What is a good average pack weight excluding

[Crestview_hiker]

What is a good average pack weight, without food and water for a NOBO thru hike beginning April 1

[Slo-go'en]

18 pounds, +/- 1 ounce. At least that's what I usually end up with.

[bamboo bob]

18 pounds, +/- 1 ounce. At least that's what I usually end up with.

About mine. people claimm 15-20 as base weights and seem to do fine.

[Ender]

I aim for 12-15 lbs, and if I end up between 15-20 I'm fairly happy. Eventually I'd like to get it between 9-12 lbs, but that will take some serious gear upgrading.

[Crestview_hiker]

so 25 would be considered a heavy pack?

[bamboo bob]

so 25 would be considered a heavy pack?

If you have old school gear it's not hard to get to 25 pounds but new gear without getting into Cuban you need to carry a lot of preferential stuff to get that high. Extra cloths, tablet, books, tools etc

[kayak karl]

so 25 would be considered a heavy pack?

if you add food and water you are now 35-40. are you OK with that?

[lonehiker]

Reading WB will give you a false impression of what the vast majority of hikers are carrying as far as base weight. Most hikers you see will easily have base weights of 20+ (more likely 25+). There obviously is a downward trend to lower weights especially as the major manufacturers move towards lighter gear (or at least have lighter weight gear lines). Lighter is probably better but some just have to go with what they have. A lot of kids I see hiking are carrying tremendous loads.

[Weather-man]

My base weight up until recently for long sections, a few weeks or more, was around 17-18 lbs. That gave me a day-1 start carry weight of about 30 lbs or a bit less which included 5 days of food.


As of late I've really made the effort to go lighter. By saying "made the effort" I really meant "spent money" I haven't changed much in my methods though I am trying a beer can / Alcohol stove instead of my usual canister. Instead I've found high cost/ low weight analogs to replace heavier items. My precip pants and jacket were replaced by Lukes pertex set, saving over a pound. My ULA Circuit was replaced by an ARC Blast, saving over a pound. Cuben Tarp tent at under a pound....etc...etc.. Light weight gear is available and you have the added benefit of a light weight wallet afterwards!

[Slo-go'en]

A lot of kids I see hiking are carrying tremendous loads.

Last year I helped Bob Pease load a bunch of packs into his pick up truck to shuttle them for some slack packers. I was amazed how heavy most of them were. I don't have the lightest pack around, but had most of these beat by a fair margin.

[Starchild]

'Without food and water'

I don't think you are going to make it.

Unless you are really really good at yogiing.

and unless you are really hiking without food and water, what difference does that make as to what you carry neglecting food and water weight as you are also carrying food and water? Actual carry weight is what matters, base weight is nothing but bragging rights. Lower base weight does not equate to lower pack weight.

[Ender]

Lower base weight does not equate to lower pack weight.

I would argue (respectfully) that it in fact does exactly that... lowering your base weight means you burn fewer calories, which means your food weight will not need to be as high.

[lonehiker]

Even if you carry the same amount of food weight, lower base weight means an overall lower pack weight.

[Ender]

Even if you carry the same amount of food weight, lower base weight means an overall lower pack weight.

Exactly.

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[Coffee]

ULers are overrepresented on forums such as WhiteBlaze. I'm fortunate enough to have been able to afford some of the lightweight gear when I got all new equipment over the past 18 months and until I got out on some longer hikes, I thought everyone was going to have light gear. For the most part, hikers seem to be using traditional gear available at places like REI and seem to do fine with it. I was our for a total of about 5 weeks in 2013 on various trails, including a JMT thru hike and a few AT sections and my totally unscientific and subjective impression is that it is, at most, a 80/20% split favoring traditional hikers vs. lightweight hikers. SUL (sub 10 pound baseweight) are like endangered species. I met only one hiker - a SOBO PCT - who had a super light kit. Although I didn't have a scale to weight people's packs, I never saw another pack that was clearly under 10 pounds baseweight. IMO, if someone already has or can only afford a 20 pound baseweight, they should be able to have a good time assuming they are in decent shape and shouldn't be discouraged by not being able to spend the money to immediately go lighter.

[Starchild]

I would argue (respectfully) that it in fact does exactly that... lowering your base weight means you burn fewer calories, which means your food weight will not need to be as high.

There are many examples where lower base weight means higher total pack weight. It is very possible to swap consumable weight for base weight and come up ahead by increasing base weight (when you include water and how each method has you carry them). The prime example is Aqua Mira vs Steripen. Yes AM weights less and looks good on paper, but in actual use the Steripen will tend to have the hiker carrying less total weight. Going stove-less is another prime example where the food choices are heavier then the types that requiring cooking.

Again I state that base weight is nothing but bragging rights, it is total weight that counts on the trail.

[BobTheBuilder]

By saying "made the effort" I really meant "spent money"!

Now THAT'S a true statement. My experience is that most people on the trail are in the 20-25 base weight range, although I have seen a few seriously heavy packs, like in the 80 lb range. Thrus and former thrus have usually figured out exactly what they want and need, so they seem to be on the lighter end. I find the biggest culprit for me is electronics. Sneaky little buggers.

[Coffee]

I find the biggest culprit for me is electronics. Sneaky little buggers.

My pet peeve is carrying chargers. I can never use them in the woods so I hate carrying them around. I'm currently plotting a strategy to bounce them up the trail for my Colorado Trail thru hike this summer, along with some other things. It will be my first experience using a bounce box to lower my base weight...

[RED-DOG]

On my 06 and 2012 AT thru's my base weight was around 15.5 lbs then after food and water 25-28 lbs but it weighed no more than 30lbs on any part of the trail, but on my 96 Flip-Flop my pack weighed considerable more, right know my base weight for my 2015 PCT thru-hike is going to be around 12lbs and overall weight no more than 25lbs, 15lb base weight is good but the overall weight shouldn't weigh more than 30lbs, 30lbs was comfortable for me on my AT thru-hikes, now some people carries alot more and some carries less, It's up to you to decide what to carry and how much.

[Slo-go'en]

Again I state that base weight is nothing but bragging rights, it is total weight that counts on the trail.

Food and water are variable weights, while base weight is a constant. You need some point of reference and the base weight is it. If you start out with a heavy base weight, you will always have a heavy pack.