A Trip Up The Icicle River

Great pictures and trip report, that stream looks like wild brook trout to me, do you do any fishing? As far as lightening your pack, do you own a dehydrator? I cook hamburger, onions, spices and add frozen mixed vegetables then dehydrate. On the trail I add this mixture to ramen or rice, it rehydrates really well especially if soaked for a while before hand, and adds some substance to normal food. I also deydrate cooked beans, chili and almost anything else I think might be good, pork and beans is surprisingly good rehydrated. Also a good sleeping bag such as a kelty lightyear, your thermarest, a tyvek ground cloth, and a silnylon tarp from campmor will help lighten you up.

Once again great trip report and beautiful photos, thanks. Chris
 
Good ideas there, Chris,

I'm looking into getting my own copy of Jardiones Ultra light book, which has a lot of great ideas on home prep of lightweight foods.

-Clint
 
Clint, thank you for the pics. Sounds like you had a pretty pleasant couple of days out there. The area around the Icicle is really magnificent country and Leavenworth as a base offers plenty of amenities when you return to civilization. ;)

One thing I noted on your daypack in the picture (and on 90% of them on the street these days it seems) is how low and outward the main compartment of the pack rides/sags. My experience has always lined up with the advice IIRC in "The Complete Walker" by Colin Fletcher or "Backpacking One Step at a Time" by Harvey Manning to get the weight of the pack up over your shoulders as much as possible.

A low/outward placement of the pack weight leans you forward to counter-balance the load (around the rotation point of your hips). This places the weight moreso on your shoulders via the packstraps, making it difficult to get the weight transferred onto the hips, which would allow you to walk more comfortably upright. I'm sure you already know, but I'll repeat redundantly for those who may not, that placing the weight of a packed load high up & close to your back generally makes walking easier by allowing a more upright stance. This IME becomes more true as the weight of the packbag increases.

Did you notice much on your hike if/how the weight distribution of the daypack affected your stance? I realize that the affect may have been overwhelmed by the inconvenience of the musset bag that you mentioned on the webpage.

Thx again for sharing your outing with us.
 
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