View Full Version : My Pack Weight
Scubafreak
02-21-2012, 14:07
I was wondering whats your opinion for what I'm packing. Ill put the list on later when I'm off work. Right now I'm weighing in at around 42 lbs 6+ day of food and 2ltrs of water. For me this is no problem as I'm a Wildland firefighter. but less always helps. Starting Feb 29. Thanks and See you on the trail
Lone Wolf
02-21-2012, 14:24
just start with it and add/subtract stuff as you go. plenty of places to mail stuff home. you're gonna get 100 different pieces of "advice"
Blissful
02-21-2012, 14:41
Post your list if you want to subtract some weight and would like advice. Hard though to keep a sustained hike going for weeks on end at forty plus pounds. Doubt you will need six days of food to start.
Yeah its heavy, but how much of this is food/water weight. I am personally going to carry a lot of food weight so that I dont have to buy food at some of the more expensive or inconvenient stops. But my base is 20 lbs.
swjohnsey
02-21-2012, 18:51
Yeah its heavy, but how much of this is food/water weight. I am personally going to carry a lot of food weight so that I dont have to buy food at some of the more expensive or inconvenient stops. But my base is 20 lbs.
Guys spend hundreds, even thousands to knock a few pounds off their pack weight and you are gonna carry 5 or 6 extra pounds to save two bucks?
Guys spend hundreds, even thousands to knock a few pounds off their pack weight and you are gonna carry 5 or 6 extra pounds to save two bucks?
Its about not wanting to go to town often, I want to limit my off trail miles. Some trail towns are nice and some are not anywhere I want to be. And if something is a rip off I dont want to have to buy it, regardless of the price. And I am not one of those guys who spend 100 for an ounce of savings.
Scubafreak
02-22-2012, 02:28
Here My List.
Backpack-Arc'teryx Bora 65
Grocery Pack Cover
Outdoors dry Sack
Tent & sleeping Bag- MSR Hubba 1
Mountain Hardware pinhole 20 Deg (Winter)
Lafuma Warm'N light 600 40 Deg
Trema rest Z-light
Clothing- North Face Convertable Pants
2-100% poly Military T-Shirt
Rocky Mtn Polar Fleece Pants
Rocky Mtn Polar Fleece Top
Columbia Micro Fleece
Thick heavy Fleece (winter)
OR Expadition Gaiters
Black Diamond Ice Climbing Gloves (winter)
Two Smartwool Mountaineering socks
North Face Rain Jacket
Stearns Rain Pants
Balacavla Polar fleece (Winter)
Knit (winter)
2 bandanas
Kitchen- MSR simmerlight
MSR 32oz bottle
MSR Blacklite 2ltr Pot & lid
MSR Sweetwater Filter
Snow Peak ti 700
Snow Peak ti spoon and fork
Big light my fire Spoon fork knife
Bemco Backpackers oven ( Don't even love this thing) 1lb 6oz
Two alum pans for oven
Two 2ltr Smartwater bottles
Misc- Leather man wingman
Trowel
TP
Ducttaped Bic
Jazz video cam
MAglite XL50 led
princeton tec fuel
9 xtra AAA's
Food & Water- Weighed food and water that i will be starting with 6+ days of food and 2ltrs of water weighed 12 lbs
Thats a 30lb base weight. I will start with all and drop winter gear.
total 42-43 start weight
Scubafreak
02-22-2012, 02:30
Dang Let my tooth paste and brush out
and probably more ill check my pack tomorrow
Oven? I mean, if you're baking cookies I'll eat them, but you're taking an oven?
Chubbs4U
02-22-2012, 02:42
Here My List.
Backpack-Arc'teryx Bora 65
Grocery Pack Cover
Outdoors dry Sack
Tent & sleeping Bag- MSR Hubba 1
Mountain Hardware pinhole 20 Deg (Winter)
Lafuma Warm'N light 600 40 Deg
Trema rest Z-light
Clothing- North Face Convertable Pants
2-100% poly Military T-Shirt
Rocky Mtn Polar Fleece Pants
Rocky Mtn Polar Fleece Top
Columbia Micro Fleece
Thick heavy Fleece (winter)
OR Expadition Gaiters
Black Diamond Ice Climbing Gloves (winter)
Two Smartwool Mountaineering socks
North Face Rain Jacket
Stearns Rain Pants
Balacavla Polar fleece (Winter)
Knit (winter)
2 bandanas
Kitchen- MSR simmerlight
MSR 32oz bottle
MSR Blacklite 2ltr Pot & lid
MSR Sweetwater Filter
Snow Peak ti 700
Snow Peak ti spoon and fork
Big light my fire Spoon fork knife
Bemco Backpackers oven ( Don't even love this thing) 1lb 6oz
Two alum pans for oven
Two 2ltr Smartwater bottles
Misc- Leather man wingman
Trowel
TP
Ducttaped Bic
Jazz video cam
MAglite XL50 led
princeton tec fuel
9 xtra AAA's
Food & Water- Weighed food and water that i will be starting with 6+ days of food and 2ltrs of water weighed 12 lbs
Thats a 30lb base weight. I will start with all and drop winter gear.
total 42-43 start weight
Freak I think he wants weight of each item so that they can cut oz. for you.
At first glance that doesn't look like a complete list. For example, first aid kit? Have a look at more complete lists and consider whether there's something you will likely carry that's not listed on yours. I'm not saying that mine was some sort of example of perfection (!), but FWIW, for a late Feb NOBO start, my 2010 list is here: http://www.nwlink.com/~brianle/AT_Gear_List_Gadget.pdf (http://www.nwlink.com/%7Ebrianle/AT_Gear_List_Gadget.pdf)
I suggest that you might not want a filter; I was happy with aqua mira --- lighter, less bulky.
Do you need a fork? What for? In fact, it looks like you have more than one spoon and fork there ?
Backpackers oven and a stove? Thru-hikers typically don't take time to get fancy like that, suggest that you drop the oven!
Ditto the aluminum pans.
Dunno the weight of a leatherman "wingman" but suspect a lighter knife would be plenty.
Hard to assess the clothing, but I'd think about thin liner gloves a beefy mittens rather than any sort of warm gloves.
Why two bandanas?
Fleece top plus columbia fleece plus thick heavy fleece? For your main insulation layer, something just to use in camp, consider a down garment of some sort.
9 AAA batteries is quite a bit ... there are stores along the way.
maglite and headlamp seem like overkill; for backup light, consider a very light pinch LED.
30 lbs is a high base weight, but your list is pretty similar to mine at 20 lbs. The following are the items that make up that extra 10lbs. You dont have to ditch them but atleast you will be aware of them if you change your mind on the trail and decide to lighten the load. Also you wont need to replace any of these items if you choose to drop them.
Leatherman (8 oz)
Oven-but you know that (1lb 6 oz)
Pans for oven (unknown weight assuming atleast 8 oz each)
Video camera- sounds heavier than a regular camera but maybe it isnt (assuming you save atleast 5 oz for regular camera)
2 fleeces- consider one down vest/jacket to replace one fleece (also see alot of fleece items and no wool, merino wool is usually lighter than fleece and just as warm)(depending on how heavy the heavy fleece is you could save up to a 1 lb).
2 water bottles- gatorade bottles instead (5 oz savings)
Approximate weight savings (4lb 5 oz)
Also the Arc'teryx Bora 65 is crazy heavy at over 6 lbs. Most 65L packs weigh 3-4 lbs. My 85L pack only weighs 65 oz after modifications. If the sleeping bag isnt down there is probably some extra weigh there as well.
Approximate total savings if just backpack is switched for a lighter option.
6lb 5oz. Just keep in mind if you choose to lighten the load at some point.
Scubafreak
02-22-2012, 09:24
Thanks Tomp
The pack is the heavy at 6lbs 10oz. Pans for oven weight is 8oz for both. My winter Bag is 3lb 3oz,The bottles are lighter then gatorade if I wanted to be a Gramwhinny. their the one form smart water bottles.
I see I'm carrying everything 2 sleeping bag and all my winter stuff is getting droped
Also I love the oven bakes me muffins in the AM and Pizza,Corn Bread and chilly,cookies,Endless and the food is lighter to.
Dont most of those recipes call for eggs? Tell me your not carrying fresh eggs? Or milk or butter?
You say the food is lighter, but lighter than what? carrying pre-made cookies maybe but not dehydrated meals.
Also your only 3-5 days from town so if you drop the oven setup you can carry 2 lbs of cookies and baked goods for the weight of the oven and pans. Does this oven run on a lot of fuel? If so the fuel sounds heavy, but again you can always make this decision later.
With that said if I see you out there I would like a piece of corn bread.
Scubafreak
02-23-2012, 01:06
Theirs alot of thing that you can cook without eggs. Ex a pizza dinner, 1cup flour,1 teaspon yeast,1 teaspoon salt,1 teaspoon sugar,2/3 cups water. thats the dough for 2 6" pizzas. salse is 1 tablespoon tomato paste ,1 teaspoon oil use some of that to oil pans and 1 tablespoon water and itailn spice and cheese as needed. the 8 6" pizza's 1lb of cheese will go a long ways (7-9 day)and 4 cups of flour per pound so that 2.5 l thats under 1/2 a day just for dinner So Thats right a 1 pound per day for food.
also the stove with the oven is right at 1 oz per 1hr based on 400 deg oven temp.
if i see you ill fix you up on corn bread:D
By the time you get to Neels Gap you might have a different idea. I would suggest you get a postal scale, that was the only way I could see where I was and what I could get rid of. I took 5.7 lbs. out of my AT pack (2010) for my CT hike this summer. Base 13.4 but it did cost a boatload....
bobtomaskovic
02-23-2012, 23:30
Don't sweat the weight. I'm 54 and I carried about 45lbs of food and 20yr old gear last year on my thru. I had one of the most comfortable camps on the trail, fresh drip coffee every morning, 3 man tent all to myself. It did slow me down a little but I still did 20mi days when I felt like it. When/if you get tired of carrying it you can change it out easy along the trail. It's the person not the gear that does the hiking. I planned on replacing some of mine and rebuilding my stove, even bought the kit for the stove at Mountain Crossings. Never did either one, just carried that kit all the way to Maine.