What is a realistic weight for a week long hike?
I'm looking to do some hiking and wild camping before the end of the British summer, I'm happy with the contents of my kit and the items I'm taking but I'm not sure how realistic it is to be carrying 14 kilos (33 lbs) for an extended period of time each day.
Item Name qty weight unit
Under blanket 1 950 gram
Sleeping Bag 1 1250 gram
Tarpaulin 1 789 gram
Tree straps 1 680 gram
Mosquito net 1 550 gram
Hammock 1 490 gram
Groundsheet 1 431 gram
Insulation patch 1 10 gram
tent pegs 6 25 gram
Rucksack (35-45l) 1 1080 gram
Trip Clothes 1 750 gram
Towel 1 200 gram
Daily Clothes 2 150 gram
Ranger Swiss Army Knife 1 118 gram
First aid kit 1 100 gram
Headtorch 1 75 gram
Notebook 1 59 gram
Para cord 1 50 gram
matches 1 25 gram
Steel & magnesium 1 ? gram
Toilet roll 1 ? gram
compass 1 ? gram
map 1 ? gram
Flask 1 522 gram
Mess tins 1 380 gram
Dinner 7 200 gram
Lunch 7 95 gram
Flapjacks 7 65 gram
cutlery 1 50 gram
Porridge 7 30 gram
Camping chair 1 898 gram
Trekking poles 1 522 gram
Phone 1 179 gram
Saw 1 175 gram
Knife 1 150 gram
Insect repellent 1 150 gram
This is not including any cooking gear that I may need to bring along, am I being overly optimistic with this weight? How does it compare to others?
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/13083. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
A few points on your kit:
- you can get rid of the folding chair.
- what is the use of the brewberry flask?
- the underblanket seems overkill compared to the sleeping bag.
- your towel is huge
- your backpack is both heavy and very small, especially if you have to carry food for several days.
- There is no stove in your kit, I suppose you forgot to add it?
- Your tree straps look heavy, so does your backup groundsheet, consider a survival blanket instead for ~90g.
- You probably don't need a saw, or a heavy knife
(That's a minimum of 2kg that you can shave with no effort or extra stuff)
Now, 14kg is perfectly reasonable, but:
- There is water. UK is wet, so you probably don't need to carry much, although you'll have to treat or filter it. Still, count 1-2 kg of it at all times
- Food is in the region of 700-1000g per day (varies, obviously, but that's what I observe often), so depending on how many days you hike without re-supply, that can add up.
- Add stove and fuel to that. Tin can alcohol stove + fuel is the lightest option if you need a stove at all.
Before going for a full week, try this: walk with your full kit for a full day, may be an overnight, see how you feel. Then, consider what you don't need and can leave at home, and what you can easily replace with lighter stuff.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/13088. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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