Schalk CronjéBack to hiking the Fish River Canyon again in '26 and I'll be posting some updates between now and the southern winter when this trip will happen.
For a start, I'm changing some gear wrt what I took on the '24 trip.
💦 La Neña has been good in terms of water supply to the FRC in '25 and it look like this trend will continue in '26.
- Nemo Tensor Extreme instead of original Nemo Tensor. (Latter is good enough for trip, but I have multiple trips and only want to fly out with one pad).
- 1x Tyvek + 1x Polycro groundsheet instead of the X-Mid footprint and the Gossamer Gear groundsheet. (Lighter, bigger and more durable).
- Platypus Quickdraw filter + CNOC Vector 2lt instead of MSR Autoworks 10lt. (Less need to filter water and no need for a group filter).
- LiteAF 46lt backpack instead of Osprey 65lt. (It's lighter)
- 2x MGO 1lt bottles + 2x 500ml cheap water bottles instead of Osprey Hydraulics 3lt. (Still provides 3lt of cover in case it is needed, but easier to manage refilling and works for LiteAF pack).
- UCG Bandit Quilt instead of Culumus quilt. (It's warmer for the cold desert nights).
- Simond puffy instead of Norrøna. (Slightly heavier, but warmer for cold desert nights and also a better fit).
- Nnormal 02 Boot instead of Merrell Moab3 GTX. (Moabs suffered damage).
Tynan Purdy