Your “stupid light” moments.

[Justin Baker]

Share your experiences with going way too light and suffering for it.

Here are mine:

Not carrying a shelter on a 4 day trip in Big Sur during winter. The forecast was clear. It started pouring the last night and I ended up improvising a brush shelter underneath a large canopy of redwood trees. I didn't get wet at all but it could have been bad.

Not carrying extra batteries for my headlamp and running out of battery on a longer trip.

Carrying 1 pound per day of food on a 10 day trip.

Sharing a shelter (a flat tarp) with my partner on a cross country trip in thick bush. We had trouble finding a clear/flat place that was large enough for 2 people to sleep, so we always ended up with super cramped floor space and I ended up sleeping outside of the shelter when it wasn't raining.

[Nick Gatel]

[Paul Magnanti]

Along with Nick's idea, here is the first type of flashlight I carried on my first backpacking trip. Seriously. :)

Or did you mean something different??? ;)

[Nick Gatel]

Those two lights are the actual ones I used a long time ago. They are both stupid lights for backpacking. But we learn from our experiences.

[Mobile Calculator]

…

[Anonymous]

Before i had any nice and very light and packable down quilts, i decided to try out my wife's bag booster, which i had made. It is two silk mummy liners sewn together with a 5×3 layer of 2.5 oz Apex sandwiched in the top between the silk (the apex was a left over piece).

That and a lightweight down jacket is all i had for insulation besides my normal clothes. Decided to do this in late winter, and slept in an AT shelter.

Well, it got pretty windy that night and that shelter didn't help much at all with that, in fact i think it focused the wind and made it worse.

I wasn't scared for my life cold, but i certainly didn't sleep fully comfortably by any means. If the silk had been less breathable, would have been warmer. It was mainly the wind that was the problem. If it had been a still, calm night, i would have been comfortable.

Yup, stupid light. I could have brought my S.D. Zissou 30* Lite bag, but since i was excited to try out my new S2S Ultra sil day pack, decided i could forgo the real insulation. (roll eyes at self). Had i had my EE 40 degree quilt back then, i could have had both the light, small pack and the warmth. So maybe it's more of a case of "stupid wallet"..

[Larry De La Briandais]

I use to have that lantern! I still have the matching stove (globe trotter).

[Marc Eldridge]

Used to have a flashlight like Nicks. That was back in the days when we were stupid. Look how much smarter we have become.

[Nick Gatel]

"I use to have that lantern! I still have the matching stove (globe trotter)."

Same here. Still have several canisters too. The stove wasn't stupid light for its time. Here is a picture of the stove on a trip I did this year. I left the lantern at home.

[Jeff Hollis]

I spent a lot of time trying to find a lightweight plastic cup with a mouth that would accept my MSR coffee filter. I saw this super light plastic jar looking container at Target and bought it. On the trip as I was pouring the coffee into the 16 oz cup and in a matter of seconds it shrank to the size of a juice glass and coffee went everywhere.

[Larry De La Briandais]

Alas, I have none. :^(

I do have the adapter to allow it to use the current threaded canisters. :^) I haven't installed it yet (it requires a little filing).

[Nick Gatel]

No I haven't done the adapter to the Globe Trotter. I really haven't used it much in recent years. Same for an old Gerry stove and my Optimus 731 Mousetrap. Ran out of canisters a long time ago.

Here's a neat tip…

The Svea 123 fits perfectly into the Globe Trotter Cups!! It is almost exactly the same size as a Globe Trotter with the canister attached.

[Justin Baker]

I have a good one: Bringing a 40 degree bag to 13 degrees. This was a while ago when I hadn't accumulated good gear but I still got out anyways. I really wanted to go camping that weekend. I ended up sleeping next to a fire all night and was comfortable… but still stupid.

[Jim Colten]

FSO gear list for a mid September six day 600 mile solo bike tour in MN and the Dakotas:

Peugeot PX-10 bike (great ride)
brand X aluminum rack
Brooks seat bag
spare tire
very small tool kit
two 16oz water bottles
myog polyethylene solo wedge tent
a blanket barely adequate for indoor sleeping with windows open on a 50*F night
converse all star sneakers
cotton crew socks
cotton tightie whities
cutoff jeans
cotton t-shirt
biking gloves
kodak instamatic camera
sailor hat
a couple oranges and ham sandwiches
$25 cash (which had some purchasing power in 1970 but not enough for 6 days of food)

Not sure of the low temps but there was frost on the ground three of the mornings. At least it did not rain. I did manage to talk my way into jail one night in Ortonville, MN.

Was an experience I was never tempted to repeat, especially the night in jail.

[Adan Lopez]

I don't count being uncomfortable as "stupid light" anymore. I'm over trying to micro manage my hikes and I've learned to stop trying to be so damn comfortable all the time. But I do recall a few long hot days without enough beer, some long cold mornings with only stupid "ultralight" coffee rations for us both, and some good fireside tom-foolery when the whiskey ran dry. I remember many times saying " dude remember how cold we were that night! Everything wet and not a damn pad to lay on! it was epic!". But mention the time the whiskey ran dry, and immediately our eyes find the ground and a somber tone comes over us, "yeah, that was stupid. Never again".

[Aaron Sorensen]

While doing the JMT without a sleeping bag, I thought I would just sleep for 1 1/2 hours before sunset and after sunrise while the temps were still warm.

Needless to say, this "idea" did not work.
First sleep, wasn't tiered.
Second, got woke up by a bear sniffing my head.
Third, a bird came down and kept chirping at me from 5 feet away.

100+ miles in and I had less than 30 minutes sleep.
Coming down into Evolution Valley (Going north bound), it was 2:30am and 28* and I needed sleep.
I figured I would stop and put all my clothing on, warm up and then sleep until the cold wakes me up.
I figured this would get me a good 20-30 minute nap.

I tell you what, when your body is that tired, you do not wake up.
I woke up 1 hr 45 mins latter absolutely frozen.

Anyone see the movie Iron Will when he woke up the last night?
That was me.
I had to lift my legs to move the first minute or so and a good 10 minutes to get walking at a rate that would generate heat.

During that 15 minutes I was shivering so bad, and just kept realizing how bad of an idea that was.

[Nick Gatel]

Aaron wins!

[Todd T]

I thought "stupid light" referred to decisions that actually end up raising pack weight. E.g., you ditch your tent for a tarp that weighs less, but then have to add a ground sheet, bivy sack, and bug net that together weigh more than the tent.

Whatever. There are probably more good "too light" boo-boo stories anyway. :-)

[Justin Baker]

Aaron is some type 4 fun.

[Dale Wambaugh]

Stupid light is a gear choice that is light, but fails to meet the conditions.

[Adan Lopez]

Aaron doesn't mention if he had plenty of whiskey.

[peter vacco]

aaron wins, if only by the hutzpa to admit doing something that lame.
—
and there is a line between having "plenty" of whisky, and "enough" whisky.
at first, in the beginning, that line will be a proper demarkation. much like those straight and solid lines your parents would draw in the sand.
but, later on, after you've thrown, let's say, a few more logs on the fire .. that line, once straight and proud, will sort of, from your new vantage point of near ground level, transform itself (all by itself,, mind you) into a thing wavy and slowly undulating against a background of undefinable blurredness.

one has now crossed over from having "Plenty", to being in a situation of have had "Enough".

---

; off thread issue raised because being this is bpl, and so of course, symantec accuracy is important in all matters.

[Aaron Sorensen]

This years JMT had a pack weight of 17.5 pounds at the start.
The stupid light trip was 16.5.

On that trip I had a 7 ounce synthetic bottom and a 9 ounce synthetic top

I swapped both those out this time for a 19 ounce (12 ounce 900 fill) quilt.
Then just had a warmer mid layer and a wind 2.3 ounce wind shirt.

I got frozen pelts of being rain while sleeping at Evolution Lake and was still plenty warm.

SHR next year I will take the same gear as this year along with my synthetic top.
Can't be stupid on the SHR!

[Justin Baker]

You also can't night hike on the SHR in many places. What is your goal for time? I think I heard of someone doing it in 7 days.
Don't rush and twist an ankle. Combining physical and mental endurance in cross country fastpacking is a next level challenge.

I plan on doing another attempt at part of the shr next summer (failed due to altitude last summer) but only at 10 miles per day, a relaxed pace with plenty of time for side exploration and fishing. I think my max weight with a weeks worth of food, water, and canister was 24 at the start.

[Aaron Sorensen]

Brian Robinson has covered the trail the fastest.

I am going with 2 others who are as good or better trail runners than I am but when it comes to SUL Fastpacking, their experience is zero.

The talk at first was all about the fastest time.
Then when it came to gear, it goes south in a hurry.

The lack of experience came out with the need of a 3 pound pack.
Then, I'm bringing a bear canister from the start instead of picking one up at Reds Meadow and just not camp at areas you need it t sealed the deal that we are not going for a fast time.

It went from going under Brian's time to 11-12 days.

Since there is no way I can get that much time off of work, if I do anything, it will be going to Reds with them.

Later in the summer, I'll do my big run, the Tahoe 200.

[Author]

Posts