- What's up folks.
My name is Miranda.
This is Miranda in the Wild
and these are the top five pieces of gear in 2020
that I am most psyched on.
(upbeat music)
This is my show gosh darn.
So one of the big upgrades
that I made this year was
actually to my backpacking tent.
I'm sort of embarrassed to say
that I haven't had a backpacking tent
that I love in a really long time, maybe ever.
Until the Flash Air.
So this is the REI Flash Air.
This is actually the Flash Air 1.
I couldn't get my hands on a 2,
although I would probably go with the Flash Air 2
that would fit both me and Nala.
She is a tent hog and we need more space.
What makes this tent cool?
It's super lightweight
especially for REI like making a tent
this light is pretty cool.
The two person version of this tent,
comes in under two pounds.
And then this tent minimum trail weight,
is just a little bit over one pound.
So like a pound four ounces.
If you're hiking with trekking poles,
you can actually use your trekking poles
to set this tent up
and just cut down on weight even more.
The two person version of this tent
has pretty big vestibules on either side.
And so I know there'll be enough space
for my backpack and all of my stuff
as well as Nala in the tent
and the Nala stuff outside as well.
And that's my tent.
(upbeat music)
The next piece of gear that I upgraded in 2020
was my insulating jacket.
My Nanopuff to be wait,
this is not the Nanopuff you're looking for.
This year Patagonia released a new type of installation
with Primaloft called P.U.R.E.
P.U.R.E is an acronym that stands for
Produced Using Reduced Emissions.
So this is the new Patagonia Nanopuff
which is using pure synthetic insulation.
It look exactly the same but they're not.
Basically when Primaloft used to be made
there these massive heaters,
like the size of a cafeteria
that would bond the layers of insulation together
to create a sheet that is then
between the layers of your jacket.
It's like an installation sandwich.
Basically.
The downside is that these massive heaters
take a lot of fuel basically to heat stuff.
The cool thing about P.U.R.E
is that it doesn't require these heaters
to bond the synthetic insulation together.
So it's really just cured in the air
which is pretty neat.
That's my jacket.
All right. Shoes.
For those of you that have called me out
for only wearing hiking boots,
I had a weird injury in 2015
and wearing hiking boots was like really the only way
that I was able to get back on the trail as quickly.
But now it's been five years
and I feel like I'm ready for something different.
And I have been convinced to try trail runners
with the Timp 2.
The funny thing about these shoes
is that I actually went into REI
looking for Altra Lone Peak 4.5s
which are one of the most popular Altras
for thru-hikers on like the PCT and the AT.
And after talking to the footwear specialist there,
they actually convinced me to go with the Timp 2.
The big difference
between the Lone Peak series and the Timp series
is that the Timp has more cushion in the mid sole.
And then the reason that I really settled on getting Altras
was actually because of the toe box
Altra has this toe box
that they call foot shape toe box.
You'd think that all shoes are foot shape,
but that's what Altra calls their toe box.
Basically, all that means is that there's
this really like extra spacious toe box in these shoes
that is supposed to be designed to allow your toes
to splay out in the shoe.
Specifically your big toe to be able to fall in
like a naturally straight line
and not get pushed, inwards.
And for me when I was looking for something
that was going to give me a more natural stable base,
that was really important.
I am really excited to go back to using trail runners.
They're definitely a lot lighter than my hiking shoes.
I want to be clear that I'll be hiking in these.
I will probably not be running in them.
Although they're very comfortable
and I could be convinced.
(bell rings)
I regret saying that
Yeah, new shoes Timp 2.
The reason that I wanted a stove like this
is that before I've used a two burner stove
and the van.
And the van is obviously not that big.
And so two burner stove just took up way too much space.
It was huge.
It didn't fit in my little like cooking cubby here.
And so I wanted to go with a one burner stove
and I opted for the Kovea
because it has an integrated pot.
So the stove is a butane stove.
You put the butane canister in over here,
and then it actually comes with this pot and lid
that sits on top of the stove or this grill.
So the grill you can use to boil water
in your own pot or whatever.
This pot that was like this,
and then you can cook stuff on it there.
It's really easy to light.
It's really small and compact
and it's kind of cute.
Cute and practical.
Pot is still dirty.
That's the proof that I used it.
So we got a new sleeping bag and a sleeping pad.
I might be more excited about that than she is.
Is the Ruffwear Highlands sleeping bag
and Highlands dog sleeping pad.
I am so excited because it finally means
that I don't have to Nola's sleep stuff.
And Nala doesn't have to sleep in my sleeping bag with me.
These are great for backpacking because they actually fit
into her Palisades pack from Ruffwear
and Nola loves them which is really neat.
So this is the Nala's current sleep system.
This is actually an REI DIY
that I made with one of my coworkers a little while ago.
This is her sleeping pad,
which is a cutdown Z Lite from Thermarest.
And then this is her sleeping bag,
which is made out of an old kids sleeping bag.
This thing is huge.
And it just doesn't stuff down very small.
And it's overall just really, really bulky.
And then I have to carry this
in addition to my sleeping pad.
So this is the sleeping bag on its own.
And you can see it's like fairy dog shaped,
which is something I wasn't quite able to achieve
in my DIY version.
And then has this long zipper on the side,
which is great for Nala because I can unzip it.
I can open it up. And once she lies down,
I can like tuck her in
and it helps keep her warm,
but also gives her like still some mobility and space.
And on the back of this bag,
you have the sleeping pads sleeve.
This is one thing that I think that rougher did really well.
This a sleeping pad can be wrapped up with the webbing here,
but then you can also Velcro this to itself.
So you don't have that,
like the scratchy part of the Velcro
scratching up the sleeping bag.
Nice job Ruffwear.
Everything is that there is this like waterproof
side to the sleeping pad and it's kinda grippy.
So we've actually been using this at home
on the floor and this keeps it from sliding around.
If your dog has anything like Nala
where she'll try and like paw at stuff
and like move it around to get comfortable.
This actually keeps the sleeping bag
and the sleeping pad from sliding around on the floor.
So she can do that and like nest.
(upbeat music)
Okay.
Well, have to just trust me
that she really likes the sleeping bag.
These are my top five pieces of gear
that I am most excited to use in 2020.
I am especially interested in lightweight backpacking.
So if you have any Altra light gear suggestions,
please leave those in the comments below.
And if you go backpacking with your dog
and want more dog tips,
also let me know in the comments below,
if you enjoyed this video like and subscribe.
And I will see you all in the wild.
Bye.
(upbeat music)
I think that's all I have to say about that.
It is a stove and I like it.