It didn't occur to me for a while that my everyday shoes were hiking "gear", but they're very comfortable, light, breathable and in spite of what they look like seem to be holding up. Plus they're trail runners, not fancy top of the line, but completely sufficient, so why not post them up. Well, here's my humble shoes:

I've had them for a while, but I think I got them on sale for about $50. Thing is, because they're my everyday shoes, I would have bought them even if I never touched another trail again, so for the purposes of this log, I'm calling them free.

Next up, is what may likely be the single nicest piece (well set) of gear I've got, my rain suit. Anyone who's looked over my posts probably figured out that my number one priority in choosing or building gear is cost. That's because I've set some very tight budgetary restrictions for myself, and I've actually been enjoying the challenge of coming up with as many free and dirt cheap solutions as possible. Having said that, it's nice to have something quality sometimes, but even so, I was just planning on using 88 cent emergency ponchos, which can be repacked and reused if you baby them. Even if I shred a few of them per trip, I still come out ahead. Well, a coworker who loves offshore fishing ordered a rain suit online, took one look at it, felt it and decided it wasn't sturdy enough for him. Then he gave it to me.

I haven't found how much it weighs, but here's the company's page for the jacket. And here's the pants .
Cost to me: Free!

Running total: $10.43
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The journey is more important than the destination.