80lb pack + 16miles + 24 hours = ?

[Woods Walker]

Heading out right now....

[19kilo]

good luck. hope your moleskin is handy.

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

I fucking love this place.

Woods Walker FTW!
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[Dirty Irish]

Be sure to let us know how it was...

[Jamie]

give us coords so we can rescue your gear...I mean rescue you...if need be

[llivne]

sounds like a start of a b grade horror movie

[misanthropist]

Could be a cakewalk or a nightmare! Depends entirely on the terrain.

I could do that in my sleep if it were walking on the prairie...it might take me a two weeks in the Rockies in winter!

Anyway best of luck, hope there's pics!

[cougar]

80 pound pack, damn, better you than me brother
Have a good time and be careful.

[Gunny]

80#? C-mon woods, the emr will do more than that!

(Post pics when you're done boss)

[mbf2k]

What kinda terrain? That is the question... 16 miles in 24hrs of level walking is nbd. Up and Down? I'd be dead... 80#'s though? You must have a couple cases of ammo for that kinda weight.

[Agent_Jaws]

I fucking love this place.

Woods Walker FTW!
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QFT man, QFT

ZS should have it's own tv show with all the people on here and the crazy things we do in the name of experimentation. Everything from videotaping home-made tent gas chambers to mini-survivorman to real MacGyver, ZS FTW!

Have fun Woods, you have an audience awaiting your return.

[llivne]

ever watched brainiac?
im watching it right now

we can do the surviver man brainiac

[Cymro]

Good luck out there! Have fun!

I give him three hours. I have dibs on the GPS.

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

Oh, I have no doubt at all that he'll make it. But... ...err... ...if... you know... something unpleasant involving an ambulatory cadaver happens... ...then I claimseys the EMR or the Pointman. I'll have to armwrestle or sailor's poker Squirrley for the Kifaru Paratipi and the Kifaru Stove though I think.

Because...


...it's The Way.
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[evo6011]

thats cake, try to do it under 12 hours. I'm not trying to sound hard, but in the army we used to do 12 milers all the time in under 3 hours and 20 milers under 12 hours. I had a hard time walking the next few days after one of those. Good luck, I couldnt do one of those now.

[Jamie]

I did a 14-miler this past summer in about 6 hours of hiking, although only about 20-25 pounds in my pack...it still beat me up...

http://adirondackdiary.blogspot.com/search?q=wanika

nfa

[Obiwan]

This past summer my daughter and I did 24 miles in two days over some pretty steep trails. (it was supposed to be 3 days but we made real good time)

I was carrying around 45lbs and she had about 35

Our feet were sore

The moral of that story is that by being fast ( and a light load helps here) you can make better time and require less food

[Squirrley]

Damn straight TGC, I get dibs on anything with a Kifaru tag.

[KaceCoyote]

WW has some stuff between his ears, I think he'll be A-OK.

[Squirrley]

WW has some stuff between his ears, I think he'll be A-OK.

*grumble mumble* but I wanted that tent!

[Vindex]

WW, when you get back, I'd like to hear a bit about your experiences with hydration and preventing perspiration build-up.

The 16 miles is going out and back with an overnight in between perhaps?

[Woods Walker]

I am back. Holly shit. For full disclosure I weighed the pack at my sister’s place just before driving to the trail and it was 76 lbs. My home scale was off and later that day I was happy for that. I decided on the Appalachian Trail as it was the only place that offered both the distance and moderately difficult terrain. I even left the trail to work some ridges for a camp away from the lean-to areas. It was difficult to get the pack up to the weight I didn’t take the long pockets etc so even with the EMR room was running out before my weight goals. But fear not. My base camp gear helps (or hurt based on perspective). Heck the downmat and bag alone combined to nearly 10 lbs. Even took an extra long stove pipe and another thin pad. Darn it was hard to get the pack heavy. I tossed in some ammo and lots of water to increase the weight. Water is heavy ammo even more so.

According to the map I did about 14 miles. Guessing that there was an extra mile cruising around the ridges. But that mile felt like 20. Thinking in all it took me about 36 hours. Even to accomplish that I risked low light travel. Setting up camp in the dark sucked. Was a little below freezing but sure felt colder. But the candle lantern with 6 candles (why not!) was nice and the wood stove is always a winner.

It was harder than I expected. The pack kept sliding down my back after about 6 miles. Guessing I didn’t put it on right during one of my rest stops. Met some real nice people at an AT lean-to. Wanted to stay but needed to push on.

I ate a total of 1200 calories. Was not all that hungry but on the way home had the irresistible urge to stop at McDonalds. I normally don’t like that place but the low quality high fat sodium food tasted great. It’s such shit food that it must be a one time fluke.

Things I learned.

1. Never set impossible goals. I am an experienced hiker but one that is no longer in his 20’s and at 250 lbs my legs reminded me of this. The goal sounded reasonable when conceived but was in fact impossible for the time allowed during late fall. Didn't fall too far short but no way I could have done it within the 24 hours/short days.

2. Always have a float plan. I told friends and family my expected route and expected return time. Called when that time elapsed. Not something learned but more a precaution that everyone should do.

3. Someone can travel a long distance with a heavy pack but there is a price to be paid. Done longer hikes with lighter packs and felt better.

4. Trade off between camp comfort and hiking comfort must be balanced. True a Bug out is not a camping trip but a extra heavy 10 degree bag and a 4-inch thick downmat rated to far below zero sure makes for a warm night but a hard hike.

5. 6-10 miles is not 15. I know that sounds silly. I hiked with heavy packs for the shorter distances but never for longer than 10 miles total. The larger loads that nearly equal my INCH bag was always used for a base camp. There was a breaking point. I simply ran out of gas after about 7-8 miles. Old injures like my knees and right heel began to hurt. This hurt made the return trip worse. Five miles in than fire miles out was so much easier than 7ish in than out.


I strapped my digital camera to my pack and was not in the mood to keep it around my neck. However the walk along the river was easy so I took some nice photos of that, and the cool older couple at the lean-to. They were spending the night to see a meteor shower. Also took some camp photos. But my mind is too shot for downloading the photos off the camera and post them. This will be done later next week. I am 100% convinced my knees would have given out the next day without my poles. I need to drop about 20 lbs over the winter and try this again in the spring. Just because I can’t do something right now does not mean it can’t be done in the future.

Vindex.

Hydration was not an issue as I packed a ridiculous amount of water. To increase the weight more I took the MSR pump. As for perspiration I had wool socks, Polyester shirt, Synthetic liner and Polypro face mask that I rolled up for a hat. I did have a full set of woodland ECWS gortex but only wore the jacket. Sometimes I had to stop and remove one layer. This was a total bitch as the pack needed to be taken off. I was working far too hard so perspiration built up. The weather radio called for a 40% chance of snow. If this occurred I would have stopped and set up camp sooner. Not worth walking though wet snow in the dark. I did camp and was chilled initially. Between cutting wood and pitching the tent it took me nearly 2 hours in the overcast dark. Thinking the hard hike and cold slowed me up. But after that it was a cake walk. Found dry oak and maple. The BTU output was insane. The longer stove pipe and dry fuel combined into a mini nuclear reactor.

Well that’s all. I will post photos next week.

[The Highwayman]

Welcome back, and GREAT post!
(BTW-I'm right there with you on the old, nagging injuries...FTL !)

[Squirrley]

The BTU output was insane. The longer stove pipe and dry fuel combined into a mini nuclear reactor. .

*que Borat voice*Very nice!

I'm looking forward to pics, as are many others I bet.


This may just inspire me to try and go hiking/camping on a regular basis, with a 'heavy' bag.