hiking heavy

[squeezebox]

I read with interest the thread about UL tents,
Last weekend I went to the Ozark Trail build,
We got 4/10 mile done on a difficult hillside.
but this was car camping, big tents, queen size air mattresses, double propane stoves, etc.

My question is what's the biggest thing you ever backpacked .
Grandma what's her name is famous for her cast iron skillet.
Recently I bought a 3.5 x 3.5 cast iron griddle, from Xmart
perfect for frying an egg, a bit of bacon, or tiny pancakes, or slider burgers.
Almost thinking about packing it.
But geez does that little piece of cast iron weigh a lot

So what have you ever carried that weighed too much?

[mrcoffeect]

The heaviest thing I have ever carried on a hike was the weight of leaving my wife and kids home while I went off to play in the woods. after about a week it starts to get to me.

[Starchild]

On my first hike ever which was a 5 day backpack, and I don't know who in our group carried it as we shared some items, an axe comes to mind.

As well as carcamping lantern and 2 propain cylinders (with no stove.)

[scope]

Not me, but buddy of mine packed a dutch oven in his Catalyst. Now, this was only a 2m hike to the campsite, but still, a dutch freakin' oven?!!?

[Sarcasm the elf]

On my last trip I had a 9lb tent, 8lb sleeping pad, steel ice axe, full crampons, microspikes, snow shoes, puffy jacket, two ground pads, whisperlight stove with a liter of fuel. And i think that still qualified as lightweight :D

Okay, so the 8lb sleeping bag might not of been lightweight, it was synthetic -20f bag, but I was able to borrow it for free from a friend, so it was worth every cent.

[Coffee]

I met only one "UL" hiker on my recent two week section. Even the few thru hikers I met were carrying what most ULers would call "heavy" gear. Ultralight hikers are very overrepresented on forums. As for "heavy" gear on my latest trip, I'm not sure if it qualifies as "gear" but a guy at one of the shelters had a five gallon bucket with ice and glass beer bottles. Of course, he might have just hiked in from the nearest road crossing ... but still, ice is heavy although it might not be gear.

[Blissful]

Everything I carry I need, so none of it weighs too much, imo :)

[Damn Yankee]

I was climbing Mt. Washington once and for some reason or another I decided to take my pair of wool line Sorel boots(there was still snow in higher elev.) Good thing I did because I sat my hiking boots by the fire and forgot about them(you know what happens next) that's right, burnt them to a crisp. It wasn't so bad going up but, coming down really sucked. Just way to much movement inside the boot.

Another person who came with us carried up 1 dz. eggs, lb. of bacon, 6 potatoes, a Colman 2 burner stove w/ propane, cookware andddd a case of beer. To make matters worse, when the beer was gone, he hiked back down the mountain, drove to the liquor store, bought another case of beer and hiked all the way back up Mt. Washington. We were base camping just below the tree line

[Alleghanian Orogeny]

In October 1973, 4 of us hiked up Grandfather Mountain along what is now known as the Profile Trail. One guy had 1.5 cases of beer in cans, another had a bunch of canned soup, beef stew, and corned beef, plus a loaf of bread. A third carried a Coleman two-burner stove by its "suitcase" handle, and a satchel of other assorted pots and serving spoons and junk in the other, and the 4th carried two 2-man backpacking tents we'd checked out from Student Rec Services at good old Appalachian State U. We each carried a sleeping back also from Student Rec. We camped at Shanty Spring by early afternoon, built a big fire, ate most of the food, drank all of the beer, slept from around 8pm to 4 am, and hit the trail to Calloway Peak (the highest of Grandfather's multiple peaks) with only flashlights in hand for the sunrise. Took in the sunrise, hiked back down to camp, cleaned EVERY SCRAP of our presence off of the ground, food and beer empties included, and were back down to NC 105 by noon.

AO

[mikec]

I remember my first backpacking section hiking trip along the AT in MD. I packed things like a 6 D cell flashlight, a Bible, a Sterno stove along with 4 or 5 cans of Sterno, too many clothes and too much food. I ended up hiding items in plastic trash bags at road crossings to get my weight down and had to go and retrieve them afterwards. I learned. Boy, did I learn.

[Mags]

I've carried 10 lbs of marinated pork loin to a hut trip. Good eating! :)

[Rocket Jones]

On our first trip with an inexperienced co-worker, he brought several pounds of trail mix for a weekend hike. It became funny as he desperately tried to get us to eat from his snacks instead of our own.

[Namtrag]

Observed a young lady near Mt Rogers on the AT carrying a coleman 2 man tent still in its original box. She had it strapped to the bottom of her backpack, and it stuck out a foot or two on each side of her as she walked.

[Wise Old Owl]

I've carried 10 lbs of marinated pork loin to a hut trip. Good eating! :)

Wow who lugged the smoke house or fire pit? must have been a hell of a group to feed! where's the rest of the post? yea I am salivating....

[ChuckT]

God grief!

Sent from my Samsung Note 3 using Tapatalk.

[rafe]

Ultralight hikers are very overrepresented on forums.

Among those who've done serious AT miles (thru hikers and section hikers I've met and hiked with over the years) I've observed that pack loads have decreased tremendously in the last decade or two.

Also: the more miles they've done, the lighter their packs are. With very few exceptions.

Among weekenders and casual hikers, maybe not so much.

[Different Socks]

Large size coleman tank of gas for a single burner that fit on top.This thing stood about 12in tall!!

[Rocket Jones]

Large size coleman tank of gas for a single burner that fit on top.This thing stood about 12in tall!!

I've got one of those beasties - for car camping.

[Francis Sawyer]

A 5th of Jack Daniels. It got lighter quickly.

[Corsac]

Carried a mini weber BBQ with charcoal and a couple pounds of chicken for an overnight. BBQ worked great as a fire pit after the food! There is almost always a good summit brew in the pack as well :)

[Different Socks]

I've got one of those beasties - for car camping.

For me it was back in the day when I was a greenhorn with a cotton bag tied with nylon rope to the bottom of my pack and used a boy scout cooking kit that every time i picked it up off the burner it would go lopsided and spill the contents. Nowadays that would be an easy winning lawsuit.

[Theosus]

The heaviest single thing I carry is probably my pack, at 6 pounds its pretty substantial. But I have to have it, otherwise its not called "backpacking" - just "lugging crap through the woods in your arms".

The two things I carried last time that were heavy and almost useless were my battery pack (powergen 12,000mah - weighs about half a pound and the size of a deck of cards), and my pistol (walther pk380). I used the former but really didn't need to, and didn't use the latter and am really glad I didn't need to.

On my first trip I carried way too much stuff, and when I got home I dumped it all in a bag. It weighed five pounds. I didn't take that stuff again. Ever. Next time I leave the battery pack at home, and only put three bullets in the gun.

[gof]

This thing. It was my first backpacking stove....LOL

[gof]

26895Forgot to upload....LOL

[soulrebel]

8lb bag of ice with a case of beer. Regularly carry 2 liters of likker for any hike. mmmm beer.

[JustaTouron]

A toddler.

[Blue Mountain Edward]

A pound and half of sugar. For Koolaid, lemonade and coffee. I brought enough to share LOL.

[Gambit McCrae]

The heaviest thing I have ever carried on a hike was the weight of leaving my wife and kids home while I went off to play in the woods. after about a week it starts to get to me.

Puke lol how warmhearted of you

[Gambit McCrae]

I would have to say in my younger years it would have been between a case of beer, or a handle of Jack Daniels or the folding camp chair and full sized feather pillow. since then, its been the 7 pound Hilleberg thats too big to even set up anywhere on the trail lol