[pct-l] Pack Weight vs Body Weight

[Bighummel@aol.com]

When I started back packing I was taught a rule-of-thumb that your pack 
should not be more than 1/4 of your body weight.  By this rule Jardin must 
only weigh about 32 pounds if he carries an 8 lb pack!  ;-)  

When I hiked the trail in 77 I weighed about 200 lbs and so thought that a 
50-60 lb pack would be all right.  This would not be okay for a person 
weighing 150 lbs., but then the boots, sleeping bag, food volume, etc., etc. 
would all weigh less for a smaller person also, making a lighter pack easier 
to attain.

I recall that my pack loaded to go into the Sierras with ice axe, wool 
layers, in-step crampons, gaiters, without food or water, weighed about 45 to 
50 lbs.  Not bad for 77 and fully prepared for extreme situations.  However, 
Kennedy Meadows didn't exist then and so the plan was to go all the way to 
Independence from Weldon (look it up on the map, it is small but there at the 
southern foot of the Sierras).  11-13 days depending on snow coverage, 
weather, etc.  I carried, therefor, more food than I had planned for any 
other section of the trail.  This added about twenty pounds to my pack, so 
that I carried 65 to 70 lbs out of Weldon (about a third of my weight).  With 
the late spring snow storms it took me 16 days to get to Independence and so 
I had to ration my food when the storms hit.  

Now, if I were to re-hike the trail today I would aim for a 
food-and-water-free pack weight of around 35 pounds and think that that would 
be fairly easily attainable, considering the lighter equipment and some of 
the new well thought out light weight strategies.  However, I now weigh 250 
lbs, and so as the rule-of-thumb goes I should be able to carry 75 lbs!  Ugh! 
 I'm in-fact already 50 lbs in the hole to start with so I will HAVE to 
reduce my pack weight to LESS than zero to offset my increased weight!  

I'm not sure if the helium balloons will slow my progress as I will be trying 
to average 50 to 60 miles per day so that I don't have to carry any food, 
clothing, tent, sleeping bag or tooth brush!  I intend to need only July and 
August.  Look out Ray, here I come!  Ha, Ha, Ha! (I'd be lucky to average 15 
miles per day in actuality)

On a more serious note:
Good luck 2000'ners!  My wishes and memories go out with you as you are 
planning and coordinating food and supplies and drift box and equipment and 
weighing everything and worrying.  You may not realize it but the journey has 
already begun for you, even before you have taken the first step from under 
the fence at Campo.  

Enjoy the journey, enjoy the entire journey, relish in the butterflies, 
questions, fears and insecurities.  Relish in the details, relish in the 
planning.  Recognize that you are so very much better prepared and advised 
than us of past years.  This means that, barring unusual weather and your 
personal mental limitations, that you have a better probability of success.

When you are out there on some wispy bright afternoon with nothing in your 
ears but the sound of the wind in the pines, the sweet smell of the 
wildflowers surrounding you, long vistas in every direction and not a sole 
around, listen for the footsteps of those who have gone before you for we are 
still out there looking and listening, smelling, remembering . . . 

Best regards,

Greg "Strider" Hummel
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