What Gear Did You Use?

c) Andrew Carter, 2021

You’ll find below a list of the gear I was carrying at the end of my hike. That gear weighed slightly less than 21 pounds. That weight does not include food and water.

In the Sierra, I usually carried 2 liters of water, which weighs slightly more than 4 pounds. The amount of food I carried depended on how far it was between resupply points. At the end of my hike, I was going through close to 2.5 pounds of food every day. If it was 5 days between resupplies, I left the first resupply with 37 pounds on my back (too much) and arrived at the next resupply with 25 pounds (okay).

Unfortunately, the amount of weight I was carrying increased as my hike went on. That’s because I started off with a lighter backpack and I didn’t have to carry a bear canister until I reached the Sierra. (Items highlighted in blue below.) I moved to a heavier pack during my hike due to body aches and pains.

I began my hike with a little more than 17 pounds of gear on my back. I was also eating less food, about 2 pounds per day, but I often had to carry more water. (It’s hot and dry in Southern California.) At the start, with 3 liters of water and 10 pounds of food for 5 days, my pack weight was 34 pounds.

My goal next year is to get my pack weight down to 15 pounds of gear if no bear canister. The way to accomplish this will be to get a single-wall tent. That will save about 1 pound. Then I’ll need to find another pound of savings with the rest of my gear. (Of course, I will need to use my lighter backpack.)

If I’m able to do this, I would leave a resupply with 32 pounds on my back, assuming 2 liters of water and 12 pounds of food.

15 pounds of gear is nothing to brag about. Many ultralight backpackers carry only 10 pounds of gear. One of the ways they accomplish this is to use a lighter backpack and tent, not use a sleeping bag liner, use a lighter sleeping pad (often a half-length one), not carry a stove and fuel, use a smaller battery pack, not carry camp shoes or rain pants, and eliminate or lighten other odds and ends.

Another way ultralight hikers save weight is by carrying less food and water. On the food side, they try to resupply every 3 to 4 days, simply by hiking more miles per day. That means they’ll reach a resupply sooner than I will. The lower your pack weight, the easier it is to hike farther. They might also use freeze dried food, which is lighter than the store bought food I use.

Ultralight hikers are able to get by with less water in their pack by hiking faster (less time between water sources) and by cutting things closer to the bone than I do. I like a water cushion.

What this all means is that an ultralight hiker will rarely have more than 25 pounds on their back. That’s 9 pounds less than where I’m at right now (assuming no bear cannister and my lighter pack) and 7 pounds less than where I hope to be.