This summer it is my plan to camp/hunt about 10-12 days in the tropical rain forest on a fly camp hunt. We will not even use vehicles. We will canoe and walk in.

I felt it would be a good idea to at least camp a little before going. So I dusted off the old ALICE pack, loaded it up with essentials and took off to central Louisiana with a buddy.

We hiked the Wild Azalea Trail in Kisatchie National Forest which is around 600,000 acres. According to my GPS the trail is 25.9 miles. We camped two nights hiked 3 miles the first day, nearly 18 the second day, and completed it the third day. The trail was hilly enough for a flatlander like me. Not too bad for a 53 year old fat man.

I have to say I really enjoyed it. There was not much wildlife but I did see some of the wild horses that live on the park. I learned a little about camping and am planning another trip similar in May.

It felt good to sleep under the stars.

Great stuff,

Thanks for sharing

Nice pics.

Am I the only person wondering what the horse tasted like?

One of the best investments I ever made was ditching my old Alice pack in favor of a modern backpacking pack.

I would rather carry 80 lbs in my backpacking pack, than 40 lbs in an Alice pack.

Trekker111,

After buying an Osprey Kestrel and learning a little more about packing, I completed a 29.1 mile hikes with over 4500 ft of ascent over two full days and a couple of hours the last morning. We also camped three nights.

With the new pack this trip was less strenuous even though it was longer and more physically demanding than the previous trip.

Looks kind of like the wild ponies on the Outer Banks.

If you can find one (they are out of business) the packs from Go Lite were amazing.

Osprey and others now make ultralight packs in the 1-1.5 pound range. Just changing packs alone and this was in over 20 years ago cut about 4-5 pound off my pack weight simply by changing packs.

I went full ultralight from there. I started looking at why I carried and what I could do without. My first aid kit shrank dramatically. I went from a cook kit to a 2 pit system. (One titanium pot of all I needed to do was boil water) Ow. Titanium for boiling water and one aluminum MSR if I needed to cook. Went to a lighter stove. I reassessed my clothing needs. The only clothing item I did t cut back on was socks.

Once you really asses your needs you can shed an enormous mount of weight and it makes moving down the trail a breeze.

quote:

Originally posted by trekker111:
One of the best investments I ever made was ditching my old Alice pack in favor of a modern backpacking pack.

I would rather carry 80 lbs in my backpacking pack, than 40 lbs in an Alice pack.

Yeah +1 on that!

MikeBurke,

Best option is to go to a decent backpacking supply store and get someone to start fitting you with a MODERN pack that’s far lighter and more comfortable.