Weights & Measures – part 3
Across France in Spring – budding Champagne vines…
Expendable Weight: weight that declines toward zero at a relatively constant rate over the course a known period of time. This class of weight declines at a steady pace over the whole span of a walk. With a bit of time and forethought, the rate of decay can be calculated for supplies such as vitamins, medications, toothpaste, toiletries, razor blades, foot care kit, batteries, film and fuel.
It’s always beneficial shift one class of weight to another to a higher (more temporary) one. Trail guides, for example, don’t have to be static or temporary weight, but can be expendable, if you remove pages as you move along the trail. These are excellent candidates for minimizing weight, partly because paper can absorb quite a bit of moisture, and water is heavy.
In wilderness walking, food is an expendable weight, at least the part that you’re not consuming “today”. This is an example of how some items in a supply list shift from one class to another. On a weeklong trip, the first day’s food is consumable (you’ll eat it that day) and you start off with 6 days of food as expendable weight. Each day, another day’s worth of food comes off the expendable tally as it becomes consumable weight. A rule of thumb is 20 to 24 ounces of food per person per day, so you start off with 10.5 pounds (4800 grams), which declines over the course of each day by a approximately a pound and a half.
You can decide on a target expendables weight, which translates into a range between re-supply stops. Alternatively, as you shed expendable weight, you gain the capacity of acquiring additional temporary weight, supplies or souvenirs, without overshooting your maximum goal weight.
Most of the planning information on this website is based on a thirty day supply of some expendables, such as prescription medications and other supplies that are difficult to find along the way. I plan on receiving a re-supply package about once a month,
Consumable Weight: weight that rapidly drops toward zero, usually in the course of a day. This is the most manageable load over the shortest time frame and principally comprises water and food.
The biggest factor here is water – a kilogram per liter, (over 2 pounds per quart). Managing hydration is one of the most important skills of successful and enjoyable longwalking. The amount of water you need to carry depends on factors such as season, climate, weather, terrain and altitude, but most importantly on the distance between water sources. The amount can vary considerably from one day to the next, even during the day, and water sources can change abruptly from one country to another. Consult guides and local residents for information about the sources of water on the trail ahead.
Learn where to find water in France and Spain here >>> [coming soon]
Optional Weight: weight of “non-essential” gear, supplies and clothing. This will be different for each person, but generally, optional weight requires some excuse to carry – even if it’s a good one. It includes just about anything beyond the base weight of your kit.
It also includes gear or clothing that is not the lightest possible choice, but is selected for some other reason, such as it’s the one you have, the price fits your budget, or you like it better.
“Saving” weight elsewhere on your list can compensate for optional weight. Leaving something else behind is a good way to start. For example, I don’t carry a whole Swiss Army® knife because I only ever use the blade and scissors. So I removed the scissors from a Swiss Army® “Executive” card, and carried a #8 Opinel® folding pocketknife, which has a longer blade and fits my romantic vision of picnics in France. The #8 is the “standard” size Opinel®, but I found a smaller, lighter #6 in a Paris shop that I’ll carry next time.
Luxury Weight: optional weight carried principally to enhance your walk, such as a camera, binoculars, music player, or flask. One of the issues with luxury weight, and sets it apart from other optional weight, is that “luxury” items frequently require supplemental weight as well; if you carry an iPod® or cell phone, you need a charger, and perhaps a cord, and plug adapter; with binoculars you may want a field guide. What’s the point of watching birds without being able to identify them?
Whereas an extra sweater might be considered merely optional, many other things are not. You can certainly live without them, but you’re happier with them. I’ve walked over two thousand miles across Europe without a cell phone. It was sometimes inconvenient and frustrating, but also lighter and cheaper. On other walks I have carried one, and found it very helpful. But I don’t feel as “out there”, and “away” when I have one. In any case, I consider it something you take by choice, not because you have to have one.
Luxury weight is by no means a bad thing, just “non-essential”. It’s sort of “over-the-top” optional weight, but also an easy burden to the extent you “micromize” the weight of everything you carry. In one sense, it’s the best stuff you take with you, because it’s stuff you enjoy. Consider it all carefully, because it adds up fast; and learn to maximize its benefits.
