Duffy's Question
What is your opinion of the safety of Ray Jardine's ultra-light long-distance hiking method? Are there any modifications to his method that you would recommend?
— Duffy
Karen's Answer:
Duffy,
Ray Jardine, author of Beyond Backpacking, is one of the most original thinkers on the subject of long distance hiking. But I'm not a fan of any single method of hiking, lightweight or otherwise. I believe that there are lots of effective ways to hike, and that experience will teach you which techniques work for your style of hiking. For the most part, Ray's methods don't work for me, although that doesn't mean that they won't work for you. And yes, some of my concerns are safety-related. I'll just give you a smattering of comments.
1) To achieve the Ray's"ideal" low-weight, high-mileage style of hiking, you have to pretty much have to buy into the whole lightweight philosophy, from sneakers to backpacks, not to mention everything that goes inside your pack (and, more importantly, what DOESN'T go inside your pack).
For instance: To wear sneakers instead of boots requires a light pack (or you risk injury). To have a light pack means stripping down what's in it — and in turn, that means that you may not (depending on your skills and the particular circumstances) have the gear you need to survive if the weather turns really bad. If you don't have the gear you need, you have to be fit enough to walk however far it takes to get out of trouble.
2) My next question: Do you really WANT to hike 30 or 40 miles a day? I've run a couple of marathons and done a triathlon, so — although my fitness has varied considerably over the years — I do have some experience of what it's like to be ultra-fit. But even at my most ship-shape, I really didn't like hiking 30 miles a day — it didn't matter how light my pack was or how easy the trail. And I think that's true for most people.
3) I also am concerned that the average person I see out on the trail doesn't have the judgment or experience to be out there with minimal gear. The thing is, nature is usually a gentle teacher: Most of the time, we can go out with inadequate gear, and nothing terrible will happen. Maybe one day out of 100 that we actually spend outdoors is potentially life-threatening — maybe not even that.
So we get used to thinking we can get away with shortcuts and light packs just because up till now, nature has been generous. But over time, the odds mount against you. I've been in quite a few hairy situations, and I've seen way too many people carted out of the mountains by search and rescue teams. So I prefer to err on the side of that extra fleece jacket. And rain pants.
4) Not everyone can hike successfully in sneakers. I first hiked in sneakers in 1988, and have since hiked several hundred, or maybe more than a thousand miles in them. But I've abandoned them lately because of heel spur problems — On the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), using sneakers led to severe inflammation of heel spurs I didn't know I had. It was so painful I thought my hike was over — I didn't sleep for three days.
Other hikers I know suffered stress fractures — in fact, in 1988, there were several sneaker-wearing hikers walking around Tuolumne Meadows in casts, getting ready to leave the trail! At least one of them had been carrying a pack that weighed only 15 pounds (maybe less) (not counting food and water), and at the start of the hike, he was in such good shape that he was able to bang out 20 - 25 miles a day. In other words, he was a perfect candidate for ultralight-ultradistance hiking. But he didn't complete the trail.
5) Similarly, not everyone can hike with a lightweight (homemade or not) backpack. Last summer, I carried a very light and seemingly comfortable internal frame pack with only 15 - 18 pounds in it, total (including food and water). It never hurt, but now I have, as a direct result, a severe rotator cuff injury. When my physical therapist looked at my old heavy "real" pack and the lightweight one I used last summer, he said in no uncertain terms that I was insane to have used the latter — even if it was lighter.
And I'm not the only one: a fellow hiker I met (again, in Yosemite) was leaving the trail because his home-made pack had so severely damaged the nerves in his shoulder that he couldn't move his arm. Another friend (with whom I hiked 1000 miles) arranged to send back his lightweight pack three days into the PCT. Instead, he went back to his old, heavy Appalachian Trail pack because he found that even with ultra-light gear (15 pounds or less), he still had to carry 4 days of food (8 pounds) and, on occasion, 12 pounds of water (this was on the southern California PCT.) Total weight: 35 pounds. His verdict: Too heavy for a lightweight pack with inferior suspension.
All that said, I think that some people have used these methods with no problems. The same guy who sent back for his heavy pack happily hiked almost the whole PCT in sneakers. Another pal of mine frequently hiked with his hipbelt unbuckled - something that for me would be a recipe for disaster. Obviously, Ray's methods work for him: Just look at his accomplishments!
And many others have used bits and people of his suggestions: They might not be carrying an 8 pound pack, but they probably appreciate the added comfort of the weight savings they learned from him. By all means, read his books to get yourself thinking about modifications that would work for you and your hiking style. Try new techniques out gradually over time, taking into consideration YOUR style, YOUR fitness, YOUR goals, YOUR comfort level, and YOUR capacity to get yourself out of trouble if you find yourself in it.
And remember the long-distance hiking motto: Hike Your Own Hike.
