In scouts there’s thousands of little lessons to learn. One of them is on packing. I learned a long time ago that you always pack your backpack twice– sometimes even three times. This is to estimate weight vs. essentials and to pullout unnecessary stuff. Often, with regards to weight, you always need to pack your backpack @ 1/3 your body weight because at the pre-hiking meeting you’ll be loaded up with camp gear that’ll equal another 1/3.

Today I packed my backpack with what I thought I needed.. Somethings were unnessary, but I wanted to see what the pack would be like with them in. This round I’m limited to weight being 50lbs max (ideally 40lbs-45lbs). The first ‘packing’ weighed in at 40.5lbs. That’s without camera equipment, laptop, toiletries, etc… i.e. “just clothing.” This is mostly because the makers of “slacks”, “sport-coats”, and “Shirts” didn’t have ‘lightweight’ in mind when making those items. However, having this ‘test run’ makes me lean towards perhaps bringing another suitcase specifically for ‘business attire’ & ‘non-essentials.’ I thought I could go with one bag- and sure I could pull stuff out too… But since this is no ‘backpack trip’ and I can have 1 item shipped to my apartment upon arrival… Maybe I should repack my bags and bring two..

Decisions…. Decisions…

~J out

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