The only time I pack heavy...when the little girl is with me :) Stupid heavy? Yeah, but well worth it! Pack weight was around 40 lbs.

Think carrying a small child's gear or having a heavy pack in the military or alpine climbing,etc...,unavoidable due to commitment, is different from carry stupid heavy items. I remember my first civilian backpack scaling a mountain in an old external frame with a high school buddy while he was on the 6-year plan in college.

Family-sized cans of chili, ravioli, and ... green beans. A 12-pack of cheap beer, among other intoxicants. Rained all night and the old teepee style single wall flooded at 4. Ran back to the truck after hastily packing and went in town to the first McDonald's we could find. Have to say the day-hike after was pretty good tho.

Ed: stupid addition

Edited by hknewman on 02/22/2013 10:49:21 MST.

Well, my family has come a long ways....when my wife and I were first married and lived in WA, we hiked the Cascades and Olympics with stupid heavy packs. Coleman stove, full change of clothes, etc. We got older, had 4 kids, and learned the virtues of the gospel on BPL, which has kept us active on the trails.

But when we get the urge to go "stupid heavy" again (read: steaks, likker, etc.) we do kayak float trips instead. Certain gear is now designated "kayak trip only."

Interestingly, the kids like the kayak trips better. Whatever it takes to get 'em outdoors.

For my hiking trips with my wife or trail partner, we consider adult beverages multiuse items that are relatively lightweight :)

This is an awesome thread, particularly the posts from hikers willing to 'fess up with a sense of humor. I particularly love the photo of the Dad at Pt. Reyes and the one of those Raichle's. I have a lot of miles in boots like that and I still wear them to presentations every once in a while for the look and the odd, pendulum sensation from striding in boots that weigh 3lb each.

My stupid heavies:
--I have one of those expandable candle lanterns from the early '80s that's been all over California trails with me. It's brass. That one lives in the supply box, now...

--My awesome, reliable, been everywhere MSR XGK. The stovehead, alone, weights more than my Crux, fuel and pot kit, combined. XGK is now a table-top display/stove use clinic queen.

--My brother had pre-teen, on-trail meltdown, a mile out of Merced camp on the way to Yosemite Valley. I popped the sides off my Kelty, extended the load bar up, put it all back together and strapped his backpack onto the top of mine, resulting in an 8' tall backpacker carrying almost half his body weight. The only way I made it to the Valley was that I was so angry at him that I just powered down the trail. Judging from tourists' glances, I apparently looked pretty gnar in the giant pack and clonky Raichles... their last trip, actually.

--My girlfriend didn't like backpacking, so we got into MTB. Years later, she'd upgraded me to spouse and figured we should take our son to the High Sierra. I didn't think we'd fit the 3 of us in the Bibler, so I packed the Big Agnes Big House 4, with footprint, bear canister, Keens, stove, water filter, fuel and fishing gear, all in my Kelty because a) it didn't weigh "that much" and b) the Kelty "can". This kept my wife and son's packs nice and light, and resulted in definitely Stupid Heavy. I bought hiking poles right after that trip. There was a hilarity to seeing the giant, orange dome up at Thousand Island Lake.

Using the theory of Backpacking Relativity, I'm way ultralight now.

I went out on a "Meetup" all-ladies overnighter last year and one of the gals that showed up was an example of both "stupid light" and "stupid heavy". She lacked backpacking experience, she had only done car camping in the desert before, and so for an overnighter in Alaska where the night time lows were going to drop to about 30 degrees she shows up with 3 gallons of water (in the 1 gallon containers from the store- the ones that look like milk jugs with the flimsy cap), a pup tent, a bag full of cotton clothes, and a poncho liner for a blanket. No sleeping bag. she had some canned food, but I can't recall what she had for a stove. I just remember being flabbergasted. I explained we would be following a creek all the way in and camping next to a lake, and she should ditch the water except for 1 liter and she agreed to ditch 1 gallon and keep 2 gallons. She assured me she was fine with her poncho liner and tent and the cotton clothes for warmth. Her pack was unbelievably heavy. I wasn't the group leader so I couldn't refuse to let her go but I tried to help her go through her gear and re-pack but I had serious concerns about her ability to stay warm that night. Fortunately her pack was killing her less than a mile into the hike and she opted to turn around on her own. I think that's fortunate. This isn't a knock on her, she just didn't know any better and I give her points for pluck but I think that would have been a disaster.

The kid i did most of the LT with earned the trailname Inspector Gadget for being stupid heavy. in the 60lb packweight range

He decided to start out the trail aiming for a 10 day stretch until his first resupply despite the fact there is a very easy resupply 4 days in. so he had 1 gallon of trail mix, a whole pile of mtn house meals including a few of them being eggs for his only breakfast food. He found out the first morning that eggs don't cook very well with no butter over a Pocket Rocket in a 1.5L aluminum pot with no spatula. He ended up trading some Mtn house meals with some AT Sobo's for snack type food.

He started with 3 knives.. including a giant hunting fixed blade rambo would be proud to own. he also had bear spray (black bears in VT not a big issue).

He was from VT and his mom was helping with other resupply spots so at the LT Inn we tore his pack apart and sent 20+lbs home and took him shopping for better food. So i passed on much lightweight info and in exchange I had a damn easy time resupplying the whole way.

Going to REI in the Summer time to pay full price for outfitting a family of three with the all the gear needed to take a 1st backpacking trip. Dropping a couple of thousand on the best and lightest that they had to offer.

Weighing 135 lbs and carrying 80-90 lbs of the lightest gear that REI had to offer for 7 miles around Hetch Hetchy Resevior at a pace of 0.5 miles per hour.

I think that my spine compressed from the load and made me 1 inch shorter....and I am 5'6".

Live and learn....anyone want to buy some traditional gear?

I havea a 7 lb Gregory pack that hold 5500 CU IN, but does not hold all the gear that I bought inside of it.

-Tony

On one week long trip I brought an MSR Dragonfly stove in addition to a canister stove just to make pancakes one morning. I might not consider it stupid if the pancakes ended up being halfway decent, but that was not the case.

I also used to fill up my 3 liter water bladder at the start of every trip even when water was abundant.

We met these guys as they were on the second day of a three-day trip. They were lost so I gave them directions to where they needed to go and a map. (No, there was no room for that I guess.) I asked their permission to take the picture for posterity's sake.



With all the gear packed on the outside we figured they had a heck of a lot of booze on the inside. I just we would had met them the first morning before they used half of it. ;-)

Once met two guys on a mountain in Wales who has deck chairs and about about 20 1litre bottles of water with them.

Edited by stephenm on 02/23/2013 13:23:52 MST.

heavy...

http://youtu.be/99_QdO7BZi4

smart enough to use a sled.

Edited by RICKO on 02/23/2013 16:11:30 MST.