{"id":439,"date":"2006-05-03T08:25:47","date_gmt":"2006-05-03T13:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/?p=439"},"modified":"2006-05-03T08:25:47","modified_gmt":"2006-05-03T13:25:47","slug":"a-few-more-thoughts-on-going-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/2006\/05\/03\/a-few-more-thoughts-on-going-light\/","title":{"rendered":"A few more thoughts on going light"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve had a couple days to digest all the stuff we learned in the Sierra Club
\nlightweight backpacking class taught by Steve of WildeBeat <\/a>fame. A few conclusions:\n<\/p>\n

"Either you hike to camp, or you camp to hike."<\/b> I’m guessing
\nan engineer coined this phrase because it posits a neatly binary look at backpacking.
\nIf your philosophy is the former, you carry all you can stand because the campout,
\nnot the hike, is the point for getting out there. If it’s the latter, camping
\nis just something you put up with to keep on hiking, so the less you carry,
\nthe farther you can get out there. But we don’t live on microchips, so we don’t
\nneed to be all either-or about everything. Find a comfortable notch between
\nthese two extremes and you’re apt to enjoy yourself a lot more. <\/p>\n

Distance isn’t everything.<\/b> It seems like the greatest selling point
\nto lightweight backpacking is how much more ground you can cover comfortably.
\nWell, you can do a long walk in your living room if you’re determined enough.
\nMiles do matter, and covering more ground can expose you to things you wouldn’t
\nhave experienced otherwise, but the very act of walking robs you of everything
\nyou can experience only when standing still. It’s not a hike if you’re not moving,
\nof course, but I feel like the faster I’m walking, the less nature I’m absorbing.<\/p>\n

Where you camp is<\/i> everything<\/b>. Campsite selection can’t be found
\non a shelf at REI or ordered from a cottage manufacturer, so it doesn’t get
\nas much attention as it deserves. If you go light and camp with a tarp, you
\nabsolutely have to find areas sheltered from the wind and elevated from valley
\nfloors where cold air descends overnight (heavier tents keep you warmer and
\nblock wind better). Developed campsites with their hard-packed ground will require
\nyou to carry a heavy inflatable sleeping pad if you have any hope of getting
\na good night’s sleep. The ground of a forest floor or meadow generally is soft
\nenough that you can sleep on a cheep, lightweight closed-cell pad. This is where
\ngoing light gets you closer to nature … in a tarp in tall grass, for instance,
\nyou’re right down there at ground level. Granted, this exposes you to all the
\ncreepy-crawlies living in that ground, but your sleeping bag and ground cloth
\nwill keep them out (mostly). You might love or hate the experience, but you
\nwill not forget it. <\/p>\n

Less weight means more options.<\/b> If your pack weighs seven pounds when
\nyou could get by with one that weighs four, that’s three pounds of other stuff
\nyou can’t take along. Camera gear springs to mind: you could take a tripod along
\nwith the weight saved by switching from a tent to a tarp. Add an extra lens
\nby subtracting the weight of a ThermaRest and a water filter. <\/p>\n

More weight is hazardous to your health.<\/b> You might think carrying 50
\npounds will just make you stronger, but it might also do things to your hips,
\nknees, feet and back that won’t heal naturally. Heavy loads endanger your balance
\non tricky bits of trail and increase death-march factor of steep hills. <\/p>\n

There is no discernible difference between 22 pounds and 22.1 pounds.<\/b>
\nNo need to drive yourself batty trying to reduce your pack weight. If you can
\nget your base weight down to 15-18 pounds, you’re probably going light enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve had a couple days to digest all the stuff we learned in the Sierra Club lightweight backpacking class taught by Steve of WildeBeat fame. A few conclusions: "Either you hike to camp, or you camp to hike." I’m guessing…<\/p>\n

Read the whole thing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}