So I threw 48 pounds on my back today

[peterk123]

I do not have a load carrying pack, yet. But I decided to take my Osprey Exo, which is absolutely not made for heavy loads, and loaded it up with my riced filled shooting bags. I have a bunch. Then I took the dog for our 1.5 mile walk. Interesting exercise.

I plan to do this a number of times so I can really get an understanding of what a proper pack should not feel like. Plus it is a good little workout. I think I understand now what you guys are talking about when it comes to the belt. The belt on the Exo is actually quite nice, for a low weight pack. But for the load I carried, not even close. No support at all and it would just fail and want to slide down/collapse. The load lifters are definitely not high enough. Again, not a big deal with 20 pounds or so, but with the heavier load I would have felt it if the hike was long.

Not pack related but I also got the taste of what a really good boot should be doing for me. I am currently wearing Oboz Bridgers. A nice hiking boot, but probably not a heavy duty backpacking boot. The beginning of the hike is through a field and the ground is now frozen. So every step is into a a frozen divot, little ankle rollers. Fortunately, even at age 54, I still have really good ankles. But I can see how a stiff boot will make life a lot easier when walking through less than ideal conditions. But for the short walk, the boots were a non issue.

It was good fun, and great little experiment. Plan to do quite a bit more. A foot of snow coming tomorrow, so that will introduce a new element to my experiment.

I am going to Livingston/Bozeman end of January, so I wanted to have at least a taste of what I think I want when I visit Stone Glacier, Mystery Ranch and shops that sell the other high end brands. I really do not want to order this stuff online.

 

[Geewhiz]

Bozeman in the winter will give you a good taste of cold and snow if that what your looking for haha

 

[peterk123]

Bozeman in the winter will give you a good taste of cold and snow if that what your looking for haha

We are. One of the reasons we are going out there then. I have done March, June, July and September. Time for a taste of winter. I miss the real winters we had here in Massachusetts when I was a kid. There is nothing better than a 7 degree morning and pulling your ice fishing gear out onto the ice while it is still dark. The air is clean and crisp and you hear nothing but dead silence and the ringing between your ears

 

[Stalker69]

I threw one of those tubes filled with gravel to stop erosion around my neck( no clue to the weight) , up on my shoulders the other night and walked the dog about 2.5 -3 miles. What a pain, I have to try it with a pack. As this was a work out.

 

[Geewhiz]

I tell you what, talking about carrying (substantial) weight around is easy, actually doing it can downright suck. And having an expensive pack doesn't make it easy, it just makes it suck a little less. Once you get into the 70-90 lb range (or even less for that matter) in rough terrain for extended distances, it becomes a heck of a lot of work, I don't care who you are.

Good on ya for training.

 

[peterk123]

I tell you what, talking about carrying (substantial) weight around is easy, actually doing it can downright suck. And having an expensive pack doesn't make it easy, it just makes it suck a little less. Once you get into the 70-90 lb range (or even less for that matter) in rough terrain for extended distances, it becomes a heck of a lot of work, I don't care who you are.

Good on ya for training.

I can definitely agree with that sentiment. I will work up the weight eventually just to see what I am dealing with, but kudos to you guys hauling 80 pounds. It has to beat the living crap out of your quads going up and shatter the knees on the way down. No thank you. Save the body to hunt another day and make an extra trip instead.

I have a solid year to get this down.

 

[roosiebull]

people screw themselves by making their first really heavy pack one with a critter in it. hauling a lot of weight can suck a lot less if you keep your body conditioned for it a little. whatever you think will be your max load in the mountains, hike that a couple miles twice a month starting may or june.... it will make a huge difference when it matters. stay in shape hauling a moderate weight pack regularly, and do a couple heavy days a month.... you'll be off as good as you can be.

the other train of thought is no really heavy pack training, but more consistent moderate heavy hiking (like 50-60) i have not personally tried that, because i'm already carrying a moderate weight pack in the mountains often all year, so it makes sense to do a couple heavy days a month on top of that.

it took me awhile to key in on this, my first couple heavy pack outs of the year were tough, but by late fall helping friends and family rifle elk hunting heavy packs were not a big deal for me.... you need to keep your body used to it, but it doesn't take many heavy days to stay ready.

a good pack won't make it easy, but it will make it a lot easier, and you'll be able to haul a good amount more weight comfortably (comfort's relative) pack fit is huge too, it needs to fit you well, and be fitted to you. if you don't know how, get on youtube and watch some videos. all of the major pack companies have good fitting videos.... a properly fitting pack is like properly fitting boots... vitally important for relative comfort.

 

[*zap*]

If you want to train ruck hiking you need to set up a good program that has incremental gains built into it. You may need to do some prep work before you start that program but that would depend on what shape your in now. Good luck.

 

[Tradchef]

It’s been pretty mild here this year so far. Plenty of trailheads right outside of town to stretch your legs and ruck till your hearts content. Both shops are cool but SG is a fantastic company to deal with. The mountains are pretty unforgiving regardless. It’s a constant you need to do To get better at it. You make mistakes every year with gear and personally so you just need to learn from those mistakes and set goals to make the next year that much better with another list of goals to overcome......

 

[mtwarden]

I had an Exo when they first came out, really solid backpack for 3-5 day trips w/ lightweight gear. Carried very nicely but pretty darn svelte. But yeah, realistically 30-ish lbs max.

You'll be in for a treat when you put on a SG or MR pack with some weight in it

I think the advice that the actually pack is only part of the equation is spot on. You can have the best backpack in the world (which I think both SG and MR are certainly contenders) , but if you're not conditioned- you'll experience a high degree of suck. Packing out a 100 lbs even with a good pack and good conditioning, still has a significant degree of suck, you just want to reduce that as much as possible

 

[Brendan]

I miss the real winters we had here in Massachusetts when I was a kid.

Ha. Funny statement as I'm looking outside right now (But I get where you're coming from)... I'm just north of Boston if you want to try on a couple Kifaru frames too.

 

[Herbie03]

I bought a kifaru last year and trained all summer for my diy AK moose hunt. I started with around 40# and 3-5 miles in hilly (Missouri Ozarks) terrain 90+degree weather. I got up to 70 80 # humps and felt pretty good about it. I credit the pack with my being able to handle that kind of weight over terrain. A good pack is vital!
Once a week or so I'd load up with 130# and hike a hilly road for up to 2 miles. I definitely felt that and would not want to do much of it. But it gave me confidence that I could haul a moose quarter to my landing strip. That said, I feel comfortable hauling elk quarters now from "back in".
Get a good pack and train! Listen to your body, ie. knees and back, hips and ankle. Don't push too hard before your body has time to strengthen those joints and connective tissue.

 

[Conrad101st]

And you definitely need trekking pokes when carrying meat out.