In preperations for a trip as I was packing up the night before I looked around for a canister for my stove. I was sure I had a full can but I couldnt find it anywhere. The only place open was walmart so I looked for canisters but they didnt have any. What they did have was a single burner coleman stove that takes the 1lb propane cylinders

http://www.colemancanada.ca/Catalog/STOVES.Propane,2000011259.en.products

So on my trip I had a 9 lb baseweight and at least 3 lbs of stove, probably five. It was a group trip so i couldnt just go with cold food. So I went stupid heavy because I was unprepared.

Some seek arrowheads and artifacts, others...

OMG... Brendan wins! :)

These boot weren't made for walking... but that's just what I did.
Built strong so my feet wouldn't explode under the weight of my enormous pack.

@Ken,

Yeah... large glassware in the backcountry. Still lighter than a 6-pack of beer.

Incredible piece of meat there.


Has anyone batoned a piece of summer sausage?

Ryan J. hasn't covered it in his video tutorials.

Edited by Eugeneius on 02/22/2013 00:07:32 MST.

This was my son on the trip where I thought my backpacking days were over. I found BPL and saw the "light" after this trip. My pack was not this bad but topped 70lbs. This was a 3 day trip... I keep this around as a reminder whenever I am deciding on whether that extra ounce is worth it.

Edited by genreviam on 02/22/2013 00:05:21 MST.

I love the huge bowie knife.

I could make a sausage joke but, it just wouldn't compete.

Stupid heavy? Thinking all the scouts backpacking by Deep Creek off the PCT in Arrowhead hadt he heaviest mot miserable packs I'd seen....until we passed one poor scout rolling a DUFFLE BAG up the trail!

Eugene,
I have batoned my knife to cut through frozen salami. Does that count?

only if you were able to light it in the rain...

edit: and have video

Edited by brendans on 02/22/2013 00:19:26 MST.

@Justin B.

Absolutely- count it! I respect your determination tremendously. I would have lost a finger.

If you made that a little smaller, it looks like it could slide into a bear cannister.

Thread delivers.

Was unaware that sausage bombs could rain down from above. Will now require a sturdier hat.

I often hike the start of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia's Amicalola State Park. You can see the large packs people take at the beginning. Now you should start in March/April if you are doing the trial all at one go.

One time I met two guys from Florida in June with huge packs, huge sleeping bags hanging down from the bottom - we stopped and talked - they were beginning to do the whole trial. They were huffing, puffing, and sweating from all the weight. They asked where the next stream was. This being summer there weren't many running. They were only carrying 1 16 oz water bottle and no water filter. They said they didn't need any more in Florida.

I was on my way back so I gave them most of my remaining water and recommended they get a water filter and water bladder. They looked at me as if I was nuts.

Being reckless young adults, my friend Jim and I saw the weather report for the northeast just prior to Hurricane Sandy. Jim says "Let's go camping."

Stage 1 of this was to think up a way to rig rope spiderman nets above our hammocks to catch falling branches. Stage 1 was unsuccessful. Jim's girlfriend is a tropical storm.

Stage 2 is to think "Let's just go above the trees! Summit camping!" so we plan on climbing Mt. Greylock. meanwhile, Sandy builds to a superstorm and Jim's girlfriend builds to a Category 5.

Stage 3, we remember there's a shelter on top of Mt. Greylock for emergencies. We know a few maintainers on the mountain, so we make it the plan and start deciding how to treat shattered glass wounds. Sandy hits the coast, and Jim's girlfriend hits Jim.

Stupid Heavy: we bring full winter survival gear, 3 days worth of water since we didn't have our filters, 5 days worth of food, emergency blankets, enough band-aids to coat the windows to keep them from shattering, and Jim carries the enormously heavy guilt of a panicked girlfriend.

Stage 4, we hike up the Thunderbolt trail on Mt. Greylock. We pass a stock broker who is braving the increasing wind with a water bottle and a Marmot Precip. While we're talking to him, a 30 foot tree falls down next to the trail. We turn in tandem to watch it crash.

We survived the night. Not plural. The shelter had bulletproof windows since vandals kept breaking them, and the storm never hits North Adams bad enough to matter- we were spared. We take an awesome video of the wind at the summit, sleep comfortably, eat a ton, dump a lot of water, and walk 8 miles down the road the next day cleaning up as we go. The Greylock staff loved us, and we felt like heroes. I estimate carrying about 30lbs of stuff we didn't need.


Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBUNfoVG_Qo

Edited by mdilthey on 02/22/2013 07:16:24 MST.

A combination of both stupid heavy and stupid light, but I have to admit a lot of times it was stupid fun.

Backpack - US army ALICE pack, sans metal frame (this thing was hell on my shoulders and lower back, but got it for free from my army dad)

Sleeping bag - Gigantic synthetic 80's rectangle, bought at 2nd hand store, strapped to top of backpack. I continued to use this damn thing even after a big hole was melted into the bottom of it when a log rolled off a campfire and onto me while I was asleep. I wake up and my two drunk friends were laughing at me as I look down and I am on fire.

Sleeping mat - none

Ground cover - none

Shelter - none (50%) or hardware store plastic tarp on top of a debris hut or stick lean-to, and on occasion wake up from pouring rain while cowboy sleeping and just pack up everything and hike back to car in misery, then sleep in car.

Bottle of cheap bourbon/rum, multi use gear--also FAK when combined with toilet paper

Full roll of toilet paper

3 cans of pork and beans, bag of beef jerky, 3 candy bars

Fleece hoody

Cotton long underwear as sleep clothing

Lumberjack type wool socks

Clothing worn - Punk t-shirt, wool beanie, leather motorcycle jacket (hand-me-down from big brother), jeans, combat boots (paratrooper "Jump" boots were my fav). I still have the leather jacket (never wear it anymore, just a relic of youth), actually, and had to get up and weight it for the fun of it--LOL 2250g!

Multi-tool - helpful as can grabber after warming up cans of beans next to campfire.

Stainless steel ice tea spoon, which I still have as my "lucky spoon" in my urban backpack to eat lunch at university

Swiss army knife AND Cheapo fixed blade I bought at a truck stop

Hand axe, also bought at truck stop together with fixed blade as a package deal (20 bucks total I think)

One full gallon of spring water (50%), even when camping RIGHT NEXT TO LAKES, or 3 cans of soda. I would always force other people to carry beer and then trade swigs of my hard spirits for a few beers.

If it rained, I got wet. Cuz screw rain gear and umbrellas, Native Americans never needed them, so neither do I, dude.

I was backpacking the NPT in the early 90s. At the Silver Lake lean to, I ran into a couple who had hauled in an large inflatable raft, sledgehammer, axe, grill, 2 cases of beer, and bottle of whiskey. Stupid heavy? I thought so.

I prepared to move on, but then my dog started to play with theirs and they asked me not to leave on their account. That night, I enjoyed their free-spirited company as I feasted on a couple burgers, washed down with cold beer, and topped off with Jameson's. Stupid heavy? Not if it makes you happy.



Here's another one- Two cheap polyester princess sleeping bags each weighing a couple pounds. Practically took up my whole pack. Stupid heavy? Not on that trip.

If good food and booze is involved its worth the weight :-)

Edited by stephenm on 02/22/2013 09:19:31 MST.

As someone who just started really trying to lighten up, this is a not-so-distant memory:

Good friend of mine from college is getting married last summer, so naturally we decide to do a backpacking trip for his bachelor party. We choose a very easy 2-night loop of only 10 miles since there were some first time backpackers joining. We sent out a list of gear for each person to bring, included everything - tent sharing, meals, beer, and booze. We planned on turning the 10-mile loop into a 2-night trip to leave plenty of time to toast the groom.

The big mistake we made was believing everyone when we casually asked at the trailhead if they followed our instructions. Even though we sent out very specific lists, every single person brought double the alcohol they were assigned, a few more than that. One guy had a 30 beer cans in the bottom of his pack. Another had 4 bottles of wine (ignored the bag wine instruction completely). A third had TWO half gallons of jack daniels. Plus all the other people who only brought a little extra. By the time we setup camp on the first night, we had a dedicated bar in the backcountry. Multiple spirits, four a five beer choices, and quite a variety of mixers. This was for 9 people.

The worst part of this story is that not one person remembered to take a picture.