As it turns out, you don’t need very many things to survive outside for a few months. Food and water will be the heaviest things I carry during my PCT hike, so I’ve done my best to minimize my “base weight” (the weight of all my gear that is not consumable) so I can be more comfortable when I load up on calories and liquid. 

To comply with the alcohol stove restrictions in Southern California, I’ll be attempting to go without a stove for the first 700 miles. Depending on how my no-cook food works for the first few sections of the trail, I will decide whether to mail a canister stove to Kennedy Meadows (the southern gateway to the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range about 700 miles north of the Mexico-US border). At Kennedy Meadows I will certainly be receiving my bear canister and might also be adding a light fleece layer and an ice axe depending on snow levels. I will also be exchanging the Ridgerest for a Neoair X-lite short sleeping pad for added warmth and a smaller pack volume.

I expect pieces of gear on this list to change as I make my way north, but most of the items included have served me well on past trips including a John Muir Trail hike in 2011.