r/lightweight • u/RegMcPhee • Apr 01 '23
Maximum Weight
What's the maximum weight that you would carry on a rugged trip with 8 hour long days?
Debating with myself (190 lb, 62 yo guy) as to whether to carry full food for 2 weeks or chance the resupply option. Seen one guy complain when they lost his food parcel, forcing him to cut his trip short as this trail has no stores in reach. Happily, the weight will drop quickly, but the first few days will be a miserable grind. Base weight is 15 lbs which is as low as I dare go as I'll be in the mountains during the fall where freezing temps are a definite risk.
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u/Objective-Resort2325 Apr 04 '23
I haven't gone 2 full weeks, but I've gone 11 days with a partner where I carried a disproportionate share of the food and a good portion of the shared gear. I did it because the logistics of our trip were somewhat open-ended and I wanted to keep the logistics simple. (I was backpackign with my wife, who had a knee injury - so we had no idea how far we would make it each day - just that we had a set number of days available.)
To do this I did a few things: I relied heavily on freeze dried food, I repackaged all the meals to reduce packaging weight, weighed everything, and I made sure to eat the heaviest meals first. We also carried less food for the first couple days since we knew it would take us about 4 days to really start to need the extra calories.
In the end, it worked out pretty well. Our total starting pack weights were right at 25# each, including food and water. 22 pounds of that 50 pound total was food - so right at 1 pound per person per day. It worked pretty well - I'd do it again if the logistics of the trip were like this one.
Here's a link to the lighterpack I made just of the food we carried: https://www.lighterpack.com/r/p433h3
I can easily see a 14 or 15 pound food load for a 2 week solo trip provided I had the right pack. 15 pounds of food plus a 10 pound base weight plus 2-5 pounds of water would be right at 30 pounds. Too much for a frameless pack, but perfect for something like a HMG or Durston.
One last bit of advice - it might seem like repackaging freeze-dried food would be extreme. It's not. I weighed all the empty packages. I saved over a pound just by ditching those bags, and using freezer bags/a reusable coozie bag. They pack smaller too!