Hit 500 miles on the Appalachian Trail before I realized I was carrying too much

I started the AT in Georgia last spring and thought I had my pack dialed in. But around the 500 mile mark in Virginia, I finally weighed everything and found I had 8 pounds of stuff I never used. Extra clothes, a heavy camp chair, three different water filters I kept swapping. That number surprised me because I figured I was already minimal. Once I shipped the extras home, my pace picked up a lot. Has anyone else hit a mile marker that made them rethink their whole setup?

2 comments

2 Comments

brooke53322d ago

THREE water filters?! That's WILD, I barely even use one.

the_tara22d ago

Haven't you ever had a water main break or a boil alert in your area, @brooke533? I used to think one filter was enough until we had a bad run of rusty tap water that even the fancy pitcher couldn't fix. A sediment filter catches the big stuff, the carbon takes out taste and chemicals, and a final stage gets the tiny junk you can't see.