Colorado Trail Gear List | 9.5 lbs for dramatic alpine weather

All the gear I used to Thru-hike the Colorado Trail in July 2022.
The most important pieces of gear are your RAIN JACKET and RAIN PANTS. They're really important for safety in the event that something goes wrong.
Gear:
Pa'Lante V2, 37L
REI Flash 1
Cascade Mountain Tech - Carbon
HGQ Bandit 20°, 850 fill
Therma-rest NeoAir XLite, small
ONWEGO inflatable pillow
Compactor bag to waterproof pack
Sea to Summit 13L dry bag
OpSak-odor proof bag
Long handled spork, Sea to Summit
TOAKS 750ml pot BRS 3000T
Bic mini
1L Smart Water bottles
Katadyn BeFree 1L
Rock bag and 50' rope
Patagonia Tropic Comfort II
Thrift store, retro running shorts
Exofficio
Darn Tough
Altra Lone Peak 5
Patagonia trucker hat
Patagonia Nano Puff
Patagonia Capilene midweight shirt
Patagonia Capilene midweight pants
Handmade wool beanie
Patagonia socks - spare
Patagonia underwear - spare
Regatta pack-it jacket
Used Outdoor Research rain pants
Sea to Summit small Diddy Bag
Toothbrush, toothpaste, floss
bandaids, meds, Leukotape
Sewing kit, glues, tapes, patches, extras
Foxelli rechargable headlamp
small cord
USB-C Anker PD
USB-C Anker
USB-C Anker PowerCore 10000 PD
(Pixel 3 cell phone)
ID, cash, credit card, rubber band
Culo Clean
Deuce of spades
Cheap clip on sunglasses
Ziplock gallon bag
Music:
White Lie - Streambeats by Harris Heller
It's a Lifestyle - Streambeats by Harris Heller

[@Lora_the_explorer]

So professional! Surreal to see you on KZbin. great job!

[@StephenOutside]

Hahah thanks!

[@ASTHECROWFLIESHIKING]

Great gear selections. What an amazing adventure. I hope to see the Colorado trail someday. New follower here. Crow

[@StephenOutside]

I hope you're able to do it one day! The views were stunning

[@romererunamerika9437]

yeah big Agnes tent for me because of all the rain and condensation on the CT. My zpacks single wall sucked on CT, and recently on the AT. Sent it home and never looked back with my big Agnes fly creek ul2 platinum custom carbon poles Will likely use zpacks in summer or warmer weather only. Although did use the original one with mesh flooring on the complete PCT 2016 with no issues. Loved the CT.

[@hikerwoody182]

you sure are a quick draw with that banana cowboy 👏

[@brianmarko5062]

Great video. Thank you. I'm a bit new to backpacking with only 3 longer trips under by belt, but the pack you use with no hip belt seems questionable to me. I understand everyone's different, but I absolutely to have it.

[@StephenOutside]

That backpack is definitely not for everyone, but it actually does have a stowaway hip belt. Even with the waist strap some of the longer food carries, like the one going into Collegiate West, my backpack was not fun to carry. (But I still love it lol)

[@MiliosFilios]

Hey, I got hit by some crazy monsoons toward the end of July. I had a tent with a similar material to the flash and ran into the same issues. I had much better success with DCF for a single wall tent material. It is much more expensive but the way it sheds water is amazing in my experience. it also takes only a few minutes to dry at around 9-10 am when the suns out and it hasn't started to get cloudy and start building storms, but even on those days where it never was dry enough to dry out I was still in better shape.

[@StephenOutside]

Oh awesome, that's great to know thanks! I've been eyeing the Durston X-mid pro (like everyone else). I'll probably get it for my next thru hike now

[@MiliosFilios]

@@StephenOutside one of my buds from the pct used the XMid pro on Te Araroa this year, and loved it in the insane amounts of rain and snow new zealand got

[@LETSGETUTILIZED316]

If you workout all muscle groups consistently, more weight can be added comfortably. The risk of injury is greatly reduced by targeting all muscle groups consistently. And it's totally different than relying only on hiking exercise.

[@SophisticatedDogCat]

Facts, tho. I am big time into resistance training and feel like it helps me greatly with my hiking.

[@LongBoy.0]

I just returned my Flash Air 1. I hike in Virginia, If it doesn't rain it's totally fine, but as soon as it pours once you'll never use it again. Upgraded to a Durstan Xmid 2, but if I was doing a longer thru hike I'd do Xmid 1 Pro.

[@StephenOutside]

It rained the whole last week while I was on the Colorado Trail. I was pretty miserable by the end of it. I think the X-mid 1 Pro will be my next purchase!

[@LongBoy.0]

@@StephenOutside yeah, that sounds rough. I returned mine after getting caught in a freak downpour in the middle of the night in Three Ridges Wilderness.

[@Candyapplebone]

I’m hiking in Colorado for 3.5 days next week, will be my first backpacking trip. Do you recommend hiking shorts or hiking pants? I’m gonna buy rain pants, bear line, a first aid kit and a spork - those are things you covered that i don’t own.

[@StephenOutside]

Awesome, good luck out there! I prefer hiking shorts because they're breezy, but the big advantage to hiking pants is sun protection and bug protection if that's important to you. I hope your trip goes well!

[@davef5916]

nice work dude, do you have a lighterpack link for this trip?

[@StephenOutside]

Thanks! I do, but I estimated some of the weights (especially in clothing). I weighted my pack before the hike and it came out to 9.5lbs lighterpack.com/r/b4x70a

[@LETSGETUTILIZED316]

Something i added to my first aid kit is a venom extractor. Imaginge getting bit by a snake and a venom extractor saves your life from what could be certain death due to being out in the wilderness where help often doesn't come in time, especially for a snake bite which can be fatal very quickly at that

[@MiliosFilios]

venom extractors don't work. you're wasting weight and space in your pack. Snake bites can be fatal but relying on venom extractors to save you will very likely be the thing that gets you killed

[@BASSABLACC]

How did you poop? Filter/carry water? What did you eat?

[@StephenOutside]

I appreciate you asking these questions! I used a trowel to dig a hole 6 inches deep (deuce of spades) and then a backpacking bidet which fitted onto my water bottle to clean up (culo clean). My water system was two 1 liter Smart water bottles and a Katadyn BeFree water filter to get water from streams and lakes. My water capacity was 3 liters but I only hit that once on a long water carry. And I feel like I could make a whole video on food. On a high level, I brought oatmeal for breakfast, nuts and energy bars for lunch, and couscous with oil for dinner. The amounts of each changed based on my needs and what I was enjoying. The largest gap between towns is about 5 days

[@Candyapplebone]

Hmm i was thinking about doing 1 “cooked” meal a day and then the rest of the calories would be granola. Sounds good!

[@huntsail3727]

Considering this trail. A couple of quetions; 1) in your gear I did not see anything devoted to navigation, i.e, GPS, compass, map, etc. is this because they are not needed or did I miss them? 2) I saw you had a bear line and bear bag, but no bear spray, whistle, firearm, etc. why is this? Thanks

[@StephenOutside]

Great questions! 1) For navigation I used my phone and the app FarOut. It labeled all the major water sources, towns, roads and showed how far you were from them. I highly recommend buying this app, or you can use the CT data book which costs about the same. 2) For bear protection, I just brought a bear line and the hang bag. Hard cannisters or bear hangs are required now for parts of the trail. I'll try to summarize why I didn't bring anything else: Black bears are not usually aggressive unless they have cubs or they get used to people leaving food out at campsites and become "food bears". I've learned from others that most black bears are like giant racoons and they scurry off as soon as they notice you. Always keep your distance and don't startle them. So putting this knowledge into practice, we avoided camping at all the popular campsites especially those closer to Denver where "food bears" are a problem. If you'd feel more comfortable bringing bear spray, then go for it!

[@Candyapplebone]

Wait you hiked for 35 days and you only had one piece of clothing per body part, apart from the spare undies/socks??

[@StephenOutside]

Hahah, yeah pretty much! Here's an overview of the clothing I brought: - hiking clothes - rain layers - thermal jacket - sleep clothes - spare clothes (socks and underwear)

[@Brian-yx5vo]

Thank you for your video being i grew up in Colorado , It puzzles me he obsession of going ultralight, and instead of getting a little stronger and obtaining more endurance so you can carry appropriate gear for a more enjoyable time makes more sense. Going extreme UL just doesn’t make sense to me especially in Colorado. Thank you again for your vid.

[@StephenOutside]

Colorado is such a beautiful place to backpack! Yeah I agree training can really help. Extreme UL doesn't make sense for shorter trips. But for longer trips, your body isn't designed to carry that extra weight every day for 5-6 months. Lighter gear can really reduce the risk of injuries

[@dan_taninecz_geopol]

Shoes?

[@StephenOutside]

No way, I forgot my shoes!? They're the Altra Lone Peak 5. They've lasted about 700 miles Thanks for catching that lol

[@dan_taninecz_geopol]

@@StephenOutside Thought so, but didn't know which gen. Is there much difference between the 5/6/7? The 5 and 6 look great, the 7 not so much lol.

[@StephenOutside]

I remember people didn't like the 5's when they first came out lol. It seems like every new version gets some hate but the shoes prove themselves after a while. I haven't personally tried them but I'll probably buy the 7s soon and see how they work for me

[@tanimowo]

woah not "steffen"? first time ive seen a "stephen" call themselves that instead of steeeeven

[@StephenOutside]

Yep! Steven is the American spelling of Stephen. My family is from the UK

[@TL243]

Dude. You buried the pack info. Took three videos to find it. Good luck.

[@StephenOutside]

I appreciate the feedback

[@TL243]

@@StephenOutside Thought it was savvy story telling. Just ordered the pack. Did not see an affiliates code so I guess that is that. Great content. excited to try that pack...

[@StephenOutside]

The pack is amazing! Hope you like it

[@TL243]

@@StephenOutside Got the desert pack and the V2 to make sure we are covered.

[@TL243]

@@StephenOutside Hey, any chance you will do a series on the Sangre de Cristo range?