I used to spend a ton of money on gear, always preparing for a trip I could never afford. Only because I spent too much money on gear!!!

I primarily layer. When I travel, if its cold I’ll wear long underwear. I have some inexpensive fleece long underwear that do an okay job at keeping me warm. On top of the long underwear, I wear a pair of North Face convertible pants that the legs can be zipped off and I wear a plain, cheap cotton tee shirt. Over that, I wear a pullover fleece sweater type of thing, I wear O’Neal Apocalypse pants that are now 8 years old and scarred with cuts, tears and burns, and for a coat, an FMF branded coat with a zip in fleece vest. I have a variety of gloves, Klim Mojave, Aerostitch Elkskin Ropers, and a pair of nice and warm waterproof gloves, brand unknown. And for those times that I risk frostbite of the face, a Klim balaclava. I almost exclusively wear Darn Tough merino wool hiker socks every day of the year and Sidi Discovery Rain (something like that) boots.

Previously, I had Klim’s Badlands Pro gear. I seldom wore it because even though it fit me perfectly, it was just too much… in every possible way. It was not comfortable and when it rained water came through the crotch area every time. Prior to purchasing the Klim suit I used 2009 and 2010 versions of Coleman silnylon rain gear. $45.00 total and still, to this day, I stay more dry in the Coleman rain gear than I did with the Klim gear at 47 times the price. At todays fuel price of $3.19 a gallon and the 65 mpg or so that I get on the Super Sherpa that suit meant 536 gallons of fuel or 34,843 miles. That’s a loooooonnnggg ride!

I have several helmets but I usually stick with two, one is a Shoei dual sport/adventure riding helmet and the other is a Fly Racing dual sport helmet. Frankly, I prefer the fly helmet. The peak visor sticks out further and you can actually block the glare of the sun with it. Not the case with the Shoei. The peak is just for looks, I guess.

I don’t take much in the way of clothes when I travel. What I’m wearing and then 2 or 3 more underwear, pairs of socks and 1 or 2 tee shirts. I have hand washed laundry in some very remote places before. More on that in the Travel Gear section.

Today, I’m very careful about what I spend money on. I feel like in order to do more, I need to spend less on stuff. Shifting the money from stuff to filling the gas tank and getting on the move…

I am saving my pennies now for 1 pair of merino long underwear pants and 1 long sleeve merino top and two short sleeve tops. From what I understand, you can get a few more days in them without serious trail-funk build up. And of course, comfort…