I spoke with an old camping buddy that I spent extensive time camping in the Sierras with. He looks at his backpacking gear and says he knows he will never go backpacking again because his body can't take it.

I asked if he still had the Kelty White Phantom pack (51 oz) and he confirmed that he did. I told him to sit down with his gear and leave out everything that he never used and to put it in that pack. I told him I thought he could get down to 20 pounds for an overnight without spending a dime but he couldn't take the tent.

I'm not certain that he believed me or that he would try or what he would then do if he was sucessful?

I have another homeless friend who always takes 75 to 100 pounds of gear for an over night - seriously. I told him that backpacking gear is different than his homeless gear and he should try to pack a simple backpack and let me go through it and remove things.

some people give up, and some struggle along, and some sort of watch the others and wonder.
Jim