The Complete Walker cover photo – UL version?

Sending via my iPhone so it is too difficult to post pictures.

If you click on my profile there is a link to my website. Click on UL Backpacking, then Trip Reports. Some of the Anza Borrego and San Jacinto trips (I think) have pictures. They will be at the end. Some of the others might have a photo layout.

Fletcher's pictures were not what he would take on a single trip, but the most common gear he used.

A lot fewer items

I think Ryan might have nailed the SUL CW cover version to end all versions in his latest article. Only eleven items. It you haven't already seen it it is here:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/sul_mindset_part_2.html#.UbFP6pymgSk

scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Thanks for the replies. An idle thought, as I said, but an interesting comparison.

Mark,

You may very well be correct in terms of the 'lunatic fridge' SUL mindset folks (which I consider myself part of), but I bet the complete walker's cover photo still represents the majority of walkers today!

One of the threads associated with the recent SUL articles someone made a comment something like “now that UL is main-stream”. That sure gave me a chuckle because I see more complete walkers on the trail than I see UL / SUL walkers.

My son did the Duke of Edinburg (DoE) award this year, and they are still mired in a heavy mindset. My son does a lot of UL with me, and his best friend’s dad is an adventure racer, so we tried to set ours sons with the lightest possible gear while adhering to the DoE guidelines (heavy boots – cringe!), and the staffs were still close to accusing them of being unprepared.

Agreed. I occasionally get a good chuckle when I drift away from the BPL cult center and see an article or very earnest youtube video about "how to go ultralight" at only 30 lbs base weight. They may have borrowed the terminology, but not always the philosophy. As foreign as that mindset has become for me, it is a good reminder that even those of us conservative fellows who occasionally venture forth with gigantic 12 lbs. base weights would still be considered the lunatic fringe to the vast majority.

Wouldn't really have it any other way.

" so we tried to set ours sons with the lightest possible gear while adhering to the DoE guidelines (heavy boots – cringe!)"

For some reason I was thinking it would be funny if you brought the regulation boots, but tried to see how much you could remove before they would call foul. Start drilling out the soles and cutting bit of leather off of them. It would be really funny if you could get them down to just a facade over some trail runners. But you might get in some kind of trouble for being a smart-ass.