Help me reduce pack weight

[sambieni]

Yea, I was overstating amount of bottles I need. Will use less.
I really was just trying to figure out if my setup as far as the Sawyer fast fill adapter would be workable option in tandem with similar setup as you described.

But yoursetup is really helpful for guidance. Thanks.

[Wandering Daisy]

The squeeze bag on my Sawyer broke at the top last year. Then the o-ring on the filter fell out and it leaks (you may want to keep the filter in a zip-lock so you do not loose parts). Nevertheless, for $30 it lasted quite some time and worked fine for my needs. I am back to chlorine tablets and simply not filtering when the water looks good.

I consider myself a light, but not UL backpacker. My minimal base weight (everything including what I wear and trekking poles, excluding only food, water and fuel) is about 20 pounds, with the Bearikade, 18 without. That leaves about 14 pounds of base-weight on my back. The only stuff I regularly add to this is fishing gear (11 oz) and crocks (8 oz). My food is 1.3 to 1.5 pounds per day (2500 calories). I am a small person so big people may have to take more. Most of my weight savings came from simply NOT taking stuff.

You may want to re-think the pocket knife. I use a 0.5 oz very small pastic kitchen paring knife.

By the way, when I backpack with my family, all hell breaks loose and I become the packhorse. My family is not willing to minimize- they like their creature comforts which fill their packs, leaving me with more than my share of group gear and food. Not worth the battle to change their views. We all have fun anyway.

[oldranger]

Daisy wrote:

By the way, when I backpack with my family, all hell breaks loose and I become the packhorse. My family is not willing to minimize- they like their creature comforts which fill their packs, leaving me with more than my share of group gear and food. Not worth the battle to change their views. We all have fun anyway.

Not this old fart! I have a daughter and son in law who insist on 2 of every item of clothes and lots of unnecessary gear that I tell them they don't need. Will I carry extra because of their insistence--Hell no!--so my son in law carries 20 lbs more than necessary. I guess they are good for something besides grandkids.

[sambieni]

Right now I have little wee ones too small for anything but family camping; still doing lots of solo trips or w/ a buddy.

Wandering Daisy - how many miles, etc until your Sawyer o-ring dropped out?

[zacjust32]

http://highsierratopix.com/community/vi ... f=9&t=9736

[Wandering Daisy]

OR- my "family" trips are with older members who have medical issues. The dog does go UL, after all she already has a fur coat and eats very little, LOL. I would rather adjust the mileage so they can take what they want than be militant about what they take. After all,75 % of my trips are without them. When they go with me once or twice a year, its OK with me. This next year will be the first trips with the grandkids, all under 10 years. For them, my main objective is for them to have fun.

The damage I did to my sawyer squeeze is more a result of not taking care of it, rather than days used. My old platypus evidently was not designed for the hard squeeze that I did. THe smaller Sawyer bag also broke eventually. If I had put the filter in a bag all the time the O-ring would have not been lost.

[oldranger]

When I started my grandkids backpacking I made sure that they were packed real light so that they would enjoy it. Now I load them up to over 25% body weight and I still can't begin to keep up with them while I am carrying less than 25% of my body weight. Thinking next time I should carry 20% and they carry 30%.

[Wandering Daisy]

Yes, get the grandkids hooked on backpacking, and then when they are older they can carry your entire pack! Getting the kids off on the right foot with a light weight gear attitude is also good. Even the Boy Scouts (who have historically been really over-geared) are getting on the lightweight bandwagon. Kids have more energy than you can imagine and pack weight does slow them down. Just be aware that heavy packs on small children may not be the best for their growing bones. By about 17 years old you can make them your sherpa.

[sambieni]

Pack shmack. At what age can the kiddos carry me?

[Tom_H]

Pack shmack. At what age can the kiddos carry me?

I'd like to buy one of these: