Inspired by my rants on some of my favorite backpacking gear, today I want to talk about some of the backpacking gear that I will NEVER carry again. Consider this a thru-hiking de-influencing of sorts.

Of course there are many, many items that I will never carry on a backpacking trip, so to narrow the focus for today’s blog, we are going to focus on the word “again” and only talk about items I have previously had the misfortune of carrying for many many miles. Because, let’s be real, there are probably MILLIONS of pieces of backpacking gear I will never carry, EVER.

I feel like I got pretty lucky with my initial research for building my gear list for the PCT back in 2019 (so this list isn’t as wild as it could be). But I’ve definitely learned my lesson on several pieces of gear in the past 4+ years and over 5,000 miles so I thought I’d share some of what I learned.

Of course there are plenty of items I never leave without. It should go without saying that I’m not leaving my sleeping bag or really any part of my sleep system at home, but these are items that maybe not everyone has as part of their essentials list, but are certainly part of mine.

When people ask, “what’s your favorite piece of gear?” these are some of the items that cross my mind. And ones that are coming with me on pretty much every single trip.

Some of these items have been with me for over 4 years and 5,000 miles of backpacking — if they’ve made it through that many lighter pack culls, you know they’re good.

A gear list for my first high route, the Pfiffner Traverse, which follows the continental divide through Rocky Mountain National Park, Indian Peaks Wilderness and James Peak Wilderness.

My gear list for my first trip below the rim of the Grand Canyon. We hiked from Lipan Point to the South Kaibab Trailhead in early May.