[pct-l] base weights and ultralight packs

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

On Oct 24, 2008, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> base weights and ultralight packs

This year on the PCT I met Nimblewill Nomad a couple of times. He had  
a very tiny ultralight pack from Gossamer Gear. Even they did not  
think the pack would last the whole PCT, but he was determined to do  
it. His pack weight including food and water was around 12lbs.

He said that he never carried more than 20oz of water at any time,  
even in the desert. I found that incredible, but after looking  
through my journal and remembering everything that I did, I mostly  
carried around liters and liters of water that I regularly topped off  
but rarely ever consumed until empty. I could have gotten by with a  
lot less.

What I should have done was drink deeply at water sources and carry  
only enough to drink to get to the next and if the current water  
source was the last until dinner, also carry only enough additional  
water to make dinner and breakfast. That would have reduced my weight  
greatly, but not to 20oz. No way. I was way more thirsty than that!