Backpacking techniques for lighter packs and less awkward packs.

Can somebody help me.
Thanks

27 responses total.

I'll always remember cutting my toothbrush in half, to lessen weight.
Its been a while since I've done serious backpacking, but I have lived
out of my pack for up to a week, several times in the High Sierra. We
travelled "high and light": no tent (but a tarp); dried food; minimum
clothing; cook-kit (then, you could cook over a fire - now you usually
have to carry a gas or kero stove and fuel). I have a "Kelty" frome
pack, but sewed up the pack myself, with *extra* outside pockets. 
There are numerous books on all this now. What in particular do you
seek (and what weather will you contend with)?

Well, weather is variable. I live in Michigan so I have to contend with snow, 
heat, and rain. What I was looking for was just little tips on things I haven't
thought of. I like the toothbrush Idea. Oh, and also I'm looking for ways to
pack light food cheaply. Without a dehydrator Or buying Dehydrated foods. They
are really expensive. Thanks for the suggestions rane.

The problem in Michigan is finding an enoyable route to backpack -
especially after the High Sierra. Up in the UP mountains is probably
the best bet. I've been over a few miles of the Bruce Trail in Ontario,
for a few days. Yes, dehydrated food is expensive, but consider all
the other expenses in backpacking (clothes, *good boots*, pack, stove,
cookkit, camera....), and how often you do it: its a small part of the
cost. But, do it! Some of the most enjoyable periods of my life were
in the mountains, dependent only upon myself (and the gear I had
packed!).

I've cut the costs on equiptment trmendously because I 'native camp'.
I don't take a tent or tarp because I build my shelter at my spot. 
And talking about Michigan, Actually one of the most beautiful places that I've
camped in the U.S is Pictured Rocks State Forest, Right on the chapel falls
beach. I could live there...Isle Royal Is a close second.

Hmmmm...in Michigan, with its all-night soakers, I'm inclined to carry a
tent. I'd rather enjoy myself, than prove I could (try to) stay dry with
'native camp'. In the High Sierra, in the summer, it rained a little every
afternoon between 5 and 6 pm - so a poncho was nice, but no tent was
needed. (There was the exception, however, when we linked all our ponchos
into a lean-to, for an all-night soaker.)

Here's another essential for Michigan camping - a "bug jacket". It is an
open mesh jacket, very light, which you saturate with DEET. It is much
better than slapping DEET on your skin, and makes life quite bareable in
the worst black-fly season (I learned of them from the Krugers, who canoed
from the Arctic Circle to Terra del Fuego, and had to survive the spring
bug season in the Canadian tundra).

Which reminds me of a week-long canoe trip down the Missinabe River
in Ontario. Not quite the same as backpacking, but there is some of
that, on portages. You do want to travel light. We scheduled that so
that a) the ice was out (well, most of it was...), and b) the bugs
were not yet in.

This item is now item #50 in the "...ing" conference.

Ah, memories.  I spent a good chunk of every summer as a child
wandering around Isle Royale.  What a wonderful rock.

Did you live there?

No, very few people "live" there.  My mother and father loved to
fish and each year we'd spend about a month on the island while
they trolled lake trout.  I did a fair about of hiking and what
I couldn't reach by foot I saw by seaplane.  One of my all time
places on earth is Duncan Bay, Isle Royale.

Ahh, memories indeed!  I've been backpacking on Isle Royale twice.
we got there and back via the Island Queen II out of Copper Harbor,
a more proper introduction to the island.  We boiled every drop of
our drinking water and carried all of our food.  I really like that
island!  I want to go back with my kayak some time.

I've arrived by Queen, Ranger II, and seaplane.  And yes, by far
the most adventerous way is on the Queen.  You will have earned
your R&R if you traveled Superior, in rough sea, on the Queen.

I hear the island, of late, has become something of a skin diving
mecca.  One of these years I really should go back and see how much
smaller it's become.

Skin diving?  In Lake Superior?  Brrrrr!I dove in off the dock at Daisy
Farm but stayed in just long enough to get wet.  That was in August too.
We were luck in our crossings in that Superior was always calm.  I've
heard that boat refered to other things by those less fortunate.

Are skin diving and scuba diving the same thing?  They type of
diving they're doing involves wet suits and tanks and the
exploration of some of the old shipwrecks off Blake's Point.

That's scuba. Not much skin shows - covered by psychodelic foam rubber.

Dry suits are the most common form of environmental protection used in
Superior diving.  At depth, the wrecks around Isle Royal are in water 
around 34-39 F, depending on season.
 
When I dive with my dry suit, I prefer water temps either  above 54 or
below 45.  In between, the exposed bits of skin around your mouth get
very very cold.

However, this item is about backpacking, not diving.

Are you saying that these exposed bits of skin don't get cold below 45 or
above 54?  Why not below 45?

Above 54 they don't feel cold, below 45 they numb quickly.  In between, they
feel COLD.

I started a diving item.  #39

I remember <sigh> the trip to Pictured Rocks. Lesson learned: don't take 
along novices if you are a serious hiker/camper. Or if you must take them,
insist that they have proper gear. I remember a certain gym bag...

Speaking of proper gear...what gear do you consider proper for a
trip such as the one you too to Pictured Rocks?

Depends on how far you go and how long you stay. But *not* gym bags.

Didn't they bulldoze blacktop right up to Pictured rocks a few years
back?

There's still a little hike left from the parking lot, but it's not
like it used to be.

There is the trail that runs the full length of the "Rocks" (but
I've been on only a little of it - haven't overnighted).

ready...set...panic!!!
I read an item in the op-ed section of the Petosky newspaper this morning that
freaked me out and pissed me off. The National Park Service is planning to put
a paved road through on of the most pristine areas of the Pictured Rocks
National Lakeshore. I am not sure of the planned route, or the start date for
construction, but I do know that we cannot allow this to happen.
As mentioned in #'s 23 and 24 above, the blacktop has creeped closer in recent
years. How can anyone believe that a road will be an improvement!?!
If you care at all, please make your voice heard.
        Superintendent Grant Petersen
        Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
        PO Box 40
        Munising MI 49862
I am looking for his phone number, and maybe even an e-mail address.

Now that that's off my chest for the moment, what I meant by proper gear was
at least an actual backpack, proper shoes, a real honest-to-goodness tent. You
know -- stupid stuff like that. =) And help the rookies on your trip by 
giving them a list of what to pack, and what NOT to pack.

Men should not pack an electric razor. (I arrived at the top of Mt.
Khatadin once, and came upon a "camper" that was cleaning shaving cream
out of his electric razor - (there is no electricity near the Khatadin
bowl, except for that which descends from sky)). 

The plan to pave that road that runs behind Pictured Rocks has been in the
offing for a long time, with opposition from all environmental groups. The
route, I recall, was planned to depart from the current dirt road, and
chew up some more countryside. It might be a good idea to read more
about the details of the current proposal before writing, so that your
letter is as specific as possible. Are public hearings scheduled?

I've asked the paper to give my address to the person who wrote the letter.
I've also written to Mr. Petersen for details of the plan, making no mention
of opposition to the idea. Waiting...

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