Wait until you go from a 20# pack down to 10# pounds. You feel like you carrying next to nothing.Originally Posted by 10-K
Wolf
I think my point is lost...
There's not quite as big of difference, but then going from 10 to 5 is also a big jump. It's almost like hiking naked!
You can get to 10 - 8, IMO, just by buying all the latest gear, like the caldera stove system, conduit pack, the one tent, platy's instead of nalgenes, aquamira, etc. and cutting out the rest of the stuff you don't really need, like the three cookpot system in favor of a lightweight TI pot.
Then it's fairly easy to carry a chair kit when you want to spend three days by a lake somewhere.
Well, I'm not sure what to make of this remark. Thread-drift happens on Whiteblaze, pretty much all the time.I think my point is lost...
I agreed 100% with the basic premise in your first post... but you lost me a bit in post #9 when you talked about hiking the last five miles with no water. So, sorry if the thread swerved from UL to water-carrying, but IMO safety on the trail comes first.
I'm not accusing you of being an unsafe hiker, BTW.
No problem. I don't disagree with anything you've written. Safety comes first - always. I even said that going waterless the last 5 miles might have been a bad choice.
I'm making a singular point about my experience. If I understand you correctly you're making a generic statement about hiking in general and that's where our disconnect is.
So, for the record - my choice was based on the fact that:
a) I'm intimately familar with my hydration requirements because of my years of experience as a runner in all types of weather.
b) It was 9:30AM and cloudy
c) The temperature was 50 (maybe a little lower, no higher...)
d) I was approximately 5 miles from my truck and the town of Damascus
e) I was fully hydrated
f) I didn't think about it until just now but there were so many people hiking that had I had a "hydration event" someone would have came along within a short amount of time who hopefully would spare a sip of water.
e) Worse case, I could have dialled 911.
So, yes. Everything you said.
And my chances of becoming dehydrated in this situation were just a notch higher than me starving to death.
Let's both be right and call it a day.
I find the prospect very interesting for sure. It'll take some serious re-evaluating my pack contents to get there.
There are some things I'm just attached to still. Like my Lunar Duo. It's 3 lbs and I could lose 2 lb by going with any of the 1 lb shelters but I just like it.
That's subject to change. 6 months ago I wouldn't consider leaving my candle lantern and 2 extra candles. Now I'd have to look for it to find it.
So, things do change and I'm open to that.
Why not get a sherpa? They use them on everest and since hiking the AT is the equivalent of going up and down everest multiple times it's clearly justified.Now if they would only allow llamas on the AT...
AT - Georgia to Maine '09
PCT - Mexico to Canada '10
CDT - Canada to Mexico '11
Captn,
My gear 18 years ago was in the under 5 pound range.
Going from 10 pounds to 5 pounds normal happens around day 3 after I eat some of my food.
Wolf
I think they make more than I do!
"That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett
LOL
I can see the posts now:
FS: Sherpa willing to hike the whole AT. Can carry over 60 pds for 20 mi. days, rain or shine.
AT - Georgia to Maine '09
PCT - Mexico to Canada '10
CDT - Canada to Mexico '11
I remember losing 4 lb from a shakedown at Neels Gap - wow, what a difference.
It was great the day before walking into town. Not much food, yeah but oh, such a nice weight.
The bummer - walking out of town...
Absolutely. They oughta put the towns up high, instead of down low. What were they thinking?
Knees, Back & Tree Trunk Rings
Through my 20s 30s and middle 40s I had no frame of reference for what happens to knees, vertebrae etc as you get older.
Indiana Jones to Marian: "It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage."
Trimming down below X pounds requires a process of ongoing mental readjustment IMHO.
I came across an attic box of old hiking stuff from the 70s/80s. Lots of cotton. External Kelty pack that's indestructible & amazingly light; for whatever offshored-manufacturing reason those old external packs were lighter than today's externals. Solar shower, stainless steel cookset (cutting edge lightweight then), vinyl water carriers, candle lanterns, SVEA 123 stove, 5 lb LL Bean rectangular synthetic bag that went up and down a lot of hills in the Nixon-through-Reagan years. Boots made of leather like cast iron.
All of it was lightweight, carefully selected gear for the times. People hiked in long jeans and thought nothing of it. Most people didn't routinely weigh their packs and weights weren't often even quoted in ounces, but I'd guess weekend loads between 40 and 60 lbs were generally the norm.
I'm hanging onto that box. Lots of good memories in there. But I'm glad for today's technology and UL gear.
Just finished a hike w/ total pack weight at 25# (2L h2o, 3 days food),,, better than last hike at 33#. WOW, what a difference 8#'s can make!! Don't know if I can get any lighter (base 15#),,, cause there's certain luxuries I just can't go w/o. Plus, a 15# base for a guy my size (6'5", 270) is not too shabby.
NOBO section hiker, 1066.4 miles... & counting!!
There were some great, lightweight externals in the 70s. Shame those 8# trendy internals became cool. I keep seeing xx# base weight, and it makes me wonder what the Big 4 weigh.
Con men understand that their job is not to use facts to convince skeptics but to use words to help the gullible to believe what they want to believe - Thomas Sowell
Sleeping bag -2lbs, pack -2lbs, shelter -3lbs, pad -1lb = less than 8lbs. Not that hard but it does cost quite a bit.
The trail is ever winding and the party moves every night.
My wife and I breezed through the weight scale test at Neels, she had 24 and I had 26. The fellow didn't even look inside the packs.
We saw a lot of pain, agony, and defeat amongst those heading north from Springer with heavy packs. Most of them either changed their ways or perished by Fontana Dam or Hot Springs. One set of friends made a trip to the REI in Asheville to buy lighter packs, boots, etc. Too bad that the brand new REI seemed to be out of all the lightweight stuff.
I remember repeatedly looking at all the huge (65-85 liter) Arcteryx, Osprey, and Gregory packs hanging in shelters in the Smokies and thinking, "You wouldn't need such a whopping suspension system if you carried less weight".
I cannot tell you how many SOBOs I passed in Maine who were carrying packs that weighed 50+ lbs.
I tried my best not to give unsolicited advice and suggestions but when appropriate I'd point out something that could be done differently and every time the response was some variation of "I might need it."
One guy was carrying a 50' coil of 1/4 rope and a machete.
And if my brother went with me, he'd be that guy.
I dunno about ultralight, but I'm going for light, that's for sure. Reading stuff like that makes me realize that I started from a good place to lighten my load from rather than having to completely rewire myself from survival nut into a hiker.
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