How about you guys. Do you consider your backpack lightweight or ultra light?
Nope, neither of those.
Mine runs 32-33 pounds all-up. I load everything I don't wear when hiking into the pack for weigh in. It doesn't do me any good to cheat the weigh-in by wearing stuff ... what really matters is the weight on my feet, ankles, and knees, and that doesn't change by moving stuff from pack to wearing it. The 32-33 pounds is everything but my clothes ... socks, underwear, tee shirt, shoes, whatever pants. It includes my jacket, gun, ammo, fishing tackle, camera, and full canteens / water bladder.
Folks here helped a lot. Back in 2011 when I went on my first backpacking trip in a while I was still carrying my 1982 gear. I was at 47 pounds for 2 nights. By the next year, with the advice I got on gear .. stuff like western mountaineering bags, tarptent tent, thermarest neo-air ... I gained comfort and dumped 15 pounds or so. I tried a few more changes along the way but those didn't work out well for me. I don't really see any good way to shave weight without losing function .. which defeats the purpose.
Doing a thru hike .. different purpose. I could give up some stuff (probably). On the other hand, it might make my ol' creaky back so sore I couldn't do the trip. Who knows?
Tom
