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Vent: That 20% pack weight rule started as a marketing line, not trail science
I was digging through a 1970s Sierra Club handbook last week and found the line that started it all. A gear writer for a mail order company wrote that your pack should be 20% of your body weight, and it spread like wildfire. There is zero testing behind it. Now half the route guides I read for the Wonderland Trail in Washington repeat it like gospel. So do I cut base weight to 15 pounds for a 4 day push, or trust my knees and carry the extra 6 pounds of real food? Where did you first hear the 20% number, and did you ever actually test it on a trip?
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fisher.charlie9d ago
That "20% rule" sounds a lot like the old food pyramid, something catchy that everyone repeated until it just felt true. I first heard it from a Scout leader in the 90s who swore by it, but after one trip with 20% of my weight in a heavy pack, my shoulders were the ones who called it off.
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