First Backpacking Trip – Lessons Learned, Advice Welcome

Congrats on your trip – it sounds like you're doing a great job getting back into backpacking. I, too, am in my 50's and "slow, but I like to cover distance".

You know your water filter didn't work well for you. I've long used iodine but Aquamira, etc would also be lighter than a filter. However, of late, I've shifted towards UV (with iodine in a tiny bottle as back up) for the following reasons: Within 90 seconds, you've treated your first liter. So you can chug it. Then you treat another liter for use on the trail. While the SteriPen weighs more than the iodine, if you save carry a liter for 30-40 minutes (required treatment time for cold water), that's a lot of pound-miles saved. Also, you save the slight weight and greater bulk of that second water bottle.

"I knew what the forecast was and if a freak rainstorm came, I could always put up my tent." Keep in mind that you can WEAR your tent while you hike in a pinch, if you've packed a little light on clothes or rain gear and the forecast doesn't happen. A kitchen trash bag makes a poncho (cut or gnaw a head hole and arm holes) in a pinch while functioning as a water-proof pack/stuff-sack liner.

Food and cook system – Have you considered going stove-less? You found you had lots of time in the day to hike and do all the camp stuff, but if you work up to longer daily-mile backpacking trips, I really like the time saved by not cooking, cleaning, etc. I bring mostly foods that can be eaten as I hike, saving even more time. Especially for breakfast on a cool morning, I warm up more while hiking versus cooling down while standing around a stove waiting for water to boil for oatmeal or hot chocolate. Did you want to eat more food? Because I find that eating as I hike, I can eat 7,000 calories in a day during 40+-mile day hike. For a 2-3 day trip, most of us would benefit from losing a pound or two of body fat, but on longer trips, intake must equal energy expenditures

Nice! great pictures.

The Sawyer Squeeze or Mini is another option that uses a separate dirty water bag/bottle. benefits are that you can use a scoop to only get the cleaner water off the top of pools and avoid stirring up the silt. Also allows a way to prefilter to avoid silt/dirt from clogging up the main filter. 4oz for filter.. 1-2oz for Evernew 1.5L bag.
also lets you take dirty water away from a source and filter it on your own time.

I agree with alot that David said about food. I don't cook breakfast anymore.. cold cereal and Nido/powdered milk usually. sometimes poptarts, granola bar etc. I am usually packed and gone from camp in a half hour. I do cook dinner unless it is a 1 night where i plan a no-cook sandwich or something.

I also don't eat as much the first few days of a trip than after 4-5 days.

Setting up and taking down camp efficiently is repetition and muscle memory. You will develop your own sequence to pack your gear, put up your tent etc that will be come second nature.

you are starting off on the right track. 18 base weight isn't bad with the luxury things.

Sounds like you're doing everything right to me! Your filter didn't work, so that's the first place to go lighter. Groundhogs are great — leave those in your pack. You can look at your food and clothes. For having to carry a bear canister and dog pads, you did great! 12 miles/day is lovely. Awesome trip!

Thanks for the feedback! I looked at the steri pen but was worried about the battery life. However, the new lithium batteries are lighter and hold a charge much longer than alkaline batteries. I'll look at the Sawyer squeeze too. I never thought about wearing the tent but I could have used the trash bag I had with me as a poncho. I've done that at the start of road races and discarded it as I warmed up. You are right about the time saved by not cooking. I'll think about that option. It only took a few minutes to heat the water for my raw oats almonds and cranberries. It's the meal I most feel like eating in the morning. I eat it before the oats soften so cold water wouldn't make much difference.I didn't want to eat more food. On the contrary, I constantly have to remind myself to eat when I'm exercising so I don't bonk. I tend to lose my appetite when I exercise and overcompensate when I'm sitting at my desk – bad combination. I really appreciate all of your help and advice!

>"I looked at the steri pen"

Yeah, you want to pair it with lithium batteries. Also, store the batteries OUTSIDE the unit between trips (true of many modern electronics that constantly "look" at the "on/off" switch, rather than the on/off switch actually disconnecting the batteries entirely.

I'd always bring iodine as a light-weight backup. Also, if your Steri Pen and flashlight both take AA batteries, then you some redundancy should you need to treat more water, hike a lot at night, leave something on, or forget to start with new batteries in some device.

>"I've done that at the start of road races and discarded it as I warmed up."

One UL mindset is to shift from "when shit happens, I need to have lots of stuff with me" to "when shit happens, I'll get creative and innovative (having considered alternatives long before when my body was dry and my brain was warm)." Put on ALL your clothes, wear the trash bag, hike to stay warm, bail, stuff pine needles under your pullover, ask for help, wear your tent rain fly as a poncho, cape, or skirt, wear your sleeping bag as a parka, use socks as gloves, bed down under branches and duff, etc.

Yeah, there's a 1% or 5% chance of it getting really cold, or stormy, or falling in a river or something. I'm okay if I have a way to deal with that and it doesn't have to be pretty or stylish. Put the "everything goes perfectly" gear in one pile. Put all the "just-in-case" gear, clothing, and food in another pile. Develop/learn/test solutions that don't require the second pile.

>"oats almonds and cranberries"

That's what I call an oatmeal cookie. And what I sometimes bring for breakfast. But a hot meal can be a big mental boost and if so, don't discount that benefit. For me, on the very long day, I get a mental boost from any miles I do while eating food – it feels like double-dipping / multitasking and it helps me to find all those feel-good moments I can.

>"lose my appetite when I exercise and overcompensate when I'm sitting at my desk"

So walk more, sit less (we all teach what we most need to learn). Which sounds like what you're doing.

As noted, that may be self-correcting on a long trip. I can calc my calories consumed from day one and eat that much, but many people report a few days of low-hunger only to have to hit with a vengeance late in the first week.

Thanks David. I really appreciate your insight!

> luxury items like … SynMat UL7 (50+ bones need some cushion)
You will be spending something like 8 hours a day on that mat. I do not think it is a luxury.
Fwiiw, I sleep on one too.

> Water – The MSR water filter was a poor choice.
Yeah, agree.
Try a Steripen opti or the new Classic+.

> Pack – I was a little sore on the fronts of my shoulders
That will fade with a bit more pack-carrying (skin toughens), and especially if you can get the weight down just a little more.

Cheers

I have been using the Steripen Adventurer for many years, I think I got one the first year they were released. Never had a performance issue in the field. (I DID spill some DEET on one and melted a lot of the plastic parts, Steripen replaced it free of charge.)
I lost the first one in the High Peaks Area of NY, a few years ago. I learned quickly that you had to flip the top battery so it would not draw current. Current draw (between 20-60ma) can be high if it is not used a lot.

I simply flip one battery to stop any current draw. Works great!

Yay and congrats on you first lightweight trip out! Keep going out as much as you can, and do some gradual fine tuning in the process.

I hope Santa gets you the Bearikade!

Kate,

First trip and solo too. Good for you. Enjoyed the commentary and the pictures. Most people don't eat a lot the first few days out on a trip as you learned. As far as the water treatment goes, you got a lot of suggestions. I generally use Aqua Mira tablets. But there has been so much written about purification of water here on BPL, you can spend days researching.

Hope to read about many more trips from you.

Great report and photos.

I am sure most of us don't use filters anymore. Kind of clunky. Like the suggestions above, Steripen, iodine, and chlorine dioxide are the treatments of choice.

I don't get the part of the permit. Most of the permits we get in the Sierra are for trailhead ENTRY and then you can go where you want even though you have to tell them where you are going. Some exit points are limited, like the Whitney Trail, etc. Just wondering if it is different where you were hiking.

You are well on your way to pare down your pack weight with the careful consideration you have already shown.

Desolation wilderness issues permits based on what zone you camp in. It's different from most other places in the Sierras.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsbdev7_018772.pdf&cd=6&ved=0CDAQFjAF&usg=AFQjCNHprDBR6kSMlrX63QaAMXJP0G_HTA&sig2=UMPSxebbTT0-7VaVrRKzlw

Joseph,

Thanks for the link. I have seen a lot of reports over the years and looks like a place to visit. I'm in Southern California so it's hard to push on up to Tahoe when there are so many entry points along the way on the 395!