Date: 2003-04-27
To: Thoughts From A Mad Woman
Miles today: 0.0

¢Arghhhhhhhh¢¦ Take it¢¦ No, leave it¢¦Look to reduce, look to reduce¢¦ Oops, gotta add that¢¦A little nip here may help¢¦ Damn! Tape it back up¢¦ Okay, what else? You know you can live without that¢¦ Come on¢¦ there has to be another ounce you can shave¢¦ THINK!¢ Back and forth I go from one side of the ping-pong table to the other. Stacks on the right contain the items for the pack. Those on the left are staying but can be used as backups or change outs as the weather warms. Or wait; is it the left stack that¢s going and right that¢s staying? I guess it depends on your perspective and which end of the table you¢re standing!You would think that by now, 1008 miles later, I would have some sort of clue what I should and shouldn¢t take, need or don¢t need, want or don¢t want. But as I stand here looking at the table, weighing each and every item one thing becomes blatantly clear ¢ I¢m as green this time around as I was the first!   Why can¢t I be one of those Ultralight backpackers out there? You know, the tennis shoes, an eight-pound pack with everything, including the pack, but the food and water type. The ones that skip across the mountains, float through the gaps, and practically fly across the country. Those are the ones I¢d like to emulate. Those are the ones I listen to their every word. Those are the ones I dream of being like but alas, I am what I am and I am NOT an ultra lightweight backpacker. Dang it! I honestly don¢t think I do too badly in comparison to many I met and saw along the trail in ¢01. I originally started with 33 pounds to include four days of food and two liters of water. In comparison to many that was pretty good. This time it looks like I¢ll start a little less than that and I keep thinking that in the two years since my Grand Adventure began I should have been able to cut lots of weight. But no, my comfort zone tends toward the higher side. It isn¢t necessarily always a five-star one but it¢s also not a negative one either! (But then again, had you seen some of the places I stayed you may beg to differ with that one!)Some of the places where I do know I can cut weight are the sleeping bag (ordered a new Feathered Friends Raven which is less weight than either of my other two bags but know that I could have even cut that further had I really wanted to) and the sleeping pad (carried a 9 ounce Zrest before but am looking at a 34 length 1.5 inch lightweight Thermarest (1#8oz) now; comfort!). The pack itself weighs in at four pounds but I can¢t bring myself to spend the money on a fourth pack -- especially after the Feathered Friends purchase. There are other areas I know such as less clothing (though I believe mine is pretty minimum) and a Photon flashlight vice my Petzl Tikka but I love my Tikka. If you look hard enough there are always places to cut weight, it¢s just dependent on individual comfort zones. I wonder how much comfort I will have sent home by the time I get to Maine. I¢m betting quite a bit! Okay, I tell you what, you tell me. I¢ll post my gear list for your perusal and you feel free to comment wherever. I can take it. Pull out the scissors, Exacto Knife, whatever and trim away. What kind of lightweight are you? Gotta go weigh my watch now¢¦ damn! More than 12 an ounce!!