[at-l] Re: ultra light clinics and reintroduction

[datto_atl2@yahoo.com (Datto)]

Here's a suggestion -- since you haven't yet purchased much
gear for your upcoming thru-hike, plan to get the combined
weight of your backpack (empty), tent (with stakes and
groundcloth and fly) and sleeping bag (in it's carrying
bag) as far under the combined weight of 10 lbs as
possible. Since you have a smaller body frame than normal
it's even more important -- a challenging goal for this
would be for you to shoot for 7.75 lbs.

Here's are a few suggestions along those lines:

Tent -- Nomad Lite from Wanderlust Gear
(http://www.wanderlustgear.com), one-person, weighs about 2
lbs 4 oz. with stakes and Tyvek groundcloth, very popular
with hikers of all types, especially thru-hikers. You can
also use only a tarp (the ones by GoLite and Campmor were
popular in Year 2000) -- the tarp will be a little lighter
than a Nomad Lite tent but the Nomad works well for a
thru-hike. Some people with tarps didn't like the bugs on
summer nights and to put a screen inside the tarp increased
the weight of the tarp setup to about what a Nomad Lite
tent weighs. But...some people also like the openness and
airyness a tarp gives over a tent.

Pack -- get a lightweight backpack to fit you first, then
worry about making weight decisions. For instance, see
about finding a Mountainsmith Chimera that might fit you or
as a slightly heavier alternative, a Gregory Reality.
Everyone I hiked with on my northbound Year 2000 thru-hike
that had a Gregory Reality liked their's (that's quite a
distinction for a backpack used by thru-hikers, believe
me). The backpack I used on my thru-hike was a
Mountainsmith Mountainlight, the predecessor to the Chimara
and the male equivilent from Chimara. Note the service from
Gregory (and their extensive dealer network along the AT)
is the best in the business.

Sleeping Bag 20*F -- for lightweight ounce weenies a
Feathered Friends brand of sleeping bag works as well (such
as a Hummingbird model) as a Western Mountaineering brand
of sleeping bag. You can buy a Hummingbird in a 'small'
size to save weight and make it warmer. For me, the
Dryloft/PTFE finish on the sleeping bag was worth the extra
cost since it protected the down from moisture (oh yeah, in
case anyone didn't tell you yet, everything in your
backpack will likely be sopping wet at one time or another
during your thru-hike because...it rains on the Appalachian
Trail...sometimes for many days in a row -- I can hear the
other hikers now saying, "No...really? It rains? Is it flat
too?" Ha).

Once you make the right decisions on the above items, then
it's a matter of being able to get along without the usual
items we'd carry in our backpack if we weren't thru-hiking.
You'll figure out what items to leave behind or send home
after you've backpacked a few hundred miles (on the AT or
prior to starting your thru-hike). Multiple sets of clothes
are a big thing to leave home for instance. That's why
thru-hikers have that june eh say quois..."d'aroma
extraordinaire" as we say in Indiana.

Stoves are another souce of weight savings -- an Esbit type
stove or an alcohol stove are going to be lighter weight
than a big honking Whisperlite stove. And iodine tablets
for water purification are going to be lighter weight than
a Pur Hiker filter (for those that don't have a thyroid
problem that is).

Over the course of time thru-hikers learn what can be
discarded and multiple sets of clothes are usually at the
top of the list and many thru-hikers change out their stove
for a lighter one along the AT.

Ask if you have any questions.

Datto


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