Pacific Crest Trail Gear Guide for Women (2024 Survey)

Pacific Crest Trail women’s gear lists often do not align precisely with the gear lists broken down in the PCT Hiker Survey Gear Guide. However, this year (as with last year), there isn’t a significant difference between the overall most common PCT gear list and the women’s PCT gear list. Because of this, I will likely include the highest-rated gear used by women as a footnote in each gear section of the overall PCT gear breakdown.

Below, I’ve included a single table for each piece of gear. These tables can be sorted by either the frequency with which a piece of gear appeared on the trail or by the overall rating that piece of gear received from hikers. The gear shown in the pictures at the top of each table reflects the highest-rated gear for the category.

As always, if you have any feedback on the data or suggestions on how this could be improved, I’m happy to hear your thoughts (and to add to this data should anything be found to be missing).

Notes on the data

• This year, a total of 764 surveys were completed. Three hundred twenty-two (322) of these responses were from women. Hiking next year? Sign up to take the survey here.
• The Pacific Crest Trail and thru-hiking generally use acronyms and jargon. If anything is unclear, the thru-hiker glossary may help. Please comment if you’re still unable to find what you’re looking for.
• I refer to survey respondents collectively as this year’s “class.” Remember, this is a sample (albeit a large one).
• These results invoke basic statistics. To maximize your time here, familiarize yourself with average, median (M), and standard deviation (σ).
• For statistics requiring the length of the PCT for a calculation (e.g., mileage per day), I use 2,655.2 mi / 4,273.1 km (from the FarOut Guides PCT app).
• More detailed posts focusing on PCT Gear, PCT Resupply, PCT Demographics, PCT Horror Stories, PCT Advice, PCT Surprises, and Discrimination Along the PCT are also available. If you would like to be notified of new posts, click here.

Notes on the Gear

• Backpacks: For weights and statistics, I use capacities closest to 55 liters (if multiple options are available), based on this year’s average of 54.0 liters.
• Backpacks: The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Southwest, Windrider, and Junction are all the same backpack but with different exterior pocket material combinations. These packs have been combined into a single pack where it makes sense.

• Sleeping bags and quilts: For weights and statistics, I use the highest fill power available and the temperature rating closest to 20°F (-6°C) (if multiple options are available), based on this year’s average (among women) of 16.9°F (-8.4°C).

• Sleeping pads: Therm-a-Rest sleeping pad models have been combined where it makes sense to do so. I’ve also stopped treating the short versions of the pads as different products. The pads’ MAX (i.e., rectangular versions) are still treated as separate.

• Insulated jackets: I’ve left the jacket and hoodie/hoody versions of the jackets separate.

• Highest-rated gear: Only gear used and rated by at least five hikers is assigned an average rating. If a piece of gear does not have a rating, it was used and/or rated by fewer than five hikers.

• All ratings listed are the average (on a scale of 1 to 10) from each hiker who rated the gear.

• All prices are current as of the time of publication.

Highest-Rated Gear: Women vs. Overall

Before getting into the specifics, let’s compare the highest-rated gear used by women to the overall gear ratings from all Pacific Crest Trail hikers. Below is a comparison of the most common gear.

	Women	All Hikers
Backpack	Atom Packs Pulse	Atom Packs Atom
Sleeping Bag	Western Mountaineering Versalite	Katabatic Gear Sawatch
Sleeping Pad	Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm NXT	NEMO Tensor All-Season
Insulated Jacket	Rab Microlight Alpine Down Jacket	Rab Microlight Alpine Down Jacket
Shell	Enlightened Equipment Visp	Montbell Versalite
Fleece	LightHeart Gear Alpha Direct 90 Hoodie	Senchi Designs Alpha 120 Hoodie
Shoes	HOKA Stinson	Topo Athletic Pursuit

Most Common Gear: Women vs. Overall

Here is a comparison of the most commonly used gear for women with the gear used overall. In case you missed it, a comparison of the highest-rated gear is above.

	Women	All Hikers
Backpack	ULA Circuit	ULA Circuit
Sleeping Bag	Enlightened Equipment Enigma	Enlightened Equipment Enigma
Sleeping Pad	Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite NXT	Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite NXT
Insulated Jacket	Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer Hoody	Enlightened Equipment Torrid
Shell	Frogg Toggs Ultra-Lite	Frogg Toggs Ultra-Lite
Fleece	Senchi Designs A90 Half-Zip Hoodie	Senchi Designs A90 Half-Zip Hoodie
Shoes	Altra Lone Peak	Altra Lone Peak

Backpacks

The Atom Packs Pulse was the highest-rated backpack among women on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2024. It is a lightweight pack available in two different sizes and a seemingly infinite number of configurations. With a recommended load capacity of 30 lb / 13.5 kg, an optional hip belt, and a removable frame, the Pulse is designed for thru-hikers (Atom Packs Pulse review). The Pulse was the eighth most commonly used pack by women on the PCT this year. The ULA Circuit was the most common backpack among women on the PCT (and PCT hikers overall).

Sleeping Bags/Quilts

The Western Mountaineering Versalite was the highest-rated sleeping bag or quilt used by women on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2024. The Versalite is a 10°F/-12°C bag available in three sizes, featuring an ExtremeLite shell and interlocking draft tubes with a down-filled collar. The Enlightened Equipment Enigma was the most commonly used sleeping bag or quilt among women on the PCT (and among PCT hikers overall).

Sleeping Pads

The Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm NXT was the highest-rated sleeping pad among women on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2024. This air pad is available in three sizes, has an R-value of 7.3, weighs 15.5 oz (440 g), packs to 4 x 9 in (10 x 23 cm), and is 3 in (7.6 cm) thick. The XTherm was the second most common sleeping pad among women on the PCT. The most common sleeping pad among women on the PCT (and the most common overall) was the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite NXT.

Insulated Jackets

The Rab Microlight Alpine Jacket was the highest-rated insulated jacket among women on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2024. The 14.6 oz / 414 g hoodie features two handwarmer pockets, utilizes 700-fill recycled down insulation, and has a 30D recycled Pertex Quantum exterior. It was the seventh most common insulated jacket among women overall. The most common insulated jacket among women on the PCT in 2024 was the Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer Hoodie.

Note: 5.2% of women reported not bringing an insulated jacket.

Fleeces

The LightHeart Gear Alpha Direct 90 Hoodie was the highest-rated fleece among women on the PCT in 2024. It weighs 4.2 oz / 119 g (in a size medium) and is made with Polartec Alpha Direct 90. It has a front kangaroo pocket and thumbholes. It was the seventh most common fleece among women on the trail. The most common fleece overall was the Senchi Designs A90 Half-Zip Hoodie.

Note: 24.1% of women reported not bringing a fleece.

Shoes

The HOKA Stinson was the highest-rated shoe worn by women hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in 2024. They cost $175 per pair, have a 5mm heel-toe drop, and weigh 21.5 oz (610 g) per pair. HOKA frequently releases new versions of the Stinson; at the time of publication, the latest version is the Stinson 7. The most common shoes used by women hiking the PCT were the Altra Lone Peak.

Wrap Up

Overall, there’s a significant overlap between the gear used by women and the gear used overall, particularly when examining the most commonly used 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 about the data here (or the data in the PCT Survey Gear Guide), please leave a comment below and let me know.

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