I'm kind of laughing at this thread and wondering about 2 things. What the hell are you guy's caring with you and is this an athletic meet your preparing for or a hunt. Here's a few thing's I learned that make elk hunting more enjoyable. Horses are your friend, if you don't have them then find somebody in that area that can provide them, your hunting in 4 legged country!

Slow down! I've seen folks hit the mountains in great shape thinking it's a foot race and get gassed in the first 500 ft of elevation change. Only carry what you absolutely need with the top priority being making a fire if needed, enough food for a day and water. Since water is nearly always available in the mountains I keep that to a minimum, it's heavy and drags you down.

My old Pop probably logged more elk hunting time than anybody I know and his gear bag probably weighed less than 5 lbs with allot of that weight being that WWII bag he had it in. His rifle weighed 9 lbs with a scope and he carried a box of ammo. He carried a knife, small axe, mirror, compass, matches, 1 inch blocks of paraffin wrapped in wax paper and about 20ft of parachute cord, small flashlight with extra batteries. He also carried a small 8 power monocular in his shirt pocket and a 3 bladed knife in his pant's pocket. He fed 5 kid's very well and kept the meat locker full at all times.

Well thats great if you have access to horses. Most people don't. Horses are a pain in the butt too, i remember one year the people camped next to us lost one of theirs and spent the remainder of their elk hunt tramping around the mountain trying to find it. Personally id rather just walk, you couldn't pay me to bring a horse.

And as far as the weight, i was referring to humping your elk meat off the mountain. We carry the quarters in backpacks and hike it out.

I do not know of a place in elk country where you couldn't make arrangements to bring horses into camp for your hunt. Not only did my father in-law outfit for elk he also provided horses for those that didn't have them and even sent guys in just to pack out an elk. The quicker you can get that meat off the mountain the better it will be for both you and the meat. I've had far more headaches from hunters than I ever had from a horse.