TOBY & TRISHA PENROD aka TOBY & MCGUIRE ~ THRU HIKING GEAR & TRAIL WISDOMS
“You’re the only one as a dog owner that knows what your dog is really capable of. What their personality Is like. And at the end of the day, you have to be the one to decide if your dog is capable of being out there”
THRU HIKING GEAR
RESOURCES FOR DOG + HUMAN HIKING DUOS
DOG GEAR
• "Dog" Hammock (gear hammock): VersaTrek Gear Hammock (8 oz) with Trek Light Go Anywhere Rope Kit (7 oz) -gear hammock seems to be sold out everywhere now.
SLEEPING BAG
• Ruffwear Highlands Sleeping Bag - 12.7 oz but SO BULKY, I want to make something more like this custom bag from the Netherlands. On warm nights Toby slept on top of his sleeping bag in the hammock. Otherwise he was snuggled up in it.
DOG PACK
• Ruffwear Approach Pack 18 oz. He carried usually about 5 pounds total.
I carried extra food but he carried most of his own stuff. I actually got hate on the trail
for making him carry a pack at all. Haters gonna hate. I am a strong believer that you should give a dog a (reasonable) job.
NIGHT LIGHT
• I bought a 6 pack of generic collar lights from China on Amazon for $12
awesome for keeping track of him at night before bed, or letting others know there is a dog around.
JACKET
• Ruffwear Quinzee Insulated Jacket - 12 oz Toby is usually warm.
We mostly needed this for adverse weather (WIND). He wore it at night sometimes too.
LEASH
• Tuff Mutt Hands Free Leash 9 oz. - having a hands free leash is a must to me for long distance excursions. I want both hands free! It's easy to secure him to things too (hammock line at night, etc).
FOOD
• The Honest Kitchen Dehydrated Food - about 1/2 the weight of normal dog food.
Expensive, but worth it in my book. He ate way more nutritious food than me.
I spent about $110 a month on food for him.
BOOTIES
• QUMY Dog boots 6 oz - a good idea to have for emergencies.
FIRST AID KIT
• Musher's Secret paw balm, tweezers, PDF version of his health records in my email just in case we needed a vet visit (we didn't). This worked for us, people have their own preferences.
PACK
• Mountain Laurel Designs Prophet CF 48L - 14.5 oz - the cuben fiber kept our stuff dry the whole time; no cover. loved it. Frameless was different; all in the way you pack, grew to love it.
(now its available at 16.5 oz).
HUMAN GEAR
• It was a tight fit, but I made the 48L pack work with lots of stuff attached to the outside
of my pack via carabiner.
WATER SYSTEM
• Switched from Sawyer Mini to Katadyn BeFree 3.0L (increased flow and carrying capacity).
SLEEP SYSTEM
• Switched from Hammock (Hennessey Ultralite Backpacker Series) 32 oz (SNAKESKINS A MUST!!! for easy tear down and setup) 3.2 oz to Tent (Big Agnes Fly Creek UL 2) 31 oz. due to cold weather/lack of snuggling opportunity.
QUILT
• Hammock Gear Premium Burrow 30, 15.7 oz Underquilt: Hammock Gear Phoenix 30 13.3 oz When we switched to a tent I dropped the underquilt and got a Sea to Summit Reactor Extreme 14 oz (+25°F).
PAD
• Big Agnes Insulated AXL 11.9 oz - this thing was too crinkly for me, don't agree with "insulation" claim in title (Big Agnes didn't even publish R value!) Did use it in the hammock for extra support. Since we only used it for about a month in the tent I lived with it, but wouldn't do it again.
PUFFY
• Patagonia Micro Puff Jacket 7 oz.
MISC
• Thru Hiker Dogs Facebook Group - 1500 members, people respond instantly, it's amazing, super supportive.
• AllTrails lets you sort and exclude hikes that are not dog friendly. It's not all inclusive for trails (general hiking), but a great place to start for exploring new areas. I always read the comments to try and find another dog owner who's done it, or judge how Toby will do (he usually kicks human hikers butts).
© Image of Toby in sleeping bag, courtesy of Trisha Penrod.
THRU HIKING
TRAIL WISDOMS
THRU HIKING
• You’re the only one as a dog owner that knows what your dog is really capable of.
What their personality is like. And at the end of the day, you have to be the one to decide if
your dog is capable of being out there.
• Dogs aren’t supposed to carry more than 20% of their weight.
• A note on keeping him healthy: Toby was on prescription strength meds to protect him along the trip. Some of the ticks out there are gaining resistance to over-the-counter treatments. This is what worked for us: Bravecto Flea/Tick prevention (1 pill every 3 months) and ProHeart Heartworm injection (1 shot every 6 months). I am terrible with meds, and knew I wouldn't give them to him on time on trail,
so I took precautions ahead of time to make sure he was covered before we left.
• All said - it cost me $880 for his gear, food, etc. for a 3 month trip.
I probably spent an extra 20% on hotels as well.
• I learned to pack all the solid/smooth items up against lower back
to make it super comfy, never had issues with comfort.