Some are born to weightless, others have weightless thrust upon them...

I understand what Mouse is saying about circumstances dictating whether or not to go lite. Personally, I've never been a light backpacker. I've never really even had an interest in being a light backpacker until a few years ago. I was raised to stuff whatever I could into an external frame pack and walk until I dropped. Of course, as a teenager, the 70 lb pack I hauled on a three day, 30 mile trip didn't really bother me too much (I'm 5'7 and have never weighed more than 135 lbs). This isn't machismo or bragging, I just figured that was what backpacking was because that is what I learned. My philosophy over the years didn't change much- I have gear, I love to backpack, I "handle" the weight, why would I need to change my attitude toward backpacking?

Now, I have a wife with a bad knee, a young son who hasn't been able to carry much weight the last few years, a tight wallet, and a genuine desire to get out there!!! We actually took several years off from backpacking after our boy was born, mostly because we lived in the desert for a while and I was a little intimidated by desert camping (we hiked all the time, just not overnight). Anyway, after moving back to more familiar surroundings, our first overnight backpack trip was exhilarating. We had a great time, but were way overloaded. For our first extended trip, I tried to reduce our weight (carrying all of the kid's heavy gear on our backs), and we had a great time camping, but only a moderate time hiking.

Last year, before our big hike for the year, I decided to investigate ways to reduce weight from the pack. I laid out everything we took the year before, and started to cut. I set aside all sorts of things that really weren't needed or we could substitute for cheap with something lighter. We invested in some lighter cookware, lighter clothes (my first time ever not hiking in jeans- like wearing boxers the first time), and a food dehydrator. Overall, I estimated that we cut 20 lbs from our total pack weight just by focusing on things that were not the big three. We were still heavy, but better considering we still decided not to have our son carry much more than water, raingear, spare clothes, and a book.

Of course, now that I've got the bug for hiking light, each year will be a little better. Ironically, our budget isn't going to allow for the adults to get much new gear this year, but we've already reduced our pack weight by getting our son gear that he can carry himself. We bought an REI Lumen bag for kids to replace the full size Nebo bag his grandparents bought him (OK- how could I not pack a free sleeping bag?). He can carry his own bag, pad, water, clothes, and misc. toys and still keep the weight around 10% of his body weight. And it's weight I don't have to carry. We're talking about getting our first down bag to replace the old North Face bag I've had since I was 12 (that was almost 4 years ago in dog years). Basically, I know the weight of my pack this year would be a joke among members of this forum, but it will be lighter than last year. And next year, even lighter.

Essentially, I feel like lightweight backpacking has been forced on me because of my family situation, and I'm grateful for it. My goal is to lighten our "adult" pack equipment to compensate for the added weight of our son. Then, when it's just the two of us, we'll be packing at a weight I never realized would be safe or enjoyable.

I guess my point here is that I agree with Mouse that some people don't have a choice but to go light or ultra-light, depending on their situation. As I learn more, I see obvious benefits in reducing my pack weight, but I'm not sure I'll ever get to some of the weights as others on this site. Honestly, if I knew I could keep my pack weight to 40 lbs, my wife's to 25, and my son's to 10 this year I would think that was light, relatively. Overall, however, I think the desire to get out there is the constant around which all of us little hiker-variables revolve. I do think there is a great deal of work that can be done on everything but the big three- until you've reduced all but those.

Maybe one of these days I won't feel embarrassed to post my gear list on this site, but until then I'm going to keep cutting where I can. Until then, I'll keep hiking.