My gear is constantly evolving and changing, mostly in my continued attempt to lighten my load. My main reason for this is due to body weight to pack weight ratio. The general guideline here is that a loaded backpacking pack should not weight more than about 20% of your body weight (some guidelines do say no more than 1/3 of body weight). As a petite female weighing in at 110, that means my pack weight should not be more than 22 pounds (or 36 pounds if following the 1/3 body weight rule). Without paying careful attention to what is going into my pack, 22 pounds is nearly impossible to achieve. If age is considered as a factor, it’s all the more reason to keep the weight down for the sake of my older joints. Therefore, I am always checking out new products that come on the market every year in the hopes that they may provide weight savings. Even with these changes, I am unsure if I will ever achieve the superultralight status.
As a little background information, anyone who is conscientious and diligent about keeping their pack weight at a minimum will know their pack weight and likely will weigh most, if not all, of the items that go into their pack and set forth the results on a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet will break down the Base Weight, which is the total weight of your entire gear kit, excluding food, water, and fuel. These “consumables” are not included because the amounts vary by trip length and conditions.
There are generally 3 categories in which a lightweight backpacker typically falls into:
- Lightweight backpacker (LW): carries a base weight under 20 pounds
- Ultralight backpacker (UL): carries a base weight under 10 pounds
- Superlightweight backpacker (SUL): carries a base weight under 5 pounds
My base weight for the PCT was around 17 pounds so that puts me in the Lightweight Backpacker category….and still a far cry from even an ultralight backpacker. The way I see it, decreasing pack weight usually means increasing discomforts and less protection from the elements of weather and trail conditions. I can deal with most increases in discomfort but I don’t care to increase my risk against weather, especially rain and cold. Lengthy periods of wet is my nemesis!
As with consumables, other items tend to vary in my backpack based on the trip I am taking. Nowadays, I have a master gear list and create and save a new gear list for each trip that I take so I can have a record of what I’ve changed up and how my gear carry is evolving.
For those interested, here are gear lists from my more recent trips. I wish I had not lost the gear list I created for the JMT in 2016 as that trip showed my transfer from a regular weight backpacker with a full pack weight of 46 whopping pounds! Those days are long gone!
GEAR LIST-Mineral King Loop 2018
GEAR LIST-Wonderland Trail 2018
GEAR LIST-Tour du Mont Blanc 2018
mizipatty/Sunkist Steps 