The Pacific Crest Trail Women’s Gear Guide (2019 Survey)

Last year, I broke down the highest-rated and most-common gear for women on the Pacific Crest Trail as part of the Pacific Crest Trail Gear Guide, but this year I've decided to include this information in a separate post since the PCT gear guide is growing fairly long.

This year, I am breaking down the gear used by women on the Pacific Crest Trail. There's a lot that all thru-hiker gear lists share, but there are also some noteworthy differences between women on the PCT and the overall hiking population.

I've structured the data here a bit differently than I have in the PCT Gear Guide; for each item, I've first listed the highest-rated and then immediately below listed the most common. If you have any feedback on the data or how it could be improved, I'm happy to hear your thoughts (and to add to this data should something be found to be missing).

In This Post

Notes on the data

• We had 335 responses total from female hikers.
• All of the gear included in the survey was used by at least ten hikers.
• I refer to survey respondents collectively as this year's “class“. Remember, this is a sample and does not include every hiker on the trail.
• If two pieces of gear have the same rating, the higher ranking is given to the piece of gear that had a higher number of users.
• If there are multiple sizes available for a given item, I use a size medium for the data presented.

Highest-Rated Gear: Women vs. Overall

Before getting into the specifics, I thought it would be interesting to look at how gear rated by women compared to the overall gear ratings from all Pacific Crest Trail hikers. Below, is a comparison of the most-common gear compared.

GEAR	FEMALE HIKERS	ALL HIKERS
BACKPACK	Superior Wilderness Designs DCF Long Haul	ULA Circuit
SLEEPING BAG	Western Mountaineering Versalite	Western Mountaineering Versalite
SLEEPING PAD	Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm	Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm
INSULATED JACKET	Patagonia Down Sweater	Rab Microlight Alpine Down Jacket
SHELL	Montbell Versalite	Arc'teryx Beta SL Hybrid Jacket
SHOES	HOKA ONE ONE Speedgoat	HOKA ONE ONE Speedgoat

Most-Common Gear: Women vs. Overall

Below is a look at the most commonly used gear for women compared with the most commonly used gear overall. In case you missed it, a comparison of the highest-rated gear is just above this.

GEAR	FEMALE HIKERS	ALL HIKERS
BACKPACK	ULA Circuit	Osprey Exos
SLEEPING BAG	Western Mountaineering Versalite	Enlightened Equipment Revelation 20
SLEEPING PAD	Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite	Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite
INSULATED JACKET	Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer (Hooded)	Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer (Hooded)
SHELL	Outdoor Research Helium II	Outdoor Research Helium II
SHOES	Altra Lone Peak	Altra Lone Peak

Highest-Rated Backpacks

BACKPACK	PRICE	RATING	WEIGHT	LITERS	MAX LOAD	ACCESS
Superior Wilderness Designs DCF Long Haul 50	$335	4.73/5	23.5 oz / 666 g	60	35 lbs / 16 kg	Top
Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest	$345	4.67/5	32.11 oz / 910 g	55	40 lbs / 18 kg	Top
ULA Circuit	$255	4.56/5	41 oz / 1.162 kg	68	35 lbs / 16 kg	Top
Osprey Exos	$220	4.39/5	42 oz / 1.190 kg	58	40 lbs / 18 kg	Top
Osprey Eja	$220	4.38/5	41 oz / 1.162 kg	58	40 lbs / 18 kg	Top

The Wrap Up

Overall, there's a lot of overlap in the gear used by women and the gear used overall – particularly when looking at the most-common gear. Hopefully, this helps some of you decide what might be worth trying (or not trying out on the trail).

If you have any questions, suggestions, concerns, or awe-inspiring statements to make regarding the data here (or the data in the PCT Survey Gear Guide), then leave a comment below and let me know.

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