The Weight We Carry

Thru-hikers focus on and spend lots of money on packing low-weight items in their packs. The goal weight is twenty pounds of items to last them the length of their hike (compare that to the fifty-pound suitcase for a week-long trip). Hikers know they will be carrying the weight of everything they’ll need (stove, tent, first aid, food, water filtration, extra socks, fire starter, and so on) and ruthlessly fight to select only the most lightweight, multipurpose, and essential items in their pac...