I put a pack together for a quick overnighter this weekend, and decided to get into my gear spreadsheets and see how much I was carrying. Imagine my suprise when I discovered that my base weight is 7.875 pounds!

It's a long way from where I started...I joined up on this site after an overnight trip in the same area I'm going this weekend. I didn't measure my pack for that trip, but it was a sufferfest, and I'm sure that my base weight was well over 20 pounds. I'm at sub-10 pounds now largely due to all the advice I picked up on this site. So, a very big thank you to you all. I enjoy backpacking a whole lot more now!