This is from a AT Preparation Journal I kept in late summer of 2013. If you are beginning to prep for the AT I strongly recommend you keep a journal of your day to day activities. I was surprised how often I went back to this journal to get information for future planning.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Time to do the detail work on my equipment. Did a quick go through of the items I would
be wearing. Hat (ExOfficio, bugs away),
t-shirt (ExOfficio, bugs away), underwear (cycling shorts w/o the padding),
Bandana (ExOfficio, bugs away), convertible pants (ExOfficio, bugs away), sock
liner, socks, shoes (New Balance M978), and gaiters. Also belt bag carrying camera, voice recorder
(?) and
The “pile” that had been sorted out for going in or on my pack
(GoLite Vapor Trail) was then given a quick go through. I went back through the weights for each
item. Put water in the water
bottles. The total was 26 pounds, 9
ounces. This included my water but didn’t
include food. The plan is to pack 5 days
of food. At 1.5 pounds of food per day
I’m looking at 8 pounds of just food. This would put me over 30 pounds (my and
the packs suggested limit). I trimmed
from the emergency/first add kit and added most of the repair components. And
dropped 9 ounces.
Just realized I don’t have my tent poles so I will strap them on
the outside of the pack but this will add weight. This does allow me to compress the tent
somewhat so I ordered a compression bag for that purpose.
In reading and watching countless discoursed on ultralight packing, I know that getting a final pound or two off the total weight is about reducing, not pounds, but ounces and fractions of ounces. I found this to be exhaustive and frustration, but in the end it is the only solution.
More of a problem is getting all this in the pack. The pack is a top access pack that has a top
tube that you can also pack but I would like to limit how top heavy my pack
gets. I needed to drop a couple of pounds. Could I leave today and walk the trail. Yes. I think so. This is course in regard to gear.