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Text Box: With Skills Camp now a recent memory, I’d like to remind both experienced and those just now ready to begin a more involved program of hiking and backpacking how to better enjoy these activities. Packing sensibly can keep you comfortably and safely on the trail. Pack lighter, not heavier. Many inexperienced hikers try to carry much more weight than is comfortable or safe. The result can be a less-than-pleasant trip or a pulled muscle. A good rule of thumb is to carry roughly 1/5 to 1/4 your body weight. You can increase the weight as you get stronger. Trim away ounces. Look at each piece of gear to see if you can find a lighter one to replace it. Or can you make that particular piece of gear lighter? Ounces add up to pounds. Trim extra-wide borders off maps; cut the handle off your toothbrush or drill holes in it. Trim unused pockets, cuffs and belt loops off spare clothing; use a plastic spoon instead of a metal one, a plastic cup instead of a metal one. Take the cardboard out of your small roll of toilet paper. Stand bottles upright. Always put your gas and water bottles outside and right side up in an outside pack pocket or right side up in a zip lock bag. Gaskets can leak on gas bottles and could contaminate your clothes and food with fumes. Stuff the inside space. In the pack, place heavy items as close to your back as you can. You can carry weight much more comfortably this way. If you have an internal-frame pack, pas sharp objects because they will invariably poke you as soon as you shoulder the pack and begin to hike. Put weight on your shoulders. Pack your pack so that your heaviest items – your food and tent, for instance – are highest in your pack. Your sleeping bag is a good item for the very bottom of your pack, and your clothes should go somewhere in between. Develop a system. Fill your pack the same way each time you use it, and try to avoid stuffing things into any pocket at random. Using a system will save you much time when a storm is approaching and you’re trying to get rain gear on or your tent up. It’s nice to know, too, just where that flashlight is in the dark. Put pockets to good use. In an outside pack pocket, keep items handy that you will use often throughout the course of the day – rain gear, sunglasses, toilet paper, maps. With those items handy, you won’t need to open your pack very often. Jog your memory. Losing gear on the trail can be very inconvenient, since every item in your pack has a specific purpose. One way to minimize your chances of leaving something behind is to leave the pocket zipper or flap on your pack open after removing something. Then, before shouldering your pack to take off on the trail, you can check for open pockets. If one is open, you’ll know to look around before embarking. It is much easier to hunt for a missing item at that point than to backtrack many miles later. By Mr. Mike McNelley CLIP OUT AND SAVE