Ditching weight

It's been a while since I did several nights bpacking and just completed a three night in the ozark wilderness area. I carried way to much gear and especially food.
The things I'll ditch for my next trip will be.
Trangia stove
Xtra bic lighter
Jon e handwarmer and fuel, (what a POS)
Small but heavy binoculars
AAA mag light, (the petzel headlamp is all thats needed)
Xtra tent stakes.
Tree huggers for my hammock (too much stretch) sorry to all the tree huggers.
Xtra cloths( didn't use half of them)
Half of my food. ( we ate like kings and still had to carry the stuff)
Half of the Gorp. (good but not needed)
Multi tool (never used it, my small frame gerber was all I needed)
MP3 player ( only used it twice for a total of 30 minutes).
Cell phone ( no signal in remote areas) didn't want calls anyway.
Xtra batteries ( not needed if you conserve usage)
Less alcy fuel (carried twice what I needed)
Goyat plastic utinsels.( will replace with a spork)
Useless things found in my pack (check pack before trip)

I'm sure I can go on, but just let this be a lesson learned the hard way.
When my son and I hiked up 1100 feet in about 2 miles with 30 lbs it was heavy. I acctually did fine and kept a nice steady pace but my son bonked a couple of times. I trained, he did not. What a rush it is when you finally take the pack off and feel like your floating in air. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Those mostly look like good choices of things to ditch. Most of them fall in the "extra" category. Most people who carry too much weight carry redundant stuff. For instance if you were carrying a flashlight and a headlamp (which is what it looks like from your description) that that's clearly just excess baggage. Multi-tools are usually overkill as well, especially the larger ones. I carry a tiny keychain size leatherman but even that is mostly not necessary. I don't even know what that handwarmer thing is that you mention.

However I do have a few comments.

1. Bringing too much food is a common mistake. You'll learn to plan better with experience. But remember that the goal isn't to eat ALL the food you bring. You should always bring some that seems "extra" because something could happen that would keep you out in the back country longer than you expected. An extra energy bar may be all you need. It's just insurance. If you were injured or stuck in a storm then you could make a difficult situation even worse by not having sufficient calories to see you through.

2. Along the same lines "extra" clothes aren't always bad. Now I would never bring two pair of pants or two shirts or something like that. But if I were carrying a sweater or a rain jacket or poncho that I never used that wouldn't necessarily be a waste. The appropriate amount of extra clothing is the clothing you would need in the worst case scenario. So ditch any spare clothes (except socks) but keep the one or two items that would really come in handy if the weatherman got it completely wrong (which they do sometimes). A few weeks ago it was only supposed to get down to 40 degrees one night but it ended up well below freezing (lots of ice on the tarp in the morning from my breath). I ended up sleeping with every scrap of clothing I had brought and was grateful for it.

3. A Trangia is a fine stove and doesn't weigh much. A homemade one like the one I carry is lighter but the savings is not huge. I don't know that I'd sweat that one.

4. If you had twice the fuel you needed then that's a problem. But too little is a bummer too. I've eaten instant oatmeal made with cold water and it's not pleasant. I've gotten better at guessing what I'll need. But I now carry one square of esbit just in case my fuel spills or something.

Good luck and have fun!

Don't try to do without tree huggers in the Ozarks in the late spring/summer/early fall -- lots of sap on trees to mess up your ropes. Besides, if you have to hang from trees with soft bark the tree huggers are better for the trees.

Instead, get some polyester tree huggers (just straps with loops sewed on the ends) which won't stretch much at all (you must have nylon if they stretch badly). Treat the tree huggers with permethrin to keep ants off of them so they don't climb down your suspension and into your hammock.

The rest of your list is hard to argue with.

Great that you hike with your son! How old is he? If he is little, he may have "bonked" because he was carrying a large portion of his body weight. Kids also "bonk" because they run out of energy by not eating enough or becoming deyhdrated. Teenagers particularly can go through 4,000 calories a day no problem!

I would love to say that I have this "gear" thing figured out by now but that is not the case. Each trip is different and it IS a hard decision as to what to take. Two things contribute to weight - heavy items and the number of items. Ounces add up! With so many gadgets out there nowadays, it is easy to get a bit over enthusiastic. And all those advertisers would love us to think that their item is a "must".

I'm 54 and my son is 34. I am in the construction business and he sits at a desk.

Great info. Yes they are nylon. I'll switch and treat for ants etc. thanks

My multi tool is small but I didn't needed it. the trangia is the orginal brass one and is heavy. It's going in the gear archive. The extra cloths I am ditching are an extra pair of under shorts, xtra nylon t shirt, wool cap (didn't use) and gloves.
I did get up one night when the temp was cold and put on my long poly pro top and bottoms. I froze when the temps dropped to 31 in my 40 degree bag. So after the summer I'll get a down bag and keep the North face 40 degree for summer only. As for the xtra food. I carried enough for both of us for the 3 days plus some xtra jerkey, Raman and gorp.
My son carried about the same amount. Although I gave him a list of what I had and a scheduel for meals. He went overboard buying stuff. Hard headed. Like father like son.
The one thing I used that didn't weigh much was a little coleman thermometer with a wind chill chart on the reverse side. It also has a general direction compass. I use it as a zipper pull. Found it in a geo cashe. Very small and usfull.
Planning is everything. Or at least most of it.

Still great that you two are out together. Goes to show we old farts are fit as a fiddle!

Thanks for the ups. I'm not one to sit around. I'm aclimated to the opressive southern summer heat and spend most of my time outside. As far as being an old fart, I couldn't get into my daughters play last night on a senior pass but I have an AARP card. So I guess that makes me a tweenior.??

I finally learned after many years of bping, that when I felt like I was floating after taking my pack off, that I was dehydrated and/or carrying too much weight. Living in small towns and not having interaction with other bpers, I never got to see what gear was available until a few years back when I won a computer in an incentive program at work. Since having internet access, I have been able to view and hear what others more knowledgable than me know or have experience using. That and lots of money.:) I have mentioned a few times and at different places, my pack weight a couple years ago for a eight day trip was 30 lbs, with an original Ursack TKO w/aluminum insert upgrade for mandatory food storage. I ended up only staying out seven days in a very popular area and didn't see anyone on three of those days.

As for being in shape, I jog some places where I can or feel inclined to jog on bp trips. Hard on the knees, but you can really cover some downhill ground. Just don't trip.

"tweenior"-good one! That would describe me, too.

I don't jog or run. It is bad on the knees. A close friend of mine is a runner and competes in different events. He really wanted to get me into running and worked with me for a couple of weeks and I developed shin splints. That was it, I'll never do that again to my body. When I was younger, (12) I could run a 5 min. mile and would compete in cross country and the 50 yard dash. that was then. Now I enjoy power walking. I'll do 5 miles down a local trail in about 90 mins or so.
As far as feeling like I was levetating when I removed my pack, It was because it was too heavy. I was hydrated enough. I'm gonna spend some time getting stronger and lightening the load. We were actually thinking of packing in frozen meat and Ice for the first night. That didn't happen. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> My late dog, Pooch, on more than one occasion during a weekend bp trip without snow, earned his keep by having his pack filled with ice and a couple beers stashed in it. That was all he carried, that was the only time I would pack his food.

I ran track and XC in a small High School in Nevada and when I took up jogging the first time after that, I got shin splints too from only being able to run on pavement. I got in shape for a run in the town I was living in at the time and quit after that for a few years, then I would only jog in the spring or early summer to get in shape for a summer bp trip. Now I only jog a couple times a week for about two miles each time year round, fun running when it is snowing.

Crikies mate. I have been hiking for a while and do not own most of that stuff. But for gods sake man, take the trangia!!! I am thinking about getting a Trangia tatoo-ed on my arse - thats how much I love it. This morning I boiled 26 ounces of water for a BIG cup of coffee then cooked 5 good sized pancakes on one fill up. You might waste more fuel by carrying a lighter, but less efficient stove.

You must have the newer trangia of titanium or aluminum. Mine is the old brass heavy one. It did burn well but seemed to use more fuel to boil water than the pop can stove. After using both in the woods a couple of weeks ago, the pop can seemed to be better on fuel than the trangia. I will say that the trangia burned like there was no tomorrow.

nothing worse than packing extra stuff that is not even emerg orientated .i 2 would loose most of the stuff on this list however keep some extra food and clothes, dont go overboard and not have emerg supplies.i would carry extra battries for headlamp lighting can be your saviour. also i would purchase some sort of sparker or flint to replace lighter learn how to use it and carry it on your person not in backpack. it will always work and you will always have it, you might not always have your gear.

I lost my multitool a long time ago. Better to carry a lighter knife than that monster.
It is often amazing to find out how much all the extra "little things" weigh when you stack them all together.

Of course once I got rid of the heavy extras I had enough space for my pillow <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

TV

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Good one Chaz! I don't know that there is an 'Aluminum or Ti' version of the Trangia but they would be welcome by a few. As I understand it the brass construction is best due to it's warming the fuel propoerly to allow efficent burning. I'm also a convert to the Trangia after having been given one by Glenn from Ohio <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" /> (Thanks again Glenn). It's been pefected over the years, and as Hooty says it's so nice to use, 'it'll make you want to get one tattoed on yer arse!" <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Chaz i say keep the hat, as it'll be worth it's weight in gold to you if the temps drop unexpectedly on a trip. I always carry a wool watchcap to wear around camp at night, and only find myself sans watchcap in the dog days of Summer.

I do have a fire steel and use but the lighter is small and light. I carry a few cotton balls with petro jelly for starting emergency fire.

Yeah! as much as I like the multi tool, I didn't use it. The small Gerber frame knife is really all I need.

maybe i came across wrong what i meant was loose the extra lighter and carry a sparker i always carry a lighter , candle, sparker.