800 Miles, One Backpack (Zero Sanity)

Arches National Park, down bopping into the Grand Canyon, up into Zion. 800 miles in the desert, completely different terrain. And I know what you're thinking. When did she get a goddamn sit pack? The others conned me into carrying one. Yes, I'm not in the desert. I'm actually in my sister's backyard in England. Would you like to come with me to the canyon? Yes. Okay. What's your favourite activity, Evelyn? Today we are going through my pack because everyone loves a gear video, I think, right? Who wouldn't want to be here? I guess the people trying to hitchhike away from here. We were sponsored by three companies for this hike. So it meant we had to carry their gear. I feel like they can hear it. They can hear my screams, my sighs. Take that with a grain of salt. They sponsored that hike. They're not sponsoring this video. So let's get to the gear. This is what I wore in a day. Actually, I don't know. Wow, that timer's way off. Where did she get those sunglasses? I know, I know. I can't believe it either. There's a lot of cacti in the desert. It was actually pretty nice. You know that standards have shifted when rocks equal luxury. All right, here it is. These were super handy. I still have my ones from the PCT in Te Araroa and quickly learned that they were quite old and stopped working and it's actually not very conducive when you're trying to cross rivers and you are utilizing these poles. So I got these new guys. By the end, the bottom tips came off and the snow caps are head on for the sand. But these guys are super light and compact down. So I was not mad about it. I had the 60 litre Z-Packs, Ark Hall. I've heard mixed reviews about this pack. I was a little bit worried. I feel like maybe it's a pack you love or hate. God, it stinks. I was actually super impressed and definitely would use it again. The only downside to this pack was when I loaded it with eight days of food and a bit of water. Some eight litre or eight kilogram in pounds, I don't know. Water carries. In that eight day carry, the stave on the pack broke. So do not overload because these things happen. It was the perfect size. And also when you distribute the weight to the side, oh, it just looks so much better. Looks okay and feels so much better. Okay, yeah. So this is my food bag. This was a misorder. To be fair, we kind of did need food bags this size for a couple of stretches, but it was quite large. And I carried some extras that I've never carried before. Okay, I have this thing. A snap fold bowl. You know, not the most necessary, but it was actually really nice to cut veggies on. It was quite nice. Water bladders. Speak for themselves. One clean, one dirty. With Sawyer, the dirty water into the clean one. I mean, I've used the Sawyer in both previous through hikes. So they're my OG, tried and true. Oh no, my sticker is completely gone. But another completely extra item, double insulated cup. No cold soaking this trail. Yeah, I'm not going back to that. Somebody carried the pot. Somebody carried the gas. Somebody carried the stove. And we also had two coffee filters. So every morning we could have drip coffee, super extra. But oh my god, I don't know if I can go back to instant. It's ruined me. Oh, my spork is missing. There should be a spork here. It's somewhere in my bag. Who am I? But desert. It kind of felt pretty necessary. And these guys are super light. You couldn't do much else with them than wear them as camp shoes. But they were perfect for yeah, what I needed. Because standing on Nepalese, standing on anything sharp out there, because there's a lot of sharp things out there. He's prevented that. Poop kid. Enough said. I feel like one of those like makeup vloggers or like makeup beauty gurus. I hope that's not poop. God, I'm a stinking coward. Ground sheet. Now, I'd only ever taken the duplex out, Te Araroa and PCT. So this time around, I knew we'd be cowboy camping most of the time. So we probably cowboy camped, I'm going to say 90% of the time. And so it was cool to have the option for a shelter, especially when it did rain or hail. Or if it was super cold and we felt like we needed an extra layer of protection from the wind. It was super handy having this guy. Sleeping pad. You know what? I think I'm going to go back to the regular thermarest. Honestly, I don't think it was that necessary to worry about the grams. I mean, I was carrying a bloody, I don't know, plastic bowl plate converter. That's how the world works. So, you know, to worry about the grams when it came to something so important. All right. It was kind of silly. While this is nice and it does work, I'm not the most delicate person when it comes to gear. So I feel like someone who is good at taking care of things, this will be fine. Also, you know, the desert turns out it's a lot of sharp things. I think I just got excited by titanium things because, you know, ultralight. But I don't know if I'm the right person for these. Oh, OK. My toiletry bag, which also Frodo Baggins me. You know, one lunch, we got up and left. This thing, it just looked like a rock. Oh, my God. It's here. Thank God. The next day I was, yeah, running back for it. Oh, my God. What an idiot. It wouldn't have bothered me so much had I not had all my contact lenses in this bag. I had many of these, many, many more. But, you know, I have my staples in here. Plasters. You know, I thought, nah, these kind of seem extra to bring. Turns out that was not the case. I had like a little sewing kit, needle and thread, you know, the drill. Manuka balm, all the way from New Zealand. I did run out. Then I ended up just refilling it with Vaseline. Especially when your legs get so dry. And they get very dry. Nail clippers. Now, this is more for like hanging for animals. We did have a rope as a crew. It came in handy many a time. Sunblock is by this brand called Zoop in New Zealand. Really, really love the sunscreen. But obviously just refilled it with what I could get. This was once a garment. Said garment came off in the north rim section of the Grand Canyon. You know, it's just one of those stretches. Eventually, eventually I'll buy another one. This was like a Z-Packs pouch in it. Yeah, where my uncle loves. And my lens cap. But also, yeah, I'm still recovering from frostbite. Anyway, Henry Mountains, no joke. These were my backpack merino leggings that were torn to shreds by the end. Yeah, what I needed, served the purpose, did the job. Well done. Essentially, I carried three pairs of socks the whole time. Usually, I would only carry two. They had good socks. They had these ankle stabilising ones I thought would be good because my ankle. They were kind of just weird compression socks. But their regular socks were good. At the end, I treated myself to some Injun jeans, you know. Also great when you're wearing camp shoes. And of course, the staple, the Don Tufts. Supposedly, this completed my attire, my outfit as Russell. Excuse me, sir. No, he's half Asian too. I get it. I am a wilderness explorer. He's Korean though. I'm Japanese, you know. Beanie and two fleece layers. We didn't have any puffies and I was a little bit apprehensive about that because I knew the nights would be pretty cold. But this double layer was actually sweet. It was all I needed. I also had a rain cover which helped trap the heat in. So this was like a thin layer guy that I mainly wore. Yeah, when it was kind of like a little bit nippy or if I wanted to wear something in the morning to hike. And this was definitely the extra layer for camp or sleeping. When it was particularly cold. Oh god, this also needs a wash. My Z-Packs bag. I had this one before I started the Hey Juke. I didn't need to carry a Z-Packs bag, but I had it. It was perfect. Perfect for what I needed. And it wasn't a quilt, which I've used in the past. And quilts are great, especially if you're super weight conscious. But I don't know. Or it's something nice. Okay, my pack liner. One of those, I think, nylo, nylo fume. One of these guys. Oh, that smells bad. I really should be washing all these things. Buff. I use it as my pillow cover when it was cold. I didn't have a fanny pack this trail, but I did have this cool little towel bag. Honestly, so handy, especially even around camp. In it, I would have a pen, the lighter. Oh, I also had a pocket knife. But the thing that really changed the game for me this time around was having physical notepads. Physical notebooks to write in. At home, it's my morning routine, journal every day. And it's always in a physical notebook. Not having them on previous trails, I think it just took me out of writing a little bit. And so I recognize how different your writing is when you've got that very tactile experience. You're just a lot more intentional. And I wrote differently this time. Worth the wait. Honestly, worth the wait. I don't know why I haven't done it before. Okay, camera gear. Camera gear and then we're done. Yes, this is the same electronics bag that's definitely no longer waterproof anymore. Many cables. You know, I carried four of these guys. Two wall chargers. The other one is currently occupied. I had an SD card case. Wow, that light. I wasn't actually using this mic set. I had a DJI mic set. And there were these wireless mics, which also had this wireless recorder. It was super sweet. Heavy. That's sweet. I had this guy. I had this tripod that's currently in use. This power bank that's currently used. This camera and lens that are currently in use. I had the 20 to 70 millimeter f4.0 lens. Honestly, it was perfect. It was perfect for what I needed. It wasn't as shallow depth of field as having something like a 2.8. But for the weight it was, for the capability. I was a fan. I also had an ND filter for it, which is currently still on it. We should just push it and get through and pray to the trail gods that nothing, no big rainfall happens. And then I just had a bag for little random tools. I needed like an allen key or a screw. Wipes. Also met this old mate in Kanab and I loved this cart, so I took it. Thanks, Bob. I mean, he had a lot. I didn't take it and they were there, you know. Yeah. Oh, of course, I had my phone as well, which got absolutely decimated. This is why I can't have nice things. Final items. Things I always had accessible. For those contact wearers and also just people who get dry eyes in the desert. I would have died without these. It's down to our last 200 mils. I hope we'll make it. Just general contact lens solution, lip balm, essential, face sunscreen. Also essential for contact wearers. I kept getting this kind of like haze over my eyes, especially in the afternoon. I wasn't realizing it was because my sunscreen was dripping into my eyeballs. So this, this was essential. And I mean, I haven't mentioned food. Peanut butter is obvious. You know, when you get really thirsty and you're trained to be dehydrated for varying amounts of time, you want something to remind you you are alive. And there's also lightweight and Jolly Ranchers. Oh my God. These guys, they kept me alive. They kept me alive. Day six of this stretch and we've made the call. We're going to have... I just quickly wanted to thank our sponsor. Our, as in my sponsor, Squarespace, for, you know, bringing to life my website, my visions. You know, they do make making websites super simple, super straightforward. I have a discount code that allows you to create your own domain name or website with 10% off. I can't even remember the year I started using them. Maybe like 2018? Before they started paying me to say this. So do you like peanut butter? Yeah. Do you love peanut butter? Yeah. Me too. Oh God. This is a child's table.