The thread about SAR gear made me think about hiking style. I have friends that demand “done in a day” activity. They are willing to leave at Oh dark thirty so they can get home about the time Leno starts his monologue. I prefer to leave mid morning, have a nice night in camp and get home mid afternoon the next day. I suspect the “done in the day” people have various reasons. Maybe it is they do not sleep well in the backcountry, maybe they do not like camp chores, maybe they do not like the time away from family, maybe they do not like camp food. I think dusk and dawn in the backcountry are magical times. The shadows add dept to the scenery and the colors are more vibrant. I try to find reasons to spent more nights in the backcountry.

I do not like the long nights of winter camping, but I try to do a full moon trip each year.

Locally I prefer two night trips. Only use one day of vacation time. Two nights makes the drive seem more worthwhile. I can use a virtual frame pack with only two nights food.

Out of town I prefer four to six night trips. I generally hike a frame pack and maybe even the “beast hauler” if I need to carry a lot of water. I do not like carrying more than six nights of food. The trip can usually be done using a week of vacation time.

What is your style?

Why?

How does that change your gear choices?

Well, for me it varies a lot. Most of the time I prefer two night trips at a minimum, but I will do overnighters, and with my wife it's "done in a day" trips.

My usual backpacking season trip will look like leaving town early on a friday after work, maybe 2-4 pm depepending on when I can get away. This means I'm in mountains by 5:30 to 7 pm depending on where I am going. With it light till 11, I'll usually then try to do a solid three hours of trekking till I camp for the night, then another two solid days, aiming for hitting the trailhead in time for a late dinner somewhere nearby, and a drive home in the dark with music thumping in the car. If I extend trips by a day by taking a day of holiday it still usually looks like that, just with an extra day thrown in.

I also like the "done in a day" trips lately with my wife, who simply won't sleep in the backcountry.

I do like longer trips, I try for one week long or so one a year, but often don't get the chance (like this year) and have to content myself with being a weekend warrior for the time being.

I definitely like to leave at dark thirty, but I'm normally up at 5 anyway. Normal trips are overnighters, leave about 4:30 Sat morn with an average of 21/2 to 31/2 hour drive and plan my hike so the bulk of the miles are done on Saturday, i enjoy setting up camp and what goes along with it. Sundays are short days so there is no rush to break camp and breakfasr can be enjoyed with a nice hot cup of tea.
My weeklong yearly adventure (which didn't happen this year because of finances) can vary, 2007 was summiting Rainier, 2008 was a week in Cranberry wilderness MNF, this year I'm settling for a 3day 27 mile loop in GWNF this coming weekend hoping to get fall color pics, I will make an attempt at a trip report on Monday.
I truly think my style is make the best of what I can, I've recently been taking my wife on dayhikes, its the only time I truly like a hiking partner, dayhikes are great for that. I do whatever I can to get out but have to take in account, wife, my business, along with basic household responsibilities, this is probably similar situation for most. Having my own business allows me alot of flexibility when times are fat but now its anything for a dollar and taking any job I can which means backpacking gets cancelled alot.
If I have a good winter I will try for a second Rainier summitin 2010 on a harder route, and plan on winter backpacking more this winter if at all possible(new 4 season tent)

I got no style.

I do one night, two nights, three nights or whatever time allows. The longer the better. I like to leave early if possible. I usually like light and fast but I also go slow and heavy. I cover big miles and I base camp. I snow camp. I camp in the desert, forest and shore. My feet may find themselves in snow shoes, skis, crampons, running shoes, or even kayaks and bike pedals. I go alone. I go with friends and family. Sometimes I leave home with a strict plan, sometimes no plan at all. I have way too many packs, tents and sleeping bags. I don't think I've been on two trips with even nearly the same equipment.

It's all good. Variety is the spice of life. And I'm lucky to have a job and an understanding family that allows me to get away with this!!!!

My favorite "style" is the longer the better! To me anything under 8 days is short. Mostly I stay within what I can carry in food - 10-12 days. Maximum days I have been out without resupply was 18 days. When someone else paid for my re-supply I would be out for 30 days. The cost of this now is too much for my meager budget.

But I am not a "long-distance" or "through-hiker". I am really picky - I avoid any boring miles. I really respect those who have the mental discipline to do the PCT. I never could because I rather "cherry pick" the best of the route.

The major impact of my "style" is that most others do not prefer long trips, therefore, I do more solo than I would like. I am an early bird - like to get up at dawn and walk 6-8 hour days and be done early to mid-afternoon so I can take a bath and rinse out clothes and go wander about camp before the sun goes down. I usually only take about 2-3 rest stops the entire day. I do better just plodding along steadily. My long trips limit my food choices, but thank goodness, food is not that big of a deal for me - as long as it fills me up, I could care less. I am not a gormet at all. My style also is only suitable for larger Wilderness areas - for example, the SF Bay Area is not one of my main areas becasue you are hard pressed to find anywhere you can do a long trip.

I also am definitely a high-alpine connisour. I really do not like "woodsy". Therefore, my equipment is mostly mountaineering type stuff. I most often camp above 10,000 feet - lots of times at 12,000 feet. Rarely in trees.

My preferred trip is two night three days. I end up doing longer trips if I have to drive quite a ways but if I am near home I usually leave early AM and start hiking mid morning. I am a morning person so I am usually awake by 5:30/6:00 and I like to quit early afternoon. Usually no later than 5:00.

Since I am retired I can decide that I am going hiking for a couple of days and just leave tomorrow morning. I usually have enough food prepared for several days so I can be packed and ready to go in an hour after supper to leave in the AM. My food tastes are very simple so preparing and packing food is easy. I much prefer to hike solo so I do not have to work around anyone else's schedule or style. Retirement is great. After working 50-60 hour six day weeks for all of my working life it is great to just have the freedom to go when and where I feel like going.

I hike solo 95% of the time.

I really like my trips to be a week or longer. I try to do long loops or "lollipop" routes when I can. Frequently I will drive to a remote area and stay for two weeks, dividing my time into two long hikes with a car camping interlude in the middle.

I also like to do PCT section hikes of 100 or more miles, when I can arrange for a drop-off and pick-up at either end. As an inducement to my wife to do one or both ends, I bait the hook with a camping trip she'll enjoy and maybe some day-hiking with her before I take off solo.

When I must resupply on a PCT section hike, my standard MO is to leave myself caches along the route near road crossings. This lets me stay out and not have to mess with hitchhiking or at the mercy of whatever food is available at the tiny towns or resorts near the PCT.

Thru-hiking is definitely not my style, though. Too grueling for me. I will take short hikes, but never a one-nighter.

I enjoy day-hikes, but four years ago I have decided the driving and carbon emissions required are a steep price to pay for a few hours on the trail. If it is part of a car-camping trip, I day hike often and happily. I really like day hikes where the trailhead is at the campground where I am staying. I only day hike a couple times a year driving from my home and back the same day.

Trailrunner, Iloved your answer!

WE do it all--from short trips to long ones. I like to get an early start, but my wife usually argues in favor of sanity. Plus, she doesn't handle big changes in altitude well--she does better with an easy first day, or a first night in a campground to acclimate.

But we prefer to start on any day except Saturday--so we'll take a Friday off, and leave Thursday evening. Get up to the mountains and have an easy and early night. I get up the next morning and get the breakfast ready and make lunch. By then my wife is up and ready to go, so we're on the trail by about 8 or so. We usually do between 5 and 12 miles a day...and stay out from 3-7 days at a time...

And every trip is different!

I like going light and slow, but usually end up heavy and slow. I try to take at least my oldest son with me. Recently (February) I became the local Scoutmaster and so do a campout once a month. Only two of those have been backpacking. I am fairly religious, and try to be home on Sunday, so this limits my available time. Most of the time, it is leave after work on Friday, and come back on Saturday. Luckily I can be on the trail around 6pm because there is a lot of really close stuff (from 5-30 min drive). Like WD, I love high alpine, but since I stay around 8-9K ft, I can still find trees to hang in.

I had though that most of our trips were rather short, but by comparison, I think on an average, we do about the same as every one else. We have been out for ten days but most of our hikes are for three to four days. All of our hikes are in the eastern united states like the A.T., the Cumberland trail,and we have been in the white mountains of Georgia. We go as light as we think that we can and still be safe, and most of the time we like to travel rather slowly. On an average, we probably travel around 8-10 miles at a time rather it be in the night or in the day. My wife doesn't really like to travel in the dark, so we don't do much of that. We use light weight equipment and we usually just eat re-hydrated food that only requires that we boil water. However, we do have the stuff to cook a meal if we so desire. We have cooked stews and we have cooked pastas with pretty good results. We do take alot of pictures and we love to see different birds and animals on our ventures too. On an average, seems like most every body else here. Like some one said, it's all good...sabre11004...

I think this is a great idea for a thread, and the results might be a good thing to point beginning beginning backpackers at. Because style absolutely informs gear choices (or should ...), and beginners naturally focus on what sort of gear they should get. With often little context to think about the ways in which they might end up using it.

My base style fundamentally changed when I decided I wanted to do longer distance trips, such that I now sort of approach any trip in that general way and just make trip-specific adjustments as necessary. I.e., go with the lowest base weight I reasonably can carry and still feel safe and sufficiently comfortable in camp, keep things simple, tend to want to spend less time in camp and more time on the trail.

Fortunately, my wife was open to the benefits of such changes and she's adapted well so that I don't have to change much when I do backpacking trips with her. And with lighter "shared gear" stuff it's no longer a big deal apportioning out who carries the water treatment, who carries the stove and cook pot, who carries the tent, etc.

I think that one of the benefits of this thread is that even the experienced folks realize that they are not alone. If you read many of the posts you would get the impression that everyone goes on two week trips with a 12 lb pack and travels 20 miles per day. From the posts so far it is clear that many have 30 lb packs for 2-3 day trips and travel 8-10 miles per day. It is easy to get discouraged when you think that you are not living up to the standards set by all of the others on this forum. The truth is that the majority of folks are just like you.

If I'm hiking locally, I'll usually leave at 4:30 on Saturday morning for weekend trips. If in the Sierra (3 1/2 to six hour drive), I leave early Friday afternoon and sleep near the trail head, hiking in early Saturday morning.

I do lots of weekend trips with the occasional extra Friday or Monday vacation day, and I use every holiday available -- in fact, I often tack on an extra vacation day to holidays to get four days in and miss the traffic. For example, on Labor Day Weekend I took the following Tuesday off (although that wasn't a hiking trip but a hunting trip). For Thanksgiving I almost always take off the Wednesday before, traveling on Tuesday afternoon, so I get five full days (could this be one of the reasons I'm not married anymore?).

I take one week-long hike per year, with the first Saturday and the last Sunday as travel days.

Style? Anything I can do! Before kids, I used to take a week to 10 days every summer for a series wilderness, high mountain trip, some solo, some with friends but also overnights and three day trips. Since kids I mostly go 1 or 2 nights, some low milage almost car camping, some medium miles and light. My son is now old enough that we are working up. Did 4 days, three nights this summer with light packs and about 8 miles a day. He could have done 10 but that would be it. By next summer we may be out 5-6 days and 12 miles. Eventually, I'll be able to do long trips with high milage again but right now I just try to enjoy any trip I can get.

I've *done* big trips. I'm just not blessed with the ability to do them all the time. The biggest lesson of the thread?

H[size:8pt]ike Your Own Hike ![/size]and enjoy yourself instead of worrying about what others think

the sooner you stop trying to conform to someone else's notion of what a hike is, what lightweight, ultra-light, uber-light, etc is, and stop worrying about the fact that you can't get out to the most incredible places on earth every weekend the more fun you'll have You'll get out when you can, use the gear you have, lighten up when you can, and enjoy yourself more.

I like to do do pretty much everything but really long through hikes.

My three-season pack weighs between 12 and 14 pounds and I generally hike between 5 and 15 miles per day; my average is probably about 7 miles/day. Last year on the JMT, I averaged just about 10 miles per day with no zero days.

This year I have done a 4-day trip in the Grand Canyon, two 8-day trips in the Sierra and about five, three-day trips in the local mountains. I may get in a few overnighters before the year is over. I generally like to get an early start; I am usually awake about 5 am and I am on the road to the trailhead by 6 am.

Last year, my longest trip was 21 days on the John Muir Trail. My longest trip ever was in the North Cascades when some friends and I were out for 34 days climbing and hiking. We relied on previously placed caches for our supplies.

I am now having to change my style. About four years ago, my wife of 50 years was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. This is a progressive and ultimately fatal disease that causes scarring of lung tissue and reduced oxygen absorption. Unless we can arrange a lung transplant (we're hopeful), she has about a year to live. She has never smoked. Until 2008 she has been able to care for herself; now she needs help. I am her caregiver and will not have the freedom to go hiking the way I have in the past. My son and my sister have helped me get out by staying with her but I can't ask them to do that for weeks at a time. And, I really want to spend as much time as possible with her.

Until the situation is resolved, I will be happy with going out overnight and going on day hikes: all locally.

food:



You hit it right with that one. Don't deny me my alpenglow! (Wait, it would be ME denying me my alpenglow if I did it all in a day.)

Hey... That looks like Assiniboine (from the lake campground) - you've been stomping in my neck of the woods

And besides <insert best Paul Hogan stupid accent here>.. That's not alpenglow:






That's alpenglow...

phat, sorry, thats not alpen glow either. This summer in the sierras was one of the first times I ever saw the mountains glow a radiant pink. You see photos like from Galen Rowell that show it clearly.

I prefer 4 day solo trips, but I hate being alone the first two days, mellow on the third day, and am ready to see people on the fourth.

Otherwise 2 nighters are great cause you get to wake up and be there all day. But my gear doesn't change between the two.
Jim

That last shot has to be in the Kananaskis?

The last two are.