wildwanderer wrote:Nice work Ms Mudd!
Welcome to the UL fraternity!
How did you find walking with less stuff? Anything you would liked to have had with you but didnt?
Thanks! It was useful to have this challenge in the back of my mind when packing as it forced me to think more carefully about what was in my pack. I wish I had of itemised my weights, but didn't, but still satisfied with the overall final product weight with absolutely everything in it.
I took out my UL down jacket from my dry sleeping gear. Although heavy rain predicted, minimum temps were going to be high teens, I always leave it in 'just in case'. I carried my active insulation layer, macpac nitro and knew I could use that in a pinch. I didn't use even that at all though. For a small weight penalty of 90g, was still okay with having taken it. I did take my OR Helium rain jacket, which I don't always do in Summer as would just take my brolly. I did wear it on the second day when the weather was very miserable, it made a torrential rain packet up a bearable thing, but still wondering whether it was really necessary.
Hmm what else? I did pack a small paperback, but really enjoyed laying in the tent while the weather raged, reading. I could have put the book on my phone via the kindle app, but I already owned and was reading the book. Definitely some weight I could have dumped and then just used my phone though.
Edited to add: It was a super comfortable trip, that felt enjoyable and not an exercise in deprivation at all. I had luxuries, such as the book, that added to my experience. I did not miss the things I took out of my pack at all.
The only thing I did miss was a plastic grocery bag, I normally pack one and use it for various things, but really could have used it for my wet tent . What I did instead was stuff it in the front bungee cord of the Durston 40 pack, which was okay, it drained, but if I were to be camping a second night, I would have wanted to isolate the wet fly from the inner, and/or used the grocery bag upside down, so that the tent could drain in my front pocket while not getting further wet out with rain from above.