack weighed more than I wanted, but I didn’t have time to figure out where to cut back. I had other concerns.

Like what to do if I see a snake and a bear at the same time. Or how to travel to the trailhead in a town where uber doesn’t exist. I kept reading blogs about the trail and ignored my disorganized pile of gear.

Fast forward 6 months and 3,480 miles to a cloudy night in Southern Arizona. The 9 pounds of gear scattered around me is comforting. I know it’s everything I need to survive. I stare at the stars with a spoonful of cold, grainy instant potatoes and a smile. The 6 months of walking, learning, meeting rad people, and growing forever changed who I am and how I view the world. The next morning I’d pack up my gear a final time in 2022 and finish my second national scenic trail, the Arizona trail.

A perfect gear list doesn’t exist. Your gear will change based on where you’re going, how fast you want to hike, and how comfortable you want to be. Build a Pack makes planning the right gear for your next trail easy.

Building a gear list is a personal journey and we would love to help you on that journey. So you can immerse yourself in nature’s beauty.