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Packing Time Line

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    • Packing Time Line

      I’m not proud of it but I’m the type of person who often packs the night before a hike. I also don’t use a packing list…just go by what’s in my head which often leads to things being forgotten. It’s never been an issue, I always adapt and make do.

      But I’m trying to be more organized and started packing today for next week’s trip. Then I started worrying about my down bag being compressed for the next week so I started unpacking. :rolleyes:

      What’s your packing timeline? How early do you start packing and planning? If you have a down bag, what’s your limit for the amount of time it’s compressed?
      Lost in the right direction.
    • I've screwed up twice that i can recall.

      On a weekend backpack trip with my wife we had self shuttled our cars and were getting ready to start hiking when I discovered I had forgotten to bring the sleeping bags. So we just made it a long day hike instead.

      On my thru I somehow made a mistake and bought 3 days of food for what was supposed to 5 days to the next town. When I discovered my error after a full day of hiking I was deciding if I was going to backtrack (thru hikers hate to hike an extra mile) or push ahead. I consulted my Data Book and as luck would have it there was a resupply option 2 days away. So no big deal.
      2,000 miler
    • On Boy Scout campout to Village Creek once realzed on the way we had forgotten the sleeping bags. Stopped at Walmart and grabbed a couple of Coleman's. With a family of six, a couple of extra low priced bags not a big deal.

      Now backpacking that would have been a little more serious now. You don't just stop along the road to grab a Western Mountaineering bag. :rolleyes:
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • I bring same stuff everytime so only thing i really need to give attention is starting food and resupplies. Rest i procrastinate on.

      When driving, Quite a few times i have just put all my gear needed in a cardboard box , with some alternate options. Then I actually decide what I'm going to bring and pack in the hotel the night before. Being able to procrastinate and leave stuff in the truck just makes it less likely for me to pack ahead of time

      Because of this somewhat haphazard approach even though I use a checklist I have forgotten a few things from time to time.

      Spoon..(hard to eat)....

      knife (nearly impossible to open a mountain house that's defective and has no tear notch without one)......no bs, took me 10 minutes with a rock to get a tear started

      Bandana......hard to pick up hot pot......or wipe sweat

      Groundcloth

      Headlight.....battery (well bedtime will be early)

      Hiking shirt.......long john top was a tad warm, but worked.



      Just a few things i remember. Sometimes this stuff just wasn't where it was supposed to be and just ended up not being with my gear i threw in a box.


      Now the opposite, has happened when I've gotten to a place where I'm meeting a shuttle driver........ And the shuttle driver shows up early, before ive gotten my thoughts together. One time without thinking I just grabbed my pack and got in their car......i was wearing street clothes and tennis shoes.... But I had my hiking clothes in my pack. So, when it dawned on me I ended up carrying my blue jeans , t-shirt tennis shoes for 60 miles. I discarded the cotton socks in a garbage can cuz they were cheap.

      The post was edited 4 times, last by Muddywaters ().

    • I get everything together a day or two before and lay it all out either in the spare bedroom or on a tarp in the garage. Then stuff it all in pack the day/night before. I have a list that I use and change up the clothes based on season and weather forecast. Everything that always goes (except pack, quilt, poles) stays in a big tub. Another tub holds my insulating layers and jackets that I pick from for each trip.
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference
    • OK, got a real-time report to give. Decided to go on a hike this weekend, no doubt my last overnighter for 2021. Got home late last night too tired to even think about packing. Set the alarm for 5:30 AM; through stuff in my pack and was on the road by 6:15. I'll find out when I get there what I forgot :)

      I'm doing the northernmost 20 miles of the Long Trail. Gonna have breakfast on the way. Meeting a shuttle at Noon at the northern terminus. Just gonna get a few miles in today, a majority on Saturday. Plan to camp near the end and then walk out Sunday morning. Did not do any planning, so I just have snacks packed for food.

      As HB likes to say, 'It's all good.'
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”


      John Greenleaf Whittier
    • The only thing I wished I had more of was clean socks.

      At the last minute I decided to bring my heavy Irish Wool Sweater. That thing saved my hike. It was 40's and drizzly the entire first day. The wool sweater was wet, but still kept me comfortably warm. I probably would have bailed if I had my usual combo of layers. Glad I chose to bring a couple of extra pounds of wool.
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”


      John Greenleaf Whittier
    • My packing plan varies based on my life schedule at the time. I was so bored in my last job that I would make up a packing list weeks in advance just to have something to do. And since I was only 2 miles from home, I could search for and grab items as they came to mind while I was home for lunch. For my trip over Labor Day, I was scrambling to pack the night before.

      My mental checklist starts by grouping things into categories:
      • Tent / Sleeping
      • Footwear / Socks / Poles
      • Food / Cooking
      • Clothing
      • Hygiene
      Some things stay in the pack, so I don't have to do anything but verify that they are there. For example, I clean my water filter after the previous trip and add a post-it note with the cleaning date to the pouch. When I verify that it's there, I can also verify that it's clean and ready to go. The down bag is the last thing to get stuffed and packed. Unless I'm packing the night before I hit the trail.

      Having a dedicated shelving system with bins for various gear categories has made it much easier to stay organized. When I have an REI coupon, I'll order up a bunch of freeze-dried meals and put them in the Cooking / Food Bin. After a hiking trip, I'll put my laundered gear in the Clothing Bin and a clean bandanna inside my pot in the Cooking / Food bin. Yep - I've forgotten the bandanna and needed to use a sock to hold the pot handles.
      Trudgin' along the AT since 2003. Completed Sections: Springer Mountain to Clingmans Dome and Max Patch NC to Gorham NH

      "The days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations...those are pretty good days." Ray Wylie Hubbard
    • Muddywaters wrote:

      I bring same stuff everytime so only thing i really need to give attention is starting food and resupplies. Rest i procrastinate on.

      When driving, Quite a few times i have just put all my gear needed in a cardboard box , with some alternate options. Then I actually decide what I'm going to bring and pack in the hotel the night before. Being able to procrastinate and leave stuff in the truck just makes it less likely for me to pack ahead of time

      Because of this somewhat haphazard approach even though I use a checklist I have forgotten a few things from time to time.

      Spoon..(hard to eat)....

      knife (nearly impossible to open a mountain house that's defective and has no tear notch without one)......no bs, took me 10 minutes with a rock to get a tear started

      Bandana......hard to pick up hot pot......or wipe sweat

      Groundcloth

      Headlight.....battery (well bedtime will be early)

      Hiking shirt.......long john top was a tad warm, but worked.



      Just a few things i remember. Sometimes this stuff just wasn't where it was supposed to be and just ended up not being with my gear i threw in a box.


      Now the opposite, has happened when I've gotten to a place where I'm meeting a shuttle driver........ And the shuttle driver shows up early, before ive gotten my thoughts together. One time without thinking I just grabbed my pack and got in their car......i was wearing street clothes and tennis shoes.... But I had my hiking clothes in my pack. So, when it dawned on me I ended up carrying my blue jeans , t-shirt tennis shoes for 60 miles. I discarded the cotton socks in a garbage can cuz they were cheap.
      I made that mistake too. Was asked to take some time off due to cooperate accounting methods. Decided to do GA section of AT. Took Amtrak for the experience & figured I'd just mail my traveling cloths back to me once I arrived. Just didn't think it out & got of the train on Sunday. My traveling clothes; pair of jeans & python boots were in my pack until I hit Suches .
    • Oh I remember the days of taking "accrued vacation". I guess a short term solution, but unless it is just a unique blip in the business environment, the company problem has serious problems they still need to fix. :)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Mountain-Mike wrote:

      I made that mistake too. Was asked to take some time off due to cooperate accounting methods. Decided to do GA section of AT. Took Amtrak for the experience & figured I'd just mail my traveling cloths back to me once I arrived. Just didn't think it out & got of the train on Sunday. My traveling clothes; pair of jeans & python boots were in my pack until I hit Suches .
      If you were camped near a shelter you shoulda put the boots on just for the reactions.

      Three cheers for the accountants who got you some vacation time. Life would be horrible without accountants. :)
      2,000 miler
    • when i get back from a trip, everything goes in a cardboard box, except my sleeping bag,tent,pad and clothing. Any replenishables,like batteries,first aid,etc gets replaced so that when I need to pack,I just have to decide what clothing and food I'm taking, and I'm good to go in just a few minutes.
      its all good

      The post was edited 1 time, last by hikerboy ().