[at-l] Pack weights of yesteryear

[Raphael Bustin]

At 08:18 AM 9/28/2006 -0400, Hummingbird wrote:

>Earl told me that Granny Gatewood didn't carry any food, that she just 
>knocked on doors and asked for food.  That really upset Earl.
>I don't have the Rodale books, but was wondering how much weight Dorothy 
>Lake carried.


Dorothy Laker did three AT hikes.  Two "thrus" ('57, '64)
and a 3rd pass in sections from '62-'72.

In my skimming of the diaries I didn't find any mention
of pack weight in Dorothy's 200+ pages... but I'll have
another look tonight, maybe.

It's not like there's a standard format for the diaries.
FWIW, Granny's story is only 10 pages long and
written by an anonymous author.  She failed
miserably in her first try...

By contrast, Roland Mueser's study of the AT class
of '89 was based on a standard questionnaire,
filled out by around 150 finishers.  A really solid
source of info -- on one specific year.

I'm ready to believe that there was some sort of
"peak" in pack weights in the late-80s/early-90s
era -- and that there's been a sensible backlash
against that.  I'm going to blame Ed Garvey.
Ahhh, I feel much better now.

I'd guess that the standard deviation among
"smart" hikers is smaller now, because of better
info-sharing.  The range and variation among
the "Rodale" hikers is huge.



rafe b
aka terrapin


-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.12.8/455 - Release Date: 9/22/2006