got my pack down to 30lbs.

so im all packed up and my pack and gear weigh about 30lbs. with no food or water. i also may bring some hemp and beads so that would add a few lbs. does this seem heavy or light to you?

 

I am reminded that once upon a time women were forbidden to lift more than 35 pounds on the job, that being the heaviest weight of a child before it could walk.

I don't know whether that's heavy or not, I'm afraid, but I was wondering what you packed?

 

I lug 30 pounds of kicking, screaming, biting terror every day, and if I can do it, you can. It should be fine, if it's on your back. My right arm is really strong because it's the one I usually use to carry Noah.... my left one is pitiful....


Thirty doesn't seem too bad, though. But I'm not an expert.

 

For some reason I'm thinking that you are supposed to carry 20% of your body weight at the maximum. So, thirty would be the max for someone who weighs 150lbs. But I'd say someone who is taller would be able to carry more. At 5'2'' if I put 40 pounds on my back(not that I weigh 900lbs, but...), I just might tip over.

 

The rule of thumb for packweight is 1/4 to 1/3 of your body weight. 30 w/o food and water isn't bad. You can go lighter but not with out more outlay of $$$. Do your research and you can get your packweight pretty low. (well under35 lbs with 4-5 days of food and days supply of water)My average packweight on my 1st AT thru-hike was 40-42 lbs with food (4-5 days worth)and water. If you have the $$ you can get your packweight down due to all the innovations in lightweight gear since my first thru-hike in '98. i did a short section hike last spring. I used most of the same or similas gear as I did in '98. I felt like a dinosaur as most folks had light packs( usually under 30 lbs with food and water) hiked in trail runners. My pack was around 42 lbs (I eat alot) and I hiked in heavyduty Scarpa boots.

check out the following websites www.backpacker.com www.campmor.com www.whiteblaze.net, www.trailjournals.com, www.golite.com

 

well im almost 6 foot and last year my pack was probably a bit over 50lbs. and at the time i barely weighed 120.(made the choice of eating out of a backpack instead of starving in a house.) it was a little too much. i have a nice pack and bag and an army hammock and that comes to about 20lbs. i think most the other weight comes from clothing, as al i have are normal clothes, and i like having a clean shirt incase i meet a girl or something, and i have some cold weather clothes cus i always end up up north late in the year. id like to get my pack lighter, but i really dont see how i could.
heres what i carry
army jungle hammock
0 degree sleeping bag
rain pancho(doubles as tarp)
water filter
coffee percolator
small kitchen tongs
small screen(use as a grill)
road atlas
lightweight hoodie
longsleeve thermal shirt
courdroy shorts
blue jeans
3 t-shirts
skirt
a couple of candles
small wooden bowl
electric beard trimmer, toothbruch toothpaste, doc bronners soap.
then i have a bunch of random shit like packs of raw sugar, some mettal clips, some extra straps and clips incase my pack breaks, needles and thread, some markers, bunch of colored concert braceletes, rolling tobacco, some hankerchiefs, a notebook.
damn now looking at it im kinda of a packrat, i always figured me for a minimalist.
can you kids think of anything i can ditch, or things ive forgotten, theres no telling how long im gonna be livin in this thing for, but id like to shed someof it so i have room for stuff like mabey a book or a cd player or a tent(but those are big and bulky) my beads and hemp, some sandals, i dunno if i added all those things id be killin myself every day.
oh i also carry my heavy banjolin with me too, but that ends up saving me so much money and gives me somthin to do, so thats not goin anywhere.

 

30 lbs seems reasonable to me. Once I had a pack that was too heavy at Isle Royale in lake Superior. It sucked, we had to camp at a closer spot and eat like kings that night just to get the weight down for the next day. We had all kinds of bottled alcohol, I think that had a lot to do with it


Do you filter your water or pack it?

edit: never mind, I see you are bringing a filter.

 

hahaha my first cross country trek i gained about 10 lbs that way. id get all this food, then get sick of carrying it, so i'd eat it all. then the next day i was so hungry, id go and get a bunch of food again . . . . now i only pack food if im gonna be out in the wildernes for a week or longer. i always am packin some dank organic coffee though!

 

you do pack alot, i dont even pack that much, lol. lose a t shirt,makes more room for skirt, lose the jeans or maybe trade em for long thermals, their lighter. trade in thraed for dental floss, stronger any day, lose sugar packs, if u got doc bronners u dont REALLY need toothpaste

 

Yea lose that toothpaste and those little sugar packs, that will be sure to save you maybe one-fifth of a pound

 

well i really dont have a home to go back too, so i gotta pack for an indefinate amount of time.

 

i was just sayin space wise-u might be able to squeezein that book or cd player- not weight wise, but 30 lbs is ok.

 

i wold say keep the dental products ya got, it's always nice to have your own teeth as long as you can hold on to the little buggers




a tent wold be nice but wold be a bitch to carry they do have some now that take up hardly any space and all you do is shake em to make em pop up, they are expensive tho but may be a good investment down the road........ specially if ya gotta camp in snow or rain one day.

 

Carry no more than 1/4 of your body weight. I learned that this week in Outdoor Living classMine weighs 23 pounds and has everything i need, plus lotion (dry skin lol) and some other stuff i don't need but want (my 2 teddies that i sleep with, a notebook to write/draw in since paint is too heavy to bring, etc.)

 

Are you planning on trading with some natives?

Usually on my many expeditions including Isle Royale (hi-five to seamonster)

I wear a 50 pound pack and I myself weigh 150 lbs

This year from my Glacier Montana trip im shooting for a 40 pound pack and to bulk up my body weight to 160

so going from 1/3 to 1/4

 

When I was hiking in the mountains of New Mexico I was carry about a 50 lbs. pack and I only weighed about 140 at the time. The best thing to do is get in shape before you go then a few extra pounds is a bit more barable.

 

Definetly there are so many rewards for being physically fit. Its really a shame they way so many people treat there bodies.

Makes hiking a hell of a lot easier!

 

Did i read that your taking a wooden bowl? lol why dont you get a nice lightweight aluminum or a type of metal one? save some weight

 

HONESTLY,
WHEN I WAS TRAMPIN ROUND THE COUNTRY,, MY PACK WEIGHED AROUND 80 POUNDS...

COURSE IT WAS MY HOME AND WORLD....:sunglasse

30 POUNDS SEEMS FINE FER A AVERAGE GALAVANT THO...


SHIT IVE SEEN FOLKS HIKE THE A.P. TRAIL WITH NUTHIN BUT A PONCHO A SLEEPIN BAG AND A WEEKS WORTH OF FOOD AT A TIME...


I DARE SAY,, THEY COULDNT HAVE BEEN TOTIN MORE THAN 25 POUNDS MAX AT A TIME AND WERE THRU HIKING...


SO THAT BEIN SAID,, IF IT FEELS RIGHT,, DO IT...

 

The last happy hippies that were staying with me for a couple weeks both carried heavy packs - hers was lighter than his, since she's only been doing it for 3 years. He has been wandering the country forever though, and he's got about 30 lbs of just clothes - he carries about 60 lbs and stands maybe 5'6". Course, he's probably one of the strongest little guys I've EVER seen, and he's been carrying his house forever. But, he has no problem finding/doing work, he went to day labor and got a job almost every day that he showed up because he could do anything they asked of him.