Packing it in...

I certainly try to keep my pack weight down. On a recent four-day solo trip, I was carry a total of about 33 pounds including two full liters of water, fishing gear, the mandatory bear canister, and a heavier, warmer sleeping bag. So base weight wasn’t ultralight by any means, but was probably under twenty pounds.

I would have been even lighter, but on the morning I left, I found that I still had an uneaten plum, so I took it, along with a couple of chocolate chip cookies that didn’t make it into the bear boxes at the trailhead. And since I was going solo, I took a small paperback book to read. And because it was cold, I was wearing a down vest that got included. And a half-bottle of water that I might as well take along.

A thing here, a thing there, and pretty soon you have three or four pounds of extra weight.

The cookies were yummy.