Quick Summary
- Peter Gierlach shares his past backpacking experiences with traditional equipment and the struggles that came from it. Since his introduction to Hyperlite Mountain Gear, he's enjoying the pursuit much more, and looks forward to sharing this better way to adventure with his son someday.
Words and Photos by Peter Gierlach - YouTube: Slow and Strenuous
My breaking point came when I got passed on the trail by Mennonites.
No disrespect to those hard working folks. Their work ethic is admirable.
But when three young men who looked like they had just left church in their bowl cuts, dress shoes, suspenders, and button down plaid shirts passed me with smiles and well-wishes, something inside me screamed:
“There has to be a better way.”
At that point in my hike in Acadia National Park, I was exhausted. My gear was crap, and I knew it. It was weighing down my shoulders, slowing my pace, and making the whole experience less enjoyable.
Which had been the case for my entire life in the outdoors.
Growing up, I spent my free time wandering around the Appalachian foothills in New York’s Southern Tier. My friends and I would wander through the woods for hours, regardless of the weather. We spent our summers camping in hand-me-down tents riddled with holes and sleeping on yoga mats. Once, my toes were almost frostbitten after my cheap boots tore in the front and revealed the Styrofoam that was doing nothing to protect my digits from the cold.
The quality of our gear was never a question, in part because we couldn’t afford any of our own.
Through my 20s, as my adventures became more ambitious, my gear didn’t. My dad gave me everything he had, which was kind, but archaic. I hiked through the Green Mountains in Vermont with his heavy, 1980s full-frame Coleman pack. This elicited a few chuckles from older hikers, who claimed they hadn’t seen something like that in over thirty years.
On a backpacking trip with my dad along the Appalachian Trail, I used his old “new” pack—one I was given because the strap was torn, there was a hole in one of the most important pockets, a few zippers didn’t work, and the thing weighed about six pounds when empty. While I enjoyed exploring the AT together, and have fond memories of the experience, every step on that trip was a crime against my joints.
The worst experience came on a longer trip through the Adirondacks, when said six-pound-pack was weighed down with another thirty-plus pounds of gear. I think it was on mile thirteen of our second day, less than halfway up Algonquin’s 5,114 feet, where I considered chucking the whole rig off the cliff-face and floating my way to the top. Instead, breathless, I decided better of it. Soldering on, I was so exhausted that I felt like I was going to vomit with every step.
For years I knew my gear was a problem, and that it was keeping me from having more enjoyable backcountry experiences.
But something about those Mennonites got under my skin, to the point where I knew something had to change.
That’s when I discovered Hyperlite Mountain Gear.
Intrigued by the promise of gear that exercised the mystical combination of being light, durable, and comfortable, I started by testing out the Daybreak 22 pack on a trip to Glacier and Banff National Parks.
When the package arrived at my doorstep, I picked up it and was shocked by what I found:
The package itself weighed nothing.
“Okay, I thought, maybe this is different.”
Containing nothing but the essentials, the pack forced me to only pack those essentials; nothing superfluous would fit. The packing strategy combined with the overall lightness led to a setup that felt better than any I had tried in the past.
For the first time, wandering through those beautiful trails, I forgot I even had a pack on. I was completely lost in the experience. Instead of feeling my shoulders burn, I could set my attention on the beauty of the carved rock around me. Rather than stopping every so often to catch my breath from a heavy rig, my feet took me farther than ever before. My limited miles became seemingly limitless, allowing me to discover new places I never would have seen otherwise. Upon finishing each hike, I didn’t feel thrashed. Instead, I felt a healthy mixed of tired, exhilarated, and ready for more.
I was hooked.
Soon after I returned, the Contour 35 entered my rotation. Living so close to the Adirondacks, backpacking opportunities are plentiful, and I wanted a setup that could take me on either long day hikes or multi-day trips with ease.
This packed has since accompanied me on some of my favorite journeys, including a thru hike of the Giant Mountain Wilderness that left me breathless—from the beauty, not from the weight of my pack.
Since my friends have seen me enjoy these packs so much, I’ve become a bit of an evangelist in my community. Now, every time a friend goes on a long hiking trip, I’m asked to loan out either my Daybreak or Contour. And each time, they return with plans to pick up one of their own. Because they find out through experience what I did a few years ago:
When your gear is light, durable, and comfortable, you can actually focus on being present in nature—which is the whole point of going out in the first place.
Now, as a new father, my adventures are more modest in scale. Most typically start after the morning feed—just before dawn—and get me back home later that evening so I can help with the nighttime routine. Trying to pack in as much adventure as I can in this timeframe requires Hyperlite gear—because no other setup can allow me the ease and comfort that this system brings. I can simply grab my Daybreak or Contour, pre-packed with my essentials, toss it in the car, and head out on my way. I don’t have to worry about distance, weather, or terrain, because I know they will hold up to all of it. And with so much on my mind already, the peace that comes with knowing my gear system is completely dialed in regardless of the situation takes one important thing off of my increasingly full plate.
Someday, years from now, the time will come when I’ll have the honor of passing down my hiking gear to my son. My dad was thrilled to do this for me, and despite my playful complaints about what I was given, it was the best available at the time. He invested in what he was able to because he, too, cared about adventure. He wanted to see it all, experience the wilderness, lose himself in nature. He wanted to pass those experiences on to me. Heavy packs and all.
And boy, did he ever.
Now, looking forward, I can picture myself taking that Contour 35 out of the closet, packing it with stuff sacks, and bringing it to my son. When he looks at me, I’ll say:
“Here you go. Now it’s your turn.”
Knowing that he’ll see more, do more, and experience more than I ever will, thanks in part to Hyperlite Mountain Gear, is a special thought. And I’m sure he’ll appreciate his hand-me-downs keeping him light, comfortable, and prepared for whatever he decides to experience. I want to make sure he will have the best. And I’m confident that he will.
I just hope he’ll invite me along for the ride.
Who knows, maybe someday the two of us head back to Maine, galloping through the rocky terrain with ease, where we can smile and wave as we pass by a group of kind young Mennonites.
I can only dream.
Pete Gierlach is a writer from upstate New York. He has spent much of his life exploring the forests of the Northeast, where he loves to backpack, paddle, and wander around any path his feet can find. He also runs the "Slow and Strenuous Dispatch", which focuses on living well in our fast-paced world. You can read his work at petegierlach.substack.com.
