Originally Posted by
staehpj1
It truly is a matter of all is well if it works for you, but...
I have found that within reason the less I carry the more pleasant the touring is. I carried a bit over 40 pounds not counting food and water on my first tour (TA) and when I sent a few pounds home the difference was very pleasant and very noticeable. I have since cut back a few times and my packing list now has the load (including panniers) down around 25 pounds for most conditions. I think that for me that is getting pretty close to the sweet spot and I really don't see the need to make major efforts to get much lighter. I might trim back a bit more but the effort will not be high priority and for camping and cooking I doubt that I will get down to 20 pounds.
Curious how you measure this weight....is it just the contents of what you are packing or do you include the pannier weight as well? On my last (short) tour my panniers (loaded) weighed in at around 33 pounds and this included food for a couple days, but no water. Subtracting the 8.3 pounds for the panniers, leaves me at around 25 pounds. Is this comparable to your weight?