Date: 2013-01-12
To: Pack Test #1
Miles today: 0.0

The other day I went out to a nearby REI to look at a pack I was considering as a replacement for my old Cabelas pack. It was a nice outing as far as shopping goes - the gentleman working at REI that evening was a two-time thru hiker himself, Postcard. Beside helping me with the pack, a Deuter ACT Lite 65+10, he offered plenty more insight while I was there. He is also leading a thru hiker workshop at the Conshohocken store on February 7th, which I may attend. A dozen of his customers are supposed to be at this workshop or the February 27th one, so it will be nice to meet a few faces I may see on the Trail.I wound up leaving the store with that pack, so now I have put together a test load to see how well it will function as my home for much of the year. This pack is a little less capacious than my old pack was, but I definitely have more of a mind to efficient packing than I used to. I put together a basic load with what I have on hand now, so most things are certain to change. I am optimistic though - right now, with everything but water and cameras, it comes in at 33 pounds.I know my sleeping bag will be changing from the Suisee Sport 40-degree bag I have now. However, I will be changing from a synthetic bag to a down bag. The bag I have now came with a cheap compression sack with plastic latches. One of those is broken, so the bag is barely compressed and then squashed into a dry bag. That bag weighs about 2lb 14oz, and in its current configuration it is packed down to about 14" long x 8" diameter. One bag I am looking at is the Marmot Pinnacle, which will change those attributes to 2lb 11oz and 16" long x 7.5" diameter. The other bag I am looking at is the Marmot Helium, which will bring the weight down to 2lb 6oz and reduce the volume to 12" long x 6" diameter! So with my sleeping bag, it looks like I will be keeping the same volume or diminishing it slightly.A friend with Appalachian Trail aspirations is testing out my hammock, so I don't have that on hand for this test packing. In its place is my old Eureka Solitaire tent, which weighs 2lb 9oz and packs to 17.5" long x 4" diameter. The Hennessy Hammock replacing this is the Explorer Ultralite model, weighing 2lb 4oz. It claims to pack to 4" x 8" x 10", but since that is all in a long tube in the snake skins, this is versatile. Currently I have it in the stuff sack for my oldest sleeping bag, and packed that way it measures roughly 16" long x 6" diameter. The hammock could be squashed in with the sleeping bag, as I normally do, or if volume becomes a concern it can be lashed around the outside of the pack. One thing I will be adding is the insulation for the hammock. This is bulky - the site claims it packs to 16" long x 5.5" diameter, and adds 1lb 4oz. I will certainly see to a compression sack to cleanly contain this and the hammock, but I am not concerned about adding this volume, as the hammock can go on the outside of the pack in a pinch.Clothing will certainly change, as well as the cheap compression sack it is contained in right now. I am okay with the base layers I have - I rarely wear coats or jackets in cold weather, normally adding a layer of thermals before I would consider wearing a jacket. Shirts and pants for the Trail will probably change. For fair weather I am okay with the lightweight synthetic pants and soccer jerseys I have. For cold weather, my clothing can certainly improve. I know my coat will be replaced with something lighter and easier to pack - it is synthetic and fairly heavy. I will see about finding something that is lighter and packs much smaller. Currently, the coat is riding on the outside of the pack, under the lid.Food and cookware will remain similar, but will be diminished in volume. Currently I have a wide variety of dried pasta / rice / quinoa sides, each in their individual packets. I want to sample these before I leave, and see if there are any to be avoided. While I am on the Trail these will be packed in plastic bags instead of their current packaging, and this will reduce some volume in my food bag. I may not carry as much as I have now - I will be eating meals from this bag until I run out of food to eat there, so I can see how many meals I can get out of the amount of food in there. The only possible change in cookware is my water filter - this one works well, but if I need to reduce some volume in my pack I will replace it with a newer model which is half the size and pumps twice as fast.Other little odds and ends are fit into the pack where there is free space. However, my biggest concern is the items I have listed above, which occupy the most space in my bag. There will certainly be room for the rest of my equipment. My camera will ride on one hip, and my spare lens(es) on the other hip, so they will only be in my pack at night when other things are not in my pack. In a pinch, I can expand the top of the pack from 65 liters to 75 liters, and there is plenty of room to fit my camera gear up top. We'll see how things change when I have the final gear in hand. Until then, I will try to do some walking with this kit loaded and see how the pack feels.Peace,