Are we insane?

Everything we are taking with us

 In preparation for our backpacking trip we spend hours and thousands of dollars trying to shade the weights we would be carrying. That meant looking at all our gear and deciding what’s a must have (tent, sleeping bag, cooking gear) and what’s nice to have (a chair, deck of cards, individual bowls vs eating straight from the shared cooking pot) and looking for the lightest gear out there. 

We switched backpacks, sleeping bags and came to terms with the fact that we will be wearing the same clothes for the whole trip! Extra outfits means extra weight. Yep not only same pants and shirt but also same socks and underwear    Gross! Ha - hence why we think we are on the crazy side. Not taking deodorant either… I guess it’s good thing we will be in the woods for the most of this trip. 

 If you never backpacked with a heavy pack that made you hate life, you are probably shaking your head and thinking we lost it, becoming true hippies, but I promise you - this is very normal. In fact to some we are an average couple. Doing normal activities the way that most people do them. If you told me I would be excited to do this 2 years ago I would’ve laughed hard  and said: Nope!

 Our target base weight was around 15-16lb each, that is before we add food and water. We manage to trim our weight to just below 19lb and this includes things like sunscreen and DEET which will get lighter the more we use them. Last weight-in my pack (Yifat) was 25lb with 6 days worth of food and Bob is still packing as I write this, but he promised me, his will be around 27lb      

Tomorrow we are driving to Lone Pine, CA where we’ll park our car.  This will be the finish point for our trip and it will be nice to have the car ready for us. From Long Pine we’ll take public transportation to the start line: 2 buses all the way to Yosemite.

 Ok I better go get my tofu sandwiches ready for tomorrow! 

Yifat

Too much weight? Cut your toothbrush in half!