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OracleWalker
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OracleWalker
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PostWed Jul 31, 2019 9:40 am 
130+ lbs as a first backpacking trip in High School in 2005 at Mt. Baker. I was in charge of food supplies / tent / water. I carried a 6 person dome tent, restaurant style portable stove and 8 canisters of fuel, 5 gallon water jug, and lots of other stuff. I've never done ultralight backpacking. I generally am the "mule" of the groups I join and carry all the food / water / supplies. However, I still smoke everyone in terms of speed and getting through things. Strong legs, heart and arms keep me going.

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Kim Brown
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PostWed Jul 31, 2019 11:02 am 
OracleWalker wrote:
I've never done ultralight backpacking. I generally am the "mule" of the groups I join and carry all the food / water / supplies. However, I still smoke everyone in terms of speed and getting through things. Strong legs, heart and arms keep me going.
A good person to have around when someone's injured and a mule is needed!

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Backpacker Joe
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PostWed Jul 31, 2019 3:20 pm 
Anyone can throw in the kitchen sink. A better question is, what's the lightest pack you taken on multiple days. I once hiked into the Enchantments with 17 lbs for three days. It was heaven. up.gif

"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." — Abraham Lincoln
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wolffie
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PostFri Aug 09, 2019 4:01 pm 
seattlenativemike wrote:
memorable loads being carried on the trek to Base Camp in Nepal
The tumpline (strap over top of head, so weight is on the spine, not hips or shoulders) is the traditional way of carrying heavy loads. The Voyageurs of the French-Canadian fur trade would portage two 90-lb. bales of trade goods or beaver skins with tumplines (a 1/2 mile portage would be considered long). I rigged a tumpline with a climbing pack once, 80 lbs or so. Not fun, but being young and stupid beats being old and stupid. I bought one of Dan McHale's custom-made packs for when I find myself in the role of Sherpa/porter, and although for what I paid for it I have petty complaints about numerous details, and it's not exactly light, his wide hip belt with inconvenient double buckles really does seem to form a comfortable cone that centers the weight on my pelvis, without saddle sores, without clenching my stomach muscles to tuck my pelvis, without lower back fatigue. My legs get tired, but my back doesn't get tired. The double buckles allow me to shape the hipbelt in various ways. And sometimes I'll add almost 20 lbs. of water for short hauls so we can sleep on a dry summit. His expedition packs also have this neat (removable) system wherein the shoulder straps slide up-and-down, making adjustment much easier -- I'm not sure this is necessary if you know how to operate a backpack suspension system, but I think the average person does not. It took me years to really figure out how backpacks work, and each pack is different. Depending on how you count, there are 7-9 adjustments -- torso, hip, shoulder strap length, lifters, sternum, and 2 outside the hip belt whose function eludes me -- change one, and you have to change all the rest. It's a fluid, dynamic system. One big gripe is that the hip belt buckles slowly slip, and I start feeling cramps in my hips; tighten the hip belt a mere 1/4", and presto! Problem solved, huge difference! I don't see how people using poles can do this. I'm fussing with my suspension constantly, so I need hands free. I carried a single bamboo pole on the last trip, so I had at least one hand free, but each time I saddled-up, I had to adjust belt, lifters, sternum (a non-McHale pack would require shoulder strap adjustment too, making it 6) before I even took a step. Without poles, I'm walking as soon as one shoulder is through the strap, adjusting the pack as I go, and I'm 100 meters down the trail before my partner has even finished saddling-up and grabbed his poles. The bamboo pole, BTW, is a huge pain in the a$$ 99.5% of the time, usually ignored and carried like a sword in a scabbard, but maybe worth the trouble with a heavy load for crossing blowdowns, fords, log crossings over rivers, tired with a heavy load, downhill, and uphill, there's a way to lean on it that seems much more ergonomic than short double poles. Plus, the lignified hydrated carbon polymer nanocellular construction is so high-tech. Biodegradable, too. And I can burn it if I want. I'm the only person in the world who gets his bamboo from Maple (my neighbor). To answer the OP: 70 lbs. with all the gear for two people and one small dog for 15 days (when you're not 65 anymore, and can tell) is not fun, but if Sahib still can't keep up with you, why not? I'm stubbnorn enough, and my ears are big enough. It all depends on how well you're paid. It does get really annoying when Sahib is carrying unnecessary gear and water.

Some people have better things to do with their lives than walking the dog. Some don't.
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wolffie
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PostFri Aug 09, 2019 4:28 pm 
SwitchbackFisher wrote:
In the BWCA I did several portage's with a 40ish pound canoe if I recall and about 50 lb bag. Once you get the canoe balance right it's not bad and I think my longest was maybe 3/4 mile.
We need to talk. I grew up in the BWCA. A tent was 20 lbs. I believe a Grumman was 65 lbs. or more. The test of manhood for us youngsters was carrying a canvas Duluth pack (shoulder straps, no hip belt) and flipping the canoe onto your shoulders without help. We looked up the the older guys who could do this like they were Hercules, gods... some of these guys were so big and tough, they were almost old enough to shave! Buy me a Buckhorn beer, and I'll tell you about Moose Turd Stew* (we actually did make that once), the dreaded Kiana Portage, and the epic, mythical Dead Moose Fart. That was when I smoked my first cigarette, we didn't know about wool clothing, and the older boys took us on snipe hunts and taught us how to sneak beers and talk dirty. My Uncle Fred was always proud of his fish stew, so when he asked Paul the Crew Chief how the stew was, Paul's answer, "Aw, Fred, this tastes like c*nt" sounded really impressive too me, although I didn't know what c*nt was, and still didn't a few weeks later when Mom asked me how I liked the dinner she'd just cooked (yes, really). That was all before corgis were invented. On my living room wall is a Francis Lee Jaques watercolor of voyageurs in birchbark canoes on the Minnesota/Ontario border -- definition of the border was the traditional fur-trade route, which my bro and I paddled for 265 miles from Rainy Lake to Lake Superior. *Utah Phillips, "Moose Turd Pie"

Some people have better things to do with their lives than walking the dog. Some don't.
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SwitchbackFisher
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PostFri Aug 09, 2019 6:02 pm 
wolffie wrote:
We need to talk. I grew up in the BWCA
You are very fortunate, I made a trip there when the military decided I needed to spend 6 years in North Dakota. It was a 5 day trip and heaven. I have been dreaming of going back ever since then. I do want to bring my Corgi (Mulder) if I go again, but am not sure how he will be in a canoe, I feel like he would do his best to flip me over 😆

I may not be the smartest, I may not be the strongest, but I don't want to be. I only want to be the best I can be.
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Michael Lewis
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PostSat Aug 10, 2019 10:08 pm 
Going up mt Pugh in 2007 with Josh and family, I cannot be sure but we probably carried 75 lbs each. We had pans, breakfast, lunch, dinner for everyone, heavy tents, bags and not nearly enough water. We made it half way to Stujack pass and had to move the gear in pieces by headlamp when our backs were thrashed at midnight. The next day was brutal when we ran out of water at the summit and dragged all that crap down. After climbing a bunch of stuff in 2010 and plodding through the JMT with sub 40 lbs, I decided that without an alpine rack there's no reason to ever carry more than that. Can't imagine a long trek with 75 now. My back would break.

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Dante
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PostMon Aug 12, 2019 4:01 pm 
65 pounds for sure. Probably more. I used to take insanely heavy packs on family beach hikes when my kids were little. I used a Kelty external frame pack for those hikes, and when everything didn't fit inside, I'd take of the back and strap duffel bags directly to the frame. Back then, my wife was usually carrying whichever child was youngest in a baby backpack, so I carried everything until the older kids got old enough to carry enough to make a difference. When they were toddlers, my load included a 5 person tent, tarp(s) in case of rain, clothes for the whole family, sleeping gear for the whole family, mess gear for the whole family, water filter, etc. etc. Oh, and lots of diapers. It was awesome, though. No regrets. My youngest (now 17) and I camped at Shi Shi last weekend. So many great memories! I've gone down the ultralight rabbit hole, too. I've come to appreciate a balance of ultralight gear and a few heavier items (e.g., a really comfy sleeping pad).

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Ski
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PostMon Aug 12, 2019 8:19 pm 
yeehaw!

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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Anne Elk
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PostMon Aug 12, 2019 8:37 pm 
Ski, I don't know which is more astounding - that you were carrying someone else's pack on top of your own, or that you're carrying it all in THOSE SHOES!! - No padding, no arch/ankle support. Yipes! eek.gif

"There are yahoos out there. It’s why we can’t have nice things." - Tom Mahood
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thunderhead
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PostMon Aug 12, 2019 8:46 pm 
75 pounds for whitney glacier on shasta. Cheap gear and crevasse fear. Its what inspired my ultralight craze: "i am not doing that again!". At one point i got so carried away in ultralight i flaked rocks in place of carrying a knife. Now i think i live in a happy not so middle ground near but not crazy ultralight.

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Ski
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PostMon Aug 12, 2019 10:27 pm 
Anne Elk wrote:
"...THOSE SHOES!!"
The Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star is the shoe of choice for that trail. I've tried others - those work just fine for me. Actually... now that I think of it.... since that pair of Timberlands fell apart on me, that's pretty much all I've been wearing are the Chuck Taylors or Tevas ... they work fine.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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