#038: Evolution of a Lightweight Backpacker - Introduction
Join me in the Wednesday Winter Series on how my fully-loaded pack weight was cut from forty two lbs. to twenty lbs.
Backpacking is the art of knowing what not to take. -Sheridan Anderson
I have been backpacking for about fifteen years. Like most people, I started out with heavy gear, bulky gear, and too much gear. Over the next several Wednesdays I am going to journey through the evolution of a lightweight backpacker.
This series will be different than your typical deep dive into every aspect of the latest and greatest gear type of gear guide where I make comparisons and recommendations. Instead, this series will show in story form how I cut my weight in half as inexpensively as possible, differently than many, and in a few cases, as weirdly as possible, over the past fourteen years or so.
Weirdly? Yes. While others are using $36.00 titanium drinking mugs that are advertised as “Extremely Lightweight at only only 3.2 ounces,” I’ll be over here sipping my morning coffee from a plastic Nutter Butter cookie cup I bought at Walmart for $1.00 that weighs only weighs 0.4 ounces. It holds as much coffee as the $36.00 mug but mine came full of free cookies.
Pack weight is forever on the minds of backpackers. We know the struggle of carrying a heavy pack up and down mountains day in and day out. We know the difference that is made by dropping a single pound from the pack. Dropping five pounds is a major relief. But when we learn to cut our pack weight in half, well, that’s a game changer.
We count ounces, plan carefully, buy lighter gear, learn over time what we really need and what we can leave at home, all in the hope that our pack will be a little lighter than it was on our last trip.
What we must be mindful NOT to do is to throw a bunch of luxury or just-in-case items into our pack as we walk out the door.
Few people have the financial means to walk into an outfitter and drop three thousand dollars on the latest and lightest version of everything needed. Most people, like me, and some of you, just buy what we can afford based on our backpacking knowledge at the time, then go from there.
At first, we are happy just having enough gear to survive our first weekend trip. But over time our ambitions grow, which usually results in the growth of the mountains. We realize, that with a little gear tweaking our burden to reach the next summit can be lightened.
I remember buying my gear one piece at a time for myself and my son. Over time I was able to replace the old heavier items with lighter versions.
I gained wisdom by watching how other’s gear treated them on the trail. Expensive and complicated does NOT necessarily translate to light or more dependable. I’ve seen fancy stoves catch everything around them on fire. I’ve watched complicated water filters fail miserably or start flushing backwards. I’ve listened to high end sleeping pads sound like a bag of potato chips being dug through every time the person rolled over in their tent, which of course can be heard all through camp.
During my 2021 AT Section hike, I experienced a weight-dropping-epiphany that combined what I have learned over the years with a giant leap forward in evolution to cut my base weight (weight before food & water is added) nearly in half from where it is now, making it significantly lighter from where it began many years prior. I’m excited about putting these new epiphany-driven notions into practice on my upcoming 2022 section hike.
Join me next Wednesday as we talk about the backpack, the piece by which all else is carried, and my early mistakes and lessons learned when purchasing my first one.
So luxury or just in case items for me would probably be make-up, hair spray, dry shampoo, my cats, my Keurig, and my keyboard. I wonder if these items would be too heavy 🤔 🤔🤔