Hi James:
I can attest to the veracity of the recent article Making Our Bug Out Bags Work: Shaving Weight. My journey to cut weight was spawned by a previous article from your blog.
This past May I went camping and hiked 22 miles in 3 days with my bug out bag. The weight was around 41 pounds which is considered light by most standards. I’m 31 years old and in pretty good shape, run 10-15 miles a week and exercise. But just that amount of weight was tougher than I expected, it exhausted me, and caused me to get blisters on both feet. So for all those people with 50-70 pound bags I suggest they wake up to reality and actually test out their system.
Since then I’ve cut the weight of my pack down to 28.5 pounds total, with four days of food and one day of water, sleeping system, tent, pad, first aid, minimal gear, rain gear, clothes to sleep in, and a 2nd change of clothes. My base pack weight (minus food, water, fuel) is 17 pounds. I can tell you that is a huge difference. I’ve also started walking with my pack each week to build up those back muscles that rarely get used. Yesterday alone I did 6.2 miles without a problem and the week before I walked a total of 13.
I suggest everyone with a bug out bag go walk 5 miles with it as it currently is. Upon returning I bet everyone will be ready to cut weight! “Ounces Equal Pounds and Pounds Equal Pain”. – Regards From Joshua H.