I was recently in an outdoor store checking out backpacks. My Granite Gear Vapor Ki had just arrived, but there was a Golite I wanted to investigate. As I stood there, I overheard a saleswoman helping a father son duo pick out their first packs. She was steering the towards the heavy duty 6 lb kind.
“What about this one?” The father asked as he picked up a lighter pack. “Does this one still still work?”
The saleswoman said, “That pack is really stripped down in features and the hip belt isn’t that sturdy. It can’t carry very much weight.”
“Then why do people use it?”
She hemmed and hawed, so I cut in. “It’s really a philosophy,” I said. “The idea is that if you are carrying a lighter tent and sleeping bag, you can use a lighter pack and be more comfortable.”
The saleswoman and the man nodded and turn back to the wall of packs.
It was then that I realized: no one had asked for my opinion. I had inserted myself into someone else’s experience without an invitation. Had I become (gasp) a snob?
Of course, I can try to rationalize this away by saying that I’m just excited about ultralight backpacking and want to share it with others. Or that those people will have a better experience if they lighten their load, but how do I know that? I carried a lot when I started and never regretted my time in the woods (even when I brought my high school Chemistry textbook along).
I’m still learning what’s best for me, so why would I presume to know what’s best for someone else?
The biggest thing is this: people have to learn for themselves what works for them, and only they know what that means. I know some very experienced backpackers who have carried tons of weight for years and will always backpack like that. And they are happy to do so.
I’m trying to reform. In my most recent Backpacking Boot Camp class, I told the women this, “If you hear something different from someone else, they are also right.” People say this more simply on the Appalachian trail with the oft repeated mantra: Hike your own hike. I will try to remember that the next time I am tempted to open my big unwelcome mouth.
