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This morning, I started thinking about all the ACTS OF KINDNESS that I have experienced on Isle Royale over the years. I will share JUST SOME of the MANY times where I have been the beneficiary of people's kindness. I am guessing that you will have others to add from your own experiences.
-- The numerous people who have shared shelters and tent sites with me--especially when the weather was bad and/or when overcrowding was a big problem. -- People (especially --but not only-- boaters) who had extra food and beverages that they shared--simply because they wanted other people to "enjoy". I have enjoyed some great cooked fish many times, eaten a full --multi-course--breakfast in the middle of nowhere, shared many pizzas, been given hot homemade soup on a cold day, had some very nice Italian-style meals, popcorn, freshly grilled burgers, corn on the cob, ice cold drinks on a hot day, ice cream (one time, somebody MADE hand-cranked homemade ice cream and shared it). --Boaters who asked if I had any trash that I wanted to get rid of (and they would take it to the mainland for me--so I wouldn't have to keep carrying it). This was much appreciated on approximately day # 8 of a two week backpacking trip. -- People who have said things like: "We already have our filter out. Go grab your water bottles and we'll filter a couple of quarts for you." --Tours of the interiors of some very nice boats. --People who have shared heath and personal care supplies (medications, bandages, ointments, different types of tape, shared their ideas regarding other ways to deal with things like blisters and "hot spots". (Most of the time, I have had the supplies that I needed--but someone else perhaps had something different that they thought might be better--so they said "Here, try this."). --Everyone who has ever shared information regarding trail conditions, campground conditions, latest weather reports, blue-green algae bloom and wildfire updates, and/or answered the common question "How far is it to _______?" --People who have started and helped maintain camp fires (and helped put them out). -- People who have shared their vocal and instrumental music abilities. This is just a very partial list--because my list could go on and on. What acts of kindness have YOU experienced on Isle Royale?
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 From time-to-time, various people discuss bringing military MREs on their Isle Royale trips. (MRE stands for "Meals Ready to Eat" or "Meals Rejected by Everyone" -- depending upon who you speak to ).
I am a longtime outdoors person and a former longtime member of the military. In my (never humble) opinion, MRE's are perhaps one of THE WORST meal choices to bring to a wilderness area --and there are so many better meal alternatives which exist. One cool feature of MREs is the heater packet. Just add water, and a chemical reaction creates extreme heat--which then heats the meal. THE PROBLEM IS--you also have to PACK OUT--the (now) wet and smelly heater packet in your trash. The heater pack actually WEIGHS MORE going out of the wilderness than when you carried it in. MREs themselves are a fairly heavy food choice. The meals (for the most part) have no dehydrated or freeze-dried components. Thus, you are carrying the full "liquid" and full "moisture" weight associated with every meal component. Each MRE weighs 18-26 oz. If a person were to bring "just" two MREs with them per day--that is 2.25 to 3.25 pounds per day THREE MREs per day, could weigh nearly 5 lbs. (fully packaged). For a 7 day trip, that is 16-34 lbs of food (depending upon the weight of each specific MRE and the number of MREs per day). The amount of packaging (i.e. trash) with MREs is extreme and heavy. Even if someone "stripped" the MRE of all of the excess stuff --while still at home--the remaining MRE components would STILL have lots of heavy and bulky trash. Many people are critical of the taste of MREs. (Then again, since the very beginning of ancient militaries, soldiers have been famous for their ability to complain.). There is much anecdotal evidence--and a tiny bit of scientific evidence -- indicating that consuming MREs can increase the likelihood of constipation. In summary: MREs are bulky, heavy, create lots of heavy trash, may not taste very good--and MIGHT cause constipation. Gee, why doesn't EVERYBODY want to rush right out buy a bunch of MREs to take on their next Isle Royale trip! LOL  Purchasing ultralight (or super ultralight) gear and clothing can sometimes be rather expensive. However, there are also several ways to greatly reduce your pack weight without it costing you "an arm and a leg". Here are some free (or fairly inexpensive) ways to lighten the load. LEAVE STUFF AT HOME It might sound silly (and simple), but one of the easiest (and FREE) ways to lighten your pack weight is to simply LEAVE ITEMS AT HOME and don't bring as much stuff with you on your trip. People are certainly free to bring WHATEVER they want with them on a backpacking (or paddling trip). However, it is very difficult to bring "everything" and still have a low pack weight. Thus, you will probably have to leave some stuff at home if you want to lower your pack weight. What particular "stuff" you leave at home will vary from person to person. What I consider to be an optional item -- you may consider to be an essential item (or vice-versa). Here are some items that I frequently leave at home:
BRING LIGHTER VERSIONS OF THE SAME STUFFI am going to guess that most of you already own quite a bit of gear and clothing--and SOMETIMES you have a choice between bringing the HEAVIER version or the LIGHTER version of some items. When you have a choice, I USUALLY recommend bringing the lighter version of the item. MINDSET IS EVERYTHING Fractions of ounces add up to whole ounces. Whole ounces add up to pounds. It might not seem like very much to save only a half ounce here--or just 2-3 ounces there. However, it adds up. HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE: Let's say that you have 32 items in your pack. If you save (on average) just a half ounce per item (by carrying something lighter) -- multiply that meager weight savings times 32 items and you save one pound. Save an average of one ounce per item -- for 32 items -- and you will lower your pack weight by 2 lbs. If you lower the average weight of each item by two ounces--you lower your entire pack weight by 4 lbs. !!! Mindset and attitude are EVERYTHING when it comes lowering pack weight. On one hand, you can think to yourself: "That extra ounce isn't very much--so I will just bring that extra item or that tiny bit heavier item. It doesn't really matter". Before long, you will have ADDED a couple of more pounds to your pack weight. Conversely, if you adopt a mindset that EVERY fraction of an ounce matters and it adds up (and if you pack accordingly) you can easily DROP 2-3 pounds from your pack weight. Mindset and attitude are EVERYTHING. GET A DIGITAL KITCHEN OR POSTAL SCALE A digital kitchen scale or digital postal scale are not very expensive. However, using such a scale can go a long way in helping you reduce your overall pack weight. Get yourself a scale and weigh EVERYTHING and use an item's weight in helping you make your packing decisions. HOW I USE THE SCALE Here is a typical example of how I use my scale to help me make decisions for backpacking trips on Isle Royale. I have LOTS or nice wool backpacking socks. I could very easily just throw two random pairs of socks into my pack. HOWEVER, some pairs weigh 5 ounces. Some weigh four ounces. Other pairs weigh three ounces. Two 5 oz. pairs of socks weigh 10 ounces. Two 3 oz. pairs of socks weigh just 6 ounces. If I bring two 3 oz. pairs.--that is a four ounce savings. That doesn't sound like very much--but WAIT there's more! I have an 8 ounce pair of shorts and a 4 oz. pair of shorts. If I bring the lighter pair--I save four more ounces. A 5 ounce pair of underwear or a 3 ounce pair of underwear--two more ounces saved. A five ounce t-shirt or a three ounce t-shirt? Two more ounces. A wool "beanie" hat to wear on a cold night-- do I bring the 5 oz. beanie or 1 ounce beanie? Four more ounces saved. All I did (on those few clothing items) was weigh the items THAT I ALREADY OWNED -- and decide to bring the lighter choices on my trip. In doing so, I cut 1 pound from my pack weight. Those few instances (regarding clothing) were not the only times where I used the scale to save weight from among ITEMS I ALREADY OWNED! Here are just a few more ways. Which item would you choose?
Using the kitchen scale (and weighing everything) helps me make good decisions from among the gear and clothing items THAT I ALREADY OWN. I am able to reduce my pack weight significantly--just by making smarter (and lighter) choices. Cutting an ounce here and 4 ounces there--- can soon add up to entire pounds of pack weight that have been reduced. FOUR BIG PURCHASES The intent of this article is to focus upon FREE (or inexpensive) ways to reduce your overall pack weight. However, I do wish to make a slight detour and speak about four major purchases that you can make that WILL COST QUITE A BIT OF MONEY but will reduce your pack weight DRAMATICALLY! Those "Big Four" items are:
BACKPACK An Osprey Aether 70 backpack (for men) weighs 6.1 pounds. An Osprey Atmos AG LT 65 weighs roughly 4.1 lbs. The ULA Catalyst backpack weighs 2 lbs 13 oz. The ULA Circuit weighs 2 lbs 6 oz. The ULA Ohm weighs 2 lbs 2 oz. The Gossamer Gear Mariposa weighs 19 ounces. The Gossamer Gear Murmur weighs 13.2 ounces. These are all VERY different backpacks with VERY different load bearing and volume capacities. There is a big difference in durability. However, there is also a HUGE difference in the weight. (Over 5 lbs difference between the heaviest and lightest packs on this list. TENT (or Shelter) The Marmot Tungsten 2-person tent weighs 5 lbs 11 oz. The Kelty Grand Mesa 2 person tent weighs 4 lbs 12 oz. Gossamer Gear "The Two" (2 person tent) weighs 1 lb. 12 oz. The Z-packs Duplex (2 person) tent weighs 1 lb. 4 oz. Just like with the backpacks, these tents vary greatly in what you get (i.e. floor vs. no floor. Separate tent poles versus using a trekking pole to support the tent). However, the weight difference between the Marmot Tungsten and the Z-packs Duplex is a whopping 4 lbs 7 ounces. (And, Mountain Laurel Designs 2-person TARP--weighs just 7.5 ounces--if you want to use a tarp instead of a tent) Sleeping Bag (or Quilt) The Coleman Brazos 30 Sleeping Bag weighs 5.0 lbs. The Mountainsmith Antero 35 Sleeping Bag weighs 2 lbs 14 ounces. The Big Agnes Buell 30 Sleeping bag weighs 2 lbs 11 oz. The REI Magma 30 Sleeping bag weighs 1 lb. 4 ounces. The Enlightened Equipment (Revelation) 30 Degree quilt weighs 1 lb. 2 oz. The Enlightened Equipment Enigma 30 degree Quilt-- 16.4 ounces. The Z-Packs Solo 30 Degree Quilt weighs 13.3 ounces. Once again, we see big differences in what you are getting. However, when it comes to just the weight, the difference between the Coleman Brazos and the Z-packs Solo 30 is over 4 lbs. 2 ounces. Sleeping Pad The Thermarest Basecamp Sleeping Pad (self inflating) weighs 2 lbs. 8 ounces. Thermarest NeoAir Topo weighs 1 lb. 7 ounces. Thermarest NeoAir XLite NXT Sleeping Pad weighs 11.5 ounces. Thermarest NeoAir Uberlite "Summer" sleeping pad weighs just 8.8 ounces. The difference in weight between the heaviest and lightest sleeping pads on this list is nearly 2 pounds. A SUMMARY REGARDING BIG FOUR PURCHASES: With JUST these four items, the difference in weight between the heaviest items listed and the lightest items listed in over 15 lbs. That is a significant drop in weight. Please note: Not every one of these items will fit every person's backpacking style or preferences. HOWEVER, the weight reductions are indeed significant and worth noting The cost is also significant. If you were to make all of these purchases in one year, you could easily spend $1,200 to $2,000. That is a lot of money for just four items. However, if you could somehow manage to make ONE major purchase per year (for a few consecutive years) , you could drop 2 to four pounds in pack weight each year (and 10-15 pounds total over a few year period). That is quite a bit of weight reduction. CONCLUSIONThe focus of this article has been reducing pack weight WITHOUT SPENDING A LOT OF MONEY. Imagine -- if you reduced your pack weight by 2-4 lbs--just by what you chose to leave at home (and not bring with you) in terms of clothing and gear. Further imagine, that you reduced the total weight of your food by 2 lbs (by simply packing a few ounces less food per day). Finally, imagine reducing your pack weight by 2-4 pounds by packing the lighter versions of stuff that you already own. You could easily drop 6-10 pounds of pack weight (or more) WITHOUT SPENDING ANY ADDITIONAL MONEY (other than perhaps buying a food or postal scale).
Furthermore, if you were to spend a few hundred dollars and replace just ONE of your "Big Four" items--you could reduce your pack weight by another 2-4 lbs. If you repeated this for four consecutive years (and replaced one of the "Big Four" items each year, you would have probably reduced your pack weight by 10-15 pounds over a four year period--plus reducing it by another 6-10+ pounds by following the free options that I listed. Theoretically, you could reduce your pack weight by 20+ pounds--through making only one major purchase per year (and by following the free ideas). That's not too shabby! |
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Jon Prain ("The Isle Royale Guy") has made 18 trips to Isle Royale. He shares his insights and opinions in this blog. Archives
March 2024
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