Ultra-Light check list

[DarenN]

just surfin' around the net and found this page-

http://www.backpacking.net/27-pound.html

i think it would be interesting to see how others deal with weight issues.

as a kayaker (primarily) volume is more of a concern than weight to me, but i do backpack for flyfishing now and then, and i've been concidering cutting back the weight on kayak trips as well.

let's discuss......

Daren.....

[samh]

Here are my three oft-used gear lists.

http://samh.net/backpacking/?do=showpage&id=9

If I'm going or super ultralight my pack fully-loaded for three days in the woods that will weigh around eleven and a half pounds. Typically I carry variations on that but average weekend weight stays under twenty pounds.

In the article you posted the gear list is a twenty-seven pound pack with seven days of supplies. My 'long distance' gear list was designed around a nine day trip length and weighs in at around thirty-two pounds.

[Ridgerunner]

i think it would be interesting to see how others deal with weight issues.

as a kayaker (primarily) volume is more of a concern than weight to me, but i do backpack for flyfishing now and then, and i've been concidering cutting back the weight on kayak trips as well.

let's discuss......

Daren, I did not mean to ignore you. First, let me say, I am not a gram wienie. My hikes are usually a week or less. Therefore, I have no problem taking extra luxury type items and added weight. Being a large person, the extra weight is not that big of deal. I have been working on lessoning the load on my items I consider a necessity, just to see how much easier I hike with a lighter load. I hike to enjoy the experience which includes taking in my surroundings and eating good. You know I enjoy food! This leads to extra weight but it is worth it.

[DarenN]

Ridgerunner, i agree with you. if i'm going out to enjoy the outdoors, i wanna by god enjoy myself! i'm not out there to see how much i can deprive myself of and still survive. but, as you said, we can certainly cut the weight back on the essentials leaving more room for the luxuries and i think we can learn from those who are true gram weinies. Samh's link has some great info, as does the link i posted, and i think these type of lists are very important for the through hiking crowd, and i think to myself, i could do that if i wanted. say; walk "home" from here. Vancouver to Saskatoon is a bit over 1,000 miles; say two months, at about 15-20 miles a day (if i didn't hitch-hike). might be fun. might be a nightmare. who knows. how far does a through-hiker walk in a day??

there is a kayak trip i've been thinking about, locally. circumnavigating Vancouver Island. folks do it every year. it's a very long trip that could really tax ones packing ability. IIRC the record time for this is 26 days and he was a tuned-up racer. i'm not, so i'd be looking at a month plus with no chance of re-supply, but some 300 liters of storage space in the boat.

Daren........

[dlarson]

I'm pretty new to this hiking thing so I've been relying heavily on Samh's gear lists for direction.
I don't think I'm at gram weenie level yet but maybe someday... we'll see. Right now I'm still shaving ounces!
My base gear weight is about 11 pounds carried. I'd like to get that down below 10 so I can include some luxury items like a camera.
Here's my gear list.

A nice insulated jacket is next on my purchase list.
I figure I can probably cut my tent weight in half with a new tarp tent and lose a lot of weight off my kitchen kit by switching to titanium pots.

[oops56]

I'm pretty new to this hiking thing so I've been relying heavily on Samh's gear lists for direction.
I don't think I'm at gram weenie level yet but maybe someday... we'll see. Right now I'm still shaving ounces!
My base gear weight is about 11 pounds carried. I'd like to get that down below 10 so I can include some luxury items like a camera.
Here's my gear list.

A nice insulated jacket is next on my purchase list.
I figure I can probably cut my tent weight in half with a new tarp tent and lose a lot of weight off my kitchen kit by switching to titanium pots.

I heard that titanium heats fast and lose heat fast also after off fire.Now anodized alm. i think is just as good.

[dlarson]

I heard that titanium heats fast and lose heat fast also after off fire.Now anodized alm. i think is just as good.

I guess I don't really know much about that Oops.
To my knowledge, aluminum transfers heat pretty well which is why it's sometimes used for heat sinks. Copper is even better but weighs a lot.
This chart on the thermal properties of metal that I found seems to show titanium with a low thermal conductivity.
I guess it would be easier to heat water with aluminum then. I wonder what the weight difference is in fuel usage for titanium VS aluminum. If the extra fuel needed for titanium exceeds the weight savings over aluminum I guess it's not that great.

[Ridgerunner]

. how far does a through-hiker walk in a day??

there is a kayak trip i've been thinking about, locally. circumnavigating Vancouver Island. folks do it every year. it's a very long trip that could really tax ones packing ability. IIRC the record time for this is 26 days and he was a tuned-up racer. i'm not, so i'd be looking at a month plus with no chance of re-supply, but some 300 liters of storage space in the boat.

Thru hikers travel roughly 8-25 miles/day just depending on the individual, weather, conditions and terrain.

Your kayak trip sounds awesome. I have never been but love the water. I think I would troll a line while I was paddling. Makes for good tablefare and saves on storage space.

Samh's gear links are excellent and I know of a few more I will try to post for reference.

[DarenN]

here's a page about Trangia stoves that talks about Titanium a bit. seems to be a lot slower to boil. i've found this to be true, but not to the extent listed on this page.

http://www.ultralight-hiking.com/stoves-trangia.html

Daren.......

[dlarson]

Thanks Darren! It looks like the boil time was increased by 1:30 to 2:10 minutes with titanium depending on the flame distance.
It seems like the increased fuel usage would be negligible for weekend hikes. For longer trips it could add up though.