Lighten Your Load on the Trail Workshop and Overnight Hike August 12-13, 2017

Lighten Your Load on the Trail
Workshop and Overnight Hike
August 12-13, 2017

Leader: Leslie Green   (lesliekgreen@gmail.com )
Cost: $50
Cancellation and Full Payment Date: June 9, 2016
Adults and Youth 16+ with Adults
Groups Size: Maximum 10   Minimum 8
Wilderness Level: 2  Difficulty: easy/beginner

 Have you complained and labored with the weight of your backpack? Do you come home frCom a hike with a pack full of extra stuff you didn’t even use?  Are you new to backpacking and don’t know what to bring?  This hands-on training session will give you techniques, tricks, tools and tips to reduce the weight you carry on the trail.   Then you’ll put your new-found knowledge (and gear) to the test with an overnight hike.  We will use some of the ideas of the ultralight hiking gurus without risking comfort or safety.  This trip could be good for beginning backpackers that haven’t yet invested in equipment and can use the information to select the best, lightest gear. The session includes:\

• ·       Making and using your own alcohol stove cook kit
• ·       Making a ditty bag of camp essentials at less than 8 ounces
• ·       Determining your clothing system for various seasons
• ·       Evaluating your sleep system and shelter system – examining options
• ·       Evaluating water treatment systems and the lightest weight options for various situations
• ·       Creating a menu that provides tasty, substantive nutrition and energy without weighing you down
• ·       Learning what things weigh zero in your pack

The cost of the workshop and trip includes all food (lunch, dinner, breakfast, and snacks); a new cook kit (stove, pan, lid, wind screen) that you will create, fuel for cooking and a ditty bag with toiletries & a first aid kit that you will assemble.  You’ll also receive a resource guide that you can use after the trip.

We’ll spend the morning and early afternoon on Saturday in the Cherry Shelter at Morgan Monroe State Forest, and then hike to the backcountry camping area on the Low Gap trail to try out our lightened loads.