A common sense approach to gear weight

theres a lot of people with some experience who think they know enough to educate others, but they don't know what they don't know.... america seems to be a lot of people who arent in clubs they just hike ad hoc with friends or alone and share knowledge with other people who's knowledge isnt as good as they think it is... in a club you'll find people with a lot more knowledge more readily... they arent into whatever the latest trend is

You know, I watched this click bait, and there's nothing to learn. Really, if you want to make 30 mile days on a regular basis (Darwin on the Trail) you can't carry that much. It's as simple as that. But long distance tramping is just a very specialised form of tramping. But this guy was just talking about his 2 night tramps. And who knows 10kms, Yes duh, doesn't matter in that case what you carry. Even if it's light weight and uncomfortable you'll survive.

30 mile days sounds better than 50km days. That aint tramping. Its trail running. Best ever distance in a day for me was 35km with a day pack. That was 10 hours so a respectable speed. Same speed would make that a 15 hour day. Either that or they would have to look back at their photos to see where they had been

depends on the track too... some tramping you measure progress in hundreds of metres per hour...

Geeves, that's your opinion, there is a time and place for 30 mile days. Not everyone goes hiking for the same reasons, some people like to hike so they spend 12 hours a day hiking, others like to sit in huts for 7 hours a day and talk about hiking like it's some punishment. I see the benefit to both however one thing I've noticed in 25 years of long-distance hiking is this... I have never seen a hiker who enjoys hiking long days criticise a hiker who likes to do short days - never. Interesting eh?

Hah woow!

Dont take it as a criticism. Its just not the type of hiking we tend to do in NZ. There are very few trails here that would allow that sort of travel distance and even then we are a small country so stringing more than a couple of 30 mile days together would see you walking from the beach on one side of the country to the beach on the other and possibly back. Our views on hiking are coloured by the type of hiking most of us do. 12 hour days and 7 hours in huts are extremes of our hobby. Most of us are somewhere in between

I’m merely pointing out that everyone has different ideas about tramping / hiking. Regardless, the critics are always those who’s actions seem to demonstrate that they don’t enjoy actual tramping all that much.

@jmeyer I'm with geeves on this. We just don't have the kind of track in NZ that allows for 30 mile days on a regular basis. The furthest I ever got in a day was around 24 miles, and that was linking a couple of big valleys with a good track the whole way. A few exceptionally fit and strong parties will do better, but most trampers will walk somewhere between 6 - 12 hrs in a day. And in that time the country I like to travel in is usually rough enough to limit me to under 12 miles a day. Trail runners will do big distances, but they can only pull this off in carefully planned weather windows. Conditions have to be spot on for them to do it safely. As everyone else has said, the weather in NZ is too variable to risk ultralight on anything much more than an overnighter. I'm very conscious of my pack weight and always look to minimising it, but the sheer variability of the terrain and weather here means you have to be prepared for a range of conditions every time you go out. Our landscapes look kind of benign, but every year they seduce people into not taking them seriously and it ends badly for them. We're not being critical. Ultralight thruhiking has evolved in the USA in a different setting. I'd love to do the PCT for instance, and if I did I'd certainly pay attention to how the locals do it. But here in NZ we've evolved our own style that works for us, even if we are carrying a few kg more, and cover less ground than some people are accustomed to.

a lot of the Te Araroa trail isnt like a lot of NZ tramping tracks and routes,people complain about the standard of parts of the trail, but a lot of other tracks are harder slower going