Packing Light


Part of our “Do it better” hiking plan was lightening our packs. We all worked hard to figure out the absolute essentials as well as what we might share. The night before we left, we were weighing our packs, making adjustments and re-weighing. We all bought lightweight duffel bags that we used to pack our backpacks, hiking poles, and hiking boots. The duffel bags will then get rolled up and put in our packs while we hike. 


We all had our own weight goals for our packs, and basically, we all achieved them. My pack (Betsy) without water is 15 lbs. I also carry 2.5 lbs in a “ribs pack,” so with 2 liters of water (4.4 lbs) my weight total is 21.9 lbs when I start out in the morning. 


There has been lots of fun conversation about what each of us consider “essential.” 😀 For example, do I leave out some M&Ms in order to bring an extra shirt? But in the end, I think each of us were happy that we met our personal goal of how much weight we are carrying. 

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