Using for Short Trips
Typical short trip complaints which the US Forest Service received from backpackers in 1998
(from the AmericanTrails.org humor section.):
- Too many bugs and spiders. Please spray the area to get rid of these pests.
- Trails need to be reconstructed. Please avoid building trails that go uphill.
- Chairlifts are needed so we can get to the wonderful views without having to hike to them.
- A McDonald’s would be nice at trailhead.
- Too many rocks in the mountains.
- The coyotes made too much noise last night and kept me awake. Please eradicate these annoying animals.
L et’s face it, folks, most backpackers go out for a weekend every now and then. Sometimes a long weekend. Maybe two or three times a summer. That really isn’t much. It may be what you like. It may be just right for you, but it isn’t that much.
Maybe every other year you’ll go out for four nights and five days, or push it and go even one day longer. If you get only one week of vacation time a year you may not want to spend it all in one place. Even if you get more vacation time, a week in the woods is a lot of time out there for most people.
As with weather though, where good weather represents an extreme, short trips represent an extreme. On a short trip you don’t need much. On a short trip in good weather during the middle of summer you really don’t need much at all. That’s where the idea of ultralight comes into its own.
If you’re hiking somewhere between five and 50 miles over a three-day weekend when you know the temperatures will be warm, the winds calm, and the chance of rain less than getting hit by a falling asteroid on your birthday right after winning the lottery, you can pare your equipment, food, and safety margin right down to bare, shiny metal. Do you really need to carry a two-person, six pound, double-wall tent just for yourself? Do you need that winter-weight sleeping bag? Or that six pound internal frame pack?
Naw.
Likewise, do you need your white gas stove and a liter of fuel? Hmmm.
How about a quarter-ounce alcohol stove and six ounces of Everclear? (To burn in the stove, of course.) With an aluminum cup to heat water in, an aluminum foil wind screen, a wire pot stand and some matches, your cooking kit might total eight ounces or less (227g). Total cost, between zero and maybe six or seven dollars. Compare that to $100 for a manufactured stove weighing a pound, and a pound or two more for the fuel bottle and fuel, plus another pound for a big cook set, and so on. You see the difference, I know you do.
For short trips in good weather you can choose your equipment carefully and head out with a base pack weight of nine to 12 pounds (4 - 5kg). Add some food, fuel and water, and you might hit 14 to 20 pounds at the start of the trip (6 - 9kg). Compare this to the 35 to 50 pounds (16 - 23kg) that you might be carrying now. Some people, thinking long and hard, choosing their gear carefully, and having gained enough experience to work it all out, have set out with base pack weights of under five pounds (2.3kg).
These are the times that alcohol or solid fuel tablet stoves really shine. And of course a four-ounce (113g) wood-burning stove fits right into the picture as well.
Exercises
- Try a really short backpacking trip. If you’ve gone out for a week, try a day. If you’ve gone out for a day, try an hour. If you’ve hiked 20 miles in from a trailhead, try camping in your back yard, and then on your back porch. Next, try going ultralight. Walk around the house naked for an entire weekend. Longer, if you have a good bod and big picture windows.
- Calculate the probability of getting hit by a falling asteroid on your birthday right after winning the lottery. If the chance seems significant at all, then please put me in your will. Please, please, please, please.