Day Hikes from a Base Camp - What pack(s)?

My wife and I hike once a month, year round. During the summer, we camp. We have complete the 46 4000 footers in New York, and we are working on our Northeast 115. We are not beginners, but we don't have a lot of friends that are into hiking/backpacking. Because of this, we don't know a lot about how "other people" do this stuff...we just know what works for us. Usually, we tackle the longer hikes during the summer. We take the whole weekend, so we will often hike about 5 miles in on Friday and set up camp. On Saturday, we will do a 10+ mile day hike, and stay at our base camp again. Sunday we walk the 5 miles back out to the trailhead. We don't have ultralight gear, so we both carry relatively big backpacks. We don't need the big packs on Saturday, so we carry in another daypack to use on Saturday. This always seems so crazy to me. What do other people do? Would you just carry the huge pack on Saturday, with almost nothing in it? Would you carry an ultra light day pack that was "packable". My daypack is an internal frame 30L pack. My backpack is like 80L. What we're doing is working well, so I'm not necessarily going to change anything. I'm just curious what other people do. Thank you.

Yup, definitely going in loaded for bear (or, critter of your choosing). Just addressing the day pack, there are a lot of nice stuffsacks with shoulder straps for peak-bagging, etc. Swap out the sleeping bag stuffsack for one of these and you're good to go.

Outdoor Research and Sea to Summit come to mind, I'm sure there are others.

Cheers,

Since you are in NY, you may want to join Views from the Top, a NE/NY hiking forum. There are plenty of very experienced NE hikers on the site (I belong, but live in CA) and what to carry on day hikes gets discussed fairly regularly.

For me, if I am day hiking in winter (with snow on the ground) I carry enough to stay overnight. That includes a sleeping bag, extra clothes, stove, food, light bivy sack and my Voile Mini shovel, plus the usual first aid kit, headlight or flashlight, map, GPS etc. I know that seems like overkill, but a lot of VFTT members do the same. I'd also have snowshoes.

Thank you. I've got a good idea of the items I should be bringing on each hike. The question I'm asking is more about the packs. I'll look into the idea above about the stuff sack. Sounds like a good idea. Any other opinions or ideas about the best packs to bring for this sort of weekend? Do people carry convertible packs (for example, the top of my big pack comes off and turns into a "fanny pack")? Thank you.

I have an outdoor research dry bag/day pack combo that I do sometimes take.

Having said that, my main backpack is frameless ( a granite gear virga) and weighs a bit over a pound. So my daytrips, I often just take my main backpack, crank the straps down to make the body smaller, and take that.. no need to have a seperate daypack.

Even if you aren't using a frameless main pack, there's nothing wrong with carrying your main pack, mostly empty, on dayhikes. Why carry more stuff?

Thanks. That's another good idea. I've done something like that before and it worked pretty well too. I mentioned that the top of my big pack comes off and turns into a fanny pack. For the Day hike (peak bagging)part of our hikes, I've removed the "fanny pack" and carried the lower portion of the big pack. I'm sure there are a ton of ways to accomplish what I want to do. I'm very happy to hear these ideas. Keep em coming.

If you are bringing enough stuff that you need a frame for your day hikes, then I would just cinch down your main bag.

But... why do you need so much stuff for a day hike? I use one of those rope backpacks that people give away for free (http://www.nbtopgear.com/products/Drawing-Rope-Backpack-885986.html) as a stuff sack and use that on dayhikes. I carry a first aid kit with an emergency blanket, some food and water, a jacket, and maybe my steripen. I have a buddy who has one of the backpacks where the lid comes off and turns into a fanny pack. His backpack weighs quite a bit more than my backpack plus rope sack thing.

I hike in and setup a base camp a lot, but I don't carry much with me on those day hikes from camp. A bit of food, FAK (1st aid kit), water, compass, map, GPS, maybe a light jacket. I generally don't do 10 miles on those day hikes though, probably closer to half of that.

I bring a small/cheap UL daypack I got from Wal-Mart. It's really just a stuff sack with a zipper and shoulder straps so I fill it with clothes or food when packing in and out and use it for my day hikes while I'm out there.

I'll add that the first one of those cheap daypacks busted a seam that was poorly sewn. I returned it with no problem and the 2nd one has held up fine so far. I also have a needle and thread and some Gorilla Tape in my FAK so I can make repairs if needed.

My daypack always contains water, snacks, an insulating layer, and my ditty bag (which includes my first aid and stuff) and silponcho. More or less, once I'm
kind of out there and not likely to see other people I ensure I take enough stuff that I could overnight if I had to in an emergency. From experience, not that comfortably, but also not in danger of death from exposure.

basically the little poncho tarp weight 250 grams, my first aid and emergency supplies weighs 582 grams (typically). Figure on about another pound (500 grams) of jacket and insulating layer (a sweater or light coat). So I'm probably carrying three pounds or so of gear on a dayhike. Maybe a bit more if it's cold and I add another layer, then add a kilo (two pounds) of water and up to a pound of snacks. So my typical dayload is probably about six pounds all in.

In a cinched down main pack that weighs a pound itself, I don't even really notice it.

Of course if your main pack weighs six pounds to begin with (because it has all the bells and whistles to climb everest and have detachable fanny packs and a dedicated espresso maker pocket, well, your load's twice that 12 pounds still ain't bad. (compared to 40 or 50 )

And therein lies part of the challenge, you want a light daypack because your main pack is packzilla. You need packzilla because you have to carry lots of stuff. You carry lots of stuff because you need other stuff.. vicious circle. It's not one to break out of immediately - just one that takes some practice in figuring out how to dual purpose or multi-purpose gear, and figure out what you really need to take versus stuff that's just stuff.

Sounds like you are more in line with weekend mountaineering than backpacking. One thing you quickly learn when doing mountaineering, is that you minimize camp gear to be able to carry more mountaineering gear. It sounds like you perhaps are a bit too "plushy" with respect to your base camp comfort. I have done all my climbing in the west, so this may not be applicable to NY. We often used bivy sacks instead of tents, because then we could take the bivy sack on the climb in case we got stuck out overnight. A lot of climbers also do not fuss with cooking - simply take ready-to-eat food - eliminating all the cook gear. If you carry enough supplies to survive a night on the mountain, you really should not have that much more for your base camp. I just cinched down my regular pack (2-3 pound pack) for the climb. I never went "light" with my pack because rock climbing puts a lot of wear and tear on a pack and the UL packs would not last very long.

The gear you take depends on what is your real goal - the climb or the base camp. I never felt compelled to have a very comfortable base camp since so little time was spent in the base camp since we did 2-3AM "alpine starts".

I would reassess your base camp gear and see if you cannot eliminate items, and then go for smaller packs that can double for the trek into the base plus the climb.

I have a 18-liter day pack that can double as a stuff sack for my clothes or sleeping bag. It weighs half a pound and is big enough to carry food, water, some clothes and some other odds and ends. It is comfortable up to an 8 or 9 pound load.

I don't often take it backpacking with me. I regard it as something of a luxury because I can always use my main pack for any day hikes I decide to take away from my base. But when my wife and I backpack together we usually do the 'base camp and day hike' arrangement and then we each bring a small day pack along. Hers is quite similar to mine.

I really appreciate all of the input. This was awesome. I learned what I was hoping to learn...how other people do it. I also learned that I like the way I do it. I don't mind carrying a heavy pack for 5 miles so that I can have a "plush" basecamp. I carry a lot of gear on the day hikes because I'm usually the "leader" of a group of 4 (my wife and one other couple). I'm also the most fit in the group, so I'm never the one slowing the group down. I'm not trying to say that I know more than anyone else. I truly appreciate the feedback. I'm just saying that hearing these stories about carrying less, made me realize that I don't mind carrying more. I'm still listening, so if anyone else has input, please keep it coming. I'm just saying that I think I might be set in my ways. I will probably look into a slightly smaller day pack with no frame. I'll use the framed daypack for our winter hikes (we don't camp in the winter). Thanks again.

I don't mind carrying a heavy pack for 5 miles so that I can have a "plush" basecamp.

Nothing wrong with that. It's all a question of what works and suits our individual taste. The prevalent style here is a lightweight load so we can walk further away from roads and climb up steeper trails to more remote places. But that's what we like, so it makes good sense for us.

Thank you for understanding. I understand and respect your "style" as well. My wife on the other hand.....I don't think she understands. At least she goes with me, every month. Thanks again for the input.

I use my regular backpack for day hikes. It's made so that the compression straps squash it down quite small. That being said, my backpack weighs less than 2 lbs., which is also less than my day pack. Which makes me think I should just toss the day pack!

There are a lot of small lightweight day packs that double as stuff sacks. Look at gossamergear.com for ideas.

If your wife goes with you - make sure any style changes you try are mutually acceptable

Ah, I just carry my pack and tighten up the straps a bit. I thought about getting a small day pack, but unless I'm just walking around a local park, I take a fair amount of stuff, as I said above, so my daypack would be way too small.

Just to make clear that not all "camp comfort" proponents are women, it is my husband who insists on all the comforts of home! When we backpack together, I have to totally adjust my style.

But, there is lighter gear that also provides the same comfort level, if you are willing to spend the $$. For example we just switched from a 6-pound 4-season 2-person mountaineering tent (we used to do alpine mountaineering)to a 5 pound 3 person 3-season tent, prompted by the fact that we now have a dog who would not fit into our 2-man tent and most trips now are fishing trips. I could not convince my husband that an UL tent would suffice, thus our compromise saves only a little weight but is much roomier.

I'm a firm believer that in general women are tougher. Look at when guys get sick, piss and moan, while women seem less affected. Although my wife wouldn't sleep on the ground if her life depended on it now. But if she did I'm sure I would complain long before she would about comfort.

I think they're probably doing something more akin to what I do here. The mountains they're climbing are taller than what we have here, but I suspect they're not much more of a climb from the base.

For example, I think it's only a 1200ft climb from the Buffalo River to the Compton trailhead and I doubt most of their climbs would be much more than that, or that they would require climbing gear. But that's about a tall of a climb you'll find here.

Of course, that 1200ft climb I speak of is pretty darn steep, and it's a hike that certainly humbles me, but it's not what you'd call mountaineering.

I don't think we have any equivalent to the "46 4000 footers" here. We might have 20 2000 footers

It would still be fun to make to a list of our highest "knobs" within the Ozarks on public property and climb them though. Maybe I'll work on that. I've got a few I could check off already.

I'm gonna try a jansport katahdin 20L daypack inside my big 82L backpack (also a jansport (vintage)). It'll be a little lighter and easier to pack that the 30L daypack (internal frame) that I've been stuffing into the big pack for these type of adventures. There were a bunch of options like the ones that you guys and gals mentioned (marmot kompressor, TNF verto, etc), but I decided I'd rather carry an extra 1/2 pound in my backpack, if it meant being more comfortable when we are bagging peaks on Saturdays. At least this pack will take up less room than the daypack I'm currently using. It also saves me almost 2 pounds. Thanks again for the advice everyone.