New Year's Resolution - A Blog Series

Part 1: Lose Weight, in my Backpack, But How? A Mind Mapping Exercise, Of Course

By Retta Witter, Senior Consultant, J. Geiger Consulting, Inc.

So I’m interested in doing the Ice Age Trail. It’s over 1000 miles long and goes through Wisconsin. I’m not currently planning small through-hikes, but I would like to hike it all and become a thousand miler. It’s not as amazing or well known as other trails like the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail in the US, or Pennine Way in the United Kingdom, but it does go through some of the world’s most beautiful countryside.

“It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves”
— Sir Edmund Hillary

To do the multi-day hike I really need to get in shape for the miles but also reduce the weight of my backpack. For the record, the last time I did a portion of the Lake Eleven trail my pack with water and food was 37 lbs. As I was researching how much my backpack should weigh, I discovered there are multiple approaches:

  1. Base weight model— all items minus consumables such as food and water

    • Superultralight backpacker (SUL) carries a base weight under 5 lbs

    • Ultralight backpacker (UL) carries a base weight under 10 lbs

    • Lightweight backpacker (LW) carries a base weight under 20 lbs

  2. Percentage of your body weight. You do the math, I’ll keep the numbers general (NOT MINE!). Numbers: for a 150 lb person:

    • Not to exceed 20% FULLY loaded would be 30 lbs

    • Day hiking no more than 10% which equates 15 lbs

    • Interesting Fact: 1 gallon of water weighs over 8 lbs

I started looking at what my MVP— minimum viable product— would be (weight of equipment I want to take with me). I think I would like to try and get to the lightweight backpacker level— 19.9 lbs. with no food or water.

This is me camping at a state park and trying out a hammock to sleep in. It was doable with a few changes and I did sleep in one on Grand Island in 2019.

Then I had more questions:

  1. How long will I be gone? Makes a big difference on the gear I need…

  2. Where will I be sleeping? Makes a big difference on the gear I need…

  3. Who is coming with me? Makes a big difference on the gear I need…

  4. What will the weather be like? Makes a big difference on the gear I need and it’s Wisconsin where the weather changes often.

Then I started thinking about what I need to do for the actual hike itself and I decided a mind map would help me best understand. For those unfamiliar with mind mapping, here’s a visual:

Using a whiteboard can be a great way to mind map. There are also several Web-based mind mapping software tools on the market.

After using a whiteboard for the first pass at visually structuring and organizing my thoughts around a central idea, I then refined the results into a more legible format:

Main Topic: Hiking Trip

Branches

  1. Trip Basics

    • Subtopics

      • Group Info

        • Me

        • >1— share gear (camp stove, water filter)

        • >1— not sharing gear (I will only share my tent with family)

      • Length

        • Day Hike

        • Overnight hike

        • Multi-night hike

      • Goal

        • Distance

        • Take Photos

        • Geocache (it’s a lot of fun)

        • Get into nature

        • Do a segment of the IAT

  2. Food…

  3. Gear…

This exercise helped me set a goal to address enriching trip activities. It also helped me determine various aspects of food and gear that I need to pack. As I continue to “unpack” the topic of gear, I can see that it would be helpful to create an inventory of my gear and its weight to help me understand what my options are.

My first goal is to do the Lake Eleven segment in May. I did part of the Lake Eleven segment and the hike was beautiful, but I was unprepared for the cold, the weight and the hills!

Finally, I shared my mind mapping exercise with my hiking friends, and my friend, Dan, pointed out a few key things that I totally missed. Here is his feedback (for the record, yes, Dan was in the military and I thanked him for his input):

  • Schedule. How long will it take to get to each stop? Estimate 2 mi per hour.

  • Where are the water stops along the way? Do you have enough water to get to the next one?

  • Emergency exits/escape plan. If someone gets hurt what is the fastest way to get help? What is the fastest way to get out? If you get lost, where do you go to get back to civilization?

Now that I have some idea of what I need to address I can plan to do that. Over the next several months I will be using more BA techniques to help me better plan and execute my goal of hiking the Ice Age Trail and becoming a thousand miler.

Have you used a mind map before? How did you use it? Do you think I missed anything? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

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