[pct-l] pack weight

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

Hi Diane,
I'm the lady in the office who is wearing a down jacket, hat and  
gloves and trying to sneak over and turn up the heat. The day I got  
myself a zero degree sleeping bag I discovered that it really was  
possible to sleep outside when it's 40 degrees.

The long hike, however, changed that greatly.

First of all, for me anyway, hiking the PCT was a hiking trip, not a  
camping trip. No longer was I rolling into camp at 2 in the  
afternoon, or even 5, and then sitting around feeling my metabolism  
slow down. Then jumping into my sleeping bag as fast as I could so as  
not to let the warmth of the fire wear off.

Instead, the PCT as hiking trip meant that as soon as I got my dinner  
made, I ate it inside my tent and then promptly fell right asleep  
with my metabolism still burning. Sure, sometimes I went to sleep at  
7pm, but I was really tired. I also got up early, too.

I also learned a lot from Ray Jardine. Never sleep in a meadow or  
creek canyon. Sleep mid-slope where it is warmer. He also said  
whenever you stop walking, to put on your wind shirt before you cool  
off. I did that, and it worked. He also said if it's too cold for you  
to stop without getting chilled, then just keep moving. I did that,  
too, and it really does work.

The other thing I did was eat a lot. I'm not a skinny rail like all  
118lbs of Len. I'm from a nice, round, Swedish peasant stock. I ate  
as much as I could, and sometimes even more. I pushed my metabolism  
to the limit and maintained a nice layer of warmth.

I also tried to prime myself in advance by riding my Vespa around  
with less warm layers than I was used to.

I actually ended up sending home things that would shock L-Rod. I got  
tired of carrying warm layers that weren't used. I got by with layers  
that would have me freezing to death in Santa Barbara. The hike  
really charged my fires up, that's for sure.

Anyway, the Post Office is your friend. If you're not sure it's a  
good idea to eliminate something from your pack, you can send it  
ahead to the next town and if it was a bad idea, get it back, or if  
it was a good idea, bounce it further ahead.

Diane

On Dec 21, 2009, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> I'm reading all this info about gear weight and the one thing that  
> comes to mind is everyone must have warm running bodies...
> I don't do well in the cold,?so all I can think of is how to stay  
> warm,?which equals?more weight.?I do realize hiking itself will  
> warm me up some.
> Any suggestions from those experienced would be greatly appriciated...
> Keep in mind I am a beginner on backpaking, so I don't want to get  
> caught out there unprepared.
> ~Diane