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The original was posted on /r/Ultralight by /u/nunatak16 on 2025-08-09 05:36:49+00:00.
As trip reports seldom gain traction here I labeled these gear centric observations from the Sierra with the Skills flair.
On a recent no-resupply 14 day trip my TPW was 32.5 lbs (31.5 according to the scale I keep in the trunk): 18 lbs of food, 2lbs for water, the rest gear and that 17” long bear canister.
u/irczer , myself and hardman Rich did 150 miles of which maybe 120 was off trail; crossed 25 passes and climbed one peak (Tunemah - notably the most remote summit in the range)
Canister: My Bearikade Blazer’s ten day capacity has worked, but lately I’ve been desiring to stay out longer. A call to Alan, the seventy+ year old owner and main assembly guy at Bearikade, resulted in me ordering a massive 17″ version, 2.5″ longer than an Expedition. At 1130g curiously it is still lighter than a BV500.
This capacity holds at least 45000 calories without tamping things down, which are two weeks plus for me.
Food and fuel: I had almost 2800 calories per day, weighing in at 560g. Never felt lack of energy, nor late trip hiker hunger. But I’m 62 and lean without much muscle mass. Everything tasted great, unlike the catastrophic menu on last year’s SoSHR!
Meal plan: https://imgur.com/Nb4W6CF Ațe the same every day!
I brought a single 4 oz canister and used 60% of the content. My strategy was cold brew coffee twice a day, and merely heating my dinners to 50’ish degrees C. For this I used 3.5-4g of fuel per meal. I ended up caving in and having warm coffee on the three particularly frosty mornings we experienced.
With such low fuel reliance one could argue the switch to cold soaking would make sense. But besides being gross, cold soaking grains and legumes with oil and spices may not be as calorie efficient as simply eating a high fat nut mix instead for dinner: my homemade evening dish is about 4.5 cal/g; the yummy sweet salty nut/seed/chocolate blend I create is 7.5 cal/g.
Electronics: The big 10K Anker kept the watch, lamp and phone running for two weeks. I didn’t let the phone drop below 20% and never charged to above 80%. Hour to hour navigation, several hundred pics, many short video clips and daily satellite texting were the power draws.
Phone type and the battery health are also factors to consider when sizing a power bank. I received a new 16e before the trip - with the old phone I would have needed far more than 20K for this long.
Shelter: In the Sierra I have no need for a floor nor a net inner, and most definitely not a bivy bag, but see tremendous value in a windproof and draft free setup with bug protection. Thus the simple 13oz Khufu mid with DIY peri-netting is pretty ideal.
I don’t mind setting up on wet ground, and the well draining soils of the High Sierra (mostly decomposed granite, aka DG) are forgiving in a downpour. Site selection is always important and hitting it right comes with experience. In the fight against condensation we always loose, so once I’ve done what I can I just shrug it off.
Sleep: The shelter is part of this, and the low, sealed pitch adds enough warmth that a bag with a mere 7.5 ounces of down works good enough for the generally mild conditions of Sierra summers (over the span of 12 seasons and hundreds of nights I have always used something rated around 40°F comfort).
A thin self inflatable torso sized Thermarest of unknown R-value from the last millennium for me represents the pinnacle of backcountry comfort. But with a floorless shelter an also torso sized Thinlite goes on the ground first, while the pack ‘cushions’ the feet.
Always sleep good, but occasionally in the early morning during a cold spell I line the bag with a VBL that also doubles as my pack liner during the day, and the instant boost of warmth sends me back to REM so fast.
Cowboy camping runs the risk of heavy dew settling on the bag from sunset onwards, especially when mostly the lake basins offer any decent camping in remote higher locations. As I use a thin bag without much buffer I rarely bother.
Clothing: Alpha Direct and 7d based garments are FKT stuff imo. With that I mean occasional use for very special trips only. Alpha sheds, thins and rips readily. Besides environmental impacts the degradation lowers the performance faster than any other base layer I’ve owned. 7d nylon is weakly calendared so leaks down sooner and holes form without known impacts. Also at a sieve-like 56 cfm I often missed the real wind breaking of my current gen Houdini.
The experiment of going 14 days with a bear canister probably justified Alpha/7d use here, but normally I pack merino and 10d.
Trekking poles: Contrary to common advice, for me the BD Carbon-Z’s are plenty strong for sustained off-trail hiking and at my age I frequently lean on them heavily especially downhill. I’m a sworn no-leash user and the grips on the Z’s are as if made for that. Broken one in 8 years of use.
Pack: I carried a lightly modded frameless Bears Ears for the tremendous benefit of a low center of gravity and snug, wiggle free fit for the miles of talus and scrambling.
Also being able to haul a canister several inches longer than a Bearikade Expedition on a pack weighing only 760g is dope.
Hipbelt pockets: Even the best designed ones are annoying to me for more reasons than I care to relate. Long inseam cargo shorts FTW! I store Aqua Mira, DEET, sunscreen, soap, SAK and sunglasses here. I don’t eat on the go, so snacks are in the pack’s front pocket.
A low profile zippered shoulder strap pocket holds the phone and cheap readers with the temples replaced by shockcord hang around my neck all day.
Water: A banner subject for me as I designed the Bears Ears pack to specifically not have the dreaded water bottle side pockets but instead puts them on the hipbelt way back, yet super accessible and secure. Unlike hipbelt pockets these bottle holders are absolutely clutch
Pencil: Writing trip notes and thoughts on the back of my Tom Harrison maps is a great wind down when sitting in the tent after sunset. I always look forward to this moment.
LighterPack: https://lighterpack.com/r/gnq6xx
The real trip report: https://www.highsierratopix.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=24605