Trekked the 75 pound load for seven miles yesterday morning. It sucked. It was slow going; certainly not the 15min/mile "standard". The trail was full of ups, downs, lefts, and rights; with rocks and roots to contend with almost every step. It took me four hours, resulting in a pace of 1.75mph. This was without a chest rig or weapon. I still think my estimate of ten miles/day is doable, with this load. I think that a disciplined schedule of one hour on the move, followed by a 15 minute break, would minimize the strain a bit. You'd need to prioritize eating, drinking, and staying loose, while on those breaks; no sitting or laying down.
Meaningful equipment notes include: I need to get the Tactical Tailor "super belt"; I knew this already, but have been procrastinating the purchase. The large Alice pack I am using is hard to beat, IMO, but my build would benefit from some extra cushion on the lower back and hips. Shoulder strap upgrades are questionable, as I don't know how much difference a bit more padding would make, in that location. I wore 80's vintage jungle boots, with Darn Tough socks; they do quite well for me; no blisters or hot spots, and pretty comfy for the duration, with good traction. Their only downside is the somewhat narrow sole, with a tall heel; rolls can happen, if you're not paying attention.
As usual, it's all mission-dependent. The heavy load isn't the primary configuration. You might want the extra equipment in a situation that has you covering ten miles, in order to get to a spot that you intend to conduct shorter-range patrols from, over the course of a few days, before returning "home". Travel for a day, establish a patrol base and equipment cache, downsize to day packs, conduct local patrols over the following two or three days, and then re-consolidate and spend the last day returning.
It's all speculative and, don't get me wrong, I am going to look hard at what I might be able to shed from my bag. It should be obvious that, if moving through raw woods, the pace will be slower still. If nothing else, I got some real data to inform plans, and I have a better idea of what I am capable of. If a situation dictated that I move seven miles, with the intent to stay a few days at the destination, requiring my thorough packing list, I would know I could do it, and roughly how long it'd take.

I’m a big fan of the 80s era jungle boots. During my 3 years at Bragg, we were allowed to wear the old Vietnam era jungle fatigues and jungle boots. Once I broke in the boots, I wore them every day for years, even on jumps. Even after the light weight rip stop BDUs came out, we were still wearing jungle boots.

I was also a big fan of the old Combat Patrol Caps that were popular in the 80s. I wore them when I could get away without wearing the beret. Those berets are hot in the summer.

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Good on you for getting out and putting it to the test! Like you said, now you know what you are capable of. And yeah, it sounds pretty miserable, lol.

Funny that you're in NE GA...my first backpacking experience ever was in that area, so I know it's definitely a challenging environment! We were planning a 3 day hike which started at the approach to the AT, up Springer Mountain, and then about 20 miles or so up the trail. I had no experience whatsoever, borrowed gear, and packed based on information from my in-laws who I was hiking with. The pack I had was an old exterior metal frame job, and I had a stove in there, along with a full-size Coleman propane bottle, and even a bag of apples. It was probably upwards of 50lbs. I was also way overweight, out of shape, and hadn't prepped at all. You can see where this is going.

The first thing I saw after getting out of the car at the trailhead was 600+ steps going up the side of Amicalola Falls. I was beat after going up that, and then we had another 8.5+ miles to do that first day. It was all up and down, there was no water re-supply, it was hot and humid, and then it started to rain. It was pouring rain when we got to the shelter on the back side of Springer, and it was already full. We ended up spending the night (I won't say "sleeping", because there was none of that) in the crawl space underneath the shelter.

I was severely chafed, exhausted, and hungry by morning (I did eat a ton of apples, though, and made the others do the same as I was over carrying them lol). Thankfully my FIL had had another commitment the day before so he'd driven in and parked a couple of miles further down the trail the evening before and hiked back to meet us. When my BIL and I got to that car, we got in it and got the heck out of there, while the rest of them went on and finished the hike. North GA terrain is no joke.

I'm not really clear on what you are doing this for but for carrying heavy stuff over long distances over tough terrain I'd advise the following.

Ditch the tacti-cool, military-esqe larp stuff and start educating yourself on what serious backpackers gear consists of. An Osprey or Mystery Ranch framed pack in 55-65 liters will soundly beat any alice pack in terms of usability and weight.

It's not as fun as playing that you're a navy seal or something but having realistic camping (I believe you call it a 72 hr operation) or day hiking (short range excursion) gear will be far more enjoyable after the fun of carrying 80 pounds of army man gear into a state park wears off.

The conversation has been about a sustainment equipment system in the context of worst-case hypotheticals. The thread title narrows it down pretty well, I think. I also acknowledge, in the OP, that equipment will differ for different circumstances, like the realistic camping or day hiking you're referring to. This is more about a proof-of-concept, meant to inform preparedness approaches. I have day hiked plenty, and camped a bit too; unfortunately, I can't do these things right now, due to current life circumstances. I can, however make a trip to a nearby trail at the ass crack of dawn to put myself and some equipment to the test, before the day's other duties require attention.

I am familiar with the backpack brands you mention; I have handled a Mystery Ranch pack, and have used a contemporary USMC ruck a bit, which is of a similar design. I like the external frame packs, due to the increased comfort when worn with load bearing equipment, afforded by the generous space between the wearer's body and the pack; not to mention the general cooling factor too.

Like I said, it's an experiment in worst-case preparedness. If you'd like to discuss the LARPing and "playing navy seal" phenomenon, and it's associated attitudes and outlooks, there's a thread dedicated to it.

I still think the key is to go with caches and lower your weight down to a more manageable level. Every day you’re out there humping that hard takes a big toll on you. I’ve been on some long ruck marches in sandy, hilly country. A few days of that and you get the rubber legs. So how long can you sustain that pace at that load out level, vs how much easier would it be at 35 lbs.

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Motivated by previous comments by 92fstech, and the recent contribution by Ryanp225, I temporarily reconfigured my pack, and eliminated a couple obvious redundancies. The temporary reconfiguration has me omitting anything with a specific military or tactical purpose; the resulting bag is 50 pounds. This is including one liter of water, and the full sleep system; with warmer weather on the horizon, the sleep system would be scaled down, which would balance out the addition of more water, for a resulting weight of probably right around 50 pounds, even with additional water. So, with this pack now in a more "realistic camping" configuration, I am still in the spectrum of what most folks would consider unnecessarily heavy. What am I missing here? 92fstech and Ryanp225, if you were setting out on a three day excursion, with no vehicle, other resupply, or LDA, what weight range are you in?

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92fstech and Ryanp225, if you were setting out on a three day excursion, with no vehicle, other resupply, or LDA, what weight range are you in?

I've done 4 days on 29lbs, including water. I didn't bring any luxuries, but I was safe and comfortable, and ended with probably an extra day's worth of food left over. My gear would be considered pretty low-end in most backpacking circles, too. If someone wanted to spend more money, they could get quite a bit lighter.

Here's a post with some pics and basic info on that trip...we didn't crush miles but there was a good amount of elevation: https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...6031561/m/9730067184

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didn't crush miles

Still a good many miles though. Thanks for referring me to that post. Is it safe to say, on that trip, that you had food, water, a way to get more water, a sleeping bag, a tent, basic hygiene items, a change of socks, and not much more?

I am carrying too much stuff, the wrong stuff, or some combination of the two. I'll figure it out. Thanks again, for your input.

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Is it safe to say, on that trip, that you had food, water, a way to get more water, a sleeping bag, a tent, basic hygiene items, a change of socks, and not much more?

Pretty much. I also packed thermals for that one because it dipped below freezing a couple of nights, had my water shoes, and a pair of shorts...we actually swam in the creek at one point to wash the mud off (lots and lots of mud, but otherwise that place was fantastic!). I had a few extra things, too, like a Med Kit, S&W 360 with a reload, knife...stuff like that.

This one was back before my diabetes diagnosis, so in addition to my tacos I also had a metal cup, a bag of seasoned dry lentils, and some instant mashed potatoes that we cooked over the fire.

I didn’t see toilet paper or wet wipes n your list unless I missed it.

Mothballs (napthalene) is not only great for firestarting, but repels insects, and SNAKES. A few of these in a small, tightly sealed HDPE, or Nalgene, bottle wouldn't hurt in snake country.

kSGM, been doing any more rucks lately? If so, have you made any changes to gear or technique? We did 25 miles last weekend in Kentucky and had to overcome some crummy weather and navigational difficulties, but it went pretty well overall. Averaged about 2mph, mostly on-trail with a fair amount of elevation changes and some obstacles.

I reconfigured and rucked the same route again. I scaled down to a non-frame pack. The event was at night, with NVGs, kit, and rifle. This was a while ago, so I don't recall many specifics. I do know it was not as rough as that 75LB large Alice pack day, but the pack was probably at least thirty pounds lighter.

I have since come full circle, back to the small (I think) Alice pack. The frame pack just suits me better than one without an external frame. I have been making an effort to keep the pack around thirty-five pounds. I did an overnighter about six or seven months ago. Not a super long trek, but all off-trail with a lot of navigation and significant elevation changes. The loadout had a minimalist sleeping arrangement that made for a rather restless night: ground, poncho, me fully clothed and booted, tarp. I have since bolstered the sleeping equipment with a poncho liner and inflatable sleeping mat. With cooler weather now here, I probably need to upgrade further.

I appreciate the follow-up on this topic.

Nice! Yeah, colder weather definitely changes your load out requirements. My kit (with some extra clothing layers thrown in) has kept me alive down into the mid 20's, although it wasn't exactly comfortable. There's no way it would handle a true northern winter night where temps drop below zero.

Off-trail navigation is an interesting thing. I have a pretty easy time of it here in farm country where everything is flat and it's pretty easy to go in a straight line. There are also lots of lakes, ponds, and ditches to use as landmarks. Out west, you have prominent mountain peaks that are pretty easy to see and identify on your map via the topo lines, even if they're not specifically
identified.

In Kentucky, it was just a lot of hills that were similar in height, and we were working our way in and out of coves, and every cove had a creek, and each one looked pretty much like the next one. It was really easy to lose track of where you were, even though we were were on a trail. At times the heavy leaf fall made the trail pretty hard to identify, too, especially in areas where there were a lot of trees down making a mess of everything. I had my compass and a map, but I did have to cheat a couple of times and have my brother pull up the GPS coordinates on his watch to confirm our location on the map.

I have spent a little bit of time in the Kentucky woods, years ago. What you describe is what I remember, and is similar to my area in NE Georgia. The NE Georgia terrain has some steeper ups and downs, when compared to my experience in Kentucky. Up, down, creek, up, down, stream, up, etc. The off-trail movement was in an area I was vaguely familiar with, having been there once before. I was alone, meeting-up with two friends who had already gone in and established a campsite at a previously-agreed-upon location. My navigation landed me within fifty meters of them, so I was pleased. It was about two kilometers into the woods, using three different azimuths. Given the terrain and vegetation, there was a lot of compass checking and pace counting. The pace counts were more-or-less verifiable with landmarks, though the landmarks were not super defined: things like points on ridgetops, intersections of streams, and draws.