Photos Sub-4

So with all the hoopla about "Super Ultralight" or SUL, having a base pack weight of under 5 pounds, Glen starts thinking limbo-like... how low can you go? He started with a sub 2-lb gear list for a trip in the Mojave in June that he had planned with Read Miller(cold food, walk at night, sleep during the day, no sleeping bag, shelter or rain gear needed). That trip got scrubbed, and he ended up heading into the mountains with business and hiking partner Mike Maurer. So he started adding stuff back in. The goal was to be under 4 lbs, and be able to handle temperatures into the 20's.

Please lighten your load responsibly. Never take less gear than required for your particular trip, experience level, and travel group. These are trained professionals on a closed course - don't try this at home. Well, okay, try stuff LIKE this at home, just do it in small increments as you gain experience... you know what we mean.

	Mike at the Onyx Peak trailhead, lookin' good with his 4 lb. 12 oz. pack before adding in his food and water. The plan so far has involved driving up on Wednesday, June 15th, leaving Carlsbad around noon, dropping off the GVPGearmobile at Lake Arrowhead, and piling into Mike's van over to the Onyx Summit trailhead parking lot.		Glen's feeling good about his 3 lb. 11 oz. base pack weight. I mean, if you're going to go "Sub 4", what's the fun in squeakin' in at 3.99 lbs, when you can spank it hard all the way down to 3.71 lbs.? This includes full rain gear, a separate shelter, insulating layers, and hot meals! It's 5:00 pm, time to hit the trail.
	San Gorgonio in the distance as the sun gets lower in the sky.		Glen chowing down out of his gourmet ziploc bag, around 7pm. Notice the very light Dairy Queen long spoon, held with a titanium stake along the back groove for reinforcement. After dinner, we hiked on for a couple of hours, enjoying the waning light, the cooling temperatures, the evening stillness, and knowing that all we had to do before bed was set up the shelters, since dinner was done. Fueled by full bellies, the miles just melted under our feet.
	Mike took a silnylon tarp/poncho combination, set up here as an A-frame.		Glen was trying out a new prototype, code named the SpinnWedge. Made out of spinnaker fabric, the SpinnWedge comes in at 5.0 oz. Stakes and line added another 1.7 oz.
	The SpinnWedge from another angle.		Soon we were sound asleep.
	The next morning, we head out briskly, after Glen finally got Mike awake. Mike was evidently carrying too thick a pad...		Mike puts his feet up for five minutes. Never one to waste a second, He multi-tasks by reviewing the route ahead on the map. Having his Nightlight Torso pad attached to the back of his Whisper pack with shock cord meant he could easily pull it out for rest and meal breaks.

Extreme Ultralight (XUL)

Mike and Glen's Excellent Adventure