Scroll any hiking forum and you'd think every thru-hiker now carries a sub-10-pound kit wrapped in DCF and Alpha Direct. But fresh survey data from the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail suggests the ultralight revolution is more hype than reality.

The Trek's 2025 AT thru-hiker survey, which drew 279 respondents, found the average hiker started with a 20-pound base weight and finished at 18 pounds. Compare that with 2016, the first year the survey tracked base weights: the average was 19 pounds. In other words, nearly a decade of ultralight marketing, new materials and forum evangelism has barely moved the needle.

The Pacific Crest Trail tells the same story. Halfway Anywhere's 2025 PCT survey logged an average starting base weight of 17.8 pounds and an ending weight of 15 pounds — almost identical to 2016's figures of 19.6 and 15.5. Only a tiny fraction of AT respondents hit the commonly accepted ultralight threshold of a sub-10-pound base weight.

So what's actually happening? Gear is getting lighter — hikers have swapped leather boots for trail runners and mummy bags for quilts — but most people are cherry-picking a few featherlight pieces rather than embracing full minimalist philosophy. The 2025 AT survey's top tents were the ultralight Zpacks Duplex and Durston X-Mid, but third place went to the decidedly non-UL Big Agnes Copper Spur. Backpacks tell a similar tale: light-but-conventional models like the Osprey Exos and ULA Circuit dominated, and the average pack capacity was 53 litres — far more room than a true ultralight kit would ever need.

There's a logic to this. Getting under 10 pounds means ruthless trimming of luxuries and redundancies. Many hikers would rather use lighter gear to bank a few pounds, then spend that budget on a wider sleeping pad, extra socks or a paperback. An 18-pound base weight feels light enough for most, and modern equipment makes that comfortable.

The author also raises a fair question about diminishing returns: saving strain on your joints matters little if a spartan kit leaves you cold and sleepless every night. Their own setup pairs a Zpacks Duplex tent and Katabatic quilt with a burly, high-insulation Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm pad — a mix, not a manifesto.

For anyone planning a long trail this year, the takeaway is reassuring: you don't need an extreme (and expensive) ultralight kit to keep up. The average thru-hiker out there is carrying around 18 to 20 pounds of gear, blending ultralight favourites with ordinary equipment, and doing just fine. Buy the gear that fits your comfort threshold, resist the social media pressure, and remember that the mythical sub-10-pound crowd remains a small — if very vocal — minority.