Pemi Loop Gear...

Question for those who have completed a one day Pemi Loop. What gear did you bring? And what type of pack did you prefer? Thank you.

My pack is pretty much the same for all of my summer hikes:
* Osprey Talon 33 backpack (this would all easily fit in a talon 22, but I like the fit of the 33 better)
* 1 bag containing first aid kit, backup headlamp, fire, random other stuff which might constitute the 10 essentials (compass, map, whistle, emergency blanket, etc...)
* Bright headlamp (princeton tec apex)
* Lots and lots of food
* 3L water bladder - full, 1 refill at Galehead (clockwise loop)
* 32 oz gatorade bottle (about half full at the trailhead, used at the hut to make more gatorade)
* music for the hike out
* Merino Long sleeve t-shirt
* Water resistant wind shirt (nylon)
* Bug hat
* bathroom supplies
* blister supplies
* buff
* spare socks

Wearing:
* Merino t-shirt
* compression shorts
* zip off hiking pants (99% in "shorts mode", but always carry the pant legs for bad bugs/weather)
* baseball cap
* lightweight gators (dirty girl)
* ultra lightweight smartwool socks
* Sportiva Ultra Raptors

EDIT: Added trekking poles

Before anyone scoffs at the amount of water/food, I'm no trail runner and found 3L (plus the gatorade) to be the right amount to make it to the hut. Total time was 14.5 hours with some leisurely summit/hut breaks.

Our pressie traverse a few days later had the same equipment list except add hat/gloves and replace the long sleeve t with a mid-weight thermal top.

For my only 1 day Pemi Loop I had a small F/A and emergency kit, headlamp, long sleeve poly t-shirt, light rain coat, wool hat, gloves, a two liter camelback, food and snacks, cell phone, and camera. The whole pack weighted about 15 lbs. I also went with trail runners.

SherpaWill said:

Question for those who have completed a one day Pemi Loop. What gear did you bring? And what type of pack did you prefer? Thank you.

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The same gear I carry on any substantial hike. It's a bit more than some carry but my bailout option would be to lay down and sleep somewhere, so I carried enough to be comfortable with that. I didn't want to change up what I was used to having on 10-25 mile hikes.

Bergelene tights
Rain pants
Rain coat
Mid weight fleece jacket
Mid weight fleece gloves
Fleece hat
Extra socks and liners (which I changed into on purpose halfway through)

First aid kit
Multitool
Lighter and matches
Extra batteries
2 headlamps
3-L bladder, full. (Added No-Salt and Propel)
Liter of coconut water
Sunglasses
Whistle
Paracord
Camera
Pack cover
Food (more than normal with extra gels/bars)
Bivy sack
Poles
Trail runners/low hikers

I'm sure I forgot something, but that's about it.

I used an Osprey Aether 70 pack, which is total overkill for even this amount of gear, but I have two packs: this one and a very small hydration pack which wouldn't cut it for this one for me. I don't recommend this big of a pack.

The faster you do it, the less gear you need!

Tom Rankin said:

The faster you do it, the less gear you need!

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This brings up a good point that may bear mentioning.

I was not going for speed on my loop. I was going for completion. A steady 2 mph pace and a 16ish hour finish was my goal. I made that safely and felt good the next day.

Those going for speed may have very different looking packs. I suppose if I was running, I would lighten the load.

A question for SherpaWill would then be: are you trying to complete the loop in a day or trying to break a certain time barrier? The answer to that question may drive what's in the pack to some degree.

Thanks everyone for your advice. My goal when I muster the grit to attempt this would be to do it in under 14 hours. I may run some of it but most likely I will be hiking as fast as I can. I have an old Camelback Blowfish that might be a little small and Highwire that might be a little big. I'm leaning toward pairing my stuff down enough to fit into the Blowfish. Or get a pack that's a little bigger.

Another question I had was preference on doing this with someone or a group or as a solo trip. I have a friend who I hike with a lot who wants to do it with me but I'm leaning towards doing it solo. Thoughts?

SherpaWill said:

Another question I had was preference on doing this with someone or a group or as a solo trip. I have a friend who I hike with a lot who wants to do it with me but I'm leaning towards doing it solo. Thoughts?

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If there are decent odds that your paces will roughly match, I think it's a big plus to do the thing together, for two reasons: teaming up on the safety gear, and enjoying the camaraderie/support. If paces don't match, it's still a small plus, in that each of you will be able to spot for the other to some extent, possibly affording more help in the event of a problem than simply having a support person in the area or arranging for a scheduled call.

Oh, and re: scheduled calls: there's great CDMA reception (Verizon/Sprint) at the hut - roughly the midpoint.

Alex

alexmtn said:

If there are decent odds that your paces will roughly match, I think it's a big plus to do the thing together, for two reasons: teaming up on the safety gear, and enjoying the camaraderie/support. If paces don't match, it's still a small plus, in that each of you will be able to spot for the other to some extent, possibly affording more help in the event of a problem than simply having a support person in the area or arranging for a scheduled call.

Oh, and re: scheduled calls: there's great CDMA reception (Verizon/Sprint) at the hut - roughly the midpoint.

Alex

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Very good points Alex. I probably won't be doing this until the end of next June, so I'll have time to hash everything out.

Hi All. Long time reader, first time poster here. Thank you for the wealth of knowledge. I did my first one-day Pemi Loop yesterday and had such an awesome time! Although I have run/hiked all portions of the loop before, I was a bit nervous about taking it on all at once. The information provided by VFTTers definitely helped get me through.

I had my Nathan running pack with 2 liter bladder, shorts, short sleeve, long sleeve, lightweight OR soft shell, brooks cascadias, headlamp, gloves, hat, map, compass, and a list of splits I put together based on my goal of 12 hours. It was pretty chilly when I got up to Flume, with windchill in the 20s. I'm glad I was adequately prepared. I ended up finishing in about 11:30. I did it clockwise, and felt great coming off bond cliff and was able to run the full 5 miles on the railroad tracks back to the parking lot. What an great experience! I can't wait to do it again (just not tomorrow). If anyone ever needs a partner for the loop, at a similar pace, let me know.

Thank you to everyone on this site that posts such great info.