What % is your "consumables" vs carried weight

[yerbyray]

I was thinking while raking the last of the leaves today and pondered consumable weight. I know it is a broad category, but I loosely define it as fuel, food and water. Replenishing water on the trail is a whole other question that is for another day...

My "consumables" hover around the 18% based on the last few weekend trips. My current base load for a two night two and a half day is a hair over 24 pounds. I am in western NC and do most of my trips around these parts. I do see longer trips upping the percentage as well as the carried weight.

Am I inline with most of those willing to share?

It would be interesting to compare what % UL folks have for consumables compared to us "ordinary" weight hikers. Before ya'll go knocking me about 24 pound base weight...Factor this in....I am 6'1" and weight about 290 pounds. My clothes weigh more, my sleeping bag weighs more, etc. 24 Lbs. is very light when you factor that in.

Thanks

[Coffee]

If I'm going on a four day hike, I would plan to pack two pounds of food per day plus a fuel canister and average one liter of carried water. So that's about 10-11 pounds of consumables. My base weight is around 14-15 pounds. So consumables as a percentage of total pack weight would be around 40-45% of total weight.

[Dogwood]

I find for myself, that's a very difficult question to answer as you're attempting to pile so many non static dynamic factors into one UL wheel barrow. I feel you'd be going down the rabbit hole trying to get some consensus of an answer. You could easily find your thread posts falling victim to what Wolf warned about on the Stupid Light thread: "My recommendation to everyone trying to travel light weight and what often over-looked by many new backpackers and even many veteran hikers. Prior to selected gear figure out how you want to hike the trail. If you are hiking with a partner, you are going to carry different gear than someone hiking alone. A speed hiker is going to carry different hiker than someone spending more time camping. What time of year, location, the season. It is a different dimension that many hikers don’t even think about."

[The Solemates]

it completely depends on the season of course.

i would not consider myself a ultra lightweight hiker. a minimalist, perhaps, but not ultra lightweight. i was surprised by your numbers and i am interested to see what others say. Most of my trips are in the 3-5 day range. For that range, my start weight (including consumables) for winter conditions is around 22-24 lb. by winter conditions i mean lows into single digits, which is typically the coldest I usually encounter for 95% of my trips. My start weight for a summer hike is close to 16-18 lb (including consumables). My food doesnt change too much based on season. Its usually 10-12 lb, and I always just carry 1 L of water (roughly 2 lb).

so, consumables percentage is in the neighborhood of 50% for a winter hike and 65% for a summer hike. These %s dont factor in gas for the stove (white gas in the winter and canister in summer). So, in actuality my numbers would be incrementally higher.

[Coffee]

I should have mentioned that the numbers I listed are not for winter hiking. So far at least, the vast majority of my hiking has been spring to fall, for which I generally carry the same gear because I don't have specialized bags, packs, etc for different seasons. At most I might do something like leave my down parka, down socks, warm hat, and gloves at home when such items are obviously not needed (mid summer in the mid Atlantic, for example). But I would still be carrying my Marmot Helium 15 degree bag even in such conditions but sleeping on top of it or leaving it totally open.

[Another Kevin]

Yeah, I wind up having to ask, "for what length hike?"

I run about a 15-18 pound base weight in summer, depending on how much the "it's none of your business what else is in my pack" stuff I've brought along. I could probably pare it to 13-14 at the cost of some minimal discomfort if I really had miles to make. I don't. In winter I don't even weigh my pack. I don't want to know.

On my last section hike I planned a six day food carry, so there was about 12 lb of food. I probably averaged a litre of carried water, since water sources were frequent. I don't like to stop to treat water all that often, so usually treat at least 2 litres when I do. Let's call it another 2-4 lb of water. So at the start of the first day, my consumable weight was about the same as my base weight, and it ramped down to maybe a third of my base weight at the end of the fourth day (when I bailed out because of an illness). I certainly was noticing by then that I'd eaten a significant fraction of my pack weight!

By the way, the guidelines of pack weight relative to body weight are relative to the weight you'd be at if you were lean. So although your gear is heavier because you're big, you have to bear in mind that carrying extra body weight doesn't help in carrying extra pack weight. (I know. I've been there. I'm about your height, and now I run about 190 pounds when I've been hiking regularly, which is down from the 230-240 that I was running three years ago or so when I started getting back in the game. And I'm still carrying a few pounds more than I'd like.) The body weight isn't quite the hindrance that pack weight is, because it doesn't throw you off balance as much, but I surely notice the difference in carrying 40 pounds less up the hills!

[Malto]

Here is a couple of data point I know for sure. When leaving the Mexican border on the PCT I carried 8 lbs of gear, 8 lbs of food and 8 lbs of water. leaving Kennedy Meadow I had 20 lbs of food (7 days.), 2 lbs of water and 9 lbs of gear. So in either case my consumable weight was about 2/3rds. Needless to say going out of town is not near as fun as heading in. It is rare that my food and water for a two day or more leg is not heavier than gear.

[Miner]

For a 2.5 day hike where I usually would bring 2 quarts of water (it depends on where you live and hike after all) and 2 pounds/day of food, consumables would be a little over half my weight. I typically have a 8.5 to 9 pound baseweight for 3 season backpacking. The longer the trip or the more water I bring (which often happens), the percentage obviously goes up more.

[yerbyray]

Thank you for the replies. I just got finished weighing everything that I had and it dang near hit 30 pounds on the nail head. I was off a bit on my initial post as my rain clothing system was much heavier than I figured. I had to get close on the food as I really don't remember which Packit Gourmet and the homemade Freezer Bag meals I carried but I have got to be close to what I typically carry in weather from 35-70 degrees here in western NC. My sleeping bag is actually a 20 Kelty Light year down and I use a Kelty Dart for a tent so I can stand colder ranges that I actually prepare for.

Interestingly 27% of my packable weight is clothing. 19% Food and cooking. 15% is sleeping related. The balance is general gear water and fuel.

I do carry a spare meal for contingencies and I have plenty of "reserves" so missing a meal or two isn't going to hurt me in the least. I don't think people typically prepare for an unplanned night as they should.

One thing I do and I have reservations about, is now only going with 32 ounces of water while hiking. I use to carry three liters at all times but I dropped two liters as I was always near some water when I needed it. I think about the Revolutionary War and Civil War era soldiers who shed their canteens (documented) to save weight and just used their "dippers" (cups) to get a drink from the numerous streams. I do carry a Sawyer mini filter and love it to death.

I have been outdoors all of my life and completed numerous long backpacking trips through the years but never really sat down and figured where I was on the scale of light weight/ultra light weight/and ordinary. I carry more than most as my first aid kits is 11 ounces....way heavier than other threads in this forum suggest. I have, in the last two years, shed weight in my cook system, lighting system, and other smaller less expensive areas. I like where I am right now.

Thank you for the input.

[garlic08]

I would hike into a typical AT town with an empty pack weight of about eight or nine pounds, buy groceries for the next town typically about 80 miles away, and leave town carrying about 16 or 18 pounds. With water, my pack never exceeded 20 pounds on the AT. My consumables that first day would be over 50% of my load. Quite a few resupplies were much shorter, a few were a bit longer.

On a couple of CDT sections with the next town 120 miles away and the next water 20 miles away, I topped off at 30 pounds with the 8 to 9 pound base load, about the same as Malto.

On the CDT I stopped carrying a stove and that improved my hiking (needless to say, I'm not much of a camp chef), so fuel isn't a factor for me any more.

[MuddyWaters]

Most. 60-75% leaving trailhead in warm weather. Closer to 50 in cold weather , or with a bearcan

[Connie]

yerbyray, I have the same imperatives. I have the "extra" food. Etc.

I have got my "Big Four" down to under 5 lbs. I am always prepared for 20 F or a "cold rain".

My "carried" clothing in the backpack is negligible. I wear half-zip mock turtleneck, sideseam-zip anorak or jacket, pants, stretch gaiters, and, a hat. I carry very little: beanie, "silkweights" a Polarwrap mask or balaclava for cold weather, gloves, stretch mesh water shoes. I have Croakies for my eyeglasses. I have disposable contact lenses for backup. I have Sawyer Mini filter and "platys" in pockets. I have toiletries in my pockets. I have 1st aid only for what could incapacitate me: burns, for example, in a pocket.

iPod/GPS accessory in a pocket. Compass/maps in a pocket. The tiny digital camera in a pocket. I have a recharger battery. I have spare N50 camera batteries.

My assembled cookit kitchen and windscreen is titanium. It is not a "heavy" item.

I have a zelph Starlyte w/lid. If cold, I have his folding wood burning stove, and, Companion alcohol stove. These carry in the top pocket of the backpack, with a Storm whistle, orange smoke and mirror.

[If wilderness, I add my portable HF amateur radio gear. Others might carry a locator or satellite phone. Me? Amateur radio gear. It is UL.]

I have no weight scale. I don't need a weight scale to know my backpack is filled up with "consumables".

Pocket for cookit kitchen. Pocket for rain gear. Mesh for shelter.

I have a 40-liter for the main compartment roll down top-loader backpack.

Little space is used inside the backpack for the sleep system. Everything else is "consumables". Everything

By weight and volume, the greatest percentage of what I have inside my backpack is "consumables". I also have "consumables" in pockets.

[The Solemates]

One thing I do and I have reservations about, is now only going with 32 ounces of water while hiking. I use to carry three liters at all times but I dropped two liters as I was always near some water when I needed it. I think about the Revolutionary War and Civil War era soldiers who shed their canteens (documented) to save weight and just used their "dippers" (cups) to get a drink from the numerous streams. I do carry a Sawyer mini filter and love it to death.

When I started hiking a couple decades ago I would always carry 2 L of water at least. Then I got smarter with the way I hike, and I also realized water is the heaviest thing you can carry! Drink up at every opportunity if you are hiking in a dry area. Drink a liter (or more) while at the source, then carry a liter and you are on your way. Of course on the AT and in much of Appalachia water abounds, and there is really little worry. In many places in appalachia, I carry only a half liter or so. Try it! You may realize your not gonna die and enjoy it more!

[Sandy of PA]

Base weight 10-11 lbs. maximum pack weight 26lbs. Have gone 8 days without resupply. So consumables are greater than 50%.

[Just Bill]

50/50 is a good ratio to get you going, many do better, many do worse but most happy folks are about there.
A 15lb base load is a pretty good target- gives you about 30lbs carried- which is a pretty average load found on the trails.

[Dogwood]

Sincerely, good luck ANALyzing a ratio that's all over the place so dynamic always changing in the end having little meaning unless thought of in the moment it's calculated. Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, a later stage John Nash, a few bored NASA astrophysicists, and the gear wonks on BPL might take a shot at it though. I'd really rather just go hiking and not subject myself to a brain hemorrhoid.

[The Solemates]

Sincerely, good luck ANALyzing a ratio that's all over the place so dynamic always changing in the end having little meaning unless thought of in the moment it's calculated. Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, a later stage John Nash, a few bored NASA astrophysicists, and the gear wonks on BPL might take a shot at it though. I'd really rather just go hiking and not subject myself to a brain hemorrhoid.

lol...here here!

[yerbyray]

Sincerely, good luck ANALyzing a ratio that's all over the place so dynamic always changing in the end having little meaning unless thought of in the moment it's calculated. Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, a later stage John Nash, a few bored NASA astrophysicists, and the gear wonks on BPL might take a shot at it though. I'd really rather just go hiking and not subject myself to a brain hemorrhoid.

Bill Gates might like the task as an Excel spreadsheet makes this a fun task to look into, as to the others....their info is pure speculation and conjecture.

How hard is it to weigh your items? After that, it is simple math. Addition and division...easy peasey.

I track all of my gear so I know what I spend, what it weighs, and if I use it or not. I am not rich so I like to buy once.

I enjoy the outdoors but I enjoy and it seems like all of the prior responses enjoy the data side. It is informative, fun and adds a diminsion to the hobby that I like

It is what floats my boat.

[yerbyray]

Sincerely, good luck ANALyzing...

I see with the capital letters that you have a firm grasp of DICtion.

[QiWiz]

I don't think of consumables as a percentage. I usually don't carry more than 40 ounces of water (2 x 20 oz gatorade-type plastic bottles) and carry 1.3-1.8 pounds of food per day (less in hot weather, more in winter). So the only variation is how many days I'm out for and what the season is. My base weight of non-consumables is usually 8-12 pounds.