[pct-l] ultralight packs

[sriprank at yahoo.com (frank martin)]

<I am puzzled by the seemingly common wisdom that the sleeping bag
goes 
in 
the bottom of a pack.  It's the most expensive item, and we know that

after 
a couple stuffings it loses 10% of its loft, with loss every time its

stuffed.  The reason I like the Gust is that the base pack with five 
days of 
food fills up half the volume.  I put the 800 down blanket in a
garbage 
bag 
and it fills the top.  it looks like I'm carrying a huge amount of 
gear, but 
am not.

The worst thing about the Gust is that water bottles are not easily 
reachable.  For some reason I've resisted going to hydration
bladders.

Jeff>

I have to confess I do worry about just how much damage I am doing to
my sleeping bag. So far I haven't really detected a problem but would
like to hear some more input. The problem I have is that I tend to go
in 'food heavy' and gear lite.  With the Bearikade Expedition I can
get 13 days of solo food stuffed into it.  This is my own dehydrated
food so there is no packaging.  Even when hiking with another person
we do 6-7 days with just this one can before resupply.  The can
weighs in at about 23 lbs at the start of a hike.  I use a sculpted
ridgerest that I have cut into two pieces as my pack frame and
sleeping pad. This is not the ideal setup for everyone.  I think it
was someone in this Group earlier in the year who provided me the
info on packing the Gust.  So at the start of my hike the Gust is
overloaded due to food but within two days I have it under 30lbs.

I use a platy Zip 3 which I have secured with a cotton bag ( Seva
bag) to the back of the pack.  This is a dual use item as it provides
adequate camp water. In camp I remove the bite valve and have a
camelback hydrolock which functions as a spigot.  Usually I just
carry about 1.5 l water when hiking (Sierras) but as I eat my weight
down I will increase water amounts.  The advantage for me with this
setup is that I can hike pretty much an entire day without the need
to take off my pack.  I am older and not the fastest hiker but
usually pass up the younger ones who have to rest due to pack weight.

Finally the GoLite Gust is certainly not for everyone.  It is really
minilmalist as far as padding goes in both shoulder and hip.  There
isn't any.  ULA P-2 is a great compromise pack.  It can carry the
weight with confort.  I bought one on EBAY a few weeks ago and am
anxious to try it out.
frank


		
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