A little help please

Fred, it would be worth your while to make some initial decisions on how you want to organize your spreadsheet, especially regarding categories and columns. This BPL website has a whole section on sample gear lists. (Ultralighters are very creative on their gear lists; so many ways to do it.). After reviewing many, many such lists, I wrote an in-depth article on the subject that appears on my own website:

http://highcountryexplorations.com/Systematic_About_Gear_.html

Have fun organizing and accumulating gear.

Sherpa Don
(in the sunny Pacific Northwest)

I think the first step should be to go through all your gear and determine whether or not you need to bring each item. Studies show that items left at home contribute less to your pack weight than items in the pack. I used to carry around a lot of stuff that I'd just throw in my pack for every trip without even thinking about it and would never end up using, but after going through each individual item I ended up taking a lot less stuff and haven't missed any of it. Added benefit is that it's my pack has a lot less clutter, so it's more organized and easier to pack up each day. A scale is highly recommended for this process, but for your stated goal of 15-18 lbs I wouldn't say it's essential.

For me the scales were most helpful in evaluating the need for 'comfort' items like camp shoes, camp chairs, extra clothes, deoderant, etc. It is these items that are 3 or 4 oz each (some more) that sneak into your pack. Its much easier to exclude an item if the question is this item worth XXX weight then if the question is Do I want to bring this it is really light.

As for base wieghts I found I was able to get to 18 lbs without buying anything. The road to 10 pounds is just a new Down Jacket, Pad, Pack, and Tent away. I bought the Bag this year. I think that you can get between 10-12 pounds base weight without sacrificing any comfort or taking additional risk compared to traditional.

Back when I was in the 50lb pack category (before climbing gear filled it back up) I used to carry 3-4 quarts of water and arrive at camp with 2 full nalgenes. Now I don't like to have more than two quarts. Some will say that's a lot but I don't like to stop often to fill up.

Jason,

Much of how much you will carry will depending on the environment you are in and the availability of water.

However, as a rule of thumb, I will carry 1.0 to 1.5 L of water in a Platypus bottle.

I think you will find that a common practice to save on water weight is to start your day by tanking up on water by drinking at least 1.0 L of water so you are fully hydrated.

Then hike with 1.0L with you to the next waypoint on your journey where there is water to filter/treat.

Drink a liter there and then refill 1.0L to carry.

Basically, you are hiking from location to location with having available water to reload up on and to rehydrate yourself vs. trying to carry all the water you need for a day.

Hope this helps.

-Tony

Thanks for all the info guys. I have a trip this weekend and though I can't make any gear changes for it, I am planning to make a serious effort to leave behind a lot of my crap. Though I don't know how I will survive without the spare batteries to my headlamp. ;)