What am I doing wrong?

fedaykincmndr

fedaykincmndr

Joined
Aug 3, 2004
Messages
971
Gents, I'm in a quandry. I'm gearing up for a hike on WED; a little 3 day 2 night dealy up Knobstone Trail here in Indiana. Bag's packed & it's way heavier than I thought. I'm throwing a list of all the stuff IN my pack & I'll be carrying a survival pouch as well but that's on me belt. I'm carrying this in a medium ALICE without frame so tell me what needs to be dropped or could be. Thanks in advance.


Shelter
Poncho
Poncho Liner
Isomat
550 cord

Clothing
2 skivvie shirts
3 pair of socks
1 polartec fleece
1 Columbia Rain Jacket

Food
9 peices hard tack
1/2lb of deer jerky
6 bullion cubes
4 tea bags
3 cups rice
3 servings of oatmeal

Gear
Gerber Pack Axe
Mess Kit
Nalgene & Cup
Extra Knife (Anza 3")
Camelbak (3 liter, full)
Medkit (small one
Waterproofing bag (all my clothing & shelter's in it)
1911A1 with holster & extra mag

Total it's probably about 30lbs which isn't bad I know I'm just wondering if you fine gents see anything that I could loose.
 
If you already got a Poncho then I see no need for the rain jacket & Fleece is way to hot for this time of the year..IMO.
 
Looks pretty slim to me. You could possibly drop the rain jacket given you have a poncho, unless you need the rainjacket as a windbreak for the fleece. Poncho will fill that role too but not as nicely.
 
Drop the poncho liner, fleece, nalgene/cup combo (you have a camelback full of water that you can refill and treat with Aquamira or some such and there's a coffee cup type thing on the mess kit for heat, boiling, drinking water) & rain jacket.
That pistola is most of your weight. 1911's weight, what, a pound or two ? Another mag + ammo is probably another 8 oz or so?
Is there's a problem with unprovoked wildlife attacks on humans (i.e. bear, etc... and the sites I've looked at don't mention possibilities of such) on the trail? If it's a realitively safe place I'd lose the piece and just carry my knife. In which case, even if it is a bear, just remember what to do in case you come across one.

(No, I'm not an anti-gunner. I'm just thinking the gun might be useless weight.)

When you say:

Waterproofing bag (all my clothing & shelter's in it)
Click to expand...

What do you mean by "shelter"?

You know your poncho makes a good shelter and can be augmented with just a few things from the trail like pine boughs and such, right?

You could also pack three or four heavy duty garbage bags to take the place of the bulkier, heavier rain coat and they serve a multitude of purposes:
Fill them with material for a mattress (so you won't need the Isopad thing)
Use them for ponchos if it rains and you can keep your poncho slung as a hooch or rainfly.
Wrap your pack in one and the entire thing will stay dry.


Just things I see if it were me doing this trip, I don't know what your level of skill is (that's not an insult, that's the only way I can think to say it) so I can't really make any suggestions that I can say for definite.
 
I agree with the others re the jacket and fleece. Have anything lighter than the 1911? If it's all ya got, it's all ya got.
 
Thanks gents!

Dropping the poncho would leave me without shelter, so I can't do that. I have the rain jacket for if I'm in camp & it only weighs maybe 4oz & it's been raining a LOT. You were right about the pistol but it's not 4 legged animals I'm concerned with, it's the 2 legged variety. My buddy's bringing his so it is a little redundant. That definately helped, y'all are the BEST.

No offense taken Kemsat, I'd say my woodcraft would be lower-intermediate if there is such an animal. I can't make fire with a bowdrill or anything but I've got quite a bit of knowledge in the other areas(shelter, food, water, first aid). Of course, fire's not a problem with PJB's!
 
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I have trouble seeing how all that could weigh 30lbs. :confused:

I would probably ditch the fleece, one shirt, and one (or maybe 2) pair of socks. You can wash the dirty clothes each day and rotate stuff, though the shirt/socks don't weigh a lot.

The messkit is likely heavy and as long as you have some means of boiling water all you need is a bowl to eat out of.

The WP bag could be replaced by a couple of zip locs.
 
Do you need a full camelback? Each liter is 2.2 lbs, can you get by with 2 or 1 liters between water sources?

Do you really need the ax? Can you get rid of it? How about getting rid of the second knife and replacing it with a small folder or SAK?

Can you get-by with just one extra shirt rather than carry 2?

Looking at your food stores, I think that you should be taking along more food, you can get really hungry and I don't see any snacks besides jerky and hard tack (can you still buy hard tack?). Try to add some food stuffs that don't need as much water since teh jerky and hard tack are both dry, and the jerky will prolly have a lot of salt.

Personally, if your kit only weights 30lbs, it shouldn't be too bad of a load, a well-designed pack would help you to carry the load more comfortably.
 
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I saved some weight by replacing aluminum mess kit stuff with Snow Peak titanium. I replaced Camelback/Nalgene gear with Platypus. When weight conscious, I drop axes and extra knives. Might even delete my Silky saw and use just a SAK saw.

The foregoing changes were not very expensive but I spent some serious money replacing a heavy handgun with a S&W scandium/titanium model. Even the less expensive alloy revolvers are a lot lighter than a 1911 (I own 4 1911s and love shooting them but don't carry them very often).

And I agree with the comment on pack weight. I switched to a Go-Lite Gust that weighs 20.4 oz.

Have a great trip!

DancesWithKnives
 
Is that a Breeze? I believe that my Gust has a waist belt.

I generally run around 18lbs for a four-day trip but I have loaded the Gust to over twice that for a 9-day, late season trip in the Sierra. [Lots of food and a pint of Yukon Jack in a Platypus flask.]

One mistake people make is getting an UL pack when they don't intend to travel UL. One of my buddies stuffs a Gust with about 45-50 lbs of conventional gear (including a Travel Scrabble set) and it's just not a great setup. Might as well use a Gregory or other pack designed to provide appropriate capacity and load carrying ability.

DancesWithKnives
 
I was on a hike with Bearthedog of this forum and he was running one of those Gossamer Gear packs. I think they go under 10 oz. His has lasted for several seasons despite its light construction.

I took a tumpline off one of my older heavy packs and rigged it to the Gust. When I was carrying a heavy load up a Sierra pass at the start of a long trip, it really helped. Of course, fit is extremely critical to the successful use of a tumpline. Not to mention some neck conditioning.

DancesWithKnives
 
Wow, that does seem heavy for what you are carrying.
I usually only carry about 35lbs. fully loaded, but that is with a legitimate 2 person tent, fishing gear, niceties and sleeping bag.

Things you could get rid of:IMO...

* You only need one extra shirt other than what is on your back

* You only need one extra pair of socks other than what is on your feet
(You are only going for 3 days, you aren't going to get that funky, and if you think you are, wash one pair overnight, and wear the spare pair the next day)

*Why 3 servings of oatmeal? If you are going to be gone for 3 days, eat breakfast the first day before you leave, that leaves only 2 days of breakfast.

*Double check your food, and make sure you aren't bringing too much more than you plan on eating.

* Get rid of the axe and extra knife. Replace with a lightweight saw if you think you will need something. You should be just fine with a fixed blade knife, and a folder.

* Mess kit?! I see nothing in your food items that can't be cooked in the cup.

* Get rid of the Nalgeene if you have the camelbak bladder.

* Put the gun on your belt (if you can do so legally), or don't take it! It won't do you any good if it is in your pack and is just pointless weight.

* Finally, if you can afford to, upgrade your backpack. A heavy frame-less pack not only adds weight, but doesn't help carry the weight either.
I carry a fairly heavy backpack at 3lbs14oz for a 75liter pack, but it really makes a 35lb load feel lighter than the other ultra-light backpacks. If you are able to keep your packed weight at or below 30lbs, then some of the ultra-light packs out there are great. But, I would rather carry my stuff in an ultralight pack than in a heavy frameless pack, it just adds weight without helping carry the load.
 
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Get you a bigger knife to substitute the axe, and ditch the mess kit for a U.S army canteen cup.
 
DWK2 said:
I was on a hike with Bearthedog of this forum and he was running one of those Gossamer Gear packs. I think they go under 10 oz. His has lasted for several seasons despite its light construction.

DancesWithKnives
Click to expand...

Actually the Gossamer is under 4 oz. and rated at 15 pounds. I like it but have never tested it over 11 pounds with food and water.

Golite does not offer the breeze anymore but Fanatic Fringe offers the best counter part pack called the Thompson Peak. It is like the Breeze and rated for 20 pounds but weighs under 9 oz. empty.

-RB
Gossmear Gear Whisperlight
IMG_4228.jpg

IMG_3920.jpg

Fanatic Fringe Thompson Peak
IMG_1519.jpg
 
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