Happy Thanksgiving!

We have many things to be thankful for and our annual American tradition of Thanksgiving reminds us to pause our lives and remember.  Today Kriss and I enjoyed a beautiful blue sky Colorado hike near our home with our longtime adventure buddies Alan and Debby.  The 5 mile trek was relatively tame but considering the average elevation of 9,550 ft and my heavy training pack, it was a decent workout.



It occurred to me as we got close to home that some people might wonder what sorts of items would be contained within a training pack. This is a humorous question to those of us who’ve dragged any number of ridiculous items through the woods and up mountains with the goal of strengthening legs and expanding lungs.  Today’s edition is no less absurd but at 55#, was enough to make me breathe hard climbing the hills.

let's analyze the contents:

The star of the show is our trusty Gregory 95 which has been to many corners of the world with us.  It's not pretty anymore but still hauls like a champ.  Next is a vast selection of clothing including jackets, climbing bibs, Gore-Tex for wind or rain, down pieces and other random layers basically serving as padding.  Throw in two sets of big BD mittens, and a couple pairs of gloves to keep fingers toasty and happy.  Of course water is required so why not 4 water bottles, including my favorite which is labeled "Bacon Powered".  The usual hat, sunscreen, first aid kit, headlamp, line, carabiners, dog water dish and Kahtoola Microspikes which are essential this time of year to keep your feet on the ground and head held high.  That's pretty much it except for exactly 26.1# of high quality Matco wrenches and a sweet set of punches and chisels because you never know when you may need to overhaul a transmission in the middle of the woods.

So there's one example of a well-outfitted training pack.  Anyone looking to put their own together should be creative and include items which reflect their interests, hobbies or obsessions.  Rocks aren't recommended because they can damage your gear but a big bag of dog food is good and of course wrapping up a 25# steel weightlifting plate in a towel and shoving it in works fine although it's not very imaginative.

Happy Thanksgiving!