i a'm planing to hike not hitchhike cross country about 150 miles . atlanta to the coast of sc. i'm 5'7'' and wiegh 145# . what would be the prime wieght of my pack and how do u get that =

Dibs on his knives.

-Blast

Dibs on his knives. what do u mean by that ?

Hard to say not knowing your current fitness level and experience. For a casual hiker I think 30lb would be relatively easy, 40lb might not be that comfortable any longer, 50lb could get tough already. For an adult male in decent shape, 40% of bodyweight is about the maximum load that can be carried on a longer term basis IME. That's 58lb in your case - but unless you're a serious hiker already I'm pretty sure you would not like to carry a backpack that heavy over a 150 mile trail, especially in more difficult terrain.

All in all, I prefer to travel light. My pack is rarely over 30lb even on longer treks, plus about 5-10lb on my belt, webbing and pockets (large canteen, knife, FAK...).

This thread reminds me of a recent trip to the running gear store.

My son was wanting the lightest running shoe possible. He was looking at a shoe that was about 3 or 4 ounces or something like that and asked if there were any lighter shoes.

The sales-woman replied, "Look, you can only get so light with a size 14 shoe."

Tom A.

Somewhere I read that about 1/3 body weight is the max a pack should weigh. Yeah, I've done 50% of my weight with the Scouts back in the 90s, for a week, but it was slow going.

As for how you get that? Uh.. pack what you need. Weigh it. See if you're over. If you are, leave stuff behind.

Not sure exactly what kind of reply you're expecting there.

Assuming the pack is properly loaded and balanced, and properly secured to the body, about 1/3 of your body weight is going to an average limit for cross country travel on moderate terrain. Your leg joints can't take much more than that without risking damage, either tendon inflammation, or bursa irritation could likely develop. There are variables to consider, but if you are in good health now, your joints are okay, and you have a good pack, I would say 50 lbs would be about as far as you'd want to push yourself.

Jimmy John, the ideal weight is no weight at all.
You can not get 0 weight so it is a game of compromise.

If you can keep it under 30 lbs you are doing wonderful.
It is a surprise how fast the weight adds up.

Try not to carry anything you will not use.

I also recommend a decent hike with your fully loaded pack before you actually leave.
Doing an overnight camp with 5 miles should be enough for you to get an idea if you will be able to carry it or not, and if you need more gear or can leave some behind.

Also some things you are better off to buy as you need on the way instead of carrying from the start to the end.

The emergency kits that get recommended the most here are the lightest the people on the board have been able to figure out.


Wear good boots and take spare socks.

Assuming you are not going off the beaten path and are following roads and streets on the route, I would guess your pack could stay quite light as it would not be necessary to have all your supplies for the entire trip. Carry a days supply of food and purchase fresh foods daily. That way you will eat better and you will find that your pack can be considerably lighter.
Staying in hotels along the way could lighten your load much more, no need for tent and sleeping bag. If you are going offroad and on trails, you will find that your weight requirements will climb dramatically. Assuming a winter early spring hike, you will be much heavier than a spring or summer hike, based solely upon clothing requirements.

True, but much depends on your ability to improvise. I never carry a tent because I prefer to sleep in a simple shelter (poncho lean-to) that takes just a few minutes longer to build than pitching a tent. I carry a poncho as part of my rain gear all the time anyway and my sleeping bags are not overly heavy. So sleeping in the bush does not really require all that much gear, at least if you can live without the kind of comfort provided by a Coleman stove, folding chairs, family-sized tent, inflatable sleeping pads and whatnot.

Keep it simple and you'll see you can enjoy the great outdoors with very little gear. All you need are a few basic skills such as starting a fire (plus outdoor cooking), setting up a simple shelter, finding and purifying water and food where and when available to live off the land as much as possible.

Another way to look at it

The hiking kit and walking kit in this page

http://www.chariot.de/en/models/cts-kits/

You will be able to load it up with more gear than a pack and still go easy on your knees.

You can still have a waist pack or fishing vest with loaded pockets for urgently needed stuff.

What area? What season? Roads? trails?
can you re-supply with food daily?

Ideal pack weight is zero.

After that you have to work it out for yourself.
How cold, how wet, hHow hungry are you willing to be in order to not carry the stuff to keep you warm, dry and fed?

Of course if you're hiking thru civilization you might not have to carry food and cooking gear. But you'll need to carry money. And think ahead for food stores/restaurants etc. Might be many miles between convenience stores.

I suggest you do a test hike on a weekend of maybe 5 or 10 miles out one day and 5 or 10 back and see how it goes.

Even Lewis & Clark didn't do a full first day deliberately so that they could shake out the problems.

Blast was making a bit of a joke.
It means when you die in the attempt he gets to claim your trinkets and toys when they find your body.

Kind of dark humour, but not nasty.
Think of it as more of a caution warning.

Just out of curiosity, why are you doing this hike, and how long do you expect to take to do it?
I think one item you should have is a cell phone or a way to call somebody if you get into trouble.

Lots of useful and entertaining information is available at;

http://bushcraft.se/iceland/

Unsupported with difficult terrain and weather conditions.

http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/page17.asp

Check out the podcast menu at the top of the page for the TGO challenge - with similar trekking distances to the one you've specified.

How to tell if a pack is too heavy is really very simple.

Pick it up. If you can't, or tears, you have too much.
Put it on your back. If feel pain, you have too much.
Take a half mile stroll. Adjust the suspension.
Repeat that last one more time.

Take a five mile hike one afternoon. If you hurt, you have too much. If you hurt bad, you not only have too much, but you have a pack that isn't the right size for you or isn't fitted to you.

Sounds like you are going through some fairly built up areas. You can move pretty light, shelter, clothes, water, FAK and something like 3-4 days of food. Restore food as needed.

Blast,

I was drinking coke at the time I read your comment (had a big mouth full). I was JUST able to divert the spray from my keyboard onto my startled dog.

Just toweled him off. I wasn't expecting anything funny like that.

Thanks, you made my day.

-NIM

Someone should have introduced my platoon sergeants to this thread. I KNOW i was almost always exceeding 50% of body weight. No wonder my knees sound like a coffee can of rocks rolling down a mountain.

Yeah ... forget platoon sargents.
Their purpose is to make people miserable.

You want to shoot for 30 pounds.
A nice light pack.
Get together your gear, toss it in the pack and weigh it. If it comes to more than 30 pounds then you're carrying far too much stuff. Start throwing out the non-essentials until you get it back to 30 pounds.

Then it's time to go.

Where you're going, you can score almost anything you need in the 'hood - or off the land. So use resourcefulness and just have a good time.

Pete

Dogs need baths don't-ya-know. Just don't do it like Blast did with the cat.

JimmyJohn, a buddy of mine and I tried to hike the AT not too long ago. My trip was cut short after a bear decided to run off with my boots and my knee giving out (going down hill is harder that up!). Anyhow, my advice is echos everyone else. Test your pack.

If I were you, head over with your pack loaded to REI. The folks there see many thru-hikers and they can give you some VERY good advice: from how the pack should fit to whether or not you really need those books you think you will read on the trip. They (in my experience) will bend over backwards to make sure your pack is setup right even if you didn't purchase it there. March is almost here and I bet there will be tons of thru-hikers there. Talk to them some have done it more than once and know a thing or two and aren't typically shy about giving you their 2 cents.

Once you have your stuff the way you think you want it, take your bag loaded and hike for 5-7 miles in terrain similar to what you expect to encounter. Make sure you have the same amount of food and water (heavy) that you expect to carry. I typically aim to have my pack to 25lbs. without food or water. Once grub is added it's about 30-35lbs (1 week's worth).

Oh I almost forgot if you don't feel comfortable taking all your bag fully loaded into REI just take the bag and ask if someone can help you adjust it. They have sand bags that they can put in it to simulate the weight. Oh and have fun! Some of the nicest people I met were in GA. Talk about southern hospitality!

-Humby

33% of body weight is usually the practical limit for most people in moderately good shape if you want them to maintain a decent pace.

People in very good shape and crossing flat and easy ground can go to 50% and still maintain a decent pace for a time. For shorter periods of time a bit more but expect a certain number to come up lame. Particularly if the footing is uneven at those weights the number of turned ankles and blown out knees will multiply. Loaded too heavy for their abilities the amount of time spent on rest breaks, the effort needed to treat and transport injuries, and the slow pace will erase any benefit of the higher loading. Two or three trips with a lighter loads can often move more cargo than taking it all in one go.

Pathfinders and scouts maintain the highest mobility by keeping the weight down to between 5% and 10% of body weight and sleeping cold and limiting food and water. This is also a good estimate for children, and the old.

As an aside, a friend claimed that %25 was about as high as you want to go for a dog. His large, roughly 60 pound mutt, had a pack that ran about 15 pounds with food, water and some doggy gear like booties, bowl and a sleeping pad. The dog seemed to love to backpack and would beg for someone to put his pack on.

A person in good shape can carry roughly 25 - 30% of his or her normal body weight.

A person in great hiking condition can carry roughly 40 - 50 % of his or her normal body weight.

These approximate numbers alone do not factor in mental condition, good/poor/quality/quantity food intake, hydration, clothing, footwear, weather, terrain, distance etc.

To echo what everyone else is saying, try it out on easier hikes and see what works for you. In days gone by (more than I care to think about ... ), I was training for a week long hike in the Grand Canyon. To train, I took my pack and loaded it up with as many Platapus (sp?) water bladders as I could. I then went to a local park with a lot of hills. I spent a lot of time/miles hiking up and down. When you carry bladders like that, if you get tired or something starts to hurt, you can dump water and lighten the pack considerably and get back to your car. FWIW.

LW

LOL! That never get's old!

But seriously, as many have said in this post, you need to be careful about thru-hiking.

If you can afford it, you can do some seriously ultra-light gear. In this case, ounces saved are important.

How much water/food do you plan on carrying? How will you acquire water/food if you aren't carrying a lot of it. What type of gear are you planning on carrying? Are you planning on shipping some equipment ahead as "resupply" points? Those that thru-hike the AT can give great advice on all of this.

Another thread that was discussed here was trekking poles... They may prove useful as well...

Just some thoughts off the top of my head...

Is that a trail or is it wilderness or is it just "country?"

I have this distorted impression that there aren't a lot of really huge National Forests in that part of the country.

Point is that if you are planning this as a wilderness/forest backpacking trip I'd suggest one kind of approach to it. If this is a walk along country roads between town parks or KOA campgrounds then you have another approach. And if you are "walking for <insert your cause here>" with vehicle support then you have yet another situation.

Getting "out there" is great.
Getting out there without working up to it might not go so well.
Even preliminary gear tests won't tell you everything.

Sea Story Mode ON: Prior to taking my first long cross-country motorcycle trip to celebrate leaving the Navy, I set up my camping rig in the backyard in Va. Beach. It was April. Everything worked great. Tent, sleeping bag, pad, stove.
I rode west toward W. Va. That night I slept in the Blue Ridge in a campground. I was cold. I was cold every night I slept outdoors for the next month except for the campground in Death Valley. oops. I rode most of the trip in all of the clothes I had with me. oops. Got snowed on in New Mexico. oops. Had to stand on the bike pegs to see over the snowbanks while riding in the Sierra Nevada. Hmmm.
(Still had a marvelous trip and a once-in-a-lifetime experience)
Sea Story Mode OFF

Did about 100 miles in January with about 55-60 lbs on my back thru rough terrain. Pretty decent weight... I would aim for a nice round 40 lbs... All depends on your sleepign and food arrangments as that means tent/sleeping pad/stove/food weight...

Nicely paced 150 miles is about ten days walk. That should give you an idea how much food to carry or how much money you should bring. But 10 days worth of food is going to be a bulk of yer weight.

Have you considered biking?

hey, where'd he go?

Troll?

I don't think it was a troll.
I looked at the profile and he posted the same question as a reply in a couple of threads.
The fact that he did it as copy and paste is a bit weird but not totally unusual.
I think it was a youngster trying to ask a question.
(But I tend to give everybody the benefit of the doubt.)

Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. Funny that he chose the name of a fast-food joint though (it's kinda like Subway).

You mean someone who just read into the wild and the last american man?

You can carry more if you have sturdy hiking boots made for heavy hiking. I would estimate that you could carry 50 pounds, but that you would not enjoy it very much. My guess is that you'll try to stay under 40, even if that means not packing all your food at once. Know where there are water sources. At almost ten pounds a gallon, you will only want to carry what you need to get from each reliable source to the next.
I don't mind carrying a little extra weight if I have the right boots; a twisted ankle is not an option.
Although, there is nothing quite like the freedom of carrying less weight.

Pack everything you think you will need, put on your boots, and go a mile.
1. Imagine that mile times 5, only a little more difficult each time, and if all that seems OK enough to still be fun, then that is your max weight.
2. Imagine that mile times ten, only a little more difficult each time, and if all that seems like fun, then you've got the weight just right!

Ultralight backpacking does it lighter. Alot lighter.

http://www.rayjardine.com/

OK, I didn't know about the fast food name, and I was thinking more like somebody who had just read My Side of the Mountain.

I will still give the benefit of the doubt. Even if it is a troll it seems harmless and the thread is still good.

I do hope it is not some kid figuring on running away from home, a troll would be preferable to that.

Either way he seems to be a bungie poster anyhow.

Edit:
Nice picture of that plane crash Matt.
It reminds me of a book I read called "The Flight of the Phoenix."

His name could be legit (shrugging shoulders). After all, he is down south, right? JimmyJon, BillyBob, BobbyJo... I knew 2 out of those 3 living in Missouri, and that's not really all that south.