One of the toughest challenges in any outdoor enthusiasts journey is the practice of minimalism; Taking only the bare minimum of what you need and relying on your wisdom to make sure all your needs are met. I find most woods-runners fluctuate between practicing minimalism and packing just far too heavy, and very few are devoted solely towards a minimalistic sense.
We should practice minimalism from time to time to be more comfortable physically when we go out, both by having less gear to hump around on our adventures, and by feeling more confidence when we decide to take on new challenges.
When I first started guiding my good friend Jack set me up with a very bare bones set up. Besides the tools on my person, I carried a Yukon pack that only had my food, shelter, sleeping bag, wool blanket, a sweater, and the group med kit. All of this was wrapped up in my shelter and lashed to an old military Alice frame and I tell you what, I really thought that pack was too heavy! But as the months went by I started adding gear on my back without noticing how heavy my stuff was starting to get. I was happy with how much stronger my legs and back were getting carrying all that gear through the mountains and I found my body was just adjusting to the load. It wasn't until after my first year on trail that I saw how the minimalist style of packing could be a welcome change of pace.
There were three of us guides out on this particular trip out and one of us fell pretty sick. The decision was made to take our sick comrade out of the field and so under each arm we helped him hike back out to where our rescue vehicle could pick him up. It was only a quarter mile jaunt back from where his yukon pack had been left to the truck so I went back to retrieve it for him. I was shocked when I yanked it up onto my back, his pack was so light! I felt as if I could nearly jog while wearing it.
When I reached our back up truck and loaded the pack into the bed I paused by the cab to ask him what he had packed. Now it wasn't a terribly warm time of year and the temp at night had given us some freezing rain this trip out. He told me he had only packed in his yukon a small tarp, his sleeping bag, one spare pair of wool socks, the group radio, half pound of rice, a couple onions, some jerky, and some soy sauce, besides the single water bottle strapped to the side. I asked if he had been cold at night or miserable when we were soaked in the rain, since he had no extra layers, or if he had been hungry because of the lack of food?
I'll never forget what he said. He said he wore the clothes that were able to keep him warm and dry enough to stay comfortable. And that he had learned the difference between being comfortable and being toasty.
Before that moment I had never really thought about what being "comfortable" actually meant. For those of you that want to know what Webster's defines it as, here it is:
Definition of comfortable:
A: affording or enjoying contentment and security
B: affording or enjoying physical comfort
Now, I don't claim to be a minamalist and never have. I do pay close attention to the weather and the seasons before I hit the woods and prefer to take one or two foolish items that I would not be happy without. My gear isn't always the lightest considering that I like old school gear rather than modern ultra light gear, but I do still like to practice minamal packing whenever possible. My hunting kit for a 3 day outting this year is laughable simplistic and small.
Here's my Minimalist Hunting Kit
And whenever I'm traveling I like to keep the stuff I take with me small as well. I made it through 3 and a half weeks on the Camino de Santiago with just a small overnighter yukka pack.
My wife Gabrielle is the queen of this practice however. When we worked together on trail as guides I would get concerned on cold nights if she was going to be warm enough or I would worry that she hadn't packed enough food to last the week out. But she never once complained about anything I was ever concerned about and she was always perfectly fine. When I would load her bag in the back up vehicle to take us to our location for the week I would always ask if she had packed enough considering i could curl her bag with ease. She would always tell me she would be fine and wouldn't let me add any pieces of kit to her bag. She knew what she wanted to carry and what she didn't want to carry.
My wife says it best I think, her mantra is that when you break it down, the gear you need for one or two days and the gear you need for a week or more is virtually the same. food and water are really your biggest factors. The tools and equipment you're going to need for a short trip are going to stay the same for a longer one too. You'll probably just need to pack more food.
Now I know you can pick this apart and say "but if you need more food, and you have a stove, then you need more fuel" or, "if your going through different altitudes then your sleeping gear and clothing needs to change too". These are good thoughts to have, I would temper them though with saying when I am only using a stove for my cooking needs, I account for my fuel usage based on my food, so that's obviously going to change with my food. And as for you doing hikes through various elevations and are worried about changed temps as you ascend or descend, I would simply say if you want to pack more minimally I would pack for the colder of the elevation temperatures. You can always strip layers off or sleep with a sleeping bag unzipped as needed.
Practice with you minimal gear. Go on long afternoons with your minimal set up and see what you can do with it. Go cook lunch beside a trail or go do an over-nighter somewhere close that you can get up and leave if the weather turns really bad or you have other safety situations arise. Only by trying to see how much more we can do with less can we know the extent of our gear and our skill range with that kit. Write down a list of what you took and when you get back home cross out what you had no use for. Obviously, don't toss your medical kit if you didn't get hurt though!
By practicing we gain confidence, by experience we gain wisdom, and using wisdom we can better enjoy the Outdoors.
We should practice minimalism from time to time to be more comfortable physically when we go out, both by having less gear to hump around on our adventures, and by feeling more confidence when we decide to take on new challenges.
When I first started guiding my good friend Jack set me up with a very bare bones set up. Besides the tools on my person, I carried a Yukon pack that only had my food, shelter, sleeping bag, wool blanket, a sweater, and the group med kit. All of this was wrapped up in my shelter and lashed to an old military Alice frame and I tell you what, I really thought that pack was too heavy! But as the months went by I started adding gear on my back without noticing how heavy my stuff was starting to get. I was happy with how much stronger my legs and back were getting carrying all that gear through the mountains and I found my body was just adjusting to the load. It wasn't until after my first year on trail that I saw how the minimalist style of packing could be a welcome change of pace.
There were three of us guides out on this particular trip out and one of us fell pretty sick. The decision was made to take our sick comrade out of the field and so under each arm we helped him hike back out to where our rescue vehicle could pick him up. It was only a quarter mile jaunt back from where his yukon pack had been left to the truck so I went back to retrieve it for him. I was shocked when I yanked it up onto my back, his pack was so light! I felt as if I could nearly jog while wearing it.
When I reached our back up truck and loaded the pack into the bed I paused by the cab to ask him what he had packed. Now it wasn't a terribly warm time of year and the temp at night had given us some freezing rain this trip out. He told me he had only packed in his yukon a small tarp, his sleeping bag, one spare pair of wool socks, the group radio, half pound of rice, a couple onions, some jerky, and some soy sauce, besides the single water bottle strapped to the side. I asked if he had been cold at night or miserable when we were soaked in the rain, since he had no extra layers, or if he had been hungry because of the lack of food?
I'll never forget what he said. He said he wore the clothes that were able to keep him warm and dry enough to stay comfortable. And that he had learned the difference between being comfortable and being toasty.
Before that moment I had never really thought about what being "comfortable" actually meant. For those of you that want to know what Webster's defines it as, here it is:
Definition of comfortable:
A: affording or enjoying contentment and security
B: affording or enjoying physical comfort
Now, I don't claim to be a minamalist and never have. I do pay close attention to the weather and the seasons before I hit the woods and prefer to take one or two foolish items that I would not be happy without. My gear isn't always the lightest considering that I like old school gear rather than modern ultra light gear, but I do still like to practice minamal packing whenever possible. My hunting kit for a 3 day outting this year is laughable simplistic and small.
Here's my Minimalist Hunting Kit
And whenever I'm traveling I like to keep the stuff I take with me small as well. I made it through 3 and a half weeks on the Camino de Santiago with just a small overnighter yukka pack.
My wife Gabrielle is the queen of this practice however. When we worked together on trail as guides I would get concerned on cold nights if she was going to be warm enough or I would worry that she hadn't packed enough food to last the week out. But she never once complained about anything I was ever concerned about and she was always perfectly fine. When I would load her bag in the back up vehicle to take us to our location for the week I would always ask if she had packed enough considering i could curl her bag with ease. She would always tell me she would be fine and wouldn't let me add any pieces of kit to her bag. She knew what she wanted to carry and what she didn't want to carry.
My wife says it best I think, her mantra is that when you break it down, the gear you need for one or two days and the gear you need for a week or more is virtually the same. food and water are really your biggest factors. The tools and equipment you're going to need for a short trip are going to stay the same for a longer one too. You'll probably just need to pack more food.
Now I know you can pick this apart and say "but if you need more food, and you have a stove, then you need more fuel" or, "if your going through different altitudes then your sleeping gear and clothing needs to change too". These are good thoughts to have, I would temper them though with saying when I am only using a stove for my cooking needs, I account for my fuel usage based on my food, so that's obviously going to change with my food. And as for you doing hikes through various elevations and are worried about changed temps as you ascend or descend, I would simply say if you want to pack more minimally I would pack for the colder of the elevation temperatures. You can always strip layers off or sleep with a sleeping bag unzipped as needed.
Practice with you minimal gear. Go on long afternoons with your minimal set up and see what you can do with it. Go cook lunch beside a trail or go do an over-nighter somewhere close that you can get up and leave if the weather turns really bad or you have other safety situations arise. Only by trying to see how much more we can do with less can we know the extent of our gear and our skill range with that kit. Write down a list of what you took and when you get back home cross out what you had no use for. Obviously, don't toss your medical kit if you didn't get hurt though!
By practicing we gain confidence, by experience we gain wisdom, and using wisdom we can better enjoy the Outdoors.
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