This is the base pack for the trip to Isle Royale. I loaded it today with (almost) every thing I will possibly need, except for food and clothing. It weighs in at around 36 pounds. It still needs a small tacklebox, bug spray and a backup compass. Maybe a couple more trash bags for waterproofing stuff. All in all, it should be around 36-38 pounds. When I pack it up the final time, I’m going to try to whittle down any weight I can. If I can get it closer to 30 lbs, I’ll be happy.

Food will probably weigh in at 14 lbs or less. I’ll start each day’s hike with about about 2 liters of water. I’m thinkin I’ll probably be a little over 50 lbs altogether. Clothing won’t weigh much — I’ll have the heaviest of it on my back, and I counted the rain gear into the base weight. So all I will be carrying in the bag is a couple extra wicking shirts, which hardly weigh anything, a pair of wicking pants, and socks. Most of the hiking books I’ve read reccommend going without underwear to save weight and space. I’m going to take a couple of pairs just in case it gets reeeeaaaally cold.

On my body I’ll have the heavy clothes –pants, boots, shirt, fleece, beanie. Plus I’ll have the Hawk and my knife hanging from my belt and the camera hanging from my neck. And a walking stick with a bandana tied on.

I was really pleased with myself today when packing this thing, because I took a bulky item — my tent — and repackaged it to fit much better in the pack. I stuffed the tent, the fly, the stakes and the ground cover all in the front pocket of the backpack all flattened out, and put the poles in the side pocket by the fishing pole, lashed in. So rather than have to have it take up valuable space in the main cargo compartment or cause akward balance issues by strapping it to the bottom of the pack with the sleeping pad, it’s now spread out pretty evenly. AND what’s more, that pocket it’s in basically covers the whole front of the pack, so when I put the rain fly in last, I made sure to really spread it over the whole pocket, so it creates another layer of waterproofing for the things in the cargo area should I get stuck in a sudden storm. Awesome.

So now there’s a ton of room in the pack. I have no worries about getting the rest of my food and clothing in there. Should be a cinch!

Base pack contents:

Top pocket:
Map, compass, bug spray, toothbrush/paste, chapstick, headlamp, batteries, matches, safety pins, shoelaces, 6 feet duct tape, journal, pen, deck of cards. Eventually lunch each day.

Front pocket:
Ground cover, tent, rain fly, stakes.

Side pockets:
Fishing pole, tent poles, wet wipes, hand sanitizer, GPS, multi-tool. Eventually small water bottle

Belt pocket:
Tripod, eventually snacks.

Main cargo: Sleeping bag, inside floor cover for tent, camp shoes, first aid kit, stove, 3 fuels, water filter, spork, scraper, rope, shammy, towel, cutting board, isle royale book, kerouac’s “dharma bums,” 2 stuff sacks (clothes and food), rain gear, eventally a large water bottle.

That’s about it. Am I forgettin anything?

lovety