I’d like to think completing this hike is all about me, but it good equipment plays a big part too. I’ve made some efforts to adjust some things to fit my plan and I thought they might be worth mentioning here. The first thing was the GPS logger by OHararp LLC which I’ve already gone on about. At my request they made a little voltage regulator so the solar panels I got could be used to keep it charged and logging without ever having to buy batteries or find a power outlet. I designed a very simple pot stand to go over the pepsi stoves I was making with my sister. I’ve since opted to go with a Trangia stove because it has a lid to put the flame out and hold the fuel in. A few nights ago my mum and I tried our hands at gaiter making, but it wasn’t a great success. Without a proper pattern to work to, and totally the wrong material, things were bunching in the wrong places and we couldn’t work out a cut that fit, so I’ve gone with Dirty Girl Gaiters despite them having the worst website since the early 90s. Today I finally got around to making the modification I have been planning for ages. I got my dad to pick up a Big Agnes Seedhouse Sl 1 last time he was in America. It’s nice and I like it but with an all mesh top putting it up in the rain will suck. I had planned a webbing mechanism that would involve straps between each pole and sewing hooks onto where the loops are on the inner tent, but in the end it turned out much simpler. With some strong cord I tied the front two poles together and then ran a length down to the other pole and tightened it until it held the poles in the same place as the inner tent does. I can now put the poles up by themselves, throw the fly on over the top and put my pack underneath to keep dry while I peg out the fly. From underneath I can undo the long pole, put it through the loops on the inner tent and back onto the cord. The loops run up that pole to their normal position. I then climb inside the inner tent with my pack and proceed to clip it onto the front poles. No rain has hit the inner tent, I am safe and dry, all is good. Of course some people would choose to skip the inner tent altogether and just sleep under the fly sheet. At that point it’s just a tarp tent with some fancy poling.
Here are the photos of setting it up
Magic, a frame with no inner tent or fly!
Big Agnes Seedhouse SL1 as a tarp tent
Threading the loops
Hanging the inner tent
PCT2007 