B BRI
Member
Also, remember you are at an advantage already if you live at altitude of 7000 feet. Most people who are backpacking live at lower elevations than they hike.
It's definately an advantage to live at altitude, one of the reasons the Olympic Training Center is in Colorado Springs. There's an old saying that you know you're from Colorado when you notice that people from out of state breathe 5 times as often as you do.
As far as lugging my duty belt / gear / vest . . . probably at least 25 pounds and quite a bit of up and down hill, but on good trails and sidewalks. Not that I do it everyday, but often enough. I'll admit it's definately a different beast if you are humping up into the hills on a game trail.
Frankly, If I need to carry that much gear into the hills, my horse is going to be carrying it. For day long hiking in the hills west of here (aka the Rocky Mountains) packing a 44 or 45 is just something I do. Like Taffin, I'm still looking for the perfect packin' pistol. Awfully fond of my Ruger Vaquero Montado in 45 Long Colt these days.
In my younger days when I did pack in on foot for multiple days, I simply lightened my pack instead of forgoing a big shooting iron.
Two many big critters in the woods, including the two legged ones . . .