Packing for two-Efficiency

[rusty rat]

The audience that can respond to this is pretty limited but I haven't seen any reference to the efficiency of distributing your gear between two people who will travel together without question eg husband/wife, parent/child. Different size bags, different contents- eg, food,tent,stove in one; clothes and sleeping bags in another. My son (18 yrs old) and I haven't bought our backpacks yet and would appreciate how partners have worked this out in the past.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

We are a section-hiking couple and the wife has a bad leg and a weight limit of about 18 lbs.. The he-dino carries a small tent, a two-person quilt, his sleep-pad, his clothing, the camera, the toiletry items for both, his rain gear, most of the food, his & her camp shoes and some extra clothing that will fit either of us. She-dino carries the cookware, stove, fuel, food for that day, an Exped wallcreeper bag / coat (used in camp and for sleeping), a large silnylon tarp, her clothing, her sleeping pad, her rain gear and all medications.

[Two Speed]

Actually there's been more written on that than you might suspect. One of the better ideas is the concept of "useful units." The idea of useful units is that you want to divy the gear in such a way that if the hikers get separated each hiker will have some useful gear that will make life easier until the party manages to reassemble itself.

Basically, when splitting gear up don't separate things so that they're no longer useful. An example would be giving the tent to one person while the other one carries the stakes. The tent is going to be less useful without the stakes and vice versa.

Another thing to consider is giving the tent to one hiker and the stove and fuel to another hiker. That way if they get split up one hiker will have shelter to stay warm and the other one can stay up all night making hot chocolate. Not an optimal condition, but a great improvement over trying to figure out how to fuel the stove with stakes while the other guy tries to figure out how to stake the tent out with the fuel bottle.

[Phlashlite]

my husband and I thru hiked last season. We used midsized packs (after starting with large packs) He carried the tent, ground cloth the extra fuel canister, rope, knife, camera plus his own sleeping bag, his clothes, part of the food, and other personal things he wanted. I carried the first aide supplies, water filter, stove, cooking pot, fuel, more of the food, trash, cell phone, my clothes and personal items. His pack with food (7 days) and water weighed about 30 pounds and mine 28 pounds. We felt this was fair distribution of the weight and worked very well for both of us.

[gumball]

My husband and I backpacker together. We don't split any gear--we would if we had it his way, and we used to, when we first starting packing. Once we learned to lighten up, however, I wanted to make sure that both of us had what we needed on our backs to sustain ourself, in case we got separated and had to camp without one another. We each pack in, for about 7 days, around 30 to 32 lbs, which agrees with both of us. Actually, he packs in a little heavier, probably, because he always carries a few books.

Gum

[ScottP]

It might be best, even as a father-son duo, to both have independent gear setups so that you can split up and meet back up when you want to. I know a father-son duo that did so and were very glad of it. If your child were younger, then this option might not make sense, but 18 years is old enough to be hiking independently.


If you don't like the above, just don't split up items that would be useless without the other half of it (don't have one carry the pot and fuel and the other the stove, don't have one carry the tarp and the other the stakes for it, etc.)

[Blissful]

The audience that can respond to this is pretty limited but I haven't seen any reference to the efficiency of distributing your gear between two people who will travel together without question eg husband/wife, parent/child. Different size bags, different contents- eg, food,tent,stove in one; clothes and sleeping bags in another. My son (18 yrs old) and I haven't bought our backpacks yet and would appreciate how partners have worked this out in the past.


Good question. My then 16 yr old son and I hiked the AT together last year. Since he is more robust than I, he used an Osprey pack and carried the main tent body inside his pack, the fuel canister (though if we carried extra fuel, I also carried a canister), the breakfast and lunch bags, the cell phone and extra batteries, the nalgene canteen (it was his job to get the water for the evening), the guide book. I carried the dinner bag, the cookset, the pocket rocket, the map, and the tent poles. We then each carried our own bags, pads, clothes, camera, personal gear, first aid, etc. I also took to carrying my lunch each day too, as we went different paces and many times I didn't see him until the end of the day. This is a way to deal with independency and so you don't get on each other's nerves. Also, we stayed in shelter areas usually so he could use the shelter and I tented. But we also did tent together a few times when needed. We were together when hiking into town and hitchhiking. You end up as buddies working together as a team to achieve a goal and not the parent / child role. But that role did creep up on occasion, I must admit. But I kept it to a minimum. And we survived. :)

[Spirit Walker]

My husband and I split gear. We hike together, so it is practical. (On the western trails we hike, navigation is too much of an issue to hike far apart. It is too easy to lose the trail.) If you and your son are likely to hike separately (i.e. one of you is much faster than the other), you need to be more careful as to what you each carry. You may wish to be totally self-sufficient. But if you are fairly sure you will stick together fairly closely, you can lighten your load by a few pounds by sharing.

My husband carries the tent (2 1/2 lbs), stove and pot (< 1#) and camera. I carry the first aid kit, sunscreen, bugdope and filter. He carries the current maps while I carry the guidebook, if any. (He is better at map reading, I'm better at deciphering the author's words.) He carries lunch foods and snacks while I carry dinners and breakfasts. (His food load is much heavier, but the size is about the same.)

[bigcranky]

Lots of good ideas here. One nice thing about this sort of sharing is the potential for weight reduction. When I hike with my regular hiking partner, we are each fully equipped as though hiking solo. When I hike with my spouse, we can share a lot of basic gear, and thus save some weight.

Some items have to be added, or larger, thus negating a little of the savings, but here are some things that change when my wife and I hike:

Share water treatment, large water collection bag.
Share single cook kit, but it's a larger pot and a canister stove, so it ends up being heavier than two solo kits. (But we like to cook and share meals together.)
Share 2-person tarptent, this is lighter than two one-person shelters.
Share first aid kit, maps, guidebook pages, c*** ph***, spare light, spare batteries, camera, toilet kit, etc.

We both carry packs in the 3500 cubic inch range. We each carry all our own personal gear and clothing, then split up the shared gear (using Two Speed's functional unit idea.) On anything longer than a weekend, we carry two food bags to spread out the load. I have thought of carrying separate ultralight cook kits -- 2 mugs, 2 alcohol stoves, etc., -- just so that we both have something to cook with if we get split up.

Can't wait to get back on the trail, just the two of us.

[The Solemates]

I always end up carrying the same amount whether I go solo or my wife goes with me. The only things we share are tent, stove, filter, and pot. I carry all of those same items solo or with her.

[rusty rat]

Thanks for the good common sense replies. I hadn't considered the number of hiking partners that separate while hiking. I kind of like the idea of letting the young buck get ahead and then arrive at a shelter just in time for a hot meal. Maybe I'll carry the sleeping bags :)

[quasarr]

I'm planning to hike together with my boyfriend, so we're making some of the same decisions as you.

For safety it's probably better for you to each carry your own bag. What if you two get separated and have to spend a night alone? Each of you should have some food, an emergency shelter, and something for warmth. Me and my boyfriend share a quilt that zips in half and we each carry a piece. I carry our tarp with guy lines and some stakes. He carries the ground cloth, his own guy lines, and the rest of the stakes. With these items the ground cloth can be pitched as a tarp. A poncho, space blanket, or even garbage bags can also be an emergency shelter.

[gumball]

Thanks for the good common sense replies. I hadn't considered the number of hiking partners that separate while hiking. I kind of like the idea of letting the young buck get ahead and then arrive at a shelter just in time for a hot meal. Maybe I'll carry the sleeping bags :)

My husband is pretty good about keeping me in eye sight, but things happen. One of us hikes slower or faster. Someone misses a sign.

We lost a hiker a year ago last October for about 36 hrs, a friend who came with us and hiked a little slower. He missed a blue blaze and kept on hiking past camp. It was cold and scary, we didn't know what had happened to him (he was later found by a ranger at his car, he'd eventually hiked out).

Although the trail is well marked in most areas, I personally get distracted sometimes and lose a blaze. I guess I figure that you never know, so regardless of all of our weight conscious efforts, this is just something that makes me feel a little safer. Some people hike together and never leave one anothers sight--its just a matter, like all things, of what makes sense to you as hikers.

Gum

[Lone Wolf]

the only thing gypsy and i share carrying is the tent. we carry our own pots for cooking. we eat separate. i do carry the pocket rocket stove though. we eack carry a canister

[gsingjane]

I hike with my kids, who are currently 15 and 13 (sometimes the 9 year old, too, although she doesn't carry too much in her pack). We each carry our own bag, pad, and personal gear, including headlamp. Other than that, we have a set system where we split things up in the same way every time, so that my son has the tent and everything that goes with it and our "kitchen" (the stove, fuel and pot). My daughter carries the filter, the first aid kit, and the bathroom stuff. I carry the food. Even though my pack starts out heavier than my son's, I like it that it lightens up as the trip goes on. This might be a consideration, which person would like a constant weight, whereas which person might like a dropoff. (Okay, we'd all like a dropoff!).

I have never really planned for any of us spending the night alone. We very seldom get separated by more than 20 minutes. Maybe as time goes along I will adjust that, though.

Jane in CT

[LIhikers]

My wife and I backpack together. We each carry part of the tent and then split up items that we both use. I carry the stove and fuel while Kathy carries the pot. I carry the water filter and Kathy carries the first aid kit and toilet paper. We each carry 1/2 the food and water. Beyond that we each carry our own clothes and gear. When we've had our dog with us we share his stuff too.

[Pennsylvania Rose]

I hike with my kids, too. There are 5 of them, so there's a different group each time, but on a typical trip with two teenagers we split the gear. I carry everything to cook dinner and the map. One kid carries the tent and breakfast. The other kid carries the tp and other hygiene stuff, lunch, first aid/repair kit, guidebook, and water treatment. Everyone carries their own sleeping bag, pad, and clothes.

Last year, though, we started moving to independence. The kids are into making alcohol stoves, so they'll carry their own cooking gear and food. Since we're hiking apart a lot, they'll each have tp and a 1st aid/repair kit, map, etc. The only thing we'll share is a tent. Although, we're experimenting with hammocks. I've made one, and whoever likes it will get their own. If anyone doesn't like it, we'll figure out a lighter tent or tarp option for them. So then everyone will be able to spend the night alone. At this point, I would feel comfortable dropping my 15 and 16 year olds off at a trailhead alone (relatively speaking - I am a mom, after all). They have WAY more experience than I did when I first hiked alone at 18 (I had NO experience), and I managed not to freeze or get lost.