PCT experience:

We carried the Nalgene water bottle and 10 liter bladder to Kennedy Meadows. We had pretty much switched to soda bottles by that time. We only had one failure with the soda bottles. Ken dropped one at Crater Lake and it lit on the cap in a paved area. The bottle split open! We were fortunate to find an angel who donated a 1.5 liter bottle of water.

We thought about, but did not carry the crampons. They were really just in case of bad snow anyway.

We carried the Ice Axes from Kennedy Meadows to Sonora Pass. 

We decided to switch from the Dragonfly stove to the the Snow Peak stove with Giga Power fuel cartridges at the last minute.

We bought a tent for the Washington rain. It was a Kelty Zen. It weighed about the same, but felt bigger and warmer in the cold, wet weather.

We both changed rain gear. Marcia switched to Frog Toggs in Northern California. Her original North Face Hydrenaline didn't stand up to heavy rain.  Ken bought a Columbia jacket in Washington after his Go-Lite started leaking through the worn shoulders. 

Ken really wanted to take the smaller backpack, but was not able to carry enough water in it. We did remove extra straps, loops, etc from the Kelty after this weight.

Changes for the CDT:

We considered the beer can stove that was popular on the PCT. We decided since we were cooking for two we would stay with our dependable Snow Peak stove.

Ken considered a tarp tent - at least for much of the trail. Our PCT tents were over 4 lbs and we knew we could shave weight by carrying a new tent. Marcia contacted Bibler- Black Diamond tents and asked if they would make their I-tent out of silnylon. She got a quick response saying they were already working on a lightweight tent. They asked if we would like to test the tent on our thru-hike. Of course we wanted to test the tent. We carried their prototype tent the whole trip. It weighed 2lbs 11 oz, was free standing, and quick to set up. We loved it! 

We both switched to Gossamer Gear's G-4 backpack. As a part of that switch we used ZRest pads cut down to 6 sections, instead of our comfy Thermarest Ultra-light pads. The G-4 backpack worked well. We found that they were not built to take the beating we gave them. We had some deterioration of the mesh netting, but more problems with snagging the mesh on tree branches. Still we save so much weight we think we will continue to use the G-4 on other long hikes.

Our Sierra Design Polarguard 3-D sleeping bags are worn out. We replaced them with Western Mountaineering Apache down sleeping bags. We saved some weight and the bags proved to be warmer than our old bags. We had no problems keeping the down bags dry. (A couple of nights we had condensation inside our tents, but we were able to keep the bags pretty dry. And we dried the bags later in the day.)

We added in the high tech gadgets - a Garmin GPS and PocketMail. We felt the GPS was a requirement on the CDT, especially to find water sources in New Mexico. We also used the GPS to "find the trail" when we were off trail and/or bushwhacking. The PocketMail is only 8 ounces and will allowed us to send and receive email at phones along the trail. We used the PocketMail to keep our journal in the form of daily emails to friends and family. Both used AA batteries, so we carried one set of spare batteries most of the time.

Changes for the AT:

We will not carry the GPS or extensive maps for the AT. It is well marked and heavily traveled. We should even save some time by not having to determine our route at every junction as we did on the CDT.

We plan to carry ponchos instead of, or in addition to, our Frogg Togg rain gear. We found that we could put the ponchos on and take them off quicker. That let us respond to the rain storms better and stay drier. We both added Patagonia Dragon Fly wind breakers. They are incredibly light and wind proof. 

Most of our other gear will carry forward or be replaced with identical items.

Changes for the ADT:

We are changing our ponchos to silnylon ponchos. They seem to work fine and are considerably lighter. We also use the ponchos for pack covers, but will probably carry garbage bags anyway.

We are back to carrying a GPS on the less well traveled ADT. We know we will need it west of Denver. We replaced a worn out eTrex with a Garmin GPSMAP 60CS. It has much more function and memory for the same weight. We also found Lithium batteries (both AA and AAA) that will shave a couple ounces and give longer battery life.

We switched backpacks from the G-4 to the newer Gossamer Gear Mariposa. It is a couple ounces heavier, but looks like it will ride better. 

We started earlier in the year so our clothing requirements for the early ADT were warmer and heavier. Notice that we carry many layers of clothing rather than one heavy layer. By Missouri and Kansas we had gotten rid of our fleeces and several other extras. We chose not to carry a water filter in the agricultural areas. We could get water at farm houses and in towns. Utah and Nevada were plenty warm during the day, but sometimes cool at night. We picked up our fleeces again mid-way thru Nevada.