my pack is too heavy!!

[kai]

i dont understand it? i weighed it this yesterday and it weighed 22 lbs (no food/water/various crap) I weighed it five minutes ago and it weighs 43lbs with food for 5 days without water. man how did that happen? so saying that my water is gonna add 3 lbs or so, is a 46lb rediculous? arg

peace
kai

pray for peace

[Lone Wolf]

Rediculous? No. Totally normal. Go with what you got and add and subtract as you go. Find your niche. There are plenty of "experts" that will tell you what to do for YOUR hike. Have fun.

[Dirtyoldman]

you might want to take a close look at your diet tho... 4 lbs of food a day is a bit higher then normal.

[Redbeard]

If you're hiking north from Springer, don't forget the Walasi Yi center is only 30 miles or so North, I dumped a lot of useless crap there, they had boxes stacked up for greenhorns to mail stuff home.

[Peaks]

Originally posted by Dirtyoldman
you might want to take a close look at your diet tho... 4 lbs of food a day is a bit higher then normal.

Typical backpacking fare weights about 2 plus pounds per day. Read the labels on packaging and aim for foods that have at least 100 calories per ounce. Plan on eating 4000 plus calories per day. Do, the math. You need at least 2 pounds of food per day.

[Kerosene]

I've also found that I actually eat less the first week I'm out. My appetite doesn't get going for about 10-12 days. I always seem to overpack food anyway, since I hate having to watch what I eat after I just worked out for 8 hours, but even then I average less than 2 pounds per day.

[Redbeard]

That's funny, I just mentioned how I never read anyone mention loss of appetite on another thread. This happened to me as well, when I hike this year I'll try to make sure I eat enough, as it seems to effect ones mood as well as stamina. Food is Mood.

[chris]

I had a diminished appetite for about the first week of the my trip last spring. The middle two weeks I had a normal (at home) appetite. The last week or so (Erwin to Damascus) was when I finally got to the point of being able to eat any quantity of food and still be hungry an hour or so later. While my food drops were fairly well planned, it would have been better to have more food later and less early on.

It isn't possible to predict what your metabolism will do before you get out and start walking. This alone is a good argument for resupplying as you go rather than planning out food drops in the comfort of your home while watching TV and drinking wine (or swilling Bud).

[Redbeard]

I've got awesome home base help (my folks) who will shop for what I need and mail it, I just have to call in time. Won't do this too many times, just with a few spots suggested in Baltimore Jacks resupply advice article. I never got sick of Ramen in two months of hiking last spring, this disturbs me .

[stranger]

Don't worry about your pack weight, it takes some fine tuning over time to figure out what you are comfortable with, chances are you will lighten up in time. Food is always a heavy item, it usually accounts for 30% of my pack weight, and water is no picnic either.

Don't worry though...you will have plenty of unwanted advice on the trail. Just do your thing and have fun.

[eldwayno]

Well this summer when I took a ten day solo journey... I wasn't able to weigh my pack until the 4th day out, and it weighed a whopping 67 #'s!!! I couldn't believe it. I brought way too much food.

[screwysquirrel]

If your bag is too heavy with food just eat good for the first couple of days out, then when you carry a lite load and are really hungry, you'll always remember the first few days when you had all you wanted.