Help me pare down my gear for a speed hike

[Anonymous]

"One thing interesting on research, is that the body uses almost 1/2 of the kcal of food just to process it. You gain the whole amount by using liquid mixes."

It works great for regular backpacking, too. Perpetuem is all I use between breakfast and dinner on trips up to 10 days.

[Christopher Plesko]

the hammer stuff is good. I've used it and it works. But I usually take some of that stuff and some food that sounds good to eat, usually junk (cookies, candy, bacon, whatever).

I had only 2 packs of Oreo cakesters in my Iditarod drop bags and I would have traded handily for more of those out there, haha!

Oh yea and from above to Nate…the fastest is moving day AND night ;)

[Art …]

First … I love Hammer products and use them all the time.
Gel, Perpetuum, Recoverite, Enduralytes ….

However
by whatever way I measure the contents (weight or volume), the large Hammer gel bottles hold only 23 servings, not the 26 servings that they claim.

I haven't complained to them yet.
Anyone else notice this?

[Nate Davis]

I keep saying I'm going to pick up some Hammer Nutrition and try it out, but I keep spending my money on new gear instead. I will try the Hammer stuff, though. Too many people have recommended it to ignore it.

Christopher — I will probably be hiking an hour or two in the dark each day. I'd love to do 45-50 miles the first two days to give myself a shorter day on the third. This would make for a much more enjoyable finish and put me on top of the mountain at the end of the trail in time for sunset.

If I can manage a few more hours in the dark, I just might go for it. The thing is, I've heard that the hours spent on your feet take more of a toll than how fast you go. I think I can work up to 14 hours at 3 MPH, but 20+ hours, even if I go a bit slower, seems pretty daunting.

That said, I have no idea what my body will be capable of when I try this out in a few months. I'm doing an overnight trip next Monday and Tuesday and am just going to hike one way until I can't go much further on Monday, and then hike back that same distance on Tuesday.

Despite my intense training these last couple of months, I have yet to hike a 25+ mile day, so I'm interested to see how this goes. Hopefully I'll do at least 30 miles each day. Either way, the trip will give me a good gauge for the work I need to do to get in shape for this.

Right now, my gear list is still a bit heavy, so that will probably slow me just a bit. I'll be taking a Tarptent on next week's trip, since I haven't been able to get a lighter shelter yet. This is also going to be my first trip using Micropur tabs, so I'm sure lack of technique will cause me to carry more water than I need.

I did just pick up a short Ridgerest, though. It's too cold out to try a 1/8" pad, but I plan to pick one of those up later this spring and try it out as well.

[Christopher Plesko]

Have fun. Soon enough gear will be dialed (3-5lbs baseweight is as light as I realistically go most of the time) but the body and mind will keep getting stronger and stronger if you keep pushing them. One step and mental barrier at a time.

[Angela Zukowski]

Is this taking place on the M-M trail? I'm curious, especially because I know the distance is similar to what you are attempting-but that would include NH too. I can't really think of any trail that distance in MA unless you are doing an out & back.

Most of what I'd suggest has already been discussed. Going stoveless is a good idea.

I live in MA too and while there are definitely bears I might not bother with the ursack. I understand the desire to not have to deal with hanging a bear bag, but it would mean spending more money. To tell you the truth if carrying an enclosed shelter I might just sleep with the food, since it's for a short time. Depends on the area, really.

One last nutrition thing: chocolate protein powder mixed with nido (whole powdered milk) is really delicious. Makes for a nice recovery drink packed with lots of calories. You can buy Nido at the ethnic grocery store in Hadley (not sure where in MA you are but that's Western Ma for me!).

Good luck. Sounds like an awesome hike to attempt.

[Frank Steele]

For the temperatures here in the Arizona desert nothing beats Ibex woolies. The standard wollie is 150 weight, so it keeps me cooler than my Smart wools (Ironically I think they are warmer than my smart wool mids too).

[Nate Davis]

@ Angela – The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail runs right by my house and I've always wanted to through hike it. I had a chunk of 4 days off this summer and decided to try and do it in 3, resting on the 4th.

I'll be hiking sections 7-12 next week to try and push myself a bit and test out some new gear and techniques.

@ Frank — I'm checking out those Wollies right now. Thanks!

[Christopher Plesko]

I'll 2nd the ultralight wool shirts. I have a couple light weight woolies and i'm pining after a Patagonia wool 1 t shirt. Someday when I find a good sale or cheap like new used one…

[BlackHatGuy]

"One last nutrition thing: chocolate protein powder mixed with nido"

I've discovered this fabulous DARK chocolate protein powder at my local organic grocery. The stuff actually tastes good just in water! I add it to my hot cocoa at night and my oatmeal in the morning. Unfortunately, I can't remember the brand name!

[Scott S]

Have you thought about what you're going to do to get across the Westfield and Connecticut Rivers? It sounds like the Westfield is fordable if it's low.

I'm halfway through doing the M-M Trail in sections, but I might be doing a thru-hike in October. It's a great trail–I'm surprised it's not more popular.

[Nate Davis]

It is a great trail. I'm really looking forward to the hike, as well as several recon hikes I'll do in advance to improve my overall time on when I attempt the whole thing.

The Westfield should be fordable in late June when I do the through hike. If not, it'll be low and slow enough to swim without any danger. It's not a very wide river. I'll just swim across with a rope attached to my pack, which will be on the shore in a couple of trash bags and be lined with a trash compactor bag. When I reach the opposite side, I'll tow it across. I think that should do the trick.

The Connecticut river will be different. Boats have killed swimmers in this section before, and I don't want to become a statistic. I'll also have hiked 27 miles so far that day, and it'd probably be unsafe to swim 1500 feet in that condition. To make this hike as unsupported as possible, I think I'll barter a ride across at the boat ramp where the M-M trail ends. I'm sure I can convince someone to ferry me across for 10 or 20 bucks.

[Trevor Greenwood]

I would also like to highly advise trying out the Hammer nutrition. I use it for 24 hour bike races and have used it in the tough conditions of the Leadville 100 and it works great for me.

Good luck and I hope you follow up later with a post on how your adventure ends up.

-Skippy

[David Chenault]

I've found the "Arctic 1000" technique to be very effective.

-Get lots of air in your drybag(s).
-Lay on pack.
-Kick facing upstream and a bit towards your direction of travel, letting the current ferry you.

It feels more controlled than swimming full on, as you can breath and see easily. It also keeps your torso a bit drier and is thus warmer.

[Nick Gatel]

I just quickly scanned through the posts, as speed hiking is not something I am really interested in. That being said, it sounds like you might be over thinking this. If I go with the assumption you are not going in weather much under 32F and the terrain is not difficult…

You need to average just under 40 miles per day. I don't see the need to do much running. If you hike 12 hours a day, that calculates to 3.3 miles per hour. That is brisk walking, not running.

Take a look at my gear list in my profile. I think it is a pretty good list at under 4 lbs base weight. You won't be needing to carry much water, and with the right kind of foods you can keep that weight down. You will also notice in the gear list that the total was 17lbs, which included 4 liters of water. The trip I used it one was a 3 day 60 mile loop. First day was a 10K foot elevation gain, which burned up some big time calories. But the total food weight for the trip was 4.7 lbs. I had a day's worth of food left over… just in case I wanted to stay out an extra day.

To be honest, I could par that list down even more. I am doing the loop again in May, and if snow is not a problem, will be dropping the extra food, and using some lighter gear.

Your limiting factor is cost of any gear you want to replace.

[Nate Davis]

David — That method makes a lot of sense, but I'm not sure I'll have much in the way of drybags on this trip. That said, maybe just wrapping the pack in garbage bags and tying them off will do the trick. It's not a wide river and there's gas station where I can toss the garbage bags in after I cross.

Nick — I'd love to go that light, but budget is definitely a limiting factor right now. I should be able to get my base weight under 8 lbs, though. I'm going to aim for 2 lbs of food per day, and will probably carry a liter of water on average, so that's 16 lbs starting out. I can make that work.

As far as speed goes, despite being 6'2", I have trouble maintaining a speed of much over 3 MPH without doing a mild jog on at least a few of the downhills. That said, the terrain where I usually go hiking and running can be a bit technical, with quite a few ups and downs. The trail I'm planning to thru-hike is not necessarily flat, but it's much more gentle. I'm trying out a good chunk of it on Monday and Tuesday, so it'll be interesting to see how fast I go. I don't plan on running much on that trip.

[Nick Gatel]

Nate,

On easy terrain, I probably average around 3 mph or less. But I can pick it up. It is just a matter of getting into a candence. Of course the better shape you are in, the easier it is.

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