This pack is part of GoLite's adventure series packs and holds a little over 3600 cubic inches. It comes with a hydration bladder but I chose not to use it and it reduced the base weight to about 27 oz. I really like the pack for it's side and top pockets, as well as the back mesh to fit the fishing poles and tent stakes into. It seemed to shed most of the water we got during the rainstorms keeping most of the gear inside dry. It allowed me to forget a pack cover for hiking in the rain. Not sure I would get a Speed in the future, since I do not do a lot of adventure type camping, but would definitely look for similar features in another GoLite pack.

I would give this pack a 4 out of 5 rating!

This bag comes in at 21.5 oz., with it's 800 fill down. I was a little skeptical of its ability to keep me warm in the southern Sierra mountains, but found it quite warm. We had one night that dipped below 30 degree F, and my long john bottoms were enough to make up the difference. Most of the nights I was in a short sleeve shirt and shorts and I was more than warm, but I am a warm sleeper. You will feel the lack of insulation if you are a side sleeper and you knees are against the nylon shell. However, this was not much of a problem. The bag comes with a mesh storage bag to maintain the loft and a super-small stuff sack with and inner and outer drawstring to take along on the trip.

I would give this bag a 5 out of 5 rating for it's weight to temperature rating ratio!

This pad weighs in at just over 8 oz. and is a 3/4 length pad. I also used it inside my pack as a stiffener for my gear, rolled up as a tube top to bottom. I would say that the pad did what was expected of it as it was very light weight for it's insulation and cushion ability. However, I found it difficult to sleep on a 3/4 pad as my blistered heels did not have any padding against the ground. I found myself longing for my Therma-Rest full length Prolite 4 pad every evening. In the future I think I will take on the extra weight of the sleeping pad for its comfort.

I would give the Ridgerest a 3 out of 5 rating, mainly because of it's weight and durability, but I love my Thermarest better!

This combination worked out real well, as Mike had brought along his larger pot and has the same series stove, so fuel canisters were shared between the two of us. The 900 series pot holds over 2 cups of water and worked well for making soups during lunch and the desserts for dinner. The only complaint I have on the Trek 900 series pot is that the lid doubles as a frying pan, and does not stay in place very well, either on the pot when cooking or in the storage bag. I had to use rubber bands to lock it in place during storage. They should provide a flat top for cooking if you don't want to bring the frying pan, which is really too small to be of any value. The stove worked great, and the fuel canisters lasted quite a while. Between the two stoves, we went through just over two of the 220 gram canisters during the 13 days we were on the trip. This included boiling water for coffee and tea each morning, boiling water for hot cereal or eggs each morning, soup for lunch almost every day, and hot water for dinner, including desserts most nights and hot chocolate most nights as well. The cold night we had did not affect the fuel canister's ability to work the next morning.

I would give the stove a 5 out of 5 rating and the Trek 900 series pot a 3.5 out of 5 rating, mainly due to the frying pan lid situation.

With all of the hype over the status of the Bear Vault in the Rae Lakes basin, these things worked out just fine. We did not stay over at the Rae Lakes basin so we did not have to switch them out, but Bear Vault has a swap program if you do. The BV 300 is their larger series of the older version, but has the snap lid and I had no problem with it during the trip. The only problem I had was when the lid was cold (at night or first thing in the morning), it was hard to push in the side of the lid to clear the snap. It probably is just that this old body is not as strong as it once was! We did get 9 to 10 days of food in each canister with some re-packaging. They also make good camp seats as well! I was very impressed with my Bear Vault and the customer service they provide.

I would give it a 5 out of 5 rating, even with it's overall weight and lid issues.

My primary hiking clothes included a pair of ExOfficio Buzz Off convertible pants, a North Face Vapor Wick long sleeve shirt, and I used Smartwool Adrenaline crew socks, with Columbia hiking shoes. Other than the pants being a little too big at the start and way too big around the waist at the end, this choice of clothing worked out just fine. While I did get some blisters, I would not attribute this to the socks or shoes, just normal wear and tear on the feet for the 150+ miles we hiked. The convertible pants worked nice during the day as they kept me warm in the morning and night and give me the opportunity to go with shorts during the day. All of the fabric dried quickly when the sun was around. The mosquitoes didn't seem to notice the Buzz Off treatment but they were never bad anyway.

This is their synthetic insulation jacket with the stretch fabric on the sides and cuffs. It stores in a small stuff sack during the day in your pack. The synthetic insulation works out fine if it gets wet (mine never did). The fit is nice and the weight is just right at just over 10 oz. It is a little pricey at about $140 USD. My jacket had the zipper come apart after about 6 days of use, so I was not thrilled with their workmanship in this area. I put a warranty repair request into MonBell and they are replacing the jacket with one of their newer ones that has a better zipper. So far I am impressed with their service and really liked the jacket. As a follow up, I just received the replacement jacket and the newer line seems to have a much better zipper. This one has a standard high quality zipper with a liner on the inside for wind and warmth. MontBell really took care of this issue! I am very impressed with the quality of their service and would recommend their product to anyone!

I would give the jacket and MontBell a 4 out of 5, mainly due to the zipper falling apart, but a 5 for their service.

Both Mike and I had these jackets and they are great for this application. We had rain for 4 of the 13 days on the trail and they kept me dry and warm. They are lightweight (5.3 oz. for a large jacket), and the fabric is not real rugged, but mine held up fine.

I would definitely recommend this jacket to anyone. I would give it a 5 out of 5 rating for it's function and weight.

These shoes are made out of the same type of material as the Crocs are but they are more of a slip on type sandal than a clog. They are real comfortable and lightweight, with my 8 extra wide sandals coming in at just over 10 oz. They worked out real nice for creek and stream crossings, as well as around the camp. I found if you used a pair of socks during the creek/stream crossing they did not let your feet slip inside the sandal. My only problem with them is that the holes on the front and sides let sand and rocks inside and it you get blisters, they can be a little rough to put on. They are also not the type of sandal to just slip on quickly during the middle of the night nature call. I don't believe they are made anymore however.

For their use and function I would give them a 4 out of 5 rating as they were very lightweight and comfortable, with the downgrading only due to their ability to let sand and rocks inside.

I almost took only one of the poles to save the 6 oz. weight as during most of the day hikes I was comfortable with one pole. My wife talked me into taking both poles and am I glad she did. The two poles gave me the balance needed to cross many of the streams and creeks and also helped get me up the hills and over those steps. I usually had them in both hands in use, or carried the pair in one hand when I did not need them. The REI Peaks are adjustable, but I found that the one length I used was sufficient for almost all times, with the only exception crossing streams on a log or such, where the extra length helped me keep my balance. The adjusting mechanism worked fine and I did not have any problems with them during the trip. Their combined weight is 12 oz., which is fairly light but not as light as Mike's, which came in at about half the weight.

Overall I was very pleased and would give them a 4.5 out of 5 since at times the handle straps got hard to maneuver around.

We both took our fishing rods as we wanted to do a lot of fly fishing. I carried both rods in a custom length aluminum fly rod tube I got off of eBay. It was the only thing I could find that was sturdy enough the protect our rods, while also keeping the weight down. My wife sewed up a couple of rod socks and both rods fit fine into the tube with these socks. I carried a Winston IBIS 6 weight, 9 foot rod that broke into 4 sections and Mike carried a Sage SPT 8'-6" 4 weight rod that also broke down into 4 sections. I had a Sage 1200 series reel and Mike had a Sage 3000 series reel. We had many flies to choose from, with the go to flies being the Royal Wulff and the Ralph Cutter EC Caddis. I also found the Elk Hair Caddis successful as well.