Out in the country, France, 2005.

Gear ~ Ultralight Trekking Poles

Stick it to me, baby

Most hikers don’t use walking sticks (also called trekking poles). However, many swear by them. I do. Anyone who does, or needs help deciding, should read the travel warning below. If you’re on the fence, here’s some information about the pros and cons.

Why do I like walking poles? Quite simply, it’s because I fall down less often! (Coordination and my name have rarely been used in the same sentence – but hey, maybe that’s just me). Walking with poles adds a lot of stability, particularly on uneven terrain and rough downhills. Rock hopping across streams is easier, too, as is squeezing along a narrow, bramble-bordered bank of a muddy lane. (more…)

Bizarro, by Dan Piraro, 24 March 2010.

Cargo Creep

Pick your pockets well…

Where did I put my compass this time? And my pen? And my map? And my wallet? And my …?

Memo to my amused friends and family: Dan Piraro, creative mastermind of Bizarro, makes my case. There are too many pockets in the world. Yes, they are everywhere. Ubiquitous. And they all weigh something. (more…)

Path from Lyon to Le Puy, France 2009.

Making Light ~ Take Less

Less doesn’t weigh as much

Here’s a real quick and simple one. Go through your packing list, and find at least one thing, pull it out of your kit, and leave it at home. You decide. But if you’re like most people, you won’t miss it. At least not that much. And you’ll soon forget that you miss it, or even why you thought you needed it in the first place. (more…)

Trail junction on the path from Lyon to Le-Puy, France 2009.

Making Light ~ Getting Small

Smaller makes lighter possible

“Space is a vacuum”, as our astronautical friends are fond of telling us. And vacuums don’t like being that way. Space doesn’t like to be empty. It wants to be full. So if you buy a pack that’s bigger than you need, it will come with its own insidious need to fill up.

By finding the smallest pack that can accommodate your gear and supplies, you automatically limit how much extra you can haul around.

“Don’t Buy a Backpack…” …until you know what you’ll need to carry. (more…)

Through the alley between two estates on the trail from Lyon to Le Puy-en-Velay, France 2009.

Making Light ~ Get Rid of It

It’s never too late to lighten up…

It’s almost inevitable, no matter how hard we try. Somehow, something extra ends up in our backpacks. A week down the trail and you start wondering, “Why did I bring this? Or maybe you just end up with something extra, which can easily happen for any number of reasons.

Depending on what it is, where you are, and who you’re with, you can easily take control of this most unwelcome situation.

Get Rid of It. You can: (more…)

Over a rural rail crossing on the trail from Lyon to Le-Puy, France 2009.

Making Light ~ Sharing the Load

It’s nice to have a friend…

I’ve started planning a long walk for 2011, probably through France. This time, I’ll be joined by my wife for part of the walk. Until now, I’ve always walked solo, so I’ve been looking at ways we can share our total load and still have everything we need.

Other than clothes, personal medications and some toiletries, it turns out that a lot of the gear can easily be shared. Of course, we’ll probably choose to each take a camera, but quite a bit can be left behind by one or the other of us. Here are some examples of things that might be shared by two people walking together on the grande randonnée trails of France, and the caminos of Spain: (more…)

Over the old Roman bridge on the trail from Lyon to Le-Puy, France 2009.

Making Light ~ the “2-Day” Rule

“What if I need it?”

One of the hardest hurdles for some novice ultralighters to overcome is mastering the art and discipline of “leaving it behind”. They worry over lists of gear and supplies that they might need, even though they think (and hope) they probably won’t. “But I might! And what if I do?”

For example, ”What if I catch a cold? Maybe I should take some cold medicine. Just in case…” “What if there are mosquitoes? Maybe I should carry repellent. Just in case…” “What if etc., etc,. etc…” (more…)

Through an ancient village gate on the trail from Lyon to Le-Puy, France 2009.

Making Light ~ Expendables

Determining consumption rate

“Expendables” are the things you carry that disappear over time as you use them. I think of “Consumables” as those supplies used in a single day, such as snacks or a picnic lunch. Buy them on your way out of town, and finish them before reaching today’s destination.

Expendables, on the other hand, are depleted at a more or less daily rate over time – things like medications, toothpaste, antiperspirant, sunscreen, and first aid supplies – for the most part, items that make up your personal, medical, toiletry, blister, and first aid kits. For many of these supplies, you can determine very accurately how much you’ll need for a given period of time, and thereby start off with no more than you’ll need. The perfect expendables list will be consumed during your trip, day by day, and exhausted on the last day. (more…)

On the trail from Lyon to Le-Puy, France 2009.

Making Light – Introduction

A Stroll Through Longwalking Tips & Techniques…

Making Light is a series of articles on observations and lessons learned about how to lighten the load of your backpack. The focus is preparation for a long-distance walk, mainly on trails and back roads, with occasional off-trail forays.

The context is 3-season hiking, from village to village, inn to hotel to guest house to gîte d’etape to chambre d’hote, etc. – or at least, to a dry place to throw down a sleeping bag. The pro forma trip duration is 30 days. (more…)

MRI scan of osteoarthritic knee.

Arthritis and Long-distance hiking

It wasn’t too long after I returned home from my first walk across France and Spain that I developed acute knee pain, which completely hobbled me for a couple of weeks. After a series of doctors and scans I got the diagnosis of severe osteoarthritis of the knee. One of the orthopedists said there’s basically a whole the size of a nickel through the cartilage of my right knee. Ouch, I thought. (more…)