On my first ever paddling trip we even took a classic Coleman stove and a gallon (!) of fuel. Portaging was loads of fun.
bearburrito wrote:
So buck up everyone. What have you discarded from your pack to ease your back?
You still take a pack?
Even the gear that remains in the pack has shed kilograms.
And it's not just with paddling. Everywhere you look, light is right. Cycling, alpine climbing and my main activity, hiking. From head to toe all my clothing is not only a lot lighter but its performance is much better. My pack itself, even empty, is a third the weight of yesteryears. I can go out on a 3-day off-trail hike with total pack weight, including water of less than 20 pounds. On my feet all I'll have on are a skimpy pair of trail runners.
Heck, I bet there are people here whose "flashlights" used D cells. Now a much better and more versatile Black Diamond Spot with 3 AAA Lithium batteries will blow away in a strong breeze.
You can add advances in health, techniques and fitness onto lightening up and the comparisons are impressive indeed. The lighter gear can have its price though. It tends to be more expensive, have less durability and it becomes "old" within a year (almost). Other entire fields, related to tripping are photography, navigation and communications. Now, if you want you can upload your geo-referenced pics from a 100 gram P&S camera in real time to Facebook as you descend R3 in a 14 pound vessel.