Mid August Caribou Gear

[SURVEYOR]

Im flying out of Bettles in mid August for DIY Caribou and need a little help on boots, sleeping bags and miscellaneous gear.
I have a nice 0° down bag with the treated down. Should I leave it and get a synthetic bag? If so will a 20° bag work if I also have a Kifaru Woobie? I have no experience with super wet environments and down bags.

Boots. My experience on Kodiak was that my Meindl boots were almost trash at the end of slogging through water for a week. I really dont want to spend 4-$500 on Kennetreks etc if that is going to the be same outcome. I have worn Lowa renegades daily for several years climbing up hills through rocks at work and am happy with the ankle support even though its only an ankle high boot. Any thoughts on these?

Will a Kifaru Lost Park parka be too much if i have a softshell jacket and first lite uncompaghre vest ? Im not really sure what kind of temperatures to expect that time of year in that area.

Thanks and if you have any other suggestions Ill happily take them.

 

[soggybtmboys]

Im flying out of Bettles in mid August for DIY Caribou and need a little help on boots, sleeping bags and miscellaneous gear.
I have a nice 0° down bag with the treated down. Should I leave it and get a synthetic bag? If so will a 20° bag work if I also have a Kifaru Woobie? I have no experience with super wet environments and down bags.

Boots. My experience on Kodiak was that my Meindl boots were almost trash at the end of slogging through water for a week. I really dont want to spend 4-$500 on Kennetreks etc if that is going to the be same outcome. I have worn Lowa renegades daily for several years climbing up hills through rocks at work and am happy with the ankle support even though its only an ankle high boot. Any thoughts on these?

Will a Kifaru Lost Park parka be too much if i have a softshell jacket and first lite uncompaghre vest ? Im not really sure what kind of temperatures to expect that time of year in that area.

Thanks and if you have any other suggestions Ill happily take them.

Hey, we are heading out of Bettles mid August as well. We went with BRA in 2018, end if August and I'll share with you what I learned from then. Bring a pair of hip boots. Boots and gaiters will work, but there will be spots you'll want hip waders and if you get a soaker, it will take days to dry your boots out. I lived in hip waders for 7 days after a good soaker. I like Meindle and am running Schnee, will be taking my Schnee boots this time.

Sleeping bag, I took a Wiggy bag last time and it was fine, 0 degree. It's synthetic and is heavy. This time I'm taking a 15* bag from Mountain Hardware, I think I should be fine, if I get chilled will slide puffy on in the bag. We saw Temps swing from 70* to 25 degrees up there, and one day it swung that much in 5 hours.

A good soft shell with an insulation layer is a good idea. Good rain gear is pretty important. It rains up there that time of year almost everyday, just count on it. It will be anything from a 15 minute misty rain to a all day soaker that just doesn't stop. It drizzled on us for 26 hrs 1 day out of our 10 day stay on the north side. A nice tarp to hang out under with your crew is a good investment.

The skeeters and nonsee ums can be insane. I've been in Northern Michigan swamps and Ontario bogs with black flies and the sort, and I've never seen anything like it. They'll carry you away. Warm Temps will have them all over you, bring a good head net and bug dope is a must. One night we went to bed and thought it started raining again, and it turned out to be skeeters hitting our rain fly trying to get in. Cold Temps and a cold snap will knock em down and make it enjoyable.

If you are flying with BRA, you can have some generous weights out of those beavers, and have a comfortable camp, but the more you pack, the more you have to sort and manage. Try and keep your load reasonable. First time I took wayyyyy too much stuff.

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