Many people do, on the other hand I've encountered some ultra lighters and they are a different breed. Almost aboriginal. They have a tent (usually a tarp tent) backpack, bladder, filter and dried food, maybe a pot and stove and that is it. They cut the tags off everything, even scrape labels off bottles and stuff. They want to be sub-30lbs. But they're averaging more miles per day.
I should say questioning the account of the person who weighed it rather than questioning the person.I have thought about what tent did he have before this two man big one, yes. I believe I've seen his sleeping bag rolled up in a bag with a draw string in one pic. Having done races in the woods for many hours, I would not assume that any weight is scantThe owner of the shop that sold him the tent said they couldn't get rid of the heavy thing and it was odd for MH to want it for thru-hiking. The difference between 2.7 and 3 pounds can be huge. A lighter. His winter jacket and gloves. Food. He had some fuel. Knife, utensils, maps, cases, covers, compass?, emergency kit?, toothbrush and paste, cleaner/soap, wallet, bandana, flip flops. You haven't really mentioned why you're going here though. I think it is obvious he had a bigger backpack and carried more weight than anybody, whether it's 40 or 50 lbs. Are you questioning whether he got rid of some of his stuff somehow or...? Are you questioning the person who weighed it?
He could have tossed it anywhere though, in any garbage bin, etc. He could have even burned stuff if he didn't want evidence of it. Instead he kept carrying it until the end. I believe he planned to use that stuff later, on or off the trail.
Obsidian, who I think was the one who hiked the longest with him at 5 days, said he reached in his wallet and pulled out cash. I believe Bob, the shop owner who sold him the tent, said he had a wallet that was stuffed with cash. Now, maybe later on, he lost the wallet or had it taken from him.
Would I embarrass myself to ask what WT101 is? <-- update: After research, I think I know now
Hopefully someone can say what exact place he was at where he filled this in. This confirms something I wasn't sure about. I have heard him say hikers named him Denim. I have heard hikers call him Denim but here it confirms he did take "official" ownership of that trail name for a period of time and up to Nov 22, 2017, near the end of the Appalachian Trail. Now, I don't think we have heard from any hiker who was there when he was actually named...unless he actually named himself Denim but said others named him. BTW, if you didn't want people to find you for whatever reason, wouldn't you change your trail name often?
We know he was at Tray Mountain Shelter in Nov 2017 so he would only be so far from there.
I think he was pretty sure those from his past weren't going to see pictures of him hiking on the trail - and, based on lack of identification, it appears he was correct. But he knew if he gave out his real name, people could connect him to his past. Why he wanted to remain unknown? That's the $64k question.
I saw these over on the FB forum earlier, and thought: that's clearly "Ben Bilemy" and not something else based on poor handwriting. About the only letter that could be misconstrued would be the letter "m" but that seems to match his "m" in "Denim," right below; and his signature looks like someone who is not used to scribbling out a pseudonym. In fact, it almost seems like he automatically began writing different letters (y? j?) in a signature-soup.
It looks like he has signed that name plenty of times before. We probably have his signature writing and possibly his close to regular writing. Look at his capital B for instance. Highly doubtful he made up a whole new way of writing for his fake name. This strengthens my thought that Ben could very well be his real first name.
Totally agreed about identity. I think he was probably concerned with identity theft and he may have had some wealth. He had expressed to one hiker something along the lines of not using social media, cell phone or such because of being concerned with being hacked or identity stolen, can't remember exactly. In that case, his pic wouldn't matter so much as his personal and family information. It could have even been his family, parents who were very well off. He isn't concerned with whether his pic gets distributed and recognized by anyone. I don't think anybody was looking for him.
He could absolutely be from NY or LA and speak with a general American accent. Some people grow up with neutral accents. Some learn to hide their accents when they move to a new city or start working in the professional world. We've discussed this before in this thread or the last one...
