Field Note
The Four Things That Almost Made My San Juan Loadout
A pre-trip shakedown on the living-room floor — the near-misses in my backpacking loadout, what the scale said about each one, and the insurance-versus-fear test.
One closet. Every pursuit.
Build better outdoor systems through real experience.
Organize your gear, prepare your body, build a loadout, take the trip, and use what you learn to improve the next one.
Backpacking
Guadalupe Overnighter
12.4
Base weight
14.5
Total
$2,031
Invested
Pack 2.0 Shelter & Sleep 5.6 Clothing 1.9 Cook Kit 1.2 Water 2.7 Tools 1.1
Tap 👕 to mark an item worn — watch base weight drop
- Durston Kakwa 55 pack
- Durston X-Mid 1 tent
- Neve Waratah quilt
- Therm-a-Rest NeoLoft pad
- Down puffy
- Rain jacket
- Cook kit + stove
- Water filter + bottles
Free · local-first · no account needed · imports your LighterPack CSV
The Outkitted Loop
Turn ownership into experience — and experience into better decisions.
The Outkitted Loop. Prepare: the Gear Closet builds the Loadout, and in parallel the Training Plan builds Readiness. Both converge into the field:
- Trip — gear and body go out together.
- Field Note — what happened gets written down honestly.
- Shakedown — both the gear and the body answer for the trip.
The Shakedown produces an Improved Loadout and Improved Readiness, and both feed the next cycle. Better every time around: lighter, more comfortable, safer, better conditioned, or better matched to the trip.
Outkitted Intersections
Find useful knowledge where pursuits and priorities overlap.
Backpacking Fly Fishing
Where the trail ends and the water starts — rods that ride in packs, alpine cutthroat, and the ounce math of carrying a 5-weight over a pass.
One-Bag Travel EDC
The pocket kit meets the carry-on — what rides in your pockets when everything else fits in one bag.
Camp & Overland Fly Fishing
Drive to the water, camp beside it — truck-bed comfort as the launchpad for river days.
Gear Real-World Value
Cost, weight, durability, and cost-per-use — whether expensive equipment actually improves the trip, counted honestly.
The application
One closet feeds every loadout, trip, and lesson.
- Track every ounce and dollar.
- Reuse equipment across every pursuit.
- Learn what actually earns its place.
Guadalupe Overnighter
12.4
14.5
$2,031
- Durston Kakwa 55 pack
- Durston X-Mid 1 tent
- Neve Waratah quilt
- Therm-a-Rest NeoLoft pad
Next: Plan This Trip →
Featured intersection
Backpacking Fly Fishing
Backpacking sites treat a fly rod as dead weight; fishing sites assume you parked next to the river. The useful answers — which rod survives a pack lid, what a minimum fly kit actually weighs, whether the water is worth the detour — only exist where the two pursuits overlap.
Featured field note
Field Notes & Gear Guides
Field notes that earn their place.
Destination
One Belt, One River: The Plan for a Summer Day on the Guadalupe
Texas Hill Country fly fishing in July — where to wade, what to throw, when to beat the tubers, and the stripped-down kit that rides in a hip bag on a wader belt.
Outdoor Training
Your Body Is Your #1 Piece of Gear
A lighter pack helps, but the body carrying it still needs to be ready. Prepare for the actual demands of the trip, learn how your body responds, and improve the next plan.
Prepare for a Trip