The young and strong I see on the trails DO carry tiny packs. If you were to buy new gear today, most of it would be lighter than what you could buy 10 years ago. And the young I see do not seem to worry about money- some pretty high-tech stuff they have! Rather than carrying gear to "be prepared" (the old boy-scout method), they do without, ever-optomistic! It's like the clothes they hike in, one down jacket and a UL rain jacket. That's it! Being young and strong, they assume they will easily survive, anything regardless. I think a lot of them get their gear lists from the thru-route journals.

I regret to say this, but I think our forum does not attract the "young and strong" and we are over-represented by the "old and wise". I think we need to figure out how to attract these younger folks, or we will wither away.