Water can become the single heaviest item one carries.  One strategy for well watered areas like the Wind River includes carrying a bottle with built-in filter plus a standard one liter water bottle. Drink with the built-in filter bottle whenever there are water sources. Drink from the other bottle as soon as purification is complete, when the built-in is empty on the trail, or when there are no other water sources. Refill both and purify or pump the one liter bottle as soon as a new source is available. Take hiking breaks where there is water, to fully rehydrate with the built-in filter bottle.  Of course you can always carry a couple liters of water and pump whenever you find a stream.
     c. First aid kit, complete with an oral antibiotic. (Cuts get infected.) Better yet, take along a couple doctors like I do, Bruce and David, plus now the oral surgeon, Bob. Add daughter Sarah who was trained in wilderness survival when she was in the professional residency program at the Teton Science School. (Of course I earned the First Aid Boy Scout merit badge in 1955, and have an elephant's memory about these sorts of things.) Point: someone needs to have advanced first aid training. You never know. A minor cut that becomes infected can become dangerous. Bones break. Stitches may be necessary.
     d. Topo maps of the area; assumes you know how to use them.
     e. Compass, a good one with which you can take sightings, GPS is for someone else. We have recently started to include a satellite phone for the group. Probably not a bad idea with so many aged folks among us.
     f. For day hikes, bring a small pack properly stowed with the essentials. Add a little extra food, plus necessary maps. Include a Ziploc with whistle, matches, knife, and compass.  Extra clothing is a good idea (warm hat, light gloves and quality rain gear-a must, an extra upper layer of clothing in another zip lock in case what you are wearing gets soaked). I take as extra on day hikes a long sleeved, light weight, silk underwear garment, top and bottem. A blue bird morning can become a swirling snow storm in the P.M, even in late July.
     g. Flashlight, extra batteries and extra bulb.
     h. A good knife; someone in your group can bring a small all-in-one-tool. I'm not sure it's absolutely necessary, so let someone else carry it.
     i. Fire-making items (lighter, or matches in waterproof container, candle).
     j. A small Ziploc with miscellaneous repair material (e.g., thread, needle,  super glue, spare parts for stove, buttons, pencil and paper, safety pins, length of wire, tent repair tape, air mattress repair, duct tape, etc.)
     k. Good scotch, especially important.
     l. Well healed, but not too worn, high quality hiking boots. Along with good rain gear and drinking water, boots are the most important items in the wild.  Think "basics". Imagine trying to get home without any of these three. A slow learner, I've had two opportunities to learn a lesson about boots. I once reattached soles with snare wire in British Columbia, 1968. We were 3 days from our trailhead. Lucky one of my partners was carrying the wire (see j above) and a knife with leather awl/tool. The second time, in 2002, I hiked "the last leg" of our trip (fortunately only a mile or so) in a Teva sandal when a boot gave way. I was using a fairly new pair of hi tech Asolo boots. (To hell with Asolos.) I was actually walking on nails on one heal as the shoe last broke down. I placed inserts of all kinds in the heal but nothing anyone had worked. Asolo was experimenting with plastics. I bought the boots a year prior at the Jackson Hole Mountaineering Store, supposed authorities. This was only the second trip with these space age boots. (To hell with the JHM Store. Stupid me to trust the sale person's sales pitch. I should have known there was something fishy about a store full of Japanese tourists.) Don't experiment with boots. Buy standard new ones before the old ones give way. Make sure they fit and are sufficiently broken in and do not cause blisters. You can't tell unless you test them first with a fully loaded pack and a long trial trail with a climb. (Once I wore a 50# pack on a "step exercise machine" at our health club. I been a member 25 years and never seen anyone else try this. Good to be a first to summitt something. I have, my club's step machine.) Leather boots have worked fine for centuries. (To hell with hi tech boots.)  And buy boots made for heavy loads and long trips. A badly sprained ankle and the trip is over, not only for you but for those who must figure how to get you out. It happened once to a hiking patner who wore light weight boots.
     m. They are so handy and weigh little, I bring two bandannas (wash cloth, towel, bug swatter, sun shade, headgear, pot cleaner and holder, sweat band, band aid and if you catch a cold or run out of toliet paper.  Well, you get the idea.)
 

·         It is no fun hiking all day everyday; the corollary, hike hard the first few days while fresh and strong; then make a base camp and day-hike. Move to another base camp if you must. Cross country trips are for 20 year olds.  (Of course this is a 65 year old's point of view.)

·         If you do decide cross country is for you, use the fourth or fifth day for rest, do a zero hike day, don't break camp, sit around and count birds, smell wild flowers, read something by Wallace Stegner, catch cuts (12-13" are the best eating), sip some scotch, enjoy family and friends.

·        Ten-twelve days are the outer limit without getting restocked by an outfitter. There are outfitters available in the Wind River to spot food.

·         Two week trips, food brought in by an outfitter with lots of time just “to be or not to be” in the wilderness, are now the best trips of all. Corollary: It is ok to sit around camp. Take time to savor.

·         Shorten the handle of your toothbrush, count sheets of toilet paper, and take the paper piece off your teabag (you can use the string) as examples for how to lighten your load. If you bring home anything you didn’t need and use, you’ve blown it and are a poor planner. The point: take only the very minimum of everything, especially food. A 55-60# pack is hell climbing 2500' (the only way to get into anything interesting in the Winds and unfortunately the worst way to start any trip). A 45# pack should be the target, so catch and eat lots of fish. Plan to lose 5-8# on the trip, that's body weight not food you carried but you didn't eat. (It's Colin Fletcher who suggests “shortened tooth brushes and string only teabags.” If you don't know who he is, either you do not belong in the Winds or you are too young to know about this father of contemporary backpacking.)

·         Plan and expect to get lost on the Wind River Indian Reservation if you decide to go there. The Indians have cut lots of trails, not on the topos. So stay on top of your compass and your topos. Learn to orient. Don’t fret if you get lost. It's lots of fun figuring out where you are and no big deal as long as you have gear with you. It's ok to get lost, just don't get lost too badly.

·         Never bushwhack to save distance if you have a known trail. It will always cost you time and energy. Bushwhacking is for the moose. But like moose, if you really want to know the wild country, bushwhack. Don't bushwhack after age 65. Did so last year and it was not fun.

·         If you have to bushwhack, take compass headings every 100 yards or so in heavy forest. When in heavy forest, always check to see if the person behind you is "close-up".  You can become separated in short order. Carry a loud whistle on bushwhack and always have a failsafe, specific rendezvous point identified, like a lake outlet in case you get split. No one bushwhacks who doesn't have experience, a personal compass, topos, gear, and knows how to use them all.

·         Don’t get lost while day hiking without rain gear. Don't go any where without rain gear. A bad storm or night alone in the woods is scary and if it gets cold or rains, it's very dangerous.

·        To put it another way, don't cut corners on good rain gear. Worth repeating. I once helped carry a young woman, not of my party,  down a Colorado peak. She got caught in heavy rains, at high altitude without adequate rain gear. Hypothermia kills. She had it but made it, one lucky lady there were other folks in her neighborhood to help her out.

·         Never go any place alone, including fishing hikes. I don't really want to say "never solo" but I probably should.  If you must go alone, always tell someone where you are headed and your expected return time. Don't change your plan no matter how bad  or good the fishing might be. "I'm going down stream no more than a mile to catch dinner fish and will return no later than.... I will follow the stream both down and back." (Now the real truth, solo hiking is actually pretty special. I've done my share. But know what you are doing and be sure others know where you are going. I'd bushwhack alone only if I had to. Satellite phones make solo hiking lower risk.)

·         Know the food you have packed. Don’t try anything new you have not tried at home. Take food you really, really like to eat. It is a morale builder, especially if things are not going well. Nothing better than looking forward to tasty specialties, a long slow meal, and sharing it with others. Fresh herbs travel well for several days, and can be refreshed in cool water. Sun dried tomatoes, dried mushrooms, spices and Parmesan cheese weigh little. If you must skimp, at least bring whole garlic! Eat well. Bluebell leaves make great salads. Wild onions and garlic are often easy to find. Take a few ounces of good salad oil. Then know your mushrooms. Have a fresh salad after a week of freeze dried gooble-d-gook. Ask if anyone in your party has a glass of Pinot Grigio.

·         More about food. Always, always, take less than you think you need. When you are working hard, your digestive system backs off and signals the brain to eat less. It short, you are never as hungry as you might assume when you are on the prairie purchasing and packing food. This is especially true of heavy lunches if they are mostly dried fruit, nuts and power bars, all fairly heavy to tote. Water is critical. Basic foods are necessary, but don't overload. Lose some pounds. They come back quite easily. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day; better carbos than proteins for breakfast but you need both.

·         Even more about food. Repackage your food at home to eliminate unnecessary packaging and reduce trash you will have to pack out. Every ounce counts here too.  I weigh everything with a small mail scale. Trash matters.

·         Plan gear choices with your backpacking partners to share weight and reduce unnecessary duplication.

·         Always hang food and anything that smells, e.g. toiletries, bug spray, etc. Don't leave food on the ground during the day. We've had bears in camp many times. If they show up, black bears don't like noise, at least usually, but not always. Blow whistles and bang pans and they often leave. (We yelled, screamed, blew whistles, pounded on pans when a black bear showed up at Deadman. Finally, two hours later, having found nothing to eat, it left on its own. We cheered when it was gone.)  Stay as clear of all bears as much as you can. Move together. All bears are potentially dangerous. If a grizzley shows up, be scared as hell. Black bears when startled, angry, protective, or hungry have attacked hikers. But infrequesntly. I carry bear spray and leave it inside my tent, where I can find it, at night

·         Some days hiking up hill all afternoon with full packs, above 9,000 feet in the full summer heat, I've consumed over 1 a gallon of water. Know specifically where you will rehydrate. Drought and late summer can dry up many small streams.

·         Here is how we eat. Breakfast: carbs of choice, precooked bacon for a treat, varied freeze dried breakfasts, coffee with a chaser of varied hot chocolate. Tang and lots of water. Lunch, see above.  (In 2006, I brought reindeer salami and dried cod from a trip to Norway. The former is excellent; the later ugly.)  Dinner: a soup first (e.g., minestrone, Thai, or chicken noodle) while you await the rest of the meal and then a freeze dried choice. REI and Sierra Trading Post often have freeze dried clearance sales. When they do, buy a lot. Freeze dried lasts for years. Various crackers packed in throw away plastic containers are nice to have with the soup. The disposal, light weight containers serve well to pack trash. Fish can always replace a freeze dried dinner. So pack a few very light dinners with only rice or another carb, then add filet of cutthroat. Ask if any one in your party has a glass of Fume Blanc.

·         Take a good first aid kit including an oral antibiotic and antibiotic cream. (See above.) I've needed oral antibiotics three times: an abscessed tooth, an infected finger from a seemingly harmless scratch, and an infected thumb from the teeth of big old toothy trout who got nasty while holding him for a picture. Your doc will write you a prescription if you tell her what it’s for. Same goes for a prescription pain killer. A safe bet to have both with you in case of severe injury or infection.

·         Take good booze; there is no place in the world that a snort tastes any  better.... except than  perhaps at a Dartmouth fraternity, say Winter Carnival in 1962.

·         Avoid high passes late afternoon if it looks stormy. Get down quickly if clouds build.  If you get caught high in a storm, hunker down in a safe place. Not by a scrub tree or large boulder, a target for lightning no matter how tempting. Don't be the tallest object around. If you are above tree line, storms a-brewing, and you are the tallest creature, hike down; find a safer place. Respect momma nature. She gets angry when you don't. Pay attention to what she tells you.  If the time between lightning and thunder is a few seconds or less, you are already in serious trouble if you are in an open place; go to a safe place immediately. Stay there until the last rumble of thunder is heard. In short, clear out of open high places the first sign of storm clouds.  Storms move fast in the mountains. If you get caught, get down. 

·         Leave nothing behind, especially new fire rings. Use campfires only at sites where other established fire rings can be found, and then, infrequently, or better yet, not at all. Use cook stoves.  Leave the Winds and campsites in better condition than you found them.  Use existing paths on trails, don't cut new ones. Tread lightly especially above the timberline on the fragile tundra. Don't break new campsites. Pitch soapy biodegradable dish water far away from waters. Bury human waste deep and dishwater >200 feet from trail or water. With large parties, spread the tents widely, again always following the 200 feet rule. You sometimes have to wrestle with exceptions to this rule if you have a large party, nightfall, no place to camp and a pre-existing campsite someone else has set within the 200 feet standard. Pick up others' trash, when you can, a price we pay for the disrespectful. Nature is impossible to improve upon but easy to spoil.

·         Don’t miss any year without a wilderness backpack trip. When you get to be my age, you will wonder when you will run out of opportunities and why in the world you missed certain years. 

·         Constantly refresh your memories because that is all you will have to work with someday.