The Triple Crown of long-distance hiking comprises three of America's most famous routes: the Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail. I traversed their combined 7,900 miles of footpaths over the course of three thru-hikes in 2013, 2015, and 2016. While shoes wore out and tents came and went, a handful of items made the entire journey—from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the North Cascades.

On the trail, versatility is king. Enter the humble COTTON BANDANNA. I used this do-it-all cloth to bathe, pad chafed hips, sop condensation from tent walls, filter swimming critters out of drinking water, shade my neck, and insulate the handle of my cook pot. Bandannas are cheap, all-purpose, and feather-light. $4, rei.com

My dad bought this pair of ALUMINUM SKI POLES in the 1980s for $1, secondhand. They aren't as light as newfangled carbon fiber poles, but while other hikers' collapsible models splintered, bent, and snapped, mine stood up to all abuses: vaulting across streams, levering down steep drops, and being torqued between roots. You can search garage sales, consignment shops, or the local slopes in spring to find a pair on the cheap—or for free.

The ULA CATALYST BACKPACK does its job without complaint. This is a packhorse. Its 75-liter volume and double-stay internal frame let me haul six liters of water across the New Mexico desert and carry eight days' worth of food into the snow-packed Sierra Nevada. While the bag easily swallows a bear canister, its single main compartment doesn't feel overbuilt. A seam joining the collar to the front panel of my pack blew out on Switzerland's Haute Route a year after the Triple Crown, but I sewed it up at home, and now the backpack is as good as new. $280, ula-equipment.com

For the price of a bottle of wine, you can get a pair of DARN TOUGH SOCKS for life. Darn Tough's unconditional lifetime guarantee means that even if it takes you 1,000 miles to put a hole in the socks, the company will still replace them for free. I averaged two pairs per trail, but the no-fuss warranty means they were all the same pair in spirit. Although the Micro Crew Light Cushion socks hit the sweet spot for me, I have several pairs of Darn Tough's comfy, 100 percent merino wool socks in a variety of heights and weights. $15 to $30, darntough.com

I fabricated an ALCOHOL STOVE out of a beer can with only a safety pin and my Swiss Army knife. The design is simple and lightweight, and it doesn't require bulky canister fuel. The stove burns denatured alcohol or Heet gas-line antifreeze, available at many trail-town gas stations and hardware stores. I buy the yellow bottle, which contains methanol and is cheaper and cleaner burning than the red-bottled, isopropanol version. Note that some localities ban alcohol stoves when wildfire risk is high. Heet $2; stove = the cost of your favorite canned beverage

The MSR TITAN KETTLE is half mug, half pot—it's the perfectly proportioned vessel. Not too squat, not too slender, it balances well on my small alcohol stove and holds Top Ramen and Knorr Sides combo meals with ease. The kettle has low-profile handles and a snug-fitting lid and weighs barely over four ounces. $60, msrgear.com

The VICTORINOX CLASSIC is one of the smallest (read: lightest) Swiss Army knife models, and its tools perform several vital functions: a nail file for trail hygiene, a small blade (all I needed to slice my calorie-deprived way into my flat-rate resupply boxes), scissors for trimming blister dressings, and tweezers for plucking ticks and dispatching them over a Bic lighter. I removed the key ring from my Classic, as it's prone to rust in a sweaty pocket. $16, swissarmy.com

I've tried all kinds of wool base layers, and the made-in-America PETTET ENDURANCE PROJECT SHEVLIN is the best around. The shirt's trim cut and light weave mean it's comfortable enough to wear while active or for sun protection on not-so-cold days. Mine is abraded, but only because I fell in the Yosemite backcountry while wearing it. The shirt took nicely to iron-on patches, however, so its life goes on. $65, pettetendurance.com

I hike in shorts intermittently, but when I walk in pants—because of sun or poison ivy—I wear EXOFFICIO BOXER BRIEFS underneath. Stretchy, breathable, and quick-drying, this underwear protects my more sensitive areas from the abuse of repetitive motion. One pair of my undies have seen several thousand miles, and the elastic waistband is only just now stretching out (side note: I wear these in daily life too). $10 to $30, exofficio.com

This article appeared in the November/December 2020 edition with the headline "Gear That Goes the Distance."