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[at-l] On the other hand....

Hi again.

It seems that the subject of cutting weight is very popular right 
now.  This came through another forum and I thought I'd like to share 
it, with Dove's permission.  It offers a different perspective and 
comfort for all those who don't feel that the idea of ultralite fits
them.
Dove said:

When I thru-hiked in '91, I tried going without a stove in the SNP.  
It seemed like a good idea in theory, and I knew one or two other 
people who were doing it, and liking it.

(Emphatically) I did not like it.  I could not wait until I got to 
Harper's Ferry so I could have my stove back.  Other's comments 
about the pleasures associated with cooking, eating, lying on the 
thermarest, etc. hit the old proverbial nail on the head for me.  
But there was more to it for me, in going back to carrying a stove.

I was the only one in my little group of friends who was without a 
stove.  It was very hard to sit with them and eat my little bowls of 
cereal, etc., while they were eating mac&cheese and drinking hot 
chocolate.  I also found the "cold" food choices far too limited (I 
never thought of soaking liptons and eating them cold...).  I pooped 
out on power bars and the like before I even started to go stove-less, 
so that option was out.  And in the end, it didn't lighten my pack one 
bit to go stove-less, because I wound up bringing heavier food.

I might try it again, with some serious planning of what to eat, but I 
don't think it would be fun for a whole thru-hike.  Especially during 
the early months.  It's COLD in the Smokies in April.  '91 was a mild 
year, but it didn't get warm to stay until I got to Hot Springs, in 
early May.  If I hadn't had a stove during the cold weather, I think I 
would have quit the trail out of sheer misery.  Hot cereal, oatmeal, 
coffee...these were the only things that got me out of my sleeping bag 
when the temp was in the 20's and 30's.

As someone said, a thru-hike is hard work.  Hard on your body, hard
psychologically, hard emotionally.  IMHO, (backed up by some informal 
research done by a few other thru-hikers) many of the pysical problems 
experienced by thru-hikers are a direct result of the sub-standard 
nutritional fare eaten by most of us.  One study, done by a female 
hiker for her master's thesis, showed that male hikers cannot carry 
enough food to maintain a healthy weight over 2000 miles.  
Something to do with the increased weight of the food requiring
extra calories to do the work, which requires more food, which 
requires more fuel, which.....  One of the other women who hiked in 
'91 spent a bunch of time afterward doing some serious nutrition 
research and found that the most common ailments reported by 
thru-hikers match quite well with the symptoms of
several vitamin deficiencies and other nutrition-related disorders 
such as low blood sugar.  Just cooking, instead of eating dry food, 
doesn't change the outlook one whit.  But because we can't reasonably 
carry the fresh veggies and fruits that *would* make the difference, 
having a stove increases the options available for eating better.

The next time I thru-hike, I intend to pay far more attention to my 
eating plans beforehand than to any other aspect of it.  In '91, I 
worried over gear, over mail drop locations, over hygiene, over making 
my pack lighter, etc.  These are all reasonable concerns, and I was 
glad to have addressed them.  But I don't believe I spent enough time 
thinking about maintaining my health.  I believe that my hiking 
experience was not as good as it could have been because I, like most 
of my fellow hikers, wound up with a lot of physical ailments over the 
course of my hike.  Most of which (not all...) I believe I would have 
avoided had I been eating a diet closer to the FDA triangle.

Having said all that, I recommend that y'all think long and hard before 
you decide to attempt an entire thru-hike without a stove.  I think it's 
a good experience to try, since you can... (There are lots of 
opportunities to "try" that kind of thing while you're on such a long 
hike...)  But IMHO, going stove-less just to cut pack weight is not a 
good trade-off for most hikers.
There are other ways to do that...

I'll leave you with this thought:  During my hike in '91, the only 
person I knew who had the most (outwardly) serene hiking experience, 
the one who never had complaints, the one who didn't worry over mileage, 
the one who always "went with the flow", was also the only one who 
carried two stoves, a gas stove for cooking and a Zip stove to heating 
water for many other wonderful uses besides coffee...  He always stopped 
for a cooked lunch and a nap afterward, taking the time to string up a 
clothesline to dry out his sox and sweaty clothes.  His philosophy was 
that he was not "doing a hike," he was living his life, which happened 
to be carrying a backpack on a trail.  So he made sure he was 
comfortable every minute of every day.  He hiked as only far
as he felt like hiking on any given day, no more, no less.  He carried 
far more in his pack than anyone else I knew, but he was warm in his 
down parka, sitting by the fires he was able to make easily because he 
had a small saw. (I know, I know--but, he was very conscientious about 
the wood he used, and he didn't do it every day.)  His style of hiking 
isn't for everyone, but it sure gave me something to think about...

Remember, as always, YMMV  :-P

--Dove
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