Philmont Scout Ranch: How Light Can You Go?

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Have you ever been challenged, pushed a bit out of your comfort zone? Where the mind and body both start feeling a bit uncomfortable; where fear starts to raise its ugly head? Lightweight backpacking is all about dealing with your fears and pushing yourself out of your comfort zones, both mentally and physically, only to make you more comfortable in the long run!

Freedom. You are ready and willing to try anything to push yourself even further than you thought possible. You are having a blast, because fear is the furthest thing from your mind. You are stretching yourself well beyond what you thought possible just a few short months ago (from your nice couch).

I saw some of these changes within myself in 2008 while planning another Philmont Scout Ranch trek for that August. I've gone a number of times and am very familiar with what to expect there and figured this would be much the same. However, in late spring, Backpacking Light announced a new series of Wilderness Trekking School courses. I signed up for the Wilderness Trekking I (WTS-I) in the desert southwest during October. I was interested in learning new skills, since I had never hiked with other lightweight backpackers, and I wanted to see how Don Wilson and Andrew Skurka taught the course.

Don Wilson was our primary instructor for the pre-hike planning via email, during which time I was also planning my Philmont gear list. Through a series of emails, I accepted a challenge from Don to go as light as I could at Philmont, which required me to scrap everything I was planning and to look again at every single gear choice. I got out my scale and weighed each piece of gear I was even remotely thinking of taking, then put all the weights into a spreadsheet. I then began comparing that spreadsheet to the gear lists of others, such as our other WTS-I instructor, Andrew Skurka and ones posted on BackpackingLight.com.

I started looking at areas where others were much lighter than I, such as sleep systems, tents, rain gear, clothing, and what I call 'doodads' - those miscellaneous items that are really cool, but not quite necessary, that somehow find their way into a lot of packs. In short, almost everything! I was forced to change my thought processes and to face a number of my fears. Would I have enough food and water? Would I get wet? Be warm enough? Be too hot hiking? Be comfortable enough to sleep at night? With Don's help, I pushed myself out of my comfort zone of known gear items to make some big changes in my gear and clothing.

ARTICLE OUTLINE

Personal Equipment: Clothing
Personal Equipment: Gear
Personal Equipment: Sleep Systems
Crew Equipment Issued at Philmont
Equipment Provided by Your Crew
Conclusion

# WORDS: 8440
# PHOTOS: 13
# GEARLIST: 2

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Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 44 total)

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Jun 23, 2009 at 3:32 pm #1237307

Addie Bedford
BPL Member

@addiebedford
Locale: Montana

Companion forum thread to:

Philmont Scout Ranch: How Light Can You Go?

Jun 23, 2009 at 6:34 pm #1510085

Joseph Jacaruso
BPL Member

@captainjac
Locale: Southeast

Another great article Doug! My Troop will be there in August and we will certainly be using a lot of your ideas to keep those ankles in shape.

Jun 23, 2009 at 7:40 pm #1510094

Jim Colten
BPL Member

@jcolten
Locale: MN

Thank You, Doug!

Now wish me success in getting our troop to lighten up.

Jun 24, 2009 at 1:59 am #1510132

Hendrik Morkel
BPL Member

@skullmonkey
Locale: Finland

Your kg measurements are wrong in the summary, for example:

Total Weight Worn or Carried 10.9 kg = 384,48 oz or 24.03 pounds.

Jun 24, 2009 at 9:48 am #1510175

Michael Danielson
BPL Member

@mcd57
Locale: Middle TN

Loved your article. Taking a crew out to Philmont the first week next year (2010). Will apply a lot of the principles to the crew members because they are new to backpacking and I have a lot of training to do to get them ready for next year.

Jun 24, 2009 at 10:25 am #1510183

John Whynot
Member

@jdw01776
Locale: Southeast Texas

Great article Doug — I wish every Scout and Scouter would read it (and heed your advice) before going on their next backpacking trip. 77 pounds, not so surprising — we had adults in our troop that would have 60 pounds for a weekend.

How did the Mountain Hardwear Stimulus work in heavy rain? I'm trying to convince myself that my Mountain Hardwear Quark (same fabric) is really waterproof.

Jun 24, 2009 at 4:47 pm #1510263

Addie Bedford
BPL Member

@addiebedford
Locale: Montana

HOLY COW. The math error is totally mine. I promise to get more sleep, um, next week.

Thanks for pointing it out, Hendrick!

Jun 24, 2009 at 5:00 pm #1510265

tkkn c
BPL Member

@tkknc
Locale: Desert Rat in the Southwest

Any chance you can post the link to the actual excel spread sheet you used for philmont? We are going in 2010.

Thanks

Jun 25, 2009 at 10:47 am #1510389

Larry Risch
Member

@dayhiker

So if you can't sleep with them what do you do with them? Hang them with your food?

Jun 25, 2009 at 4:53 pm #1510467

Brad Groves
BPL Member

@4quietwoods
Locale: Michigan

Doug, awesome- Thanks!

I work really hard to get Scouters to lighten up, but they're generally the toughest bunch to get to shed weight. I got my Eagle in the 80s; I vividly remember the pack list including things like towel and washcloth, bowl, plate, knife, fork, spoon, cup, etc, etc… so I know they can come by it honestly. Can be remarkably more resistant to change. I've been working with one group in particular who won't let really, really little guys go on a trip with anything less than 5,500 cubic inches… they actually made one of the Scouts return a pack that was 4,900 cubic inches. It was the only pack he tried on out of about 4 in the 85-95L range that felt good; I could have added a simple accessory pocket. In short, it's great to hear of Scouters getting out there with less. Refreshing! (For all involved.) One group I've worked with is headed out to Philmont soon; they've been following some of my advice and that of BPL, but seem to be working down from more traditional weights and philosophy. I have faith that they'll take to your approach!

Thanks again for a great article!

Jun 25, 2009 at 9:27 pm #1510515

Douglas Prosser
BPL Member

@daprosser
Locale: Camarillo, California (SCAL)

Since we can not sleep with our day clothes nor packs I put my day clothes in a 1 gal zip-lock & my pack in a 1 gal zip-lock. I then put them under the dining fly.

Jun 25, 2009 at 9:31 pm #1510517

Douglas Prosser
BPL Member

@daprosser
Locale: Camarillo, California (SCAL)

The Mountain Hardware Stimulus worked really great. I was like you looking at this very thin light fabric was it going to work. It did really well. It is not quite as breathable as my Montane wind shirt but it is very good. I also gave up my Tilly Airflow hat & hike in the Stimulus Rain Hat. It worked great during a number of storms. The Rain wrap was funny but worked so good I do not think I'll take anything else in the warmer weather for lower body rain protection.

Jun 26, 2009 at 9:10 am #1510584

Kendall Clement
BPL Member

@socalpacker
Locale: Cebu, Philippines

Doug,

Great article! I appreciate you writing it. I really enjoyed it.

Thanks,

Kendall

Jun 26, 2009 at 12:12 pm #1510611

Scott Bentz
BPL Member

@scottbentz
Locale: Southern California

Doug,

You are the man when it comes to Philmont! I have used your original article with a lot of crews in order to get them used to the idea of not taking the kitchen sink. My brother in law is going in July and, hopefully, he will be one of the lighter crews there.

Our crew loved to hang around the scale and watch people weigh their packs. Once kid had 32 lbs. and the Scout Master was upset because he was not carrying his "fair share". This kid worked hard to get his pack weight down to a respectable weight and they were now going to punish him for doing so. I am sure the SM probably had a 50 lb. pack and he wanted the kid to carry some of his stuff.

Thanks again for sharing your experiences.

Jun 26, 2009 at 12:22 pm #1510612

Joe Clement
BPL Member

@skinewmexico
Locale: Southwest

Not to hijack the thread (much), but I wanted to ask Doug if he had ever thought about updating his article on gear for new scouts?

Jun 26, 2009 at 1:03 pm #1510617

Douglas Prosser
BPL Member

@daprosser
Locale: Camarillo, California (SCAL)

I have thought of updating the New Scout article as well as putting together a Power Point that people could use to teach the concepts. We'll see. I was also thinking of article on John Muir Trail because 4 of us from the BPL Wilderness Trekking course Dessert Southwest in 2008 will be leaving to start on Aug 12th, southboard.

Jun 26, 2009 at 5:19 pm #1510660

Mike Barney
Member

@eaglemb
Locale: AZ, the Great Southwest!

I liked the "fair share" comment. That clearly shows a lack of understanding on the leader's part. His knees must be much better than mine.

Last year we saw packs up to 84 lbs, where the scout carrying it screamed "I won, I have the heaviest pack". I would have love to have seen him 5 days later. We also saw a 70+ pounder with a 10" cast iron skillet and small ice chest filled with bacon and eggs. (Seriously)

Some of the weight leaving the welcome center is dependent upon your first day's destination and next resupply:
How many days of food are you carrying 2, 3 or 4 days?
How much water do you need to carry to the first refill station? This is where many get heavy: Most of the first day's are about 2 miles, where 1 liter is likely sufficient (YMMV).

Last year we had one trekker with a 20 lb pack with everthing includingwater and food. This year we expect to have a 17 lb packer.

I was interested a year ago how low you could go with a rich uncle. I'll look for my spreadsheet, but if $'s were not an issue and exotic materials were available (ala Cuben everywhere) it looked like you could get to the 12 lb range with everything (including food, water, crew gear) on day 1 for ~$2K.

Jun 26, 2009 at 9:41 pm #1510697

Joe Clement
BPL Member

@skinewmexico
Locale: Southwest

I'm shocked that they have a weight limit, but allow boys to leave carrying such a huge percentage of their body weight. Trapped in the 70s…………..

Jun 29, 2009 at 12:33 pm #1511124

Jim Cowdery
BPL Member

@james-cowdery
Locale: South Florida

I went with a crew in 2005. Two of the leaders didn't follow advice and ended up with packs in the mid forty pound range. Everyone else was below 35 lbs. By the fourth day they regretted carring all the weight!

Jun 29, 2009 at 2:04 pm #1511137

Pat Rabun
BPL Member

@prabun
Locale: Southwest

Great article Doug! However, I have a couple of points. First, .5L of water on a Philmont trek is dangerously low for 99% of the people going. Dehydration is probably the number one problem encountered by the Philmont med staff. I would suggest to those reading the article to carry 2L minimum, based on my experience at Philmont and Double H. Second, you can`t do very many treks and only carry 2 days worth of food between resupplying. Most treks have at least one 3-4 days between resupply segment. Philfood is heavy (even after removing the Gatoraide!). Given the above, I`d add about 9 lbs to your packweight (addition food @96oz and water @ 48oz)to get a realistic average weight for most treks. Also, my crews always split the crew gear evenly (including adults), which adds further weight. I think it sets a poor example to do otherwise.
Again, great article! You got me thinking light about Philmont prior to my first trek and I am forever in your debt!

Jul 2, 2009 at 12:57 pm #1511733

Tony Burnett
Spectator

@tlbj6142
Locale: OH--IO

While the average water carried might be a bit low (1L might be a "better" average). The food number is an _average_, not a starting number. So, his "2-days" would, I guess, be the average weight for food carried on a 4-day trip. At least, that's how I read the list.

And it looks like the boys decided to not allow the adults to carry any group gear which is why the weight is divided by 10 rather than 12.

Jul 5, 2009 at 9:17 pm #1512212

Heather Pisani-Kristl
Member

@p-k
Locale: San Diego

Doug, I enjoyed the article. Wish we had done something like that in Girl Scouts.

To clean my glasses, I use a dribble of water to remove sandy particles, and polish the lenses with a woven microfiber cloth purchased from the optometrist. It doesn't register on my scale, so it's less than 1/8 oz.

Jul 6, 2009 at 2:01 pm #1512309

Addie Bedford
BPL Member

@addiebedford
Locale: Montana

Updated the article with posts to relevant articles/forums on BPL.

Jul 15, 2009 at 2:19 pm #1514106

Addie Bedford
BPL Member

@addiebedford
Locale: Montana

Updated the article to be public, so as many Scouters as possible can read it.

Aug 3, 2009 at 11:18 am #1518455

Rich P
BPL Member

@montclair
Locale: Lower Hudson Valley

Addie wrote: Updated the article to be public, so as many Scouters as possible can read it.

Thank you, Addie, for that info! (I could have sworn that it was Members Only when it was first posted and I was wondering the best way to get it to the other scouters in my troop. Now I know I'm not losing my mind. ;-) )

I'm planning on Philmont for 2011 and I'm the lightweight mavin in the troop. This article will help greatly with the skeptics!
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