According to the folks over at backpackinglight, you're supposed to leave your wallet in your car and your keys hidden somewhere nearby at the trailhead. They don't mention the fact that those items probably won't be around when you get back to your car! Of course the BPL folks are headquartered in Montana, where people still seem a bit more honest than the car-clouting crowd out here.

Of course how far do you want to carry this? I was reviewing my gear list yesterday (stuck at home with nasty cold) and noticed that I had omitted the following things:

Wristwatch
Glasses
Denture
Hysson's collar with ID tags, from his list

No, I did not add them to my list. To me these things are worn all the time, except the glasses, but I do need them for reading and for driving, so I won't get out of the house without them.

I did lose the denture once on the north side of Mt. Hood. I was in such a hurry to get started back to the trailhead before it got too hot at lower elevations (it was 95*F when I got back to the car at 1 pm) that I left it sitting on a stump after washing the rest of my teeth. I still don't know how I didn't notice its absence while munching on dried fruit and jerky! Thanks to one of the intrepid folks on portlandhikers.org, though, it was restored to me several days later. My dentist still thinks that's the funniest denture story he's ever heard!

I do read those ultralight lists looking for ideas and go over my own list once in a while (like yesterday) in hopes of finding a few ounces that will add up to a pound or two. Some of them have worked great; others I've ended up adding back. And then there's the fishing tackle I was given last Christmas, to which I of course have to add a frying pan, some cooking oil and extra stove fuel in case I catch anything with said gift. I've still managed to keep the base weight down to 15 lbs., though, which (per Bearpaw's hilarious essay a couple of years ago) puts me right in the middle of the "lightweight" category. And this is for conditions such as October in the high Cascades and "summer" in the high Rockies. For summer in the Cascades, I can scrape a pound off that because I don't need quite as much warm clothing.

To return from the thread hijack: As I pointed out, I don't need--in fact, just plain can't eat--a lot of food when I'm out. Of course I could probably go for several weeks without anything, living on my own stores. Slender people like Jim wouldn't dare try such a stunt!