Ultra light backpacking incorporates a high fitness level along with a need for supplies designed to be light enough to carry essentials while keeping weight under 15-20 pounds. The main idea of going ultra light is to cover a good amount of distance each day (my goal being 20-25 miles). A lighter pack helps you achieve this by reducing the strain on your body of a heavy pack (30-70 pounds of weight certainly makes a slow go of hiking). My personal weight goal is 15-17 pounds (including food) on the first trip. To attain this goal many new items must be added to a normal campers pack, replacing heavy or bulky items they once found essential. The list below contains the items I deem essential to backpacking and survival if necessary.
Itinerary:
GoLite Jam Pack
Sog Seal Pup Elite knife
Jetboil foldaway fork, spoon and spatula
Fozzils fold-up bowls
Smith’s knife sharpener
Alps Mystique One person tent
Sleepcell Mummy sleeping bag (which I would like to trade out for a lighter bag)
Brooks Cascadia 5 running shoes
Mountain Hardwear weather resistant convertible pants
Icebreaker T-shirt (merino wool)
bandana
Alcohol stove w/fuel
Rain shell
Sun/rain hat
Titanium cup
70% Wool/30% synthetic socks (two pairs)
Point and Shoot Camera
Compass
Lighter
Magnesium striker
Waterproof matches
First aid/survival kit (detailed list coming soon)
These items all add up to around 12-13 pounds. The addition of food should put me around my target goal. I feel this list will be adequate for at least my first excursion. I may find I need more but for now I believe I am ready to go!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
My Background and the Ultimate Question, What is Ultra Light Backpacking?
I have always enjoyed the outdoors, camping and running. As a child I remember camping in the Rockies and Mid-Missouri with my family. It was a great time. Waking up and walking through grass soaked in dew and the sounds of nature in the morning. Traipsing through the woods during the day and spending the night around the campfire listening to owls and cicadas. Nothing was better.
Running has also always been enjoyable to me although it has taken many different roles in my life. I first loved sprints mostly due to watching Carl Lewis in the Olympics, although I was never good at it. For many years afterward I wanted to do sprints and run the bases in baseball. Once I figured out it wasn’t my thing I decided to simply run. I found myself running a mile here and there but soon found that running farther was a great stress reliever. Five years ago I began running around three miles with the intent of quickly running a 5K. I ran my first and only 5K in 2006 and completed it in just over twenty-three minutes. Not the quickest time but it didn’t matter. I had fun. But then began the slow realization that competition was really not something I cared for. I ran afterwards unsure why I was doing it and what for. I still enjoyed it but began to question why should I continue? Around two years after the 5K I stopped running for nearly nine months. I knew I needed to start again to get away from the world.
Finally, in 2008 I started again for no real reason until I went camping alone in Colorado for a week. For months afterwards I reminisced about one particular day that I hiked all day, covering an estimated eleven or twelve miles (round trip) and wondered how great it would’ve been to have jogged part of it and kept going, covering even more mileage, stopping only briefly to take in wonderful sights, set up camp and eat. In the early part of 2010 the desire to do this had grown so much that I just wanted to pack stuff up and go. So I looked into what I would need to go camping with only lightweight, minimalistic supplies so that the ability to jog part of the trail would be possible. I discovered a whole world I had known nothing about, fastpacking or ultra light backpacking (I prefer the latter and will now only refer to it as such).
Ultra light backpacking consists of many levels of physical exertion but mostly, hiking, scrambling and jogging. The goal I believe is different depending on who you ask, mostly because it is a discipline designed not to compete with others but with yourself. And even then, I don’t really see it as a competition. I see it as a way to enjoy the outdoors, to immerse yourself in it. There is one common goal among those who practice the discipline, the ability to cover many miles (anywhere between 20-40 a day) sometimes for days, weeks or even months. You camp and live with only light weight essentials. It is an activity most people would shy away from. There are no creature comforts, no TV or ice cream or showers or mirrors with which to check your hair. None of that matters anyway, you are outdoors in a place that is so beautiful even in its most uncombed areas.
For the past year I have been preparing to go ultra light backpacking. Preparation has been difficult at times (monetary issues and twisted ankle to name a few) but I am nearly ready. Some supplies are still needed but the list is many times shorter than it was. My jogging has increased to 4-10 miles three days a week and I also take into account how much I walk at work (around 4-8 miles). I see no reason I cannot do twenty miles a day on my first two day excursion later this summer.
This seems the most logical next step. My love of the outdoors combined with the joys of jogging. I don't think anything could alleviate the stresses of the day quite like this. In this blog I will detail my preparations leading up to and following my first excursion. Anyone wishing to check on my status, supplies (list coming soon) or are merely interested in learning more about ultra light backpacking please check back soon and often.
Peace.
Running has also always been enjoyable to me although it has taken many different roles in my life. I first loved sprints mostly due to watching Carl Lewis in the Olympics, although I was never good at it. For many years afterward I wanted to do sprints and run the bases in baseball. Once I figured out it wasn’t my thing I decided to simply run. I found myself running a mile here and there but soon found that running farther was a great stress reliever. Five years ago I began running around three miles with the intent of quickly running a 5K. I ran my first and only 5K in 2006 and completed it in just over twenty-three minutes. Not the quickest time but it didn’t matter. I had fun. But then began the slow realization that competition was really not something I cared for. I ran afterwards unsure why I was doing it and what for. I still enjoyed it but began to question why should I continue? Around two years after the 5K I stopped running for nearly nine months. I knew I needed to start again to get away from the world.
Finally, in 2008 I started again for no real reason until I went camping alone in Colorado for a week. For months afterwards I reminisced about one particular day that I hiked all day, covering an estimated eleven or twelve miles (round trip) and wondered how great it would’ve been to have jogged part of it and kept going, covering even more mileage, stopping only briefly to take in wonderful sights, set up camp and eat. In the early part of 2010 the desire to do this had grown so much that I just wanted to pack stuff up and go. So I looked into what I would need to go camping with only lightweight, minimalistic supplies so that the ability to jog part of the trail would be possible. I discovered a whole world I had known nothing about, fastpacking or ultra light backpacking (I prefer the latter and will now only refer to it as such).
Ultra light backpacking consists of many levels of physical exertion but mostly, hiking, scrambling and jogging. The goal I believe is different depending on who you ask, mostly because it is a discipline designed not to compete with others but with yourself. And even then, I don’t really see it as a competition. I see it as a way to enjoy the outdoors, to immerse yourself in it. There is one common goal among those who practice the discipline, the ability to cover many miles (anywhere between 20-40 a day) sometimes for days, weeks or even months. You camp and live with only light weight essentials. It is an activity most people would shy away from. There are no creature comforts, no TV or ice cream or showers or mirrors with which to check your hair. None of that matters anyway, you are outdoors in a place that is so beautiful even in its most uncombed areas.
For the past year I have been preparing to go ultra light backpacking. Preparation has been difficult at times (monetary issues and twisted ankle to name a few) but I am nearly ready. Some supplies are still needed but the list is many times shorter than it was. My jogging has increased to 4-10 miles three days a week and I also take into account how much I walk at work (around 4-8 miles). I see no reason I cannot do twenty miles a day on my first two day excursion later this summer.
This seems the most logical next step. My love of the outdoors combined with the joys of jogging. I don't think anything could alleviate the stresses of the day quite like this. In this blog I will detail my preparations leading up to and following my first excursion. Anyone wishing to check on my status, supplies (list coming soon) or are merely interested in learning more about ultra light backpacking please check back soon and often.
Peace.
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