Embarrassing Bulge

This simply isn't fair. I have this really embarrassing bulge.

I just finished (minus water) packing my GoLite Pinnacle for my weekend at Moorman's River (SNP). So far I've topped out at a meager 14 pounds, but the bloody pack is still huge. It's nearly as big as when I packed for an early spring, seven day trip earlier this year!

Do I need to feed my pack water pills? Put it on a toning exercise routine? How can I drop so much weight in my pack but seemingly no bulk? No fair, no fair, no fair.

Embrace the bulge.

Some people like to carry a very heavy pack that is small (e.g. superman). Others like to carry a very light pack that looks big (e.g. a friend of mine).

My friend puts her unstuffed sleeping bag into her pack so it looks bigger.

Folkalist,
Really now, are you telling us that size does matter. Embrace not having to crush your gear so that you might appear more intimidating to the "opposition?"

Is that with food and water and for for how long?
Jim

14 lbs is nice! You be careful and have fun! And never mind the bulge... it's probably just a mental thing with you packing a new pack. You probably just aren't used to looking at it yet. That, or you've accidently forgotten to get the air out of all your ziplocs!

It's just for a 2 1/2 day, 2 night trip: with food, without water.

I did figure something out on the trip from which I just returned.
This is going to be a big "duh."

Brace yourself!

If one uses one's sleeping pad as a pack frame (tube style), one's pack will never be smaller than the cylinder created by the sleeping pad. Did I mention I have three degrees?

Why do you people keep making me laugh so hard I spit on my computer screen?

One thing that finally occured to me about me gear bags that I had figured out about food about the same time WD very carefully explained it in a post:
If you pack your food in hard little brickish shaped vaccum sealed bags you seriously limit your ability to use space in a bear canister very well. Same concept for my food bag. Okay, I figured that out alright.

Ah ha! Same concept applies to bags for separately different types of gear! If I press all the air out of the bags and roll the tops down and and clip them closed really tight, all I've done is create a little gear bricks that actually monopolize more space within my pack than it deserves. If I just press most of the air out and close it loosely, it mushes (technical term) into a far more packable shape.

I did pack my sleeping bag loosely in the main pack instead of making a sleeping bag brick out of it. I think lori might have suggested that.

May the learning never end!

Folkalist,
[Deleted to spare your feelings

So Folkalist, have you considered what would happen if you used net bags? You know - no zip locks except for food.
Think about packing without worrying about inner air pressure.

I still prefer to use my big [huge] light pack so I don't have to squeeze anything or use stuff sacks. Why exactly do you use these bags anyway? Is it strictly for food?
Jim

It was only a matter of time before Jim would tell us how BIG his bag is.

That's a great tip for beginners out there. I started using less ziplocs and just craming clothes down into my pack. Amazingly, the ziplocs were never missed. LOL

Sorry about you spitting on the computer monitor... LOL That made me laugh!

So how was the trip? Did you go swimming in the swimming hole?
I'm headed to Riprap Hollow this weekend for some swimming and camping. Should be nice and hot!

It's for stuff segregation! I can't just have my hair comb mixing willy-nilly with my stove!!!!!!

He did seem vindicated that I had implied that size did matter!

Yeh, the little gear bricks have been getting more and more annoying. It is kinda funny how stuck we get in our paradigms. No matter how much they annoyed me, it didn't occur to me to STOP DOING THAT.

It was 50/50 whether I would do RipRap or Moorman's River.
I didn't go swimming. The river was relatively low and the best swimming hole was clogged with teens. I did wade, soak my footsies and watch the trout in one of the bigger pools. I forgot how busy the swimming holes are on weekends.

The weather was really great. I couldn't have asked for better!

Enjoy RipRap!!

I head out Friday for an overnighter, so hopefully not too many teens around. I did Moorman's a few years ago and nobody was out there, which surprised me. I think it was due to the drought and heat. But the swimming was really nice.

Hard to break old habits regarding the brick packing. One day you'll just do it and see it works so much better.

For several years, I have been using a bicycle for all of my daily needs, including grocery shopping. I use panniers of various types (cycling, grocery bag cycling style, converted daypacks, ...)

I finally figured out that the best grocery packing results from lots of plastic grocery bags each of which is not very full. They are then "soft" enough that you can make them fit into almost every nook and cranny of the bike bag.

If you take the "one or two big stuffed bag" approach favored by grocery bag packers, you can't easily arrange them to take advantage of all available space. When you mix grocery store shopping with other shopping, the space demands become even more severe.

The "hard brick" mentality is common. It helps to explain why you are so fussy about getting more bags, each of which is filled with less. Then you see the light go on, and you will usually have no future problems with THAT grocery packer.

Pack my own in my reusable bags. Can't stand what the cashiers/baggers do to my stuff!