Then it came time for my first official trip to the Superior Hiking Trail, I was talking up my gear to all my friends, using jargon and hiker slang to impress them. How foolish I was, naive really. We rode the five hour van ride up to our trail head of choice, unloaded our gear and just stretched our legs for a bit before starting. With my pack fully loaded, things strapped here and there just like in the advertisements, I set off. Not long after my trip began I started to slow down, I was becoming tired and sore. My feet were heavy due to my boots, my shoulders being tugged on tirelessly by my pride and joy, my gear.
My short anecdote is not unlike most hikers first experience on the trail, too much gear and no money to replace the heavy stuff with lighter equipment. It dawned on me very soon after we started that I did not like a heavy backpack, so here are some of the conditions of my first trip:
- Improper Pack
- Luxury items
- No weight list
- Poor planning
- Inexperience
Improper Pack
This is literal, I bought the wrong pack for myself. Earlier I mentioned a 75 liter giant, but this was not the backpack I brought with on my first hiking trip. No for this trip I had an REI Flash 55 which won some awards from Backpacker Magazine in 2010. That was why I chose it, award winning and lightweight. I don't have anything bad to say about this pack, other than because of my lack of experience, I misused it and thus resulting in my return of the pack. It was in the lightweight category, so having 40+ lbs of gear is not recommended, which resulted in my discomfort and its return to REI. Looking back I should have kept it, but now from my experience I won't make the same mistake again.
Luxury Items
This was a big problem of mine, I carried too many luxury items such as, a folding stool, hammock, extra shoes, and a bathing-suit. First things first, a bathing-suit? No idea why I thought that would be a good thing to bring along, seriously. Wasn't even going to be warm enough to swim, but I thought, what if I need it? Yeah right. Anyway, the point here is that if it doesn't serve a purpose, then is it really worth it? The stool for example, it weighed about 14oz, little did I know that the Superior Hiking Trail has benches at all campsites of some fashion. That's almost a pound extra right there. Back then, not all that long ago, I thought I needed something for anything that could happen. Well if it rained I wanted a rain jacket, and pants. Too cold? Well I have an emergency bivy right here. Not enough fuel? Don't worry I brought extra. I simply brought too much stuff that didn't need to come along, either it was too heavy, unnecessary, only served one purpose, or could have easily been replaced with something lighter.
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| Me far left, rag-tag group of newbies. Packs are too heavy and filled to burst. |
No Weight List
Like a dummy, I didn't weigh anything. I stepped on the scale without a backpack, and back onto it while wearing it. Oh lets see, 180 to 225, lets see that's 45lbs! Ouch, hurts the self-esteem seeing the scale that heavy. Anyways, I hadn't weighed out each item to visually see what things weighed. If I had done so then I might have questioned if an item was needed or not. A great resource to use for this is geargrams.com which is neat because it has different weight options, oz, grams, lbs, etc. It's free to use, but they do like to see donations come there way but that's totally up to you. I use it now that I know it exists and it's been a great way to cut things out.
Poor Planning
Well it's safe to say that everyone has been here, poor coordination between group members resulting in extra equipment being brought along that wasn't necessary. For example, on my first backpacking trip there were four "group sized" first aid kits, three stoves and enough fuel for a party of fifteen, and plenty of food. Oops. The worst part was that once we got to camp, only one stove was used and the others were left in the packs when we could have sped dinner up immensely. This error resulted in extra pounds for a few of us, and was quite wasteful since we all bought new fuel canisters.
Inexperience
For most of us on this trip, it was our first backpacking experience. I had hiked before and been on a few canoe trips, one of which was in the Boundary Waters. I knew the northern woods well enough to identify trees, know what animal tracks belong to which critter, and even how to navigate a map pretty well. But when it came to actual backpacking I wasn't too knowledgeable. I knew very little about the particular trail we were on, which meant little to me, I was being guided by someone with many trips under his belt. Looking back I could have done some research about campsite locations, towns that are nearby in case of emergency, or scenic spots along the trail.
Since then I have learned a lot, simply from reading about other peoples trips. In my quest for the lightest gear I have discovered you can make a lot of it yourself with a little know-how and the DIY spirit within. Understanding the function of gear is also important, can it do more than one thing? If not then do you need it? Weighing your gear to visually see what it takes up is a great way to cut back, and the geargrams site does that wonderfully.
My Suggestions
-First of all, start weighing your gear, it's an easy place to start and it'll start getting the lightweight gears moving. Once I weighed everything, even down to extra bottle caps I was bringing with, I knew I was never going back to "traditional" backpacking.
-Second, asses your gear, if it can do more than one thing great, if it can't then maybe look for an alternative.
-Third, don't rush out and buy something just because it's new and "ultra-light", take time to do research and look for reviews first. If you can make it, go for it, it's another way to keep busy in the off season.
-Fourth, join a forum and talk to people about gear and equipment. Your gear is only half of it though, your skills will determine what you bring with you too, so the more you know the less things you will need to carry, within reason though. Just because someone got a Ph.D in medicine doesn't mean they won't have to bring a first aid kit.
-Fifth, set a weight you would like to reach, say your gear in total skin out (pack weight without food/water/consumables) is 25lbs, shoot for under 20, or 18 even. I'm tentatively hovering around 12-15 depending on the temperature, and weather reports. I'm okay with that weight, it's suitable for my skill level at the moment.
-Sixth, be careful with lightweight gear, it's not built to survive a tumble down a rock outcropping. Most traditional gear is built to last with heavier weight fabric and reinforced seams. Lightweight gear isn't fragile, but it's not tough as nails either so treat it gently.
-Lastly, practice. That's what it comes down to, by removing the three season tent I was carrying I had to acquire a new skill, "hammocking". I couldn't just pick it off the shelf and set off, no I needed practice, and my backyard was just the place.
I hope what's taken away here is that lightweight backpacking isn't about the fancy gear, though a lot of the time people make it out to seem that way. The mentality you have about it makes it lightweight, your gear just facilitates your trip's needs, shelter, food prep, clothing, it's how you go about it. Think lightweight, and your trips will become lightweight.
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