Realized my pack was killing me halfway up Half Dome last July

I was 3 miles into the Mist Trail when my shoulders were screaming and I couldn't figure out why. Turns out I had my hip belt adjusted way too low, so my pack weight was all on my spine instead of my hips. Anyone else spent half a trip with bad adjustment before you figured it out?

3 comments

3 Comments

michael66922d ago

Spent a full week on the JMT once with my pack riding two inches too low. My lower back was wrecked by day three and I just figured it was normal for a heavy load. Stopped to adjust a strap on day five and realized the whole hip belt was sitting on my love handles instead of my pelvis. Fixed it right there on the trail and the next 30 miles felt like I was carrying half the weight. Still annoyed at myself for not catching it sooner since I'd been hiking for years by then.

avery_jackson22d ago

A week of misery over a strap adjustment? Sounds like overkill. Maybe your back was just tired from the miles, not the pack height.

joel_clark3722d ago

Oh man, I totally get that. Honestly @michael669 I used to think a pack is a pack and it's mostly about how much weight you're carrying, not how it sits. But then I spent a long weekend carrying a borrowed pack that was way too big for my torso and it wrecked my shoulders. After watching a random YouTube video I realized the hip belt should be wrapping my hip bones, not sitting on my belly. Now I spend ten minutes dialing in straps before I even start walking, because that one adjustment made a bigger difference than dropping five pounds from my load.