I haven’t been yet, and I won’t see the trail till 2005. One important question though: What did you drop from your pack to decrease your weight at Neels Gap or within the first week? I figure this will help new people decide not bring these things to Springer in the first place. Start your lists!
Km
Town clothes (jeans etc) No point having them. When thinking clothes, take only exactly what you will need, no more, no less. Clothes can account for alot of excess weight. Start with clothes and the rest will fall into place. It’s all in the mind.
Ross
Ross
I lost about 4 pounds of stuff, small things.
A book, a stuff sack for my thermarest, my convertible pants, a waterbottle that had a filter in it, matches (switched to a baby bic), stuff sack for hygeine items(switched to a plastic bag), a box of esbit tablets (was carrying them as backup in case i ran out or could not find denatured alcohol), a trowel. Can’t remember what else, but there was alot of small things that all added up. Think multi-use from your gear and think light!!!
Blip
I dropped a pair of convertable pants, a windstopper vest, a frypan, and a sleeping bag liner. In hindsight I could have sent quite a few more items home and didn’t.
One needs to be ruthless in finding the right balance between lightweight hiking and comfort and of course ech person has their own preferences. My suggestion is to start off with minimal gear as you can always buy it along the way.
You will be amazed at some of the stuff people carry!!
Downunda
I tried to shake down GA 3 times, and learned a lot in the process. I quit early 2 times and the 3rd time made it. I account some of this because I started throwing stuff away at Amicalola Falls. I dropped paper and pen I was gonna write things down on. A east coast map if I bailed again, I would have a way to figure out where the heck I was. I repacked alot like Blip and lost a few ounces. I threw away some food at garbage cans along the way as I reevaluated how much longer I would be out there. I had a can opener, for some unknown reason. Lost that. I carried way too much denatured alcohol…coulda got by with 12 oz or less for the entire 80 miles they say that GA is now. I got rid of a ground cloth which may have been the heaviest thing i lost.
I guess 5 # all in all. But I was finally successful in my goal. Waldo suggested we both get lighter packs, saving 2 more pounds, which would allow me more comfort. If all these things work out, on March 1st, I should be at 32-35#. We’ll see.
Oh Blue Grasshopper seemed to have a day pack on when I met him along the way…no more than 15# max.
burn
i can’t remember everything that i dropped at neel’s gap. but, i was just reading my journal entry from there and i mail sixteen pounds of “stuff” home. yes, 16 pounds. that, plus the five pounds of food i’d thrown out the day before made my pack so much lighter. i was practically running down the trail after neel’s gap.
grizzly adam
Someone started with a frying pan! Wow. Groundhog (NOBO 2003) had 10 pairs of cotton socks with him that got soaked and weighted about two pounds each.
I have heard stories of 80-100 pounds at Springer. I started off at 55 pounds, and threw away quite a bit of food, extra books, excess junk that I did not need at Neels Gap. I finally made it down to between 25-35 depending on food by around VA.
Bankrobber
99% of you folks following Trailjournals are not going to have a problem at Neels Gap. You’re like I was…you followed others, researched your gear, did a “shakedown” hike, etc and started out in pretty good shape. I think I was 32 pounds loaded with food at Neels. They were busy and I didn’t bother with the “pack analysis.”
Having said that, I did switch from “heavy” rain pants and parka to lighter rain gear near Shenandoah…should have done it at the start.
Last year’s “legend” at Neels was Ranger Rick…something like 84 pounds…2nd heaviest ever at Neels. I hiked with him on the Trail for awhile and he said he just didn’t know what he was doing…he had not done any research on the web and was carrying way too much clothing. BTW< he was age 60. When I was with him he still had a huge bag of food.
Met another hiker, SueBear, who sent home her stove and went “cold.” Both made it to Katahdin.
Try to keep the “Big 3” as close to 7 pounds as possible…definitely under 10.
It is kind of interesting to hear about some of the unusual stuff people start out with…I hope that frying pan was small aluminum and not iron!!
Skeemer
I second Km’s question - why lose the convertible pants? They seem like such a good idea, but I know I must be missing something.
pigpen
Again it comes down to personal preference and comfort. I’m a female and liked the running shorts idea (they have a liner therefore I didn’t need to carry undies). I also had a pair of long john pants, fleece long john pants and rain pants. Between those 3 other pairs I figured I’d be able to put together a system for hiking. Looking back I probably could have ditched the fleece pants too, but they were a comfort item for me.
I’d wear my running shorts always, then depending on the weather I’d start the morning out wearing my long johns or rain pants over my shorts. When I warmed up I took the long pants off. That was my system.
Some could say the convertible pack pants do the same thing. For me I was all about my running shorts, so the convertibles were extra weight, and since it was warm the first few days, I was carrying around the legs for no reason.
I also got chaffing a little bit on my inner thighs from the convertibles.
My long john pants doubled as what I slept in and of course the rain pants were used in bad weather and I’d wear them at camp when the bugs were biting.
Basically it comes down to what is comfortable and what works for you.
Blip
I’m really interested as to what weighed in at 16 lbs!!! Man, did someone put bricks in your pack at Amicalola as a joke?? Sorry, i’m not taking the p*ss, i am genuinley interested.
I’ve gone from 50lbs (all my hiking in 2001) to 35lbs (all my hiking in 2002). This year i’ve cracked it, down to 13lbs (without food/water). It’s been hard. Ray.J helped alot.
Ross
Ross
You know what weighs considerably less than convertable pants? Speedos. Just think of the weight you’ll save.
Km
My convertable pants were the ones I travelled in for the plane journey over and I thought I might need thme for town visits so I put them in my pack (dumb huh?). As I already had 2 pairs of shorts and figured I didn’t need another plus I thought I could do without the long pants for town visits. I didn’t miss them at all.
Downunda
Oh boy. wow. lets see what all did i ditch
First off; i started in 02 at amicola with packweight of 84 lbs; i think that was with half or most full water capacity.
3rd night out wak; giggler; wicked and crumbsnatcher sat me down and went through my stuff. they took probably 10 lbs of my food dried pineapple; apples; bannana chips; peanutbutter; chocolate I think i could have made virginia with the food i had to get from amicola to neels. I sent my entire food drop at neels ahead without even opening it.
I sent home 4 1 quart plastic army canteens and canteen belt holders. 4 pairs of socks and sock liners. 1 hat. 1 pair gloves. 1 pair trail shoes (i had trail shoes for camp and asolo hiking boots for hiking). A pillow. My map sections i had; my compass; my thru-hiker companion. 5 piece fly rod. fly reel. flies. (those i did pick up though in NC) Extra filter for my water purifier (bought iodine pills for emergency) boy scout cook kit and silver ware set. bought titanium 1 liter pot and a wendys spoon. still have that spoon. my fillet knife. 1 of my swiss army knives. kept the smaller one with not as many gadgets. (i like swiss army knives). gave away some toilet paper from my hoard. my town clothes. stuff sacks all this stuff was in. extra winter apparel. underwear (several pair) shorts (several pair) kept 2. 2nd hiking shirt. stayed with just 1. put a pound jar of peanut butter and a pound of jelly in the hiker box. bottle of shaving cream and deoderant (bought sample sized). extra razor cartridges. my 3rd pen; which got packed by accident (i recommend bringing 2; in case 1 runs out in the middle of some life changing journal entry. pens are pretty light). my harmonica case. (kept harmonica) 1 of my 2 id tags i had made. a good length of bear rope. 2 or 3 AA batteries. my watch. (had got wet and stopped working anyway. bought a new one in NC; ended sending that one home cause i found i now despise watches) a belt. my finalized divorce papers that were waiting in neels gap for my signature. (course i didnt carry them; but i did send them from neels gap. I’m just checking my journal here for everything that got mailed). letters i had written during the first few days. my wallet. my car and house keys (no idea why i still had those) Lottery tickets from NY; PA; WV; and VA to be checked by someone at home that i bought along the way. my backup flashlight. bottle of nikwax aqueous wax; tube of nikwax; bottle of nikwax footcleaner gell and bottle of nikwax fabric and leather waterproofer that went into a bouncebox. a bigger bottle of camp soap that went with the nikwax; and a small tiny bottle that went with me. most of my large pack towel; i cut off a small corner to keep. 2 of my 4 bandanas. nail clipper. the book out of my first aid kit. Oh; and lastly spare full fuel bottle for my stove. Looks like that is it.
What did I add at neels? Trekking poles ($130), and cooking pot (30$) and smaller lighter hiking gloves (20$); which then sent home my other pair of gloves. That turned out to be a bad decision in the future; as fleece gloves have no grip on wood; and i fell out of the 3rd story of plum orchard gap shelter one morning. but thats another story. Hope that helps.
Big Boy
i asked my brother what i sent from neel’s gap (he was the one that was lucky enough to have the box sent to his house) to make it weigh 16 pounds. here is what we could remember- a bunch of clothes, some cooking supplies, 2 nalgenes, a zoom lense for my camera, a few stuff sacks, a saw, some rope. i really wish i could remember everything.
of course, when i started from nimblewill gap (2 miles south of springer), my pack literally weighed at least 90 or 100 pounds. i figured i was about to head into the winter and i had no idea what i might need, so i took everything. before neels gap i couldn’t even lift my pack up to put it on my back. i had to drag it onto a rock or log and slide into it and then stand up. let me put it this way- for some reason i had a cowboy spur strapped to my pack when i first started hiking. (don’t ask).
those first days were miserable. i was so young and inexperienced back then. ah, yes, those were the days.
i’ll return to the trail on saturday. probably going to hike in the VA/TN area between now and Christmas (as a matter of convenience). after the new year i may return to the great north or i may do something sporadic. that is the beauty of it.
grizzly adam
I hardly got rid of anything. Chucked the small packtowel and a small candle. Bought a small square of sponge to clean my pot. They did make much bizness off me. 
However, after a couple weeks I started to send things home like crazy when I got tired of carrying them. Sent the top loader of my pack home in Erwin. In Daleville I sent home my trowel, groundcloth, extra clothes, and pack. Bought a lighter pack.
As Skeemer says, if you do your HomeWork, you’re not gonna have a problem. I found all the people active on the internet and asking questions like yourselves were very well prepared. If your in this group you’ll generally have a reasonable starting weight. Thats great. Bad news is you can’t eliminate weight as easily. I found that after starting with all the practical light essentials, the only way to lighten is to 1- send warm weather gear home and 2- start getting silly/anal about weight, like cutting every little ounce down, which in the long run really dosen’t do very much. The 2 ounces for the trowel may be worth it if the ground is frozen solid. But then again, if you think that way about all your gear, things have a tendency to pile up weight wise.
A-Train
Wow! Did you boys ever consider teaming up, setting up shop and going into competition with the outfitter at Neels?:eek:
Rick
The thing is i always went with the old stand by that your pack was not to heavy as long as it was under 1/3 your body weight. i weigh about 250. 84 lbs was therefore right about exactly 1/3. this is fine for being a boy scout (which i was a long time ago in a galaxy far far away) However; the formula is very very bad for thru-hikers. I also had a 7200 cu in pack. yes. you read that right. I love that pack. it is so comfy. the load didnt hardly feel heavy till about mile 5. so i filled the pack cause it just had room. well; i’ve got room; i can bring this. got room; i can bring this. now for my long distance hikes im down to a just under 5000 cu in pack and man its so tiny. i feel like i have room for nothing. but thats good for me; cause then i cant accidentally pack my pets; a family member; my kitchen sink; my game cube; a honda generator; etc.
Big Boy