[pct-l] Weight

[Vincent Rupp]

Just one more comment on this discussion:

Make sure your pack is comfortable regardless what weight you're at. 20 lbs
or 70 lbs, you'll be constantly miserable if your pack isn't made for the
load. Get all your other gear together, -then- choose a pack that works.

On Apr 20, 2009 5:46 PM, "Carl Siechert" <carlito at gmail.com> wrote:

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 PCTe...

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