the opposite of ultralight

My mother describes a trip she took in college, in Alaska somewhere along the coast… the name escapes me. They had a scale at the beginning, and you "had to have" 100lbs of gear to get permits/rights/whatever for the trail. She told me it spawned from an old government regulation meant to keep unprepared folks away. Anyway, they easily made the weight by stacking wine bottles in their packs! What a tough gal.

Sidebar, she is almost 60 now with crazy-bad rheumatoid arthritis in her feet (it destroyed most of the joints, and they stapled them back together!), and is still good for ten mile days carrying a funny old Jansport external frame. Hope I got a few of those tough genes passed down.

Anyone know the trail she described? Guess I should call my mother…

Might want to increase the number of band-aids–that's a lot of sharp pointy things.

How many sharp pointy things does a guy need?

Wait, don't answer that……

"How many sharp pointy things does a guy need?"

Or a gal? Hiking out from a short overnighter last week, I saw a couple headed in, both wearing huge packs(Virgin Falls in TN, 4.5 mile in/out). The woman had a knife/hatchet combo on one side, and a machete on the other.
It's one thing to carry a big load because you can, but she looked very unhappy half a mile from the TH.

>""My mother describes a trip she took in college, in Alaska somewhere along the coast… the name escapes me. They had a scale at the beginning, and you "had to have" 100lbs of gear to get permits/rights/whatever for the trail. She told me it spawned from an old government regulation meant to keep unprepared folks away."

>"Anyone know the trail she described? Guess I should call my mother…"

Sounds like the Chilkoot Trail starting out of Dyea, Alaska – one of the routes to the Klondike gold fields starting in 1896. Canadian officials required that stampeders take 2,000 pounds of supplies, half of it food, off of a detailed list to avoid very unprepared and under-provisioned people surging into the area.

Wikipedia says, "Park officials still require travelers to make preparation for hiking in this area." although not nearly so much tonnage is required anymore.

Short of specialized military gear, BEAT THAT!

I can easily beat your example being that I routinely (monthly) pull long trips without resupply. It's all about "backpacking", the "light" part sort of dissolves when your trip food load is 45lbs+. Here are some pic examples for your enjoyment—

Here's George on Upper Creek in Pisgah NF carrying Everything.

Here's my pack at the start of a 24 day winter trip with one food/fuel load.

Backpacking buddy Rob with his big Astralplane.

Little Mitten at the beginning of a 20 day trip and trying to keep me from tipping over.

You get the idea.

Tipi, you win.

Don't be so quick to pronounce me the winner. What about George, or Rob? How about the other examples??—

Another contender.

It's a tight race.

"… when your trip food load is 45lbs+ …."

Wow! I seriously need to start doing push-ups. My heaviest pack with everything was 48 lbs. Part of the trail was on a 2 1/2 ft. lip or ridge above/next to a stream. I tripped on a rock, starting tipping over that lip & could do nothing at all to stop it. Just sort of a slow motion roll onto my back & straight into the water. All involved agreed it was hilarious.

I definitely think you win!

I've always liked this picture:

Dang! Which one is carrying the stove do you think?

All that for a two night trip. Though we coveted their clean sweats after dinner. And they tarped.

And now we have photographic evidence to show us how sick Walter is.

Is there hope ..?

Ken: That looks like the Bear Valley Trailhead at Point Reyes. That's an impressive amount of stuff, but I've seen (and done) worse on that trail.

David, it is. I have too.

Am I the only person in the world who started off ultralight? My first real backpacking trip I had like a 25 pound pack. That was long before I had ever discovered this site or knew what ultralight backpacking was.

It that a pack mule in the middle of the photo hauling a ton of gear as well…

You guys are being way too hard on the "clinkers" (it's what I call them, for obvious reasons) like this poor guy here:

These "clinkers" know that they no longer have to carry the oppressive weight of bear bells when they pack like they do…

It's all very strategic… You hardcore ultralighters would never understand! :)

Love your pic Ken Thompson. It's an external frame festival!

I have some time on my hands so I dipped into my photo archive and found some to share.

Did someone mention the Boy Scouts? Check out a sudden October storm at 5,300 feet in the Southern Appalachians.

Here's a standard group shot showing the usual packs.

Chantelle is crossing Slickrock Creek with a fairly large pack (although volume does not equate to weight).

Here is Wisenber crossing a creek and carrying a weird German pack which looks like a duffel bag with shoulder straps.

Here are two BMT thruhikers crossing Slickrock Creek with small packs.

Here's a neat pic of an old Jansport pack.

Okay, here's some more—-

Here's Medicine Man with his Aarn front pack setup.

Now this is more like it—a BMT thruhiker with a very small pack.

Here's Cola with his uber light pack and gossamer light poles.

Here's Black Wolf's sub 5lb pack.

Here's the German Tourist with her pack approaching Big Frog Mt.

Johnny Molloy is old school with his external frame pack.

Regina Reiter's pack on a 9 day trip.

Sgt Rock and his pack on a 9 day trip.

Looks uncomfy but it's a guy with a Duluth type pack.

Out for a weekend.

Let's get back to what's important: Ultraload backpacking. Here is Uncle Fungus at the start of a 20 day trip.

Tipi You are the man! You make us old folks feel proud. Ron

I'm digging the massive canvas pack. Is that a frost river?

A couple months ago at Coast camp (Pt. Reyes), some backpacked in their surf boards and a party camp. Sometimes a big pack is needed.

Several years back, during a Grand Canyon spring heat wave,I saw a couple with huge 70's externals going up the South Rim as the mid-afternoon shade extended on their climb. Sometimes a big pack is just a torture instrument.

When I was leading beginning backpacking trips in Northern Michigan a few years ago I had two crazy crazy experiences with people (well, way more than that, but two that are relevant to our conversation). Here is one of them:

This guy asked to bring his girlfriend and said he'd keep an eye on her and do a pack shake down for her. He'd been backpacking "a lot" he said, but this would be her first. Since the trip was all of 9 miles over 2 days (specifically a beginner trip) and along the Manistee River Trail (easy easy, walk along the river so no water issues…perfect beginner trip) I said GREAT! Bring her along…

Well……

At breakfast (everyone arrived Friday night late), the couple dragged out their massive 90L packs, opened up a huge box of pancake mix and made pancakes on their 8" frying pan using their metal spatula. "We're going to eat like KINGS on this trip!" he said.

Clue #1.

Then we all pack up, not really paying attention to them and hit the trail. About 15 minutes in the girl, wearing blue jeans and a huge cotton hooded college sweatshirt, starts to cry. Her arms are numb and her shoulders hurt. She borrowed her son's backpack (he was obviously MUCH taller than her) and didn't really know how to adjust it. So we helped her with the straps.

Clue #2.

Then 5 minutes later we have to stop again, because she's still crying. We empty her pack. She was carrying CANS of food – not just for a meal or so, but cans of INGREDIENTS to make several meals, 5L of water. YES, 5L of water to walk 9 miles next to a full, flowing river. We dumped it ALL out. The guy protested…"she needs that to drink!"

Clue #3.

Then we stop for lunch. They pull out even more cans, full boxes of pop tarts…turns out she had a clean pair of blue jeans and a clean, thick cotton hooded sweatshirt for the next day, as well as a full pair of flannel pajamas.

At this point the whole group basically shames the guy to carry literally everything from her pack except her clothes. Apparently he was a boy scout leader and that's "how WE do it!"

We BARELY made the 9 miles by sundown on Sunday…in time for the 6 hour drive back to Chicago.