2018 High Buck PACK SHAKEDOWN

[7mmfan]

Looks pretty good to me. If you haven't, print this list. When items are used, check them. Do this for the whole season. Then,  scrutinize items with no checks. You're well on your way to being dialed.

This is a good tip.

[yakimanoob]

Visine(to help relieve smoke in the eyes and no visibility)
I never leave home without it; just forgot to list it .  I added it to my updated list above.
reading material(To occupy time due to not being able to see wildlife)
I'm an audiobook and podcast kinda guy; hence the headphones and battery pack.   

[swanny]

My Exped sleeping pad never materialized due to a mistake by REI, but they gave me a discount on the next purchase so I got a Sea2Summit ultralight insulated pad for about $80.   It's got a few ounces on the exped, but overall I'm super happy with the upgrade. 

Ah, that burns my eyes!

[StoneTrees]

Shelter and sleep system:
- Hennessy Expedition Ultralight hammock
- Mtn Hardwear 20° down sleeping bag
- Sea2Summit Ultralight Insulated sleeping pad, large -or- Thermarest Prolite 3/4 pad if the weather's warm
- **3x9' Tyvek (in case I need to use the hammock like a tent in very cold weather; may double as a ground sheet for processing meat)
- two MSR groundhog stakes

At one point in the thread, you made a comment about us keeping our hands off your pillow.  Did I miss the pillow getting deleted?  If not and if it's just overlooked here, you could drop the pillow and bring along the puffy jacket to use as a pillow.  Stuff it into one of your stuff sacks to get it into a reasonable shape to it.

I'm trying to streamline my gear down to a 40L pack so this thread is timely.

How did the trial run go?

[yakimanoob]

Eh, actually I just got a bit lazy in my listing. 

I can use a jacket for a pillow, but with my 3/4 pad I typically put my extra layers under my feet and legs for insulation.  With the Sea 2 Summit upgrade, I'll likely just use my midlayer as a pillow because my feet will be comfy on the pad . 

[yakimanoob]

Oh and the first real test-run of my gear went great.  27.5 miles on the PCT in an overnight trip was more miles/day than I'd ever done with a pack on, and it went way better than expected.  I'm climbing Adams this weekend, and hopefully up in GPW/ALW the following weekend to scout/bear hunt.  So I've got a few more test-runs to get in before opening day of high buck. 

[addicted]

Kuiu guys use the short sleeping pad then put their pack under their feet

[yakimanoob]

Welp, we bailed on the Mt Adams climb due to low snow levels (glissading is the reason we climb those mountains anyway, right?  )  and I wasn't able to make it up to scout this past weekend either -- ended up hosting 3 thru-hikers instead which was a lot of fun.  I did throw 70lbs in my pack and walk up and down Naches-Tieton grade, and I'm happy to say my Aether 60 did awesome carrying that much weight. 

Looks to be a cool and wet weekend in my hunt area, but I can't wait to get up there in any case.  Thanks again for all the tips and good luck to everyone headed out to the mountains!