Day Hike - Fort Steilacoom Park

Leader rated moderate r/t pace

Welcome to Weighted Wednesdays-a social way to get in some mid-week training.  Each week we will demo some strength exercises as well as find some hills and stairs to climb with weighted backpacks.  The purpose is to gradually train your body to carry your full backpack weight. 

Because it is annoying to compress and release your actual gear for a two-hour walk in town, many people use things like dog food, rice, bags of Costco baking soda, or actual rucking weights…

This is also a good opportunity to trial shoes and see how your backpack feels over time.  We always welcome any backpacking/hiking questions. 

If you just want to come for a walk…that is fine too.

Some weeks have an optional post meetup-think more community and exchange of hiking/backpacking ideas

Here are useful links from REI on training exercises for hiking and backpacking

https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/hiking-training.html

https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/conditioning-backpacking.html

Useful links on adding weight and miles gradually.  Yes it is in metric, but the point is gradually increasing your backpack weight and miles to goal (and keeping your pack weight down to avoid injury and fatigue, as well as maximize enjoyment and daily miles)

https://www.inov8.com/us/blog/post/backpacking-training?srsltid=AfmBOoqQuJR7rilqZl2vD85v-4gxt-JI9N0IoT_8UdNcXqtrLkQklPgg

https://www.summitstrength.com.au/blog/how-to-train-for-a-heavy-pack#:~:text=Trail%20Pack%20Walking&text=So%20a%20few%20good%20principles,by%205%25%20every%204%20weeks

5:30 PM Fort Steilacoom Park at the Waughop Lake TH. There is plenty of parking and bathrooms are available.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Waughop+Lake+Trailhead/@47.1730513,-122.5653961,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m9!1m2!2m1!1sfort+steilacoom+park!3m5!1s0x549100b4e26d3457:0x56830d3966a9a6b!8m2!3d47.1730478!4d-122.5605252!16s%2Fg%2F11g9ngpb45?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIwNS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D