This is pretty interesting. Both from the history of observations of the studies and the tendency of the military to keep ignoring them and overloading their troops.

For me personally, I came here to learn how to lighten my load, and did. But I've always gauged my distance according to how I could tote it and never tried to push it too far. That takes the "fun" out of it for me.

The quality of a backpacking trip is not directly related to the number of miles hiked. At least not for me. What I really want to do is get someplace sweet, away from the masses, and chill out for a few days.