My pleasure. Twenty years, US Navy enlisted.
My pleasure. Twenty years, US Navy enlisted.
Your probably looking at 40 total, 25 w/o food and water. Base wts tend to be ~2x the big 4. People apply their personal "logic" about gear choices across the board.
Your average for people starting. Which means mountain crossings will shake you down and get rid of 10 lbs for you for $500 or more
Or you can do it first. Which is highly reccomended.
Most of your savings will be stuff you dont bring. With a major piece or two replaced with lighter.
Last edited by MuddyWaters; 08-07-2016 at 22:50.
Had an Osprey Exos 48, without the brain. 24 oz.
Tarptent Notch. 29 oz.
A 40 degree quilt. 15 oz.
Klymit pad. 17.4 oz. (highly recommended.)
Total 4.33 pounds. My entire base weight of all my gear without food, water or fuel was 15.5 pounds when I left the trail. It was a good four pounds heavier when I started the trail, with cold weather gear/sleeping bag and such. Can mail such items home when it warms up, and you get past the high altitude southern mountains.
I don't get the whole pack comfort thing, heavy is never comfortable for me. I found the Exos very comfortable when under 32 pounds, less so when it was over. Back ventilation is comfortable, a properly adjusted pack is comfortable, a slender pack that doesn't throw you off balance is comfortable.
I had people say I won't make it, because I have a mystery ranch pack. It also weighs in just under 5# I however love it, I also plan to carry it for a really long time. 70 Lt compressed vs 50 with as much on the pack as inside the pack. My ocd voted 70l.comfort and fully trusting the pack to last decades are important. https://lighterpack.com/r/b69y5w
Do a search after uploading your info to this site and you will see what's heavy and weather its worth sacrificing..i don't feel any weight at 27#, I think 30 is my goal just adding more food.
Here's a few tips...
1. Everyone is different. Age and genetics play a large role in what weight a person can comfortably carry. Light weight gear works great for everyone.
2. The more weight you carry, the more resistance you're adding to every step you take. For a thru-hike, where you're pushing 10-25 miles per day, weight plays a significant role in avoiding injury and discomfort.
3. I did a 10 mile day not long ago, and around mile 9 I added 5 pounds to my pack. My feet were hurting already, but this added weight increased the throbbing quite a bit. So, while you might not feel the extra 5 pounds at the start, it's still wearing you down with every step.
4. The only true preparation is to take a few multi-day hikes on rough sections of the AT with a full pack. This allows you to experience the reality of the trail vs the blog posts and highlight reels on Youtube.
5. Pre-hikes can give you insight into what works for you and will eliminate doubts and fears that will cause you to pack too much gear.
6. Lightweight gear is expensive, but if you're attempting a thru-hike, you owe it to yourself to spend the $$$ on it.
7. Choosing the right gear can be daunting, and preferences (ex: hammock vs tent, single-wall vs double-wall tents, etc.) are purely personal choices, but if you check out lots of POST thru-hike videos you can eliminate a ton of options.
8. The trail is HARD in the first 300 miles (and beyond) which is why most people are gone by then.
9. Even if you attempted a thru-hike with a 5lb day pack, you may lack the mental fortitude finish. Do not underestimate this. Every person responds to the trail and its trials differently.
10. I see no reason to carry more than 18lb base weight on the AT starting in March. This can easily be achieved with the right gear.
Here's an example gear list that's about 16lb base weight. There are several options (sleeping bag) that could be changed to lower the weight further.
https://lighterpack.com/r/4thoyl
I could probably go on, but I need to finish this glass of wine and I don't like typing with one hand.
"Though I have lost the intimacy with the seasons since my hike, I retain the sense of perfect order, of graceful succession and surrender, and of the bold brilliance of fall leaves as they yield to death." - David Brill
I have a Static V pad for summer use. I used it last fall on a night the temps dropped more than expected and found it to be marginal. Is yours the insulated static v? I would think that would be recommended for a three season trip.
I combine that with a down quilt, TT Notch, and elemental horizons Kalais pack. You said lightweight packs were not comfortable. Were these frameless? Packs like the Kalais and Circuit have a stay (minimal frame) and are not usually available to try on in the brick and mortar stores. I find mine to be very comfy.
If your pack hurts all day (long ago they all did, more or less), and you do not get a decent nights sleep, you will not be happy. A couple extra pounds are worth it to avoid that.
"It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." ---Dr. Seuss
"If your pack hurts all day (long ago they all did, more or less), and you do not get a decent nights sleep, you will not be happy. A couple extra pounds are worth it to avoid that."
My thoughts too.
You can have a 2 lbs pack that with the same load will feel heavier (because it does not fit you right or is simply badly designed) than one that is 3 lbs .
One of the reasons why we don't carry stuff around in shopping bags ...
The big 4 are where the weight is as well as all those pesky little things we take for comfort. I'm adding some extra warmth for a 12 Mar start, but I am coming from 90+ degree days to whatever it is in Georgia then, so I will need them. My weight minus food and water is 19.19lb and with my normal 4 days food and 2 lts of water I hit just 29lbs. When I am full into summer gear that will drop to just over 21lb. I've dropped over 20lbs since I started updating all my old gear and it sure makes the walking easier.
Example - I've been converted to quilts either on a pad or hammock, I plan to hang on the AT. No hood so I bought a puffer jacket without a hood then bought 1 hood for both. Little thing but grams become kilo's.
Found some great lighter weight gear in the USA cottage industry, you can look on some of these. http://sectionhiker.com/backpacking-gear-directory-2/
In the end you need to get as light as possible but still be comfortable with what you are carrying.
"He was a wise man who invented beer." Plato
Yes. That (the part I bolded) is the way I understand it, in a nutshell. Insert the third dimension of that equation, which is money, and that is how to be comfortable AND light.
I had a bad experience on a cold night a couple years ago, and decided to never be cold again - I bought a 0 degree down bag. It weighs 4 lbs and takes up a large percentage of my pack. It is 650 fill - if I had allowed myself to spend $600 or so rather than $300, I could have bought a higher fill bag which would be lighter and smaller. A 0 degree bag can be as light as 2 lbs, I believe, if money is less of a restriction.
Tents - same thing. The cuben fiber tents are about one pound, but cost $600.
So, tent and sleeping bag (two of the big three) can run you a thousand bucks (or more). If you can afford it, why not do it?
Sleeping pad. I could not get comfortable on a closed cell foam pad. Yes they are light and inexpensive, but too firm for me. I opted for a Prolite Plus. I chose weight over light weight to be comfortable.
My winter pack weight is 43 lbs - with a week's worth of food and 2 liters of water. I could still winnow a few pounds of unnecessary weight out of it - but it will still be "heavy" to most around here because I need more clothes to stay warm, I need my 0 degree bag, etc.
Oh, and I almost never carry 2 liters of water.
As a quick response to your post above, keep in mind that long distance lightweight backpacking/thru hiking is a very specialized type of hiking. When you go out looking for the gear you will need for your trip understand that only a small percentage of what's on the shelf is made with long distance backpacking as the intended purpose. The reason that so many packs are larger than 60L is because people who are buying them are not planning to hike hundreds of miles with minimum weight on their backs. I read somewhere a few years back that the backpacking industry understands their average customer to be a person that backpacks a few weekends a year, packs for comfort and hikes distances that are much shorter than the sort you usually see discussed on this site.
Now that said, about your pack ... If you are really concerned about weight then I honestly see this as the first piece of gear that you will end up replacing. It really is a great pack, but it is designed to be a load hauler and weighs about 5.9lbs by itself. I own the men's version the Baltoro which I use for winter trips, I love the pack, and it can handle 50lb loads like a champ, but it is overkill for a lightweight thru hike.
I'm going to guess (and I could be wrong) that you went to an REI or similar large retailer which is where you tried on different packs and then settled on the Diva. If this is the case then odds are there are a lot of brands of packs specifically made for lightweight hiking that you may have missed that could potentially suit you better. Most of these brands are discussed at length in the gear section of this site. Personally my 3 season pack is now a ULA Circuit that weighs a bit less than 2lbs.
If nothing else, spend the first few days hiking with your pack, if you are happy with it great, if you're not then when you get to the outfitter at Neels Gap (the trail literally goes through their building) you should stop in and see if they can suggest something else, they carry lightweight packs made by several companies that you will almost never see at a large outfitter.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.