The Weight

“How do I get my backpacking bag to weigh like this?” That was the question Dana posed as we carried little more than water, rain jackets, and bear spray on a recent day hike in the Tetons. A few weeks prior to that we had done our first backpacking trip of the season and despite the hikes relatively moderate distance, we sluffed off our packs with a groan and shoulder rub both days. As we continued on our day hike around Jenny Lake, we discussed what reallyconstituted essentials and what some options were for lightening the load, including the promotion of an all Pop-tart meal plan and forgoing the tent for some slumbering under the stars.

Suddenly it dawned on me that through the discussions of sawed off toothbrushes and tentless sleeping, I completely ignored the most obvious poundage in my pack, camera equipment! I switched to a mirrorless system about a year ago in part because my DSLR was so dang big to be hauling around the mountains. Now granted when you pack in an extra lens, batteries, ect. the weight savings is debatable, but having a more compact system has certainly made it easier and more convenient to haul gear into the backcountry. There are still some tweaks and adjustments that I can make (or if Peak Designs wants to send me one of their amazing looking travel tripods!) to keep the weight down on the camera side of things, but once we are high up on the peaks or settling into a lakeside camp for the evening I’m usually more than happy to have my gear. 

As we continued on the trail I agreed that lighter would be nice, especially on certain trails. But at the end of the day isn’t an evening by the lake more enjoyable with a Pop-tart, cocktail, and game of backcountry bocce? I certainly think so.