[at-l] New at-l members! :O)

[askowronek at mindspring.com (amy)]

On Mar 18, 2005, at 4:59 PM, Mara Factor wrote:

> Nah.  I've got my summer base pack weight (no food or water) down to 
> 13 pounds or so without sacrificing anything but weight.  For the AT, 
> my base pack weight now would probably be around 15 pounds.

Summer weight is easy, natch.

>
> If you can keep your shelter under two pounds and your sleeping bag 
> under two pounds, your kitchen setup under eight ounces (including 
> stove, windscreen, pot, utensil, lighter, but not fuel), you'll be 
> well on your way to a sub-twenty pound base weight pack.
>

I'm sub-twenty base weight now.. but I'd like to be lower.  I'm 
struggling with comfort vs weight.  :)  On previous trips I had lighter 
packs, but I value sleep and happy feet more than I used to.  Hence 
hammock, thermarest,  underquilt, and waldies, all of which boost me 
up.  I have a daily internal argument with myself about how heavy the 
underquilt is vs how warm it is.  And how happy the waldies make my 
feet vs how heavy they are.  Etc.

> After that, with a pack almost always below 30 pounds including food 
> and water, switching to trail shoes should be a breeze.

For some reason, I blister badly with trail shoes.  I've tried a wide 
variety, and though they're comfy for a few days on the trail, longer 
than that and I have continuing problems.  This year I'm back to 
leather boots.  If my feet blister with them too (they didn't used to) 
I'll go back to trail shoes, which are at least lighter.

-amy