Egads, I was going to inset some sarcasm here but it would be too heavy.Originally Posted by Egads
If I like it it's coming along, if it costs more pain than it's worth then it stays behind. When I can't carry enough to stay overnight I'll be a day hiker. In the meantime if I can be happy with a lighter replacement then lets be happy. When hiking no longer makes me happyI'll sell my lightweight gear on eBay and give the heavy stuff to people who'll quit hiking and not mess up my woods. Course
I won't care about that by then.
I remember my first trip on the AT weighed out at about 54 pounds, with 3 days food/water...I'm now down to about 32 with 5 days food/water...I could probably shed another 3-4 lbs w/o too much trouble...
It's not really hard to get rid of stuff you don't need...every extra lb. you carry in your pack (or around your waist) is about 4 lbs of extra force on your knees...it doesn't take long to add up to a lot of wear and tear...
about the small plastic bottles...
Look in the kitchen under: spice cabinet. Reuse the plastic spice bottles when empty for scaling down. Saves buying them over again>empty.
Do one thing everyday...that makes you happy...
Your snarkiness aside, I find it amusing that someone choosing, of their own volition, to try and get lighter is not "hiking their own hike" in your eyes.
For informational purposes, on my PCT thru-hike last year I carried a pack that was at least 50 lbs.
This weight is a guess, because I never weigh my pack, and is based on the guesses of friends who would lift it or try it on.
In the store I work in I don't try to convince people that they should do what I do, but I do try to help them figure out how to do what they want to do. Last week I shook down a guy's pack and helped him lighten it by 4 lbs without him having to buy different gear.
I suppose I could tell my customers that they're morons for "converting to the new religion." On the other hand, that would not only be bad for business, it would make me kind of an *******.
This post is just another great example of why NOT to mess w/ Jester!
You missed my point completely, I'm also trying to lighten my pack. It's the constant, unrelenting, ultralight proselytizing about how other people should hike. There was a group out last year that was actually weighing other peoples packs. Even that would be ok if your religion actually came up with something new or a new way to lighten our load. It's the same old mouldy crap repeated over and over. heavy bad, light good, OK we get it now go away.
This post is yet another great example of extreme BS and not even ultralight BS. This is carrying a frying pan BS.
Well, if that's your point I totally agree with you. On the other hand, if THAT'S your point, I can only wonder why you made your point utilizing a quote that had little to do with your point from a person that doesn't proselytize about packweight.
Can,t we all just get along. We can pack our on pack and hike are on hike.
Please remember the brave men and women of our armed services Without them we would not have the freedom to walk across this great nation.
I fill a bag with stuff, put it on my back, and walk through the woods. What do you do differently?
Nothing, I do believe you've got it.I fill a bag with stuff, put it on my back, and walk through the woods. What do you do differently?
You obviously don't work at REI!
Their mottos are: "Load em up!" and "Expand the sale!"
Nope. I work at The Outfitter at Harpers Ferry.You obviously don't work at REI!
Their mottos are: "Load em up!" and "Expand the sale!"
I may have to get in touch with you with some questions about the AZT some time if you don't mind.
A hammock has mande all the difference in the world to me for going form average to UL.
No, not true. Read SGT Rock's article Cheap Gear – How to Dirt Bag and Deal Shop Like a Professional.
Much of my light gear is homemade or home altered. I made my own balaklava and arm warmers. I made my own lid to my MSR Titan pot. It's much lighter than the lid that comes with the pot. I made a bowl from a yogurt container I would have otherwise thrown out. Made my own stove and windscreen, too. Some of my clothes are from thrift stores. My Golite umbrella was found in the trash. My Gossamer Gear backpack was on sale for only $80. I have another, smaller one from ULA that was on sale for only $40. I made a female urinary device out of a bottle of Wishbone salad dressing. I dug through the trash and the junk drawers to find small containers to repackage items.
Favorite places to find gear include the thrift shops, the dollar store, hardware store, craft store, the trash, the street. Ultralight gear is everywhere, except perhaps at REI.
Some knew me as Piper, others as just Diane.
I hiked the PCT: Mexico to Mt. Shasta, 2008. Santa Barbara to Canada, 2009.
sbhikes is right. Since I started backpacking in 1992, my pack weight has gone from 65 pounds to less than twenty -- does anyone seriously think it cost me over $4500 to do that?
More than half of the weight savings was free -- it came from *not* bringing unnecessary cr@p. Most of the rest was cheap -- a combination of cheap gear, homemade gear, and/or dirtbagging. The only piece of gear that I own that was *more* expensive in its lightweight version is my Western Mountaineering down sleeping bag. Everything else -- my pack, my tarps and tarptents, my cook kit, clothing, etc. -- all of it was cheaper than the equivalent quality "heavy" traditional gear.
I do like high quality clothing, but I wait until the end-of-season sale, when it's almost always half off. My winter bag was a WM Antelope on 40% off sale at the local outfitter. If I can't find something locally, there is always Sierra Trading Post and Campmor super sales.
Of course you can spend a gazillion dollars on bleeding-edge high-tech gear made from fibers used on the space shuttle, or something. (See backpackinglight.com for many examples of very high quality gear, priced to match.) The point is, that's hardly required to go light.
Why rocks? If you want to carry a heavy pack just load it up with fruit and books and eggs and a little radio and a beefy thermarest and some candles for the winter and don't forget the books. Like the rocks, the candles will burn down, the books will be read and burned page by page, the apples and pears and avocados will be eaten and all will get lighter. It's alright to start heavy.
I wonder what the ULers here would think of lugging a 130lb pack up a mountain? If they had the opportunity to hit Denali and were confronted with this kind of weight, would they just not go?
It's not the attempts to lighten our loads that rankles and disturbs, it's the heavy handed born-again ultralighters who keep attempting to lead us into a future of flimsy nothingness and a preoccupation with grams.
When you say to do everything you can to keep yourself under 25lbs, you're throwing out a random number that has nothing to do with real-world trip lengths or mountains climbed(like Denali). Is this 25lb number for 15 days? For one night? For a week at below zero?
As others have said, the common backpacker's truism of "if you don't use it every day, don't bring it", is nonsense. I went out for a 10 day trip last year and brought my tent rainfly and it didn't rain until the last day. Should I have left the fly at home? I take my goretex rain jacket out every trip and sometimes never use it but when I do it's needed as I'm walking in a cold rain and must stay warm but not use my warming midlayers and so I can keep them dry by hiking in a wet t-shirt under the jacket. The jacket keeps me warm but it sure isn't used every day. Or how about the pain meds in the first aid kit? Or the extra lexan spoon when the other one breaks? Or the MSR stove tool? Or the ripstop patches? Or the extra tent stakes which might be needed atop an open bald in a high wind? Or might not if I'm camped on the low ground?
There's a lot of truth in this statement. You gotta have something with a floor when the tentsite fills with water, and most sites will if it rains hard enough. Not all tent floors will keep out a little lake, but some will and a heck of a lot better than tarps and some lightweight tents.
Well, I agree but I can't get too vocal as this is their thread and they've allocated a whole forum to the UL craze.
Hey, Blue Jay, we might have some things in common! I like your blurb, "constant, unrelenting, ultralight proselytizing" and the "heavy bad, light good" stuff. But by writing this stuff on their forum, you've entered into their holy inner sanctum. Be Warned!
I've always thought Everest ought to be done as a day hike. In any case, we're not talking about climbing Denali. We're taking about going for a walk in the forest. It can be done without carrying the space shuttle on your back. But if you'd rather do it that way, you are free to do so.
Some knew me as Piper, others as just Diane.
I hiked the PCT: Mexico to Mt. Shasta, 2008. Santa Barbara to Canada, 2009.
Not worried, unlike other religious zealots, they mostly just enjoy bragging about estimates of weight and extremity lenght.
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