Gear I Brought to Hike the Continental Divide Trail in 2025

And I Wouldn't Change a Thing!

Thru-hiking is one of my favorite exercises in minimalism. The practice is simple: if you want it, you have to carry it. If it's not worth the weight, it's not coming. After all, if the gear is coming along for thousands of miles, it has to be worth the ride.

Ultralight backpacking has become increasingly popular in recent years. UL backpackers pare down gear to the basic necessities. The weight qualification to consider yourself "ultralight" is having a base weight (everything minus your base outfit and consumables like food and water) of under 10 pounds.

I have never been, and never intend to be, ultralight. I simply happen to fit all my gear in a 38L pack.

I have no intention of providing the weight of all the items I brought because, frankly, I don't know them. I don't know what my base weight is, nor do I care.

What I can tell you is this: with the exception of my tent, which I changed halfway through because the external vestibule zipper stopped working (thankfully I had won it in a raffle and already had a different one-person trekking pole tent at home), every piece of gear that I brought was perfect for me.

So, without further ado: my 2025 Continental Divide Trail gear list ☺

(Links with a star next to them lead to affiliate links; that means that if you shop for gear through those links, I get a cut of the profit with no additional cost to you!)

Oh and read until the end for my top 10 pieces of gear!!

My Continental Divide Trail Gear List:

Mexican border: April 10th, 2025 → Canadian border: September 8th, 2025

Big 4 + Big 4 Adjacent

The "Big 4" in backpacking refers to the four most significant (and often most expensive) pieces of gear required to backpack: backpack, tent, sleeping bag/quilt, and sleeping pad.

Pack

• Symbiosis Gear The Aspen 38L Backpack *

• Trash bag liner

• Chicken Tramper Ultralight Gear 2.5L Fanny Pack *

Sleep

• Lightheart Gear Solo * (no longer produced but this one is a similar model and I loved it!)

• Tyvek ground sheet

• Diorite cork trekking poles

• MSR Groundhog tent stakes (x10) *

• Hammock Gear Burrow 10° Quilt

• Hammock Gear Premium Down Quilt Hood

• Therm-a-rest Neoair Xlite *

• Tumble On Outfitters Alpha Fleece Liner *

• Alpenglow Gear Alpenblow Micro Inflator *

Clothing

One day-to-day outfit + layers + protection from the elements? What more could you want? I feel very strongly that much of your clothes can (and should) be bought secondhand!

Tops

• Patagonia Capilene Cool Daily Hoodie *

• Melanzana microgrid fleece hoodie

• Outdoor Research Puffy Jacket *

• Frogg Toggs rain jacket *

• Pajama t-shirt​

• BRANWYN merino wool bra *

Bottoms

• Patagonia Baggies 5" shorts *

• Sambob Alpha 120 Joggers *

• Frogg Toggs rain pants *

• BRANWYN underwear * x2

• Stio Pinedale Pant (code MEANDERS20 for 20% off!) (southern Colorado) 

Footwear

• Altra Olympus trail runners *

• Darn Tough Micro Crew socks * x3

• Crocs

• Dirty Girl gaiters 

Head & Hands

• Jolly Gear 5 panel hat

• Buff *

• Hair bands x2

• Glove liners *

• Bug head net *

• Outdoor Research sun gloves *

• Goodr sunglasses *

Food & Water

The section title is misleading, as this is basically everything but the food and water. But this is how I acquire, store, filter, and cook my food and water!

Food

• BearVault BV475 *

• Chicken Tramper Ultralight Gear bear can key *

• Toaks 750mL pot *

• MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe stove *

• Sea to Summit Alpha long-handled spork *

• Isobutane fuel canister *

• FlipFuel fuel transfer device (code MADELYN20 for 20% off!)

• Bic mini lighter

• Bandana 

Water​

• Katadyn BeFree 1L water bottle​ *

• CNOC Vesica 1L water bottle *

• MAZAMA M!go water bottle *

• Chicken Tramper Ultralight Gear water bottle sleeve *

• Aquatabs water purifying tablets *

Safety & Health

Here are some of the ways in which I stay safe, sane, and healthy(ish). Everyone's safety and med setup is different, and I encourage you to figure out what is best for you on your trips!

Safety Items

• Garmin inReach Mini*

• Gossamer Gear Lightrek Ultralight Umbrella *

• Black Diamond Spot 400 headlamp *

• Pepper spray

• Kahtoola MICROspikes * (southern Colorado)

• Ice axe * (southern Colorado)

• Bear spray * (Wyoming, Idaho, Montana)

Med Kit

• Ibuprofen

• Bandaids (x5)

• Gauze pads

• Neosporin

• Hydrocortisone cream 

• Moleskin

• Tweezers

• Tick key*

• ACE wrap

• Swiss Army Knife *

• Wilderness First Aid booklet

Toiletries

I, uh... don't want to get too into the specifics of this bit here. It's nothing all that glamorous. But I would say the majority of my questions about thru-hiking include the items in this section, so...

• Kula Cloth *

• Menstrual cup *

• PACT poop shovel *

• Baby wipes

• Trail Stuff Trailbrush *

• Toothpaste tablets*

• SPF lip balm *

• Sunblock spray *

Electronics & Miscellaneous

This is why thru-hikers enter an establishment like a restaurant or gas station and ask "Do you have any outlets?" immediately after saying hello.

• Anker 20,000 mah power bank

• iPhone 13 Pro

• Sony a6000 camera

• Garmin Fenix 7S Pro Sapphire Solar watch*

• SD cards x2

• iPhone charger

• Micro-USB charger

• Watch charger

• Wall port for charging cables

• SD card to lightning adapter

• Phone case tripod

• AAA batteries x3

• BD 1500 rechargeable headlamp battery*

• Deck of cards

• Wallet baggie

My Top 10 Pieces of Gear

Truly, I loved my setup for this trail. Every piece of gear worked for me the way I needed it to. I had a fantastic trail experience, and that's in no small part thanks to my gear! In no particular order, here are my 10 items that I used on the trail (even though many include third-party affiliate links, I am in no way sponsored to shout them out, and these are my genuine opinions!!).

1: Symbiosis Gear The Aspen 38L Backpack *

This backpack was designed for women, by women! The shape of the shoulder straps is intended to fit around breasts, and the sternum strap is adjustable vertically down the shoulder straps to hit your chest exactly where it needs to without suffocating you or hitting you in a weird spot. Even though it's 38L (which is a pretty small size capacity), I found that it was able to fit all of my stuff and then some. I carried the second-largest bear canister the entire trail, and it was able to accommodate that fully inside the pack. The outer mesh pouch is incredibly spacious, and I was pleasantly surprised with how organized I was able to be without external pockets.

2: BRANWYN merino wool bra *

Material matters, and merino wool is supreme. Unlike the synthetic materials that most athletic attire is made out of, merino wool wicks moisture and repels odors. I went, no joke, a full month without washing this bra (sometimes, you just have to pick some items to stay on your body while at the laundromat), and I'm not going to lie and say it smelled great, but my sun hoodie smelled way worse than it did, even though I'd washed it the previous week. I wore it basically every day over the course of 5 months, and I still wear it almost every day in real life now. I cannot emphasize enough how much I love this bra.

3: Tumble On Outfitters Alpha Fleece Liner *

Even though I have a quilt that is rated for down to 10°F, I often found myself needing an extra layer overnight. This liner is made out of Alpha fleece, so its warmth-to-weight ratio is out of this world. The soft material gave me the comfort of a blanket, since, let's be real, down quilts can't provide that level of coziness. On really warm nights, I would sometimes use just this liner until it got cold enough overnight for me to add the quilt. I thought it was a perfect system.

4: Buff *

It sounds simple, but a Buff is the most versatile item I own. I used it as a headband when my hair was driving me crazy at camp. I put it over a stuff sack full of assorted clothing items overnight, and that was my pillow. I sometimes used it as a tube top when I needed to wash all of my tops. (I even used it as a skirt a few times when I needed to wash all of my bottoms, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend that unless you're around people with whom you're super comfortable.) Some people use it as a sweat band or to clean their food pots, but I don't use it for food purposes since I use it for sleep purposes. Either way, I love my Buff.

5: Hammock Gear Premium Down Quilt Hood

Like I said before, I sleep cold. Like... cold. One of the best ways I've found to keep warm is to cover my head to retain whatever heat would escape from there, but I don't carry a beanie on thru-hikes, and I get really claustrophobic when I put my full head under my quilt. This down hood may look goofy, but it keeps me so warm, I don't even care that it makes me look like an astronaut and not a hiker.

6: MAZAMA M!go Water Bottle *

One of my big gripes of thru-hiking used to be that the standard water bottle was a 1L Smart Water bottle. I generally try not to use single-use plastic, and even though the intention of this bottle was to be used for several weeks before being replaced by another one, you could always taste the plastic degradation from repeated use. There were other 1L water bottles on the market, but none of them were right for backpacking -- either too heavy or too stout for backpack pockets MAZAMA teamed up with Miranda Goes Outside, a really lovely YouTuber in the outdoor space, to create this water bottle to satisfy weight, capacity, and dimension requirements for backpackers. Plus, the whole top is removable for easy cleaning!

7: Alpenglow Gear Alpenblow Micro Inflator *

This tiny but mighty sleeping pad inflator isn't the strongest inflator on the market, but it weighs less than 2 nickels and was basically silent. People genuinely didn't know I was using this even when our tents were mere feet apart. After 3-5 minutes of use and a couple extra blows, my sleeping pad was ready for use. During those couple minutes, I would get the rest of my sleeping stuff set up. Manually blowing up my sleeping pad was always my least favorite camp chore, so having this do most of the work for me was worth every penny and each gram.

8: BearVault BV475 *

I have always loved BearVault products. While many of the items I got at the beginning of my backpacking journey have been upgraded to more lightweight versions, I continue to use bear canisters instead of bear-resistant sacks because I truly believe these are the best products for their intended use. The BV475 was the perfect size for some of the longer food carries I had to do on the CDT, and when it wasn't full of food, I would put other gear in the canister to condense my pack more as the food supply became lower and lower. It was great in grizzly country to chuck my bear canister behind a few rocks and watch everybody look for the perfect tree for their bear hangs from the comfort of my tent. I also used my bear canister as a stool when I didn't want to sit on the ground, as a foot rest to elevate my feet, and as a roller for my calves. I don't care that it was heavier than a food sack; I found it to be totally worth the weight.

9: Lightheart Gear SoLo Tent *

Again, this tent is no longer produced, but this is a similar model by the same company. This tent held up to wind, hail, snow ,and torrential rain, and I never had any issues! Because of its diamond shape, I had room to lie down along the center and organize all of my stuff on the sides without feeling crammed. Lightheart Gear's most recent tent is built for people who are much taller than I am.

10: Sambob Alpha Fleece Joggers *

Last but certainly not least, these Alpha fleece joggers were a comfortable layer for sleeping. I very rarely hiked in them because I had to remove my shoes to take them off or put them on, and that rarely felt worth it to me, but changing into them was one of the first things I did every night when I got to camp. They're lightweight and breathable enough to not be suffocating in the heat, but warm enough to protect your legs from the cold. This particular fleece material isn't wind-proof, but especially once I was in my tent with my liner and quilt, my legs were always cozy and warm!

Gear! Is! Subjective!

While this list represents the gear that I brought and loved on the Continental Divide Trail, I cannot guarantee that you will benefit from the same gear! Everybody's needs and comforts are different. Looking at gear lists can be helpful, but ultimately the best teacher for what you need for your journey is experience itself. That said, if you have any questions about gear, let me know! I'd love to chat ☺

This blog post contains affiliate links. If you choose to purchase anything through my affiliate links, they give me a financial kickback without any additional cost to you! Thank you for your support!