from Kristen in Garrett County: "Gearing Up to Hit the Trail"

What’s in a pack? This is actually a two-fold question, that depends on the pack, that depends also on the packer, and their journey as intended. What’s pictured here will be the original contents of mine for the AT, now stacked by the door, readied to live at my brother’s place near Atlanta from Christmas til March. (Coincidentally, the pack is named Intention, by Mountain Hardwear)

Sure looks like a lot all spread out (and somewhere between Atlanta and Damascus I may shed some of this), but gear and clothing, with water and fuel canisters full, it weighs in at right about 24 pounds. Not the lightest rig ever, but I’m pretty happy with it for starters. Perhaps paradoxically, the extra pounds are for sake of my long-term health and well-being.

Almost certainly, in the wide world, exists as many ideas of the non-negotiables and the needless in backpacking, as there are hikers out on the trails. Iodine tabs weigh considerably less than a water filter, probably by a full pound, and I honestly don’t mind the taste. But 6-10 ingested daily for 5 straight months might cause serious physical detriment on the macro level. So the water filter comes. I still like to write (obviously), so the ever-decreasingly blank book adds I’m sure another ¼ pound. And while most nights I’m slated to make it to a shelter for the evening, three-sided cabins on the A.T. have a finite capacity, which can become crowded and noisy and stay up late. The water source and safety in numbers is a definite draw. But I’m needful of quiet and solitude. Honestly, even if, as a morning person, I’m among the very first to arrive in the evening to claim shelter space, I may be carving out a niche on the fringe of these sites, of my own volition, on a very regular basis. My 2-man tent is just a pound more than most any 1-man, and on this side of the equation seems only totally worth the carry to be able to sit upright in my home, set anywhere regardless of proximal suitable trees, and set quickly, to keep me and all my gear dry. I’m open to criticism and forewarnings on my conclusion however.

In all my years of backcounty travel, I’ve owned a couple packs I liked, but had yet to ever invest in a really good pack, or own any expedition-size pack whatsoever. Of all I’d seen, put on, compared to others I’d used, I just couldn’t find one I liked enough to spend on. Always some notable irritation with the designs. So originally the plan was to take just my weekend pack, keep things simple, make it fit. It’s been done; I somehow find myself above the laws of physics in this regard. But I stumbled across this pack on Moosejaw about the same time I arrived at the conclusion that an ultralite pack is only good for carrying ultralite - or not much - gear, and that I philosophically will never be an ultralite hiker, cause I like to eat real foods, carry enough clothes to stay warm and sleep both dry and flat.
So here it is … Nalgenes can be reached & reinserted without taking it off, good compression, no side pockets, lid pocket does not convert into a belt pack, bottom compartment access, preferably a side access too… and beyond this, mine comes with fully unattachable top and a back panel pocket, should I ever relent for increased capacity in the future. I’ll absolutely be carrying the stripped down version for hiking season 2011. And even this does add an extra 2 pounds, over the weekender, in the pack itself- which I’m justifying as making the other 22 pounds feel lighter and carry more comfortably. Food supply, added and diminished, should vary the total between 25 and 36 pounds.
The million dollar question then is, will the several extra pounds be worth it over such a distance. I’ve placed myself in the camp that says, yes. For, even if I’m wrong, I’ve concluded it’s far easier to jettison multiple items for safekeeping elsewhere, than it is to acquire exactly what I want once I’m out on the trail. But, in the words of Benjamin Hobbes, there’s only one way to find out.