[pct-l] Weight

[Carl Siechert]

Hey Andrew:

Several others have given some good advice on *how* to lower your pack
weight, so let me give you some of the *why*.

When I thru-hiked in '77, my base weight was around 35 pounds. With 7-14
days of food (we didn't make as many town stops as most thrus do now), I
would usually leave a town with 50-70 pounds on my back (plus 7-pound
mountaineering boots!). We just didn't know any better back then.

In fact, as recently as the turn of the century, my typical starting weight
for a 10-day backpack trip was about 60 pounds--and each trip got more
difficult. It took some convincing, but I finally started shedding the
pounds. Losing 20 pounds from my base weight--now in the mid-teens, so I'm
definitely not an extremist--was like losing 20 years. I'm now 53, and being
able to put in long miles the way I did when I was in my 20s (except with
less pain) is nothing short of amazing.

If you're in your 20s now, you might want to hold off on this revelation for
a few years. Save it for when you'll really appreciate it. Besides, you
wouldn't want to lose 20 years and hike like a 5 year old. ;-)

On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 1:28 PM, Andrew Dawson <question.everything at live.com
> wrote:

>
> Hey PCTers
>
> I just weighed all the things I'm going to take with me on the trail and I
> have come up with 34.88 lbs - that's if I were to hike naked which isn't
> going to happen. Here is my