Clothing for the Boundary Waters 2021

This is the second post detailing the gear I brought on my recent ~160 mile trip in the Boundary Waters. During the trip, I followed a route from 1879 that had approximately 30 miles of portages. On the trip, the temp swung wildly from over 90°F to mid or low 20°s. I had prepared for normal temps, but brought extra clothing because I was trying new gear and wasn’t sure how it would work. In retrospect, had I known the temps would swing like that, I would have packed differently. Here’s my 2021 clothing for the Boundary Waters list.

Also, I should have added everything up ahead of time, but I didn’t. I’ve now added up all the weights after and learned that even though I thought that I was doing good that I was about 5 pounds over. Some of that came from the clothing choices. I got lax in watching my pack weight and ended up with a heavier pack.

Below is a picture of the gear that I brought and carried. These items I didn’t wear all the time. I carried this extra clothing in a Sea to Summit Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil™ Dry Sack – 13L. It weighs 1.5 ounces and I can’t say enough good things about this bag. I’ve had it since 2009, and it’s been on dozens of trips. I’d guess I have somewhere near 250+ days on the bag and it shows little if any signs of wear. Even using Dyneema instead of Silnylon wouldn’t make this bag lighter.

Note: I’m linking to REI with a lot of these products if REI carries them. I buy my gear from REI because I’ve been a member since the early 90s. You get about 10% of what you spent back at the end of the year in a dividend. It’s always nice to have that dividend show up. Right now they are running a membership deal where if you buy $50 and become a member, you get $20 back. It’s $20 to become a member. You can see that deal here.

This is going to be a bit disjointed, because it’s more of a point-by-point of what worked and what didn’t.

Alpha Direct Layer for Clothing for the Boundary Waters?

I was trying out a new hoodie on this trip made by Superior Fleece. It’s the Brule Polartec® Alpha Direct® fleece. I’ve been a little skeptical of Alpha Direct, but I’ve been trying this hoody to see how the material works. I’ve found that unless you have something over it, it is very breathable and doesn’t hold much heat. But, when you wear it under enough wind protection, it holds warm and breaths well.

I like it when used correctly.

It’s especially comfortable as a next-to-skin layer and works well to sleep in. I wasn’t expecting below freezing weather on this trip, but I got it for many nights. My last night was so cold that my boots were frozen completely solid in the morning, and I couldn’t get my feet into them until I thawed them out. It was cold. Even though my quilt is rated at 20°F, I was glad to have this piece on the cold nights when I was sleeping in this and my down vest.

It’s hard to find Alpha Direct pieces that are simple except from cottage clothing makers. If you can get your hands on one, do it.

Bug Shirt Worth Its Weight in Gold

One of my heaviest clothing items was the Original Bug shirt, but I was so glad that I had it! It was really buggy during the beginning of the trip to the point that I nearly couldn’t eat at times. Having the bug shirt around camp made the conditions bearable.

Xero Z-Trail Sandals

Yes! I love these sandals. They are the most comfortable sandals that I’ve had in awhile. You can read my previous thoughts on sandals. When I pulled my Chacos out of storage this spring, the second they got wet, they started to stink again. To clean them takes a lot of work and “flossing” the straps. The straps run through the footbed and get full of stink and gunk. Although they didn’t need to be replaced, I just couldn’t handle the stink anymore.

I’ve been seeing ads everywhere for Xero sandals and saw they had a sale going on, so I picked up a pair of Z-Trails to try.

I can’t comment on durability, yet, but I’ve been wearing them all spring and love them. I won’t go back as long as they last as long as the company says, which is 5,000 miles. Plus they are lighter than Chacos. To be honest with you, I could have gone without these on this trip and been fine, but it was nice to dry my feet out at camp instead of waiting to get in the tent to dry my feet. This was especially true after the cold weather set in and bugs were less bad.

Jacket and Rain Pants

I can save a bit more weight by updating these pieces. My usual lighter pair of rain pants got a hole. I had the Red Ledge pants from a previous 30-day trip where my rain pants got a hole. We went into town at the mid-point of the trip, and I bought these. They work well, but they are a 3 ounces too heavy for rain pants.

The jacket was a replacement jacket for an old school TNF jacket. They couldn’t repair the old one under warranty, so they gave me a credit. I got the Dryzzle. It works great as a rain jacket and wind breaker. I wore it almost the entire trip after the weather cooled. While I like the performance, I miss having a lighter rain jacket.

Extra Socks, Boxers and Long Underwear

These I used to sleep in. I’m not a fan of the Lorpen socks. They won’t be on a trip again. I think I can bring either the boxers or the long underwear, because I didn’t use both at the same time. I just changed into one or the other before going to bed. Having separate sleeping clothing helps keep the stink down and just feels good. I used to have lighter long underwear that were just as warm, but they wore out. I need to find something new. Any ideas? Something in the 3-ounce range would be good.

What I’d Change?

The problem is that because I was trying new gear and had replaced some old gear, I didn’t really pay that much attention to what I was bringing. In retrospect for the weight of the Alpha Direct piece, the Terramar Fleece and the Ghost Whisperer Vest, I could have brought a much warmer puffy jacket that would have worked better with the temps I experienced.

Because the Patagonia Cool Trail Shirt dries so quickly, it was easy to dunk it and get the sweat out and have it dry in the sun in under ten minutes. If you wear it to dry, it dries even faster. I could have left the extra one home. This is going to sound crazy, but I have five Cool Trail Shirts. I wear them almost every day and for every activity.

I made notes in the margins in the gear list below detailing my changes. The notes would save about 29 ounces out of my extra clothing just by reorganizing.

I’d add back in a Patagonia Micro Puff. That weighs about 8 ounces, and it’s a lot of warmth for the weight. When my Nano Puff wears out, I’ll get a Micro Puff. But there are lighter puffies out there if you are willing to buy from a cottage maker. With my Nano Puff added back into the mix, I would have carried about 17 ounces less or 1 pound 1 ounce less in clothing. While there would have been fewer mix-and-match options, it would have worked better for the weather I encountered. I’ll be moving back to this setup for future trips. Plus, the puffy works great as a pillow, so I’d leave the Trekology Ultralight Inflatable Camping Travel Pillow (read my review) at home and save another 3.4 ounces. That’s 20.4 ounces less for a better clothing setup.

Clothing Worn

I was pretty happy with all my clothing worn. I don’t think I’d change a thing, except I’ve lost nearly 40 pounds since I bought my REI Co-op Screeline Pants 2.0. If they were still available, I’d buy a new pair that fits my current waist size. I was looking at their current pant selection and can’t figure out an equivalent. Maybe you have a good suggestion?

Why the Gaiters?

In my post about what cookware I brought, someone wanted me to talk about the Outdoor Research Crocodile GORE-TEX® Gaiters. I decided to wear gaiters because the ticks are really bad this year. I also was doing several bushwhacks and didn’t want to get crud in my boots. These are what I had, and I didn’t want to buy anything new because these are sweet gaiters.

Before the trip, I sprayed the gaiters down with Sawyer Permethrin, which is a tick repellant. Over the entire trip, I had five ticks on me. Three came from a campsite after I removed my gaiters (before I discovered they were everywhere in that campsite. I packed up and went to the next). I’m not sure where one other came from, but I suspect a campsite after I took off the gaiters. The last I got during the day, because I felt it crawling up my shirt.

The gaiters also help with keeping boots dry. If you have waterproof or leather boots, they will help prevent your boot from overtopping if you step in too deep of water.

My boots were wet pretty much every day (they were held together with shoe goo. Did I mention I had a terrible year last year due to the pandemic and wasn’t able to replace a lot of gear that was at the end of its life?), but it did keep them only wet enough that they would dry out at camp if I had sun. That was the case until the last full day. During that day, I had to line a section of boney whitewater and was in water up to my knees. I could have changed into sandals, but the I didn’t want to take the risk of wearing open sandals while lining boney whitewater. I’m looking at the Xero Colorado closed-toe water sandals for the future.

I’m a big fan of rubber boots in the BWCA, but I assumed it would be too hot during this trip, and I’d rather have hiking shoes for the amount of portages I was doing.

Clothing Worn – size large
Outdoor Research Swift Cap	2.3
Mountain Hardware Microchill™ Pullover	9.3
REI Co-op Screeline Pants 2.0	14.9		Need new pants due to weight loss
Outdoor Research Crocodile GORE-TEX® Gaiters	10.1
Oboz Sawtooth Mid	43
Smartwool PhD Outdoor Light Mini Hiking Socks	2.2
Marmot Boxers	2.9
Patagonia Capilene® Cool Trail Shirt	5.6
Julbo Trip Sunglasses	0.8
Chums No Tail Adjustable Sunglass Retainers	0.4
	91.5	91.5	5 lb 12 oz
Clothing Carried
Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil™ Dry Sack – 13L	1.5
Original Bug Shirt Elite Edition	11.9		Bug season only
Xero Z-Trail Sandals	12
Buff Wool	1.6		Lighter one for three season use, but I was glad to have this warmer one.
Camp Towel	1.2
Adidas Face Mask	0.4		I carry masks in 1st Aid kit now, so just use one of those if needed.
Superior Fleece Brule Polartec® Alpha Direct® fleece	5.3
Patagonia Capilene® Cool Trail Shirt	5.6		X
Terramar Fleece 1/4 Zip (not made anymore)	5.3		X
Lorpen Socks	2		Replace
WoolX Breathe Boxer Shorts	3		X
Terramar  Thermolator® Performance Pant	5.3		Replace w/ 3 ounces
The North Face Dryzzle Jacket	12.2		Replace w/ 8 ounces
Red Ledge Rain Pants	7.5		Get warranty on other pants
Mountain Hardware Ghost Whisperer Vest	5.5		Bring full puffy instead
	80.3	80.3	5 lb 0 oz

That’s it. If you have any questions, please, ask them below.