On 2009-09-15, Nicholas <Lawrence_Glickman at (no spam) comcast.net> wrote:

So I'm not in the backcountry. Good. It is hellish in there, with
lots of things that can and will infect and/or eat/kill you.


Huh?

There are annoyances like mosquitos, noseeums, and ticks,
but the probability of getting killed by a critter in the
American backcountry is pretty low. I've been traveling
in the backcountry for decades and haven't even had a
near miss.

And what in the heck are people putting in their packs to
generate 60-lb loads, unless you're going on a four-week
trek without resupply or are doing a week of desert hiking
and are carrying all your water?

With modern gear, you prolly don't need even 15 pounds of
non-consumables if you're backpacking in benign conditions ...

Cheers, Wolf.