S&S (& a little M) Elevate fro GOOOOLD!

[Jay]

i rarely eat MH stuff. i find most of it nasty. but the turkey tetrazini is decent.

most of my dinners are souped up top ramen or kraft mac and cheese. use easy mac so you dont have to carry powdered milk and butter/oil. adding a foil package of tuna, clams, trout, vienna sausages, wild onions, dried mushrooms, or whatever can really make a meal out of ramen or mac and still do it on the cheap and light.

this last trip i did i tried an idea i had had for a year or two. my lunches are typically tortilla, salami, and cheese. so this time i brought a small package of marinara. little bit of olive oil in a lightweight aluminum skillet, tortilla, marinara, salami, string mozarella, tortilla, oil. Heat, flip, heat, eat. awesome backcountry pizza to break up the ramenotony.

i hoard single serving condiments. it can do wonders for backcountry food. mayo, hot sauce, salsa, chopped onions (make sure it isnt dehydrated onions reconstituted [nasty]) relish, soy sauce, pot sticker sauce, gourmaises, marinara, ranch, bbq, etc.

i keep a pretty light pack. my last 5 day trip was 28lbs dry with a tent, sleeping bag, and our full kitchen and fishing gear. but a few condiments can make it seem like you are still eating well without spending $8 for a freeze dried dinner or carrying a ton of weight on your back.

cool trip to one of my favorite close to home lakes that is usually devoid of other people.

[SHigSpeed]

i rarely eat MH stuff. i find most of it nasty. but the turkey tetrazini is decent.

most of my dinners are souped up top ramen or kraft mac and cheese. use easy mac so you dont have to carry powdered milk and butter/oil. adding a foil package of tuna, clams, trout, vienna sausages, wild onions, dried mushrooms, or whatever can really make a meal out of ramen or mac and still do it on the cheap and light.

this last trip i did i tried an idea i had had for a year or two. my lunches are typically tortilla, salami, and cheese. so this time i brought a small package of marinara. little bit of olive oil in a lightweight aluminum skillet, tortilla, marinara, salami, string mozarella, tortilla, oil. Heat, flip, heat, eat. awesome backcountry pizza to break up the ramenotony.

i hoard single serving condiments. it can do wonders for backcountry food. mayo, hot sauce, salsa, chopped onions (make sure it isnt dehydrated onions reconstituted [nasty]) relish, soy sauce, pot sticker sauce, gourmaises, marinara, ranch, bbq, etc.

i keep a pretty light pack. my last 5 day trip was 28lbs dry with a tent, sleeping bag, and our full kitchen and fishing gear. but a few condiments can make it seem like you are still eating well without spending $8 for a freeze dried dinner or carrying a ton of weight on your back.

cool trip to one of my favorite close to home lakes that is usually devoid of other people.

Jay,

Can you spec out your gear?

Mine:

Pack - Outdoor Products Saturn external nylon frame, 5 lb 6 oz. (kinda heavy, but it carries the weight well and I like the external for flexibility and ventilation)
Bag - Kelty Cosmic Down 20, 2lb 8 oz
Pad - ExPed UL7 Synmat, 1 lb 2 oz
Tent - Marmot EOS1, 3 lb
---------------------------------------------
Big 4 - 12 lbs

Tube, inflator bag, inflatable seat - 72 oz
Fins 13 oz
Waders 45 oz
Booties 22 oz
Jetboil and Fuel - 21 oz
Katadyn filter - 14 oz
Puffy Jacket - 22 oz (need to reduce to ~12 oz)
Compact rain jacket - 10 oz (need to reduce to ~2 oz)
Headlamp - 3 oz
Base layers - 9 oz
Glasses - 4 oz
Microfiber towel - 2 oz
Water bottle 1.5l reused - 2 oz
DEET - 2 oz
Head net - 1 oz
TP - 2 oz
Gloves, cold weather - 3 oz
Gloves, sun - 1 oz
Buff - 1 oz
Asst food - 24 oz
Water - 50 oz
------------------------------------------
20 lb 3 oz


Rod tube (cordura Cabelas) - 15 oz (need to reduce to 6 oz or less)
Reel/extra spool - 12 oz
Rod - 4 oz
Net - 10 oz
Fly Boxes - 7 oz (need to reduce to 2 oz)
Lanyard and tools (hemo, floatant, dry shake, tippet, retractor, whistle, file) - 9 oz (titanium hemos, as cool as they are, cost $600!)
-----------------------------------------
3 lb 9 oz

Total = 35 lb 12 oz

Actual was about 41 so I have 5 lbs of unaccounted for stuff or rounding errors.

I think I can shed about 5 lbs from my tube kit, and another 3 lbs from my general kit, and a pound or two from my fishing kit, so a 30 lb overnight tubing pack is in reach. Add another 8 lbs of food to make it 5 days out?

Thoughts?

_SHig

[Jay]

I havent got to the point that I have weighed individual parts of gear, or at least havent recorded them. I never limit myself to a weight I need to reach, just adjust my pack for conditions and such. Plus I never include water in posted weights, hence the dry weight and you said you were carrying 50oz! Im usually carrying significantly less than 32. With the exception of my last trip, where I left the car with 100ozs and was out for almost an hour and a half before I could refill!

Another key thing to note is that we ( the 2 of us) have very few redundancies in our packs and share the burden of ALL of the communal stuff like tent, kitchen, food, filter, etc.

I also dont take that much food. Significantly less than the arbitrary 1.5lbs a day number. That number is misleading anyway. a pound and a half of peanut butter has probably 10X the number of calories you need in a day, lol.

One major place that I save weight is with clothing. The only thing i carry more than i would commonly wear at once is an extra pair of wool socks.

I also never take a tube to the backcountry. There are times I would like one, but never enough to haul one and its accoutrement up the hill.

Anyways, in summary to this rambling. I dont geek out too much about weight, I pack the things I know I will need, try to leave the things I might need at home, and carry whatever I end up with

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

You two are true "Back-country Commandos".........

Fantastic posts guys.....

[Fly Guy Dave]

I pack the things I know I will need, try to leave the things I might need at home, and carry whatever I end up with

Agreed! I had a backpacking buddy that used to obsess over the tiniest bit of weight, and I thought he went a bit far at times, but I have the same approach as Jay with this and try to go light, but still not suffer the whole time.

However, I do follow a blog from a fellow angler that has spec-ed out his gear, so you might find this to be useful: http://nativetroutangler.blogspot.co...g-and-fly.html

Cheers!

--F.G. Dave

[SHigSpeed]

Agreed! I had a backpacking buddy that used to obsess over the tiniest bit of weight, and I thought he went a bit far at times, but I have the same approach as Jay with this and try to go light, but still not suffer the whole time.

However, I do follow a blog from a fellow angler that has spec-ed out his gear, so you might find this to be useful: http://nativetroutangler.blogspot.co...g-and-fly.html

Cheers!

--F.G. Dave

Too funny! I've seen that before and I misplaced the link so I've been looking all over for it.

Thanks F.G.!

_SHig

[wineslob]

Honestly, things have come a long way in the "edibility" area of backpacking food. I have tried a bunch, and true, some are still pretty vile, but most are a lot better than in the past.

I was in the Boy Scouts back in the late 1970s and we did a lot of backpacking. We often had this horrid, almost inedible glob called "Chicken a la King", which was better than starving, but not by much. We also had these pilot biscuits and cheese spread for lunch and the "cheese"...well...was orange...but it wasn't really cheese, and the biscuits could be thrown hard against a tree and not break apart...or even chip...more like a beer coaster and orange goo.

When backpacking, I take some of the other stuff you mentioned, but if you are going to have "backpacking food", Mountain House is the way to go.

--F.G. Dave

Yup, been there. This past July we went on our yearly fishing trip (backpacking) and my fising buddy's son brought up some of the "pantry" stuff, Teriyaki Chicken I think, and Mountain House Fettuchini Alfredo. Both tasted like cardboard and still can't eat it.

[wineslob]

Jay,

Can you spec out your gear?

Mine:

Pack - Outdoor Products Saturn external nylon frame, 5 lb 6 oz. (kinda heavy, but it carries the weight well and I like the external for flexibility and ventilation)
Bag - Kelty Cosmic Down 20, 2lb 8 oz
Pad - ExPed UL7 Synmat, 1 lb 2 oz
Tent - Marmot EOS1, 3 lb
---------------------------------------------
Big 4 - 12 lbs

Tube, inflator bag, inflatable seat - 72 oz
Fins 13 oz
Waders 45 oz
Booties 22 oz
Jetboil and Fuel - 21 oz
Katadyn filter - 14 oz
Puffy Jacket - 22 oz (need to reduce to ~12 oz)
Compact rain jacket - 10 oz (need to reduce to ~2 oz)
Headlamp - 3 oz
Base layers - 9 oz
Glasses - 4 oz
Microfiber towel - 2 oz
Water bottle 1.5l reused - 2 oz
DEET - 2 oz
Head net - 1 oz
TP - 2 oz
Gloves, cold weather - 3 oz
Gloves, sun - 1 oz
Buff - 1 oz
Asst food - 24 oz
Water - 50 oz
------------------------------------------
20 lb 3 oz


Rod tube (cordura Cabelas) - 15 oz (need to reduce to 6 oz or less)
Reel/extra spool - 12 oz
Rod - 4 oz
Net - 10 oz
Fly Boxes - 7 oz (need to reduce to 2 oz)
Lanyard and tools (hemo, floatant, dry shake, tippet, retractor, whistle, file) - 9 oz (titanium hemos, as cool as they are, cost $600!)
-----------------------------------------
3 lb 9 oz

Total = 35 lb 12 oz

Actual was about 41 so I have 5 lbs of unaccounted for stuff or rounding errors.

I think I can shed about 5 lbs from my tube kit, and another 3 lbs from my general kit, and a pound or two from my fishing kit, so a 30 lb overnight tubing pack is in reach. Add another 8 lbs of food to make it 5 days out?

Thoughts?

_SHig

LOLZ, If I can pick the pack up without grunting too much, it's good.

[GoldenStone]

Looks like a great trip. Great shots Shig.

[fishngy]

Scott,
I still want to do an overnighter next summer. Working on get lighter stuff! Great info and pictures. Shig, I would like to get a copy of the pano of the lake. My wife would like to do a pastle using the picture. Thanks, Bill