When does your pack feel heaviest?

[DebW]

Assuming your pack weight were to stay the same over the course of a day, when does it FEEL heaviest?

[SGT Rock]

On the first day

[Hammock Hanger]

but I guess when I was in need of a break (I have a habit of forgetting them). Hammock Hanger

[DebW]

This poll was inspired by my 2 week hike of Vermont in 2001 with a load that was too heavy and a pack that didn't support it well. I began to think of all the variables that could affect my perceived pack weight (time of day, temperature, trail grade, trail condition, time since rest stop, time since eating, etc. ) and how they were functionally related to it (linear, log, exponential, power law). Then I thought that maybe I could put all of this into mathematics and publish it in the "Journal of Irreproducable Results". I could graph my actual pack weight and apparent pack weight as a function of time over the course of the 2 week hike, correlate this with a set of independent variables (temperature, trail grade, etc.), and develop the functional relations. Actually, I was going to take the backwards approach of making up appropriate functional relationships first, then calculation apparent pack weight from actual pack weight, and adding random "noise" so that my pseudoscience looked more realistic. Now you know what scientists think about while hiking.

Anyone want to suggest some functional relationships? I'll make you a co-author of the study. I figure that "time since last rest" should be exponential. "Trail grade" should be a 2nd order quadratic because very steep downhills can be as hard as very steep uphills. Rock, you've given me a new independent variable "time since start of hike" - I think it should be an inverse exponential.

[Hammock Hanger]

could you repeat that in English!! (Only kidding.) And to think all I did was think of ways to save mankind while I hiked... Hammock Hanger

[poison_ivy]

It's funny... I never really notice my pack weight until I take it off (usually, anyway.) One I drop my pack on the ground, I feel so light and end up thinking it was really heavy at that point. I suppose that probably qualifies as the end of the day category??

-- Ivy

[Minerva]

Need another category. Mine feels the heaviest when I leave town after resupply. After cruising into town with an empty food bag, and then reloading, I groan and moan and usually eat the heaviest meal first.
Cin

[Hammock Hanger]

The pack moster did bite me after a re-supply. Especially if I shopped hungry.... HH

[gravityman]

On the trail it always was too heavy. But especially going up hill. Now as a weekend hiker, I always seem to lift my pack while taking it out of the car and think "wow this is light." Then I lift my wife's out. "WOW! I need to give her more stuff." Usually, it takes about a 1/2 mile up hill before I am thinking about what new gear I HAVE to have in order to get a lighter pack. Hence the new Wanderlust tent!

Gravity Man

[Dirtyoldman]

My pack always seems heaviest in the morning.
I blame the morning dew for this.

[DebW]

Anyone remember the article in ATN several months ago about the "mountain growth" theory. Some hikers concluded, based on surveys of people who had all hiked over the same mountain, that the mountain was higher in the afternoon than the morning. Their theoretical explanations were a little shakey, though.

Maybe I'll have to start hiking with a graphing calculator to test my apparent pack weight theories as I go. Guess I'll never be an ultra-lighter... I'm always wishing for field guides, too.

[Peaks]

Well, I never realized that the mountains were higher in the afternoon than morning, but I sure realized that the morning miles are much shorter than the afternoon miles.

[SGT Rock]

To add to that thought. Louisiana miles are very short compared to North Carolina Miles. Maybe the flat ground plays a part in it. A 20 mile Louisiana day feels like a 16 mile N.C. day.

[gforce]

I have to agree with DOM . . . it always feels heaviest first thing in the morning. After that I really don't notice it much . . . too busy enjoying the beauty!

[Streamweaver]

Actually Id have to say my pack is heaviest on a really nice sunny afternoon
right after lunch! Because on a really nice day I tend to sit a bit too long,get a little too comfortable and eat a bit too much,so hauling my body up off the ground can be a chore even without the pack !! LOL Streamweaver

P.S. on days like that I find its best to sit on a log,so it isnt as far to get up!!!

[Footslogger]

First day out of town. Always uphill and my pack always had more goodies in it.

[RagingHampster]

Everyone knows that when you differentiate the pack weight equation you always come out having to use the chain rule, which leads to the assumption that the more you dig at the equation, the more steel chains are in your pack, which means your pack becomes heavier. This is the mathematical theorem that attempts to prove the 'ole mountain man's explanation... "The more you think about it, the heavier it gets".

In the morning when I'm fresh and rested, and have already broken myself in from the day before, the pack feels light. When I hit early afternoon (2pm On) I start feeling the weight because I tend to think about it more for some reason.

Maybe I have to stop listening to "Take it to the Limit"

[Lumberjack]

have you tried "he aint heavy"

[bluebird]

DebW,

My pack feels heaviest when I'm not moving, ie. when chatting with other hikers. Maybe you could add speed to your list of variables. This of course has a cross relationship to energy level and probably all your other variables.

You should add the good ole y=f(x) comparison complete with t-test and correlation. That way you can say which variables are most correlated to perceived pack weight. For all those hikers that complain about pack weight when experiencing the variables that have an r << 1 you can say "Its all in your head" :-)

Bluebird

-careful - there's a whole world of statisticians out here )

[3oz]

When it's 4oz or greater