The Mental Stress of Pack Weight (Physical Stress Yet To Be Determined...)

If you know anything about hiking/tramping you'll know that minimising your pack weight tends to be a top priority.  I am one of those who are usually guilty of carrying too much rather than too little, but now that I'm facing 3-6 months of sustained hiking (my longest trip yet is only 6 days) I'm trying to pay more attention to grams and kilograms than ever before...and it's a daunting prospect!

On that previous 6-day trip I lugged a 20-23 kg pack (total, including 8 days food and 3 L water).  Yes, it was heavy, but I handled it (we even made up a day--it was supposed to be a 7-day trip) and I was secure in the knowledge that I had everything I might need.  Now, if you read thru-hiking blogs and forums carrying a pack of that weight thru-hiking is generally considered to be insane. The internet is awash with ultralight thru-hikers (all the rage these days) recommending and/or boasting about pack weights around or under the 10 kg mark.  To be fair this is mostly Americans doing the Appalachian Trail, half of whom don't even take a tent, but it is all rather intimidating, especially since I just laid out then packed up everything on the recommended Te Araroa packing list--and it weighed 22 kg (including 3 L water and some but not all food). While I managed this fine for 6 days, sustaining it for much longer periods will (I expect) be much more of a challenge. The problem is I won't know until I try, although all anecdotal evidence suggests heavier packs slow you down, make everything ache more and also make you more prone to injury...not an enticing prospect.

Suffice to say, having a pack weight in excess of 22 kg/50 lbs (used as the insanity limit on one online forum I found ) may be pushing it, but after laying out all my gear and paring it back to almost nothing extra on top of the "necessities" (luxury items: a journal, a tent footprint, and an extra two pairs of socks and undies) I still have a base weight in excess of 15 kg.  Thus the weight problem lies with my gear itself.  But I always knew this would be the case.

For starters my tent weighs 3 kg (and that's dry...imagine it when it gets wet!).  This is ridiculous for a solo hiker, but buying an ultralight solo tent will cost $800-$1000, and then it will only be a 3-season tent, not the 4-season, 2-person bomb shelter I currently own and love.  I shelled out for this awesome tent back in uni when spring storms annihilated my previous two cheaper tents during field work for my honours project.  While its predecessors snapped poles and flattened leaving me and my gear wet and exposed, this beast took everything nature threw at it on its initial trip--and every trip ever since (for both work and play).  So understandably I'm reluctant to spend a lot of money on a new tent that isn't as durable or versatile when I have a perfectly good, tried and tested one...though twice the weight.  When it boils down to it, on the off (likely?) chance I'll get caught in the storm of the season (if not the century) I want to feel safe and happy in my little nylon storm shelter...so for now at least, the tent stays.

The 'holy trinity' of hiking is pack-tent-sleeping bag. Apparently if you get those right you'll have a comfortable trip. Similar to the tent story, I bought my pack back in uni and have been using it for work and play ever since. So its a little old, a little used, but still in perfectly good working order--and I love it. Packs have probably come a long way since then and are probably now a lot lighter, but my pack is perfectly good and I haven't even looked into upgrading, preferring to save my money for things I actually really need to buy or replace...

The sleeping bag is a little different...I actually have three to choose from, all goose/duck down, but with different temperature ratings. My smallest one (that packs up about as small as a small jacket) I bought for hiking to save room in my pack.  Problem is it's really only good for warmer weather--anything wintery and I'm going to freeze. The next one up is actually a bag I inherited from my old work.  I took it on all the work trips in the Tasmanian bush at all times of year, and except for exceptionally cold (and therefore shivery, sleepless) nights it did the trick.  My third sleeping bag is actually my oldest one, but since most trips you get to pick and choose timing to correspond with good weather it doesn't get used very often.  It's a monster of a down bag with waterproof seals that I bought after a university field trip in which it snowed and I froze.  On that trip one of the lecturers gave me an old-school Antarctic-grade goose down bag (that had until that point only been used to cushion the gravimeter box during transport in the department van). First night in that bag I discovered a whole new level of camping comfort, nicely cushioned and toasty and warm.  I bought my monster down bag the week after I got back.

Now I'm dithering about which one to take. Of course doing Te Araroa southbound, starting at Cape Reinga, going into summer, the monster down bag might be overkill...but all the advice I've encountered is to er on the side of being cold, especially if you're a cold sleeper (check!).  Consequently I really want to take my slightly bigger, bulkier bag if I can.  Also, being natural down, the bags won't be as effective if they get wet (always a real possibility) so I'm thinking the additional water resistant qualities of the largest, snuggliest bag may prove useful for keeping warm, dry, and happy. So as long as it fits (which with careful packing it does) the big bag is coming along.

With all my other gear I've done my best to shave weight, mostly by upgrading from my old worn and heavy kit. I've bought a new rain coat, new synthetic down jacket, new lightweight microfleece, and a new light-weight solo cooking set (big enough to fit a gas canister inside the pot and not a centimeter larger).  Combined this has shaved at least a kilo if not two from my old kit.  Unfortunately I've also added in new things I've not had before but which are highly recommended: hiking poles, GPS...and my solar charger + external battery (luxury item) is currently teetering on the edge of being left behind due to the unnecessary(?) extra weight.

Ultimately I still have a few things to get together and a week to swap out things that simply prove too heavy.  See future posts for a full list of what I end up taking with me.  Doubtless my pack is going to be "too heavy" but I'll just have to tread carefully and build up my strength to it.  Ultimately I hope I might come out of this fitter and stronger than if I were just flitting along with a 10 kg pack!

One final thought...as Peregrin Took says of Frodo Baggins when he complains about the weight of his pack near the start of their adventures: "he'll feel the weight less when he's walked off some of his own!". Amen.