Packing Considerations

With just two weekends standing between us and Mt Mitchell, now would be a great time to start gathering the items that you are planning to take along on the trip with you. Being somewhat OCD in this area, I started my process about 2 weeks ago.  It started simply by writing everything down that I would like to have with me in the woods.  Then during the day when I had a free moment or two I began gathering everything together and placing it neatly next to my pack.  Everything started to come together just before the end of last week.  And this is when I decided to place everything in my pack.  I do this before every trip, basically to get an idea of how much everything weighs (I don’t know if everyone feels this way, but I don’t like carrying 100lbs of items if only need 30lbs of them). 

Speaking of packing, there are a couple different routes that you can take.  One would be to be a “solo-trekker”.  This basically is meaning that everything that you are going to use on this trip (clothing, food, stove, tent, etc…) will be carried by you.  A couple good things about this can be that you know EXACTLY what you have and where it is at all times.  Bad thing about this is that YOU have to carry EVERYTHING! I personally am a firm believer in “buddy-trekking”. And when you have a large group of people going on a trip like this, it can be quite simple.  You find a person of like mind to carry some of the gear for you and you carry some of the gear for them.  A great example of this is that I will be carrying the stove, fuel, potentially some of the food and a saw for myself and my nephew Chad.  In exchange he is going to be carrying the tent in his bag.  Even though he has one item to my several items the weight comes to about the same, and because of this we can lower the weight that both of us will be carrying.  ***Warning: do not do this with a person that you do not trust.  Otherwise you could end up sleeping in the snow or not eating***

I also wanted to give you a quick list of items that I have packed in my pack to give you some ideas of things to pack.

1)  Backpack. (I have this outfitted with several tubes of chap stick, first aid

kit, compass, mirror, whistle, and a few lengths of rope. All of these items are always in my pack so they have become part of my “backpack”)

2)      Two sleeping pads. (when sleeping on cold ground, I like to have two pads to help insulate me against the ground)

3)      Stove, coffee pot, fuel, utensils.  (These items are part of what I’m carrying for my buddy.)

4)      Rainfly. (this is my splurging part of the my pack.  I wanted to bring an extra rainfly that I can set up to sit under in case its snowing or a light rain while we are up there.)

5)      Sleeping bag with liner. (I have to sleep in something, right?)

6)      Extra clothing. (A full set of everything, except shell clothing. And a few pairs of extra socks)

7)      Food. (Enough for the entire trip plus one day. I chose to go with Mountain House.  The food is lightweight, good quality, even though a bit expensive.)

8)      *my tent is being carried by Chad (whom I have a lot of trust in)

All of these items in my pack came to just a few ounces over 32lbs.  I know that those ultra-light friends that I have will say that it sounds like a lot of weight.  But for me I am very comfortable carrying that much weight for a winter trip.

Happy Packing!