Lightweight Backpacking

It was after the Middle Fork section that I got back into my “gear head” mode of years past. Even during the climbing days I would thrift shop for climbing clothes instead of getting the latest Prana or Mountain Hardware zip-t/slash pocket/chin chamois featured scarf. Through internet research I stumbled upon the “lightweight vs ultra-lightweight” controversy. I felt at the time that I wasn’t going to ever be apart of the ultra-lightweight (freak show) movement and focused mainly on gear selection. The site that I found most helpful was http://www.backpacking.net/. This site had great articles on the lightweight movement, one of which I adopted upon reading, trekking poles. In high school, my dad, brothers, Jamie Papin and I were on a three day trip on the Appalachian Trail inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park when my dad developed severe knee pain. We decided to cut the trip short and perform a re-route down another trail, but in order to get him out without calling on an airlift; we cut two small saplings down which he used as natural trekking poles (the saplings were obtained well off trail and this was an emergency, so don’t give me any tree hugger crap!). He was able to get out under his own weight but the concept of trekking poles made sense. So I bought a pair off of eBay after the Middle Fork section. The other change that I made during this time was clothing. I streamlined my outdoor wardrobe to very specific items that would be part of a layering system. Any part of the complete system could be utilized depending upon the season in which we were to be in. For Christmas I picked up a MSR pocket rocket which reduced pack weight by another pound. I believe my pack was in the 18 pound range by this point which was almost perfect for the lightweight backpacking movement, but… even great gear does you no good sitting on a shelf. We needed another trip. jm