How to Get Out More Often

We spoke with friends of Adventure 16 who seem to get out all the time. How do they do it? Some of their advice...

MAKING
IT A PRIORITY...

Jackie Paulson, Santa Monica

Longtime Adventure 16 outings instructor and globe-trotting adventurer Jackie
recently climbed Acongagua. When we spoke with her she was leaving for Colorado
for a round of ice climbing. She’s planning a Mt. McKinley ascent this
June and will also climb the Mountaineers Route up Whitney. “I don’t
see outdoor trips as a frivolous vacation or extra treat. I see it as something
that is a priority: A part of my life in the same way as eating properly, staying
fit and showing up for work. Fortunately my husband is ok with all this—he’s
more of an adrenaline junkie; skiing and such. I keep all of my most commonly
used gear in one giant duffle. I keep a file of places I’m going to go.
Every time I see something in Backpacker magazine, it goes into that file—I’m
constantly planning years in advance…That’s part of the joy. It keeps
me inspired.”

MAKE THE MOST
OF YOUR TIME

Jerry Schad, La Mesa

Author
of the enormously popular Southern California hiking guidebook series “Afoot
& Afield,” Jerry is an astronomy and physical sciences professor at
Mesa College. He’s usually out in the field each week updating his books.
Jerry’s newest book, “Trail Runner’s Guide to San Diego”
(Wilderness Press) will be out this year. It will contain descriptions of 50
runs. “The time of day and time of year are so very important around here.
Don’t go out in broiling sun in summertime. So many people can get the
wrong idea about day hikes when our area starts warming up in May. They hit
the trail at 10 a.m. and then it gets uncomfortably hot and they’re not
enjoying themselves. Confine your explorations to early evening or early morning.
My interest is based on the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid). It’s
so easy to slip on my running shoes and be out the door in a minute for some
trail running. Everything in Southern California is incredibly close. Rather
than drive for a day or two, I like to make the most of my time. My pack is
typically an average of 10 pounds (cameras are a big part of the weight), although
I can be over that at the beginning of a trip because of water. Sometimes in
Mission Trails Regional Park I just carry my keys, ID, Kleenex, and a few coins.
I don’t carry a cell phone.”

DREAMS
BEGIN WITH MAPS

Gwyn Benedict, San Diego

Adventure 16’s Solana Beach Store Manager, Gwyn is an avid flyfisher, hiker,
backpacker, and outdoor skills clinic instructor. When we spoke, she was off
for her third trip in recent years to Patagonia. “Maps are a special love
of mine. The adventure begins as soon as you buy a map. You start becoming intimate
with the area before you go. You can visualize yourself on the trip. Afterwards,
looking at that same map is like replaying a video—you remember everything.
I also like having one big long-term goal and training for it, staying in shape
for it. For example, the ‘8,000-meter challenge’—a one-day footrace
where you bag Southern California’s highest peaks—was a big challenge
for me. I did a four-month training program for that single day, but the training
got me into the local mountains ‘looking for elevation’ pretty much
weekly.”

GO
FOR THE ENDORPHINE HIGH

Corey Freyer, Los Angeles

Corey, the former Wilderness Outings Coordinator in West LA, has taught backcountry
cooking, map & compass and more. She is an avid hiker, backpacker, mountaineer.
She works as a salesperson for Adventure 16, and teaches clinics such as backcountry
cooking. “A continuity of exercise is very important to me. Even more significant
is the way I feel when I’m active in a backcountry setting: that endorphine
high, that peace of mind. Beauty is a big part of that, too. I’m planning
on doing a substantial backpacking trip at the end of summer, so training in
the Santa Monica mountains or Idyllwild and San Jacinto area—a genuine
mountain setting—will be a part of life until then.”

PACK
MAN

Robert Burroughs, San Diego

Robert is a freelance photographer for N.Y. Times, remains active in Boy Scouts
as a leader, and has become an ultra-light advocate. He trekked in Nepal/Everest
last fall. “I always have stuff around for overnighters or two-nighters,
but I don’t leave myself packed because I never know where I’m going.
In packs alone I own three Gregories, two Glen Van Peski G-4s, a North Face
internal, two external-frame vintage A16’s…Why so many? I loan them
out too. And I always have ‘backpacking food’ in the house because
I don’t go with freeze dried. I buy those Lipton dinners when on sale:
the ones that only need two cups of water. My favorite is a risotto and rice
cheddar broccoli. And I have extra food lying around. I could go on a hike right
now in an hour…I keep a list of places I want to go. Just belonging to
the Sierra Club and taking their Wilderness Basics courses is a great idea for
someone starting out or anxious to get back outdoors more.”

FULL HOG INTO
IT

Jeff Cooper, San Diego

Former
Outings Director for Adventure 16, Jeff started his outdoor career with Outward
Bound. His personal trips that have “nothing to do with my job” included,
in the last year alone, a winter mountaineering seminar culminating in a 5.7
all-day snow and ice ascent ‘mega-adventure,’ a whitewater ‘tour’
through California and Montana, a kayak trip around Elsmere Island north of
the Arctic Circle, and a canyoneering hike (see story page 14). “My trips
have everything to do with what feeds me: the nature of adventure—extending
your potential, gaining skills, and enjoying nature in all its raw essence.
I made a commitment to learn something new every year. I don’t mean read
a book. I don’t mean take one class. I mean get full hog into it. Devour
it. Be passionate. Eat sleep drink it. Get to know whether you like it and whether
it’s for you or not. For me that’s often been in the outdoors. I think
there are two ways to attack the challenge of ‘getting out more’:
examine what keeps you from doing it, and what attracts you to it. Are we motivated
by the possibility of negative consequences? Or a positive outcome? People start
to think about digging in a disorganized garage for their gear, the aches, the
possibility of rain, the worry that they can’t afford the time or money,
or that they’re too tired. Whatever the reasons, we all do it. But when
you do go, you think, ‘I can’t believe I waited so long to get out
here!’ I’ve done it enough to know that the latter is far more often
the outcome: almost 98 percent of the time it’s totally worth it.”

THE
EVERY YEAR THEORY

John D. Mead, La Mesa

John is President of Adventure 16, and stays active in the outdoors. He’s
been in the outdoor industry since his teens. “Ten of us go backpacking
every fall to a different National Park. It’s a guys’ week out after
our kids are back in school. Our busy schedules prevent getting together on
short notice and some of the group live far away, so to make it happen we’ve
committed to the next 50 fall seasons. We get a backcountry permit and lodge
reservation for the first night at least six months in advance. This gives us
most of the year to sweet-talk our wives, arrange our schedules, set aside the
dough, fortify our equipment arsenals, and get in shape.”

J.G. (Just Go!)

J.G. (Just Go!)

Our best tips and techniques for getting back on the trail more often. You know you love it...now just go!

If your gear could talk, it would be calling to you, maybe when you’re awake at 3 a.m. and staring up at your bedroom ceiling glowing in the greenish light of your alarm clock. You can almost hear all that spiffy outdoor gear you have in your closet or garage screaming, “Use me! How come you don’t hike more? Backpack more? Snowshoe more…?”

Because I don’t have time, you answer. Because I’m earning a living. Because my kids are too little. Because my kids are grown and gone. Because, because… It’s a common lament and hey, we’re with you. Yet we all know people just as busy as we are who get out on adventures—be they day hikes or treks in Nepal—all the time. How do they do it?

We went hiking the halls here at our main office and in our stores—where a lot of our staff and customers seem to be getting into the outdoors just about every week—and asked a pretty simple question: “How do you do it? What makes getting out more easier, more fun, more rewarding?”

Here’s the scoop. But we gotta add: for all the great ideas and gear that can help you make outdoor adventure a bigger part of your life, you still have to nudge yourself sooner or later and say, “Just Go!”

1.
Beat the Time Trap

Noted outdoor writer Tom Stienstra calls it “the time trap” and we agree: try to juggle time for work, time for family and friends, and time for outdoors, and outdoors is the dropped ball. His advice? “Treat your fun just like you treat your work.”

That means scheduling outdoor trips, be they a day hike or a multi-day trek. You keep your appointments at work, don’t you? Then follow Tom’s advice and calendar the stuff that’s really important—your dreams! Check out our selection of Tom’s guidebooks at Adventure 16, and pay a visit to his website at www.tomstienstra.com.


2. Too out of shape?

Then why not use the outdoors to get in shape? Last we checked, the local trails near you were a heck of a lot prettier than the mirrored view from a treadmill. Many of us feel daunted by the prospect of exercising at least 60 minutes a day (recent government recommendations). Start slowly and build strength back up by re-discovering those beaches, parks and canyon trails near you. Walk the dog. Pack some morning walks into each weekend, preferably ones involving elevation gain (of course, you should consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program). Consider choosing a lightweight pair of trail shoes from Adventure 16’s wide selection and wearing them from street to trail to office.


3. Leave the planning to them

Sometimes you might want to hit the “default” mode and sign on with an “active adventure” vacation outfitter/tour company—one that emphasizes hiking, bike riding, and rafting rather than cruise ships and Vegas. Many do all the planning, cooking, gear organization, even the heavy lifting. Here are a few well-known options (search the web with key words “adventure travel” and “active travel” for more): Austin-Lehman Adventures, 800/575-1540, www.austinlehman.com; Backroads Adventures, 800/462-2848, www.backroads.com; Class VI River Runners, 800/252-7784, www.800classvi.com; Classic Journeys, 800/200-3887, www.classicjourneys.com; Footloose of TrekAmerica, 800/221-0596, www.trekamerica.com; National Wildlife Federation, 800/606-9563, www.nwf.org/expeditions; New England Hiking Holidays, 800/869-0949, www.nehikingholidays.com; O.A.R.S., 800/346-6277, www.oars.com; The Wayfarers, 800/249-4620, www.thewayfarers.com; Distant Horizons, 800/333-1240, www. Distant-horizons.com; Wilderness Travel, 800/368-2794, www.wildernesstravel.com; Sierra Mountaineering International, www.sierramountaineering.com, 760/872-4929.


4. Get comfortable…and updated!

See our “Going Light(er)” story in this issue for advice on how to drop pounds off your back, feet, even belly and what a difference this can make in your energy levels, comfort, hiking range and more. This, perhaps more than anything else, may revolutionize and revitalize your outdoor habits! Likewise, the gear revolution continues, especially in the realm of clothing, flashlights, stoves. Smaller, better, lighter. Fascinating really. Pay us a visit at Adventure 16 and get your juices going, because you don’t have to carry the same sleeping bag you used as a teenager anymore.


5. Take a course, learn new skills

Some of us make learning a lifetime habit. Consider alternatives like tracking, advanced first aid, landscape photography. Start with an overview via Gordons Guide, www.gordonsguide.com and UK-based World Outdoor Web, www.w-o-w.com. Then check out National Outdoor Leadership School (N.O.L.S.), www.nols.edu, 800/710-6657; Outdoor Leadership Training Seminars (O.L.T.S.),

www.olts-bt.com, 303/320-0372; Colorado Mountain School, www.cmschool.com, 970/586-5758; Northwest School of Survival, www.nwsos.com, 503/668-8264; American Alpine Institute, www.mtnguide.com, 360/671-1505; Wilderness Medical Associates, www.wildmed.com,

800-WILDMED; Sierra Mountaineering International, www.sierramountaineering.com, 760/872-4929; Wilderness Outings, www.wildernessoutings.com, 877-4WILDOUT.


6. Create the “Gear Zone”

You put all your clothes and shoes in a closet don’t you? Then why is your outdoor gear scattered all over the house and garage? Set aside a home for your most-needed gear (daypack, boots, hiking poles) and an adjacent area for longer-term storage (larger backpack, cross-country skis etc.). Consider making an inventory list of everything you own—it will help you find things, plan trips, remember items. Clear plastic bins are best; or label boxes with numbers keyed to your inventory list. Note: Sleeping bags and self-inflating mattresses should not be stored rolled up tight. Store instead in large, loose cotton bags made from old sheets or laundry bags. Periodically take all gear out for a good sun-bathing session on a warm day—UV and heat helps kill microorganisms that cause mold, rot, unpleasant odors.


7. Avoid disappointment

One reason some people don’t get out more—or quit altogether, God forbid—is because of an unpleasant experience. Training, practice, common sense: these all help avoid danger. But we’re referring more to disappointment, things like the ranger saying, “Oh, that trail is closed” or “Sorry Charlie, no more permits available”, or coming back to your car and finding the radio gone. Always call park and forest administrators first, get a human being on the line, and ask key questions like: 1. What permits, reservations, and fees do I need? 2. Where’s a safe place to park our car at or near the trailhead? 3. What are current trail conditions between X and X? 4. How long does it take most people to hike between X and X? 4. What temperatures and weather conditions are common this time of year? (See Jerry Schad’s advice about weather on page 10.)

8. Be flexible

We once got snowed out of a backpacking trip in the Palisades Glacier area on the east side of the Sierra. So we headed for Death Valley and the Eastern Mojave instead. A few extra items of outdoor gear in the car made the switch easy (we had an inkling it would happen). Too much planning can be the death of spontaneity, so a flexible attitude serves as a good antidote to becoming a control freak. Besides, you can’t control mother nature.


9. Find a friend, join a club, be sociable!

Hiking alone was great for John Muir and Pete Starr, but you’ll probably get out more often if you find a companion or two. Get a friend, set a time for training hikes and stick to it, rain or shine. Instead of Starbucks, go to a mountaintop near you!

Sierra Club, Audubon Society, and the natural history museum nearest you all have active day-hiking programs, and sponsor field trips to Baja, the deserts, Channel Islands, Grand Canyon, and beyond. Many state parks and reserves have volunteer and docent opportunities: a docent training program is an especially good way to get to know a new group of like-minded people, as well as steep yourself in new outdoor knowledge. Ask for trail duty or backcountry maintenance jobs if you really want to get moving as a volunteer.


10. Read all about it.

Some of the best books ever written will get you to the edge of your seat—and then back into the outdoors. Start with Colin Fletcher’s “The Thousand-Mile Summer” (if you can find it). This may be the book that started the backpacking “craze” way back in the 1960s, and it’s still a great read. Great nature writing is inspiring: we love Ann Hamond Zwinger (try “The Mysterious Lands” about the American Southwest). Water lovers will enjoy Eric Sevareid’s epic canoe journey in “Canoeing With the Cree” and John McPhee’s “The Survival of the Birchbark Canoe.” The adventure classics, such as the list offered by the Adventure Library, are timeless. Whether you buy these handsomely bound and reissued books from the publisher/club itself, or find them at Adventure 16 or used book dealer, they’re all must-reads. Outside magazine published a great story in January 2003 entitled “The 25 (Essential)Books for the Well-Read Explorer.” Talk about seizing the imagination! Their number one? “Wind, Sand and Stars” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Others in the top five include: “The Worst Journey in the World” by Apsley Cherry-Garrard; “West With the Night” by Beryl Markham (hmm, lots of aviation); “The Snow Leopard” by Peter Matthiessen; “Desert Solitaire” by Edward Abbey. Yeah!

Slot Canyoneering

Dropping in on some of the West's grandest slot canyons.


Finally! Our last rappel-right through the middle of a 110-foot waterfall. After rigging the ropes carefully one more time, I eased over slippery rocks,
stepped into air below the lip, and slid down, oblivious to spray in my face and gleeful at having completed such a long and technical slot canyon in one day!

Technically
speaking, “canyoneering” begins where canyon hiking leaves off. Once
you rig rappel ropes to enable you to descend into a slot that you could otherwise
not safely scramble into, you’re no longer canyon “hiking.” And
once you pull those rappel ropes so that you can continue down the slot and
rig the next rappels, you’re committed. There’s no going back the
way you came.

Welcome to slot canyoneering.

It all started years ago when we went to Zion National Park to do some big-wall
climbing. In between these epics, we’d go on hikes (a hiker in Zion is
like a kid in a See’s Candy factory)! Eventually we’d explored all
the beaten paths, so we started edging cross-country into the little side canyons.
We found these big, deep beautiful slot canyons, but didn’t have the gear
and experience to get into them (let alone out)!

All of us were very experienced rock climbers and mountaineers to be sure,
but each new sport has its techniques and rules. So we started nosing around
and found the Zion Adventure Company just outside the park in Springdale. Nice
people, really helpful. I even took a private clinic with Jonathon, one of the
owners. I got up to speed on some adapted techniques and we started exploring
and learning as we went.

I soon discovered something cool about canyoneering: you can choose a canyon
to fit your personal fitness and adventure profile. You want an introductory
canyon with training wheels? Go for “Keyhole”—a short 15-minute
uphill hike to where you begin winding your way through undulating strata of
Navajo sandstone. A few bouldering moves, three short rappels, and a little
bitty swim through a parallel slot and voila`: you’re out and back at the
car.

Step
it up a notch and Pine Creek Canyon becomes a must. With the shortest approach
hike from the car of any slot canyon (a mere 100 feet), you’re in the money
here right quick. The sculpted forms in this magnificent earth gallery are beyond
imagination. Every year when we go back to Zion, we do Pine Creek—like
vitamins for our souls. Be prepared with two full-length ropes and good rappelling
skills: the final rap has you airborne through a kaleidoscope of fluted sandstone
and cathedral rooms. A mile or so down-canyon hike puts you at your shuttle
car. Total time: 4-5 hours (you’ll be back at camp by early afternoon).

Want to go all day and have a serious workout? Mystery Canyon and Behounin
Canyons are hot tickets. So is Misery Canyon to Parunuweap. For all of these,
you need to get up early (3–4:00 a.m.!) and do all the vertical hiking
in the dark so that you’re at first light when you reach the start of the
canyon, thereby maximizing available daylight to safely navigate the slot. These
are good body whomps, so you’ll definitely earn the beers you’ll have
at the Pizza Factory in Springdale (great food, actually), right across from
the Fatali Gallery, which you should definitely see.

Want even longer, more serious canyons? They’re around, but only for real
cowboys and cowgirls. Names like Heaps and Imlay send quivers of nervous anticipation
through the leg muscles of any intermediate-advanced canyoneer. You’ll
be “taking the gloves off” when you confront these slots, so be sure
you know your stuff.

Our waterfall experience that day in October, 2002 was in a canyon called Imlay.
Often Imlay requires two days to complete, but we had a fairly experienced crew
and decided to go for it in a day. We made Angel’s Landing by 5 a.m., then
to the crossing below Heaps by 6 a.m. First light allowed 3 miles of route-finding
through cross-country terrain and we arrived at the start of the canyon by 7
a.m. Then we shifted into high gear, all the while marveling at the size and
scope of this cleft in the earth, where each step descends back in time past
eons of stratified sandstone: twenty-one or more rappels, countless “spill-overs”
and swims, overhung potholes that required swimming or “hooking” to
get out of… we encountered creative problem-solving at each turn.

It
was 4 p.m. when we finally began to hear the roar of the Virgin River in the
Narrows. We’d been going all day with only a couple of rests, so hearing
the "end in sight" brought a communal sigh of relief. I wondered if
this was what adventure racers felt like, but I was very glad there were no
checkpoints, finish lines, or attendant crowds… just wild nature and ourselves.
So much peace and power in one place!

As I stood below that final rappel out of Imlay, a cascade of feelings washed
over me: reverential awe at the place we’d been allowed to visit (summits
aren’t conquered and neither are slots!); deep camaraderie with my fellow
canyoneers; a huge sense of accomplishment at a challenge faced and a job well-done.

A 3-mile hike down the river would put us at the shuttle just at dark—perfect.
Near the end of that hike and almost to the Temple of Sinawava, we came across
a middle-aged couple (no judgment there—I’m 49) from Missouri who,
upon hearing some of our exploits for the day, asked, “Whatever possessed
you to even want to do such a thing?”

I thought of the myriad possible answers and settled on gratitude.

“Because I still can, sir. Because I still can.”

A little later, Mike said to me, “How ‘bout Heaps next year? Might
be a good 50th birthday present to yourself.”

It might indeed.

The Guru of Lightweight Backpacking

This engineer/avid hiker is taking light packs and ingenius gear to new extremes.

Lean, tall, clad in his hiking clothing from head to toe and carrying an alarmingly
simple pack, Glen Van Peski of Carlsbad strides into a room full of Pacific
Crest Trail “section hikers” at their monthly meeting. Fifteen pairs of eyes watch as he plunks his pack down and begins discussing how he does it.

Does what?

Glen has trimmed the weight of his pack and gear for a week-long trip, without
food, down to 6.2 pounds, that’s what! “Some people think I only have
‘packing peanuts’ inside,” he quips. But as he unpacks, this
consulting engineer who now makes his own pack line, the GVP pack, makes it
clear that he really has entered a realm of Extreme Lightness of Being.

We caught up with him not only at that PCT meeting (he’ll also be speaking
at an Adventure 16 near you, this August) but afterwards for a few Van Peski-isms
about going lighter. Here’s a smattering of his wit and wisdom. For much
more, catch his presentations at our stores, and see his website at www.gvpgear.com.

On my first Sierra hike I carried about 65 pounds and made about 7 miles
a day. A friend of mine, Read Miller, and I started to think about how we could
go lighter. Today my bias is simple: the greatest comfort is a light pack.

Your first bit of knowledge is “know the weight!” Your second:
look for multi-uses for everything. For example, the shoulder straps on my pack
are padded with my warm “sleeping socks.”

I use the lightest thin-foam sleeping pad available, and trimmed off
the lower leg sections. It doubles as my pack’s back pad. Remember, if
you walk 20 miles in a day, and pay attention to where you roll out your sleeping
bag, you can sleep pretty well no matter what’s under you.

I love bandannas. They pre-screen your water, make a great hat, serve
as an emergency bandage. Wet one corner and use it as a wash cloth—the
remaining dry part is your towel.

I recommend Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint soap (also known as “bear
attractant”). Use just one drop to brush your teeth—more and you foam
up like a mad dog. (Glen carries his soap in a tiny vial.) And I use a finger
toothbrush (a tiny plastic handle-less brush that fits over the end of the index
finger).

My extremely light sleeping bag has no down on the bottom, yet I’ve
been into the ‘20s in it. But it cost more than many conventional bags.
I figure it cost me at least $15 for every ounce I saved.

The only pair of long pants I bring are ultra-light, breathable rain/wind
pants. Recognize that you’re not re-creating your home environment in the
woods, and that you don’t need every set of clothing for every situation.

I know some hikers who don’t carry toilet paper. Me, I carry a
generous eight squares a day.

Going lighter depends on your style. I’m out there to walk, so
we get up early before sunrise and walk until we’re tired, sometimes after
dark. If your style is to set up camp, then your orientation is entirely different.
You want more comfort in camp.

I don’t go on a trip without going through my gear checklist. It
comes from being a pilot.

Some super-light nylon fabrics are so thin and sensitive to abrasion
that you can barely set a pack down on granite. That’s extreme, but with
any lightweight gear there are tradeoffs between durability and weight. I tread
softly in life in general, so my gear lasts. Durability hasn’t been a factor
for me.

Remember, 50 pounds in one of my packs will make you very, very unhappy.
I don’t recommend carrying more than 30 pounds.

I’ve been accused of spending the most $ per ounce to save weight.
I spent $5,000 on laser eye surgery so I wouldn’t have to carry contact
solution.

Go with the “piñata theory”—Make Your First Swing
Count (try to save the most weight on the big stuff, like pack, bag, tent).

My tarp-tent has no floor, and it sets up with my hiking poles as an
A-frame entry. It weighs 10.5 ounces with its required two stakes. My ground
cloth is one-half of a “space blanket.”

For nighttime illumination I carry only small “squeeze lights”—one
red, one white—on a lanyard around my neck I use the models that also have
an on/off switch. (Editor’s note: you’ll find such lights at Adventure
16.). The red light lets me hike at night without losing my night vision.

My pack waterproofing system is a trash compactor bag. White helps you
see inside.

I don’t bring foods under 100 calories an ounce: that’s my personal
minimum. I’m not sophisticated enough to figure out all the daily calories,
but know from weighing the food when I go, and weighing it when I get back,
that 1.75 pounds (dry weight) a day works for me. Most important: don’t
bring 4 pounds of food back from a trip.

Go! If you don’t go on trips, you’re slow to build up your
confidence level. If you’re out four weeks a year you start to get pretty
comfortable with what you need and don’t, and what works and doesn’t.
Tents are a great example. When I started I liked the imagined security of a
tent. Now, in a tent I don’t know what’s going on outside…it’s
scarier being inside.

Lightweight Backpacking Tips

The New Range of Light

Lightening up your pack means greater comfort and stamina on the trail, and greater range away from the heavily laden hordes. It's also an intriguing challenge. Before the 1950s, “going light” into the backcountry for a week or more usually meant carrying a pack that weighed 75 pounds or so. It also meant you probably looked for a burro or mule to carry most of your stuff. In fact, one of the seminal manuals of the modern “going light” era was the Sierra Club’s guide, “Going Light With Backpack or Burro,” first published in 1951.

That book, and of course everything that this newsletter and Adventure 16 stand for, was not about hauling your many creature comforts into the wilderness. As the authors put it then, “A basic fact of life that especially impresses itself upon the hiker is that you pay in one way or another for everything you get.” Sure, you can take an air mattress into the wilderness, but your shoulders will pay the price all day for your blissfully soft sleep at night. Sure, you may like Dutch oven cooking, but who carries the pot? (Pack animals also make you pay the price: they’re fussy, recalcitrant, require feed…in short, they can be a real headache. They also raise environmental impact concerns.)

The authors of “Going Light…” also reminded their readers that the best fishing lakes have mosquitoes, and the most magnificent high country has cold, if not freezing, nights throughout the summer. These are all “just prices that have to be paid for the good things of life.”
Now we live in an even more gear-intensive world, but one far different than 50 years ago. Most everything except toothpicks, canned sardines, and hand-tied trout flies is lighter and smaller, probably lasts longer, works better, holds more, sets up faster, withstands wind, rain and cold better. You get the picture. All these advances can be seductive, and before you know it, your pack is jammed with gizmos as well as bomb-proof gear more worthy of an Antarctic expedition than a summertime ramble up into Ansel Adams’ Wilderness.

Today it’s still rare to pass many backpackers on the trail who heft a pack for one week that’s below 40 pounds. Much of the problem is the weight of food—2+ pounds a day—and water (today, because of concerns about water quality, many backpackers and dayhikers carry pumps and 1-2 liters of water. In the “olden days” everyone just sipped from streams and springs, which are especially plentiful in a normal-rainfall year in the Sierra.)

We feel it’s time to take stock again of why you hike. Freedom! Independence! Adventure! Peace of mind! And most of important of all, beauty—a chance to be a part of nature rather than an interloper.

The more efficiently you pack (and the less you have to think about it), the more freedom you’ll have to enjoy the hike. Here are a few suggestions to get you going…lighter.

The first rule of going lighter
You trade ounces for knowledge. The more you know, the more you’ve experienced, chances are the less you need to carry. Example? Let’s say you decide to carry a tarp tent and it starts to snow or sleet (a reasonably common occurrence some summers in the High Sierra). Your knowledge of finding a protected campsite and staying dry will be put to the test, may even save your life. Others with less knowledge may want to pitch a sturdy tent, crawl in, and dream on.


Train more
Repeat this mantra: there is no substitute for experience. But training—taking backcountry skills courses, joining a group of like-minded hikers—really builds your knowledge base. Adventure 16 offers a host of in-store clinics (see page back cover).
Drop 10Step on the scale naked and vow to shed 10 extra pounds in the next four months or so. Kind of silly to obsess about trimming a few ounces by buying a new model stove when you’re still carrying those extra pounds around your middle.

Get a good scale
A digital kitchen scale is your friend. Weigh everything to the ounce. Bring the scale to Adventure 16 and do some comparison weighing of your own. Later, if you become a real fanatic, you can worry about the grams. Unfortunately, it’s pretty tough to weigh the big items like packs and sleeping bags on a kitchen scale. Let our salesperson provide you with weights via each manufacturer’s stated weight in our catalogs. Search the web under “hanging scales” and you’ll find many scale options.

Trim your first aid kit
Some hikers believe that a few feet of duct tape, a yard or two of wound dressing, and a handful of painkillers (i.e. ibuprofen) is enough of a “kit.” Most feel comfortable with a bit more. Your happy medium will depend on your knowledge base, but you can probably lose a few ounces out of your basic kit. Customize it to the trip’s expected challenges.
One pot, one spoonLearn to cook, eat, and drink from the same small (titanium perhaps) pot. Lose the knife and fork—a spoon does it all!

Repackage
Resealable sandwich bags are lighter and less bulky than the colorful sales-pitch boxes that hold noodles and such on supermarket shelves. Repackage your food, label it well. Learn to add light bulk foods such as dried black bean mix from health food stores to your menus. Eat trout for protein, Smeagol! (but unless you fish with bare hands, that rod and reel will probably add more weight than it catches).

Monitor uneaten food
How much food was left over at the end of your last trip? Perhaps you’re carrying too much. Get tough on your meal planning, but continue to carry a meal or two extra as an emergency backup.

High calorie-to-weight ratio
A few issues of Footprints ago we interviewed Ralph Drollinger, peak-bagger extraordinaire. “Eat the foods your mother told you were bad for you,” he said, referring to some of the high-fat, high-carb meals he downs to keep the inner fires burning. When you walk all day, your body needs a thousand or more extra calories. Plan meals accordingly. You may want to bring that oily salami after all.

Treating vs. pumping
Drinking water filter-pumps are marvelous ways to screen out the nasties (giardia), but many backpackers prefer saving a pound or two and a lot of space in their pack by treating water with iodine or chlorine systems. Use a handkerchief to filter water before treatment. Learning to find water “at the source” insures greater purity.

Down vs. synthetic
A super-light highest-quality down bag is a beautiful thing. It has the highest warmth-to-weight ratio, it is the most compressible, and over time it holds its temperature rating—just don’t let it get soaked. Trapped air is the only thing that keeps you warm in a sleeping system, and wet goose down is virtually worthless. Here’s where knowledge (your ability to stay dry in any conditions) plays a key role again. A synthetic bag doesn’t weigh much more, but it’s a lot more forgiving.

Plan fuel to the ounce
Cook a few backcountry meals at home with your stove system to monitor fuel use (knowing that you will need a bit more at higher elevations). Learn to be almost out of fuel upon your return from any trip.

Be light on your feet
For many hikers, the maxim “the lighter your pack, the lighter the boot” is worth pursuing. If your ankles and arches are strong and you walk nimbly (walking poles help), chances are good you can cut a lot of “foot weight” by going with today’s lightweight approach-style footwear rather than heavy, full-leather boots. (This depends a good deal on the nature of your trip’s terrain rather than the duration of your hike. Lighter shoes increase the risk of stone bruises and facia injuries.) Come in to Adventure 16 and let us work with you: we guarantee satisfaction and our boot-fit service is legendary.

Find a lighter light
Still using that flashlight that can withstand being run over by your car? Perhaps it’s time to ditch its extra weight and see the new LED model headlamps and squeeze lights—we’ve got a big selection at Adventure 16. You can ditch all the heavy extra batteries—some light systems now have a battery life of 75 hours or more.

Divide and conquer
Nothing lightens a pack like dividing up common gear such as tent parts and cookware amongst two or more friends. A 6-pound, three-person tent becomes a 2-pound portion in your pack—the equal to some ultra-light tarp or bivy sack methods employed by lone hikers.
Learn knots, save ouncesCarabiners are cool—for climbing. But if you’re using them to clip wet socks to the outside of your pack, you’re carrying extra ounces. We find that a knowledge of knots and a selection of light-but-strong cord does it all, from clothesline to emergency repairs to keeping your pants up.

Go clothes-light
Today’s technical fabrics may represent the biggest advance in outdoor gear. Layering systems have lowered the weight of clothing while increasing your protection from cold, wind, rain. But one thing hasn’t changed: you’ll pack lighter if you abandon some obsessions with “cleanliness.” To unlock the mysteries of “layering” and see a wide range of the newest lightest technical wear, come see us at Adventure 16 and put together the ideal hiking garb for the conditions. And leave all the extra undies and socks at home.

Ahh, the pack
Pack designers have accomplished much with comfort and durability. Again, the more weight you carry, the more structural your pack must be. Even 30 pounds may be too much for most of the new super-light, frameless packs (see sidebar at left). But all things being equal, if you can save a few pounds on basic pack weight, do it! Don’t overestimate what will be required of your backpack. For example, if you usually go on weekend trips, don’t buy the MegaBuff-LoadMaster models. Have several different capacity and weight packs for different trips and different conditions.