I was up at Neels Gap on Friday, 1/2/04, and there was a thru-hiker in the gear shop and they were going through his pack to get his weight down. Started with 77 lbs! They were only able to convince him to lose 12 of it by the time I left. Didn’t get to talk to him much so don’t know his name. He did say he started down in Alabama in October.
Also did some day hikes and the trail is in good shape with plenty of water.
papa john
77lbs! whooooaaaa poor sap… how cold is it in georgia right now?
6 weeks. whoooooooooo!
Bloody Cactus
Today is the last day of a warm front thats been in the south for the last few days. 68 for a high and 52 for a low tonight. By wensday the highs will be around 45 and lows around 22. At the higher elevations it will be a bit colder. Here’s a link to weather by counties…I think Springer is in Lumpkin County near Gainesville (you have to move the map southward one click).
http://www.srh.weather.gov/mrx/
Nooga
It was very nice there last week, But as Nooga said, it is achangin’!
I can remember waking up to snow in March '00 while at Whitley Gap Shelter, just North of Neels Gap. What a rude way to get up. Not to mention that the boots were frozen and I had to hike 1.2 miles uphill back to the trail. Do not go to that shelter except as a last resort. You are better off going on to the road crossing and camping down there somewhere.
papa john
I was at Standing Indian Mt in March 2000 during that snow. Not Much, but it was cold and it rained before the snow. Later at Betty Gap it dropped down to 15 degrees. My water pump froze, It was the only time I Had to use my chemical treatment.
Chef
i think i’ll have to have a tiny bit of card that converts non-metric to metric when i hike… all this non-metric stuff means nothing to me hahaha … 52 for a low. i dont know if thats low or if its LOW… 20 is zero right? so 52 would be about 15?? i give up!
Bloody Cactus
He had over two months on the trail coming from 'Bama and he STILL had 77 pounds? If you’re tough enough to do that then just don’t listen when someone tells you to get light.
Joel
I’m not into the ultra-lite scene but I can’t imagine wanting to hike anywhere with 77lbs on my back. Except maybe a very skinny blonde…:evil
Lwop
Met a gut on the JMT carrying 90lb! That’s not all. You won’t believe this but he was also carrying another 40lb pack…and art utensils (brushes, oils etc)…and a damn easel!!! If you work it our, he hiked the JMT 5 times over (with all the trips back and forth). The main thing is he was having fun. A true testament to human endeavour (or stupidity, whichever way you tend to view these things, I thout he was great).
Insane
77 # is not too bad if you weigh 300 pounds. So I’d say what did the guy weigh. If he weighed in body weight at 150 pounds then he should be carrying no more that say 35 to 40 pounds. On the other hand at 300 pounds body weight, 77 pounds is not too bad. It also has to do with height, etc. Need to be tall to be 300 pounds, not be overweight and be in good shape.
A 300 pounder will need to carry a lot more food and water weight than a 150 pounder as his water and calorie intake requirement will be much higher. Also sleeping bag/tent, etc will have to be supersized to fit him, so that also means more weight.
See you out there. :cheers
Maintain
I would say this guy was about 5’10" and weighed in somewhere in the low 200s. He was packed pretty solid and looked like a well tuned running back. At first glance, I thought he hadn’t had a day on the trail and was just there to buy his gear. Wish I had gotten his name but they were well into his pack and I didn’t want to intrude.
papa john
