Would I upgrade my stuff for the presidential traverse?
Hey everybody. I plan on doing the presidential traverse in a few weeks with a buddy. Doing a 1 overnight, *maybe* 2 night. I'm hoping to stay at one of the RMC tent sites but it occurred to me just now that with the weather being so unpredictable up there and it starting to get cold at night should I upgrade my sleeping stuff? Or do you think what I have will work fine?
We'd be going on a day that it isn't supposed to rain, but the winds can be brutal up there. I'm also hoping to do some more stuff throughout October or at least until it starts to snow.
I'm not very experienced in backpacking but I'd consider myself a fairly experienced day hiker. And what I have done has been in like June and July.
For tents I currently have 3, all of them are pretty budget friendly - I have a REI Co-op Passage 2p, an Alps Mountaineering Lynx 1p and a Helix 1p.
For pads I have a Nemo Tensor pad and I also have a Sea to Summit self inflating one but I like the Nemo more cause it's lighter.
For sleeping bags I have 15f and 30f down sleeping bags.
I'm mostly wondering about the tent though. I think the rest of my stuff is fine. Especially with all the Labor Day sales going on, it'd be cool to take advantage of that if I did need need to upgrade.
Thanks
Posted Sep 1, 2026, 4:42 PM UTC