We are stoked to announce the 2016 ultralight backpacking trip! This weekend trip will cover ~44 miles in two days. We will be working on the fundamentals of ultralight backpacking: cutting our base weight, balancing our pace, and honing our ultralight gear systems without compromising safety. We'll also have 1 metric crap-ton of fun, pick wild blueberries, and otherwise blitz merrily past backpackers lugging the dutch oven and box of wine (another fine style of backpacking)!

Logistics: This trip will have 3 participants and 2 leaders, and we will ferry cars a short distance (~30 min) to make the trip work. We will be choosing participants with sufficient experience, but we will preference those in a goldilocks zone where they still can gain a lot from the trip. Your maximum base weight (carried weight minus consumables like food and water) is 12 lbs. To confirm your spot on the trip, you will be asked to submit an itemized base weight list to the leaders. We will hold a workshop on September 6 at 7pm in the MITOC office on strategies to cut your weight. There is also a kitchen scale in the MITOC office for weighing your gear, which you can use during office hours.

Itinerary: We will leave Cambridge on Friday evening (September 16) and return Sunday evening (September 18). We will start at the Mt Stanton trailhead near Glen, NH, hiking north past Mt Parker and Mt Isolation to the base of Boot Spur (18.8 miles). From there, we'll head east across highway 16 and up the Wildcats, past Carter Dome, and then head south past the Perkins Shelter to Eagle Crag (17.7 miles). We'll finish out going south along the beautiful Baldfaces to the Slippery Brook trailhead northeast of Jackson, NH (7.6 miles). Our camping site will be decided by the group, and we will practice dispersed camping in the National Forest.

Who should sign up?: If you are hoping to do one of the long trails in the US (AT, PCT, CDT) and want to dial in your ultralight system, have been thinking about going ultralight for a while and want to make the transition, or you've done some ultralight trips but need more practice to feel comfortable, then this trip is for you! You should be in very good hiking shape (not running, not 1-armed push-ups, but hiking) and have completed a 1 day hike of >25 miles previously or a multiday hike of >18 miles each day and felt spanking good. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED: sign up for the trip here providing the information asked for. We will be choosing the final participants from that pool.

How excited should I be for this trip?: Maybe only 1 notch below this guy.

Feel free to email us with any questions.