Sky Island Traverse Thru-Hike: In My Pack
While I was on this thru-hike, backpacking in some of the most varied terrain you could possibly imagine, I was reliant on my gear to do a little bit of everything!
In March of 2023, I set off on a gigantic adventure through the Sky Islands of southern Arizona and up into the incredible Sky Island mountain ranges over the span of many months on a route known as the Sky Island traverse. My adventure came to an end in the middle of July, as I had decided from the beginning to really take my time to study the unreal and important biodiversity of the Sky Islands.
While I was on this thru-hike, backpacking in some of the most varied terrain you could possibly imagine, I was reliant on my gear to do a little bit of everything! It have to keep me safe in the heat of the Sonoran Desert, keep me warm when I got into high elevations, and it all had to be super durable because the elements I was trekking through were aggressive as heck!
This adventure was partially sponsored and I was happy to use a lot of the gear I was given by some big brands! Not all of it is what I would recommend for this kind of backpacking trip, but it all was up to the journey and nothing needed to be replaced as the months on trail went by!
The Gear List
| Item | Link |
|---|---|
| Osprey Aura AG 65 liter | Check It Out |
| Nemo Equipment Hornet OSMO Ultralight 2-Person Backpacking Tent | Check It Out |
| Switchback Foam Pad | Check It Out |
| Tensor All-Season Ultralight Insulated Sleeping Pad | Check It Out |
| Coda Endless Promise 10-20 Degree Sleeping Bag | Check It Out |
| Tracer Blaze Sleeping Bag Liner | Check It Out |
| Fillo Backpacking Pillow | Check It Out |
| Black Diamond Moji Charging Station Lantern | Check It Out |
| Black Diamond Distance 1500 Headlamp | Check It Out |
| LEKI Cressida Trekking Poles | Check It Out |
| Garmin inReach Mini | Check It Out |
| La Sportiva Akasha II Trail Shoes | Check It Out |
| Kahtoola RENAgaiters Low | Check It Out |
| Sawyer Squeeze Water Filtration System | Check It Out |
| CNOC Outdoors 2LVecto Water Containers | Check It Out |
| Adventure Medical Kits .9 Medical Kit | Check It Out |
That's about the gist of it! Whew!
Of course there is plenty of gear I haven't added here: pack cover, power brick, stuff sacks and toiletries. FOOD. All that kind of stuff. For a thru-hike that's just too much to list out on a quick run down article. I'll save all the rest for a rainy day!
Gear Thoughts
The main issue I had with this setup was my backpack. Osprey makes great backpacks and they're based out of Cortez, Colorado which is a big plus in my eyes. But for the scale and difficulty of my Sky Island Traverse, everything they make is a little bit heavy and not my style. I would have preferred either the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest 70 or Northrim 70. I have both of these backpacks. They are ultralight, but can carry over 60 pounds of gear comfortably, with more volume to boot. They also are more cactus resistant, tear resistant and the white colorway would have kept me much cooler in the desert sun.
During my ventures up high in the Santa Catalina range, Chiricahua range and other heavily forested Sky Islands, the Osprey wasn't so bad. But it became challenging to haul a lot of gear and a ton of water with it. On the plus side, it was actually quite comfortable on my hips and shoulders. I hadn't used an Osprey backpack in almost a decade, and I was impressed that it was so comfortable.
I was super happy with my sleep system. Again, I don't know that it's all what I would have chosen if I had been unsponsored, but it all worked out great and I must say that the Nemo sleeping bag is one of my favorite pieces of gear I've used in a while. I like it better in the Rockies than I did in the Sky Islands, but I find it extremely comfortable and warm. I love the chest vents.
There was one night in particular near Mount Lemmon that got very, very cold and I was beyond happy to have such a warm sleeping bag. Most of the time during my traverse, I used the sleeping bag liner and it worked out awesome. I don't like to sleep without some kind of cover situation. It makes me uncomfortable! So the liner was a nice little blanket during the low desert nights.
I also loved my shelter, which is another piece of gear I probably wouldn't have been using if left to my own choosing across the spectrum of tents available. I usually go for something burlier. But the Hornet performed well and handled all the conditions I needed it to handle. The reason I did not choose the elite version of this tent is because that version has a much lower bathtub floor, and I was worried about a potential tent flooding if the monsoons became insane, which they are known to do!
I was quite happy with everything else I packed along on the Sky Island Traverse. It was certainly not an ultralight setup, but I was able to manage it all just fine. The Sky Island Traverse is super tricky because everything varies a lot by day. By range, by elevation, by time of year, etc. No day was the same!
I think it's important to note here that I did cache water and food in a handful of the Sky Islands I traversed across. Water was a tricky beast on this hike and I did not trust any filter system to efficiently do what I needed done!
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