Montana 3 Season Load-Out

Three more weeks and summer is here! I’m itching to finish school as much as the students I teach. The beauty of the profession--aside from working daily with inspiring young men and women—is I’ll be afforded two and half months to backpack, camp, and fish, in some of the most pristine wilderness in the lower 48, starting with the Badger-Two medicine and Bob Marshall outside my back door. I’ve been waiting for this for a very long time. Four years in the Army, four more attending college and dealing with emergency family issues, and I don’t expect to spend more than a handful of nights inside.

Anyway, posted below is my pack set-up: it’s sort of a composite from my experience pounding ground as an infantryman, working trail crews in my youth, and backpacking for pleasure whenever I’ve gotten the chance. Granted, I’m sure things will change. Gear may be added, and certainly gear will be dropped. This is not a load set-up for speed, rather durability and long-term sustainability in almost all conditions... Bring on the zombies!

​1: Bullpac Frame 2: Medium-Size Alice Pack 3: FishPond Fly Fishing Chest Pack 4: Four Piece Fly Rod Case 5: Bed Roll 6: SnugPack Ionsphere one man tent 7: Garmin Foretrex 401 8: Hill People Gear Front Chest Rig 9: Kleen Canteen inside small pouch to keep metal from clinking, both secured to front strap for easy access to water.

1: Condor Hudson Bay Knife

​Bed Roll Includes 1: Military Wool Blanket 2: Military Patrol Sleeping Bag 3: Military blow up ground pad 4: Military Bivy Sack

Front Pouch Left 1: Rain Jacket 2: Rain Pants Front … Front Pouch Middle 3: Snugpack Tarp … Front Pouch Right 4: Trail mix/ Jerky ziplock and oatmeal/ tea and coffee ziplock 5: Maxpedition Dump Pouch … Top pouch 1: Camp trowel and baby wipes 2: first aid kit

Contained in main compartment, inside wet weather bag 1: 48 oz Nalgene 2: Bush Pot 3: Trail mix/ jerky bag 4: Whiskey Flask 5: journal and pen 6: Bear bag line 7: Emergency signal and fire kit 8: Clothes bag 9: Wet weather/ Bear bag

Inside pot 1: Spoon and fork 2: Camp suds 3: spices 4: cup 5: hand sanitizer 6: tin foil 7: bandana 8: Primus Gas 9: Stove 10: ziplock (trash bag)

​Inside clothes bag 1: Camp/ hunting moccasins 2: Nylon Shirt 3: Nylon shorts 4: Watch cap 5: wool socks 6: wool gloves 7: Nylon and polyester outer shell 8: cold weather bottoms 9: cold weather top 10: fleece pull over

Inside Hill People chest rig 1: Glock .45 2: emergency whistle 3: Military compass 4: cell phone 5: map 6: all weather writing pad and marker 7: small binoculars 8: zippo 9: Aqua tablets, earplugs, and ibuprofen

​Worn 1: Nylon Shirt 2: Military bush hat 3: Belleville Combat boots 4: Carhart Lightweight pants 5: Hiking socks 6: leather belt 7: leatherman 8: Buck knife, woodsman 9: Bear Spray

Missing Items: 550 cord, one extra pair socks, hiking undies. I’d like at some point to get .22 rifle or a take-down bow to hunt small game, in addition to fishing for sustenance. I feel like then, I could stay out in most of these areas indefinitely. Barring that, I’ll probably pack some rice and beans for hot meals. Also, polarized lenses… I wear those too.