Make no mistake about it. Backpacking has blown up in popularity over the years. 33 years ago I picked up a Mt. Whitney permit via mail and didn’t even give it a thought about a “quota”. Now, there is a lottery and I’ve been unsuccesssful 8 straight years. Because of this explosion and evolution of backpacking, I get a lot of questions in my personal life from curious friends and even more questions when I’m helping out a customer at REI who is new to backpacking. In the past few years the “ultralight” community has grown exponentially. I have not fully subscribed to it, but I do appreciate lightening my load and leaving certain luxury items at home, however, I am prone to a few conveniences to make my experience a bit more comfortable. It’s a balance for me.
Now I’m not saying my style is right, but this works for me. Everone has their own style, but here are a few tips and tricks I continually find myself repeating to customers who are wide eyed and learning about backpacking basics.
Sleep System
My first peice of advice is to not just shove your sleeping bag into the bottom of your bag uprotected. That’s an expensive peice of equipment that possibly could keep you alive. The last thing you need is spending hundreds of dollars to have it accidentally ripped or if carrying a dromedary bag full of water, (or a flask of alcohol) having the cap loosen and you get to camp with a giant soggy, and now pretty much worthless down bag. In my opinion, a mandatory peice of equipment is the Sea to summit Compression Dry Bag. It does two things. One, it protects and keeps your bag dry. and two, it compacts your sleeping bag into something not much bigger than a football.
Now my next tip has made my life so much simpler when I get to camp. I pack my entire sleep kit into the footbox of my quilt. When I take it out of my quilt, everything I need to sleep is right there. What do I mean? I mean when I’m packing my bag I put my pillow and my sleeping clothes, and beanie inside the foot box of my bag. And similarly, I take my flextail pump, and put it inside my ground pad so when I unroll it, everything I need is right there.
Packing Up In The Morning
Pack your sleep system before you get out of your tent in the morning. It seems overwhelming at first, but honesty, it takes a few minutes at most. You will thank me when after you enjoy your coffee and breakfast, you go to start packing and everyting inside the tent is already squared away and ready to go into your pack. All you need to do is pack your tent.
Waterproofing Your Backpack
First, unless you have a Hyperlite, your backpack is not waterproof. I don’t care what the company advertises. “Water Resistant” is more like it. Most backpacks come with a rain cover. If you choose to use that to waterproof your bag, you better make sure you have it propertly attached. If not, your stuff is going to get wet. That means anything down is going to lose a lot of insulation power. A good aftermarket cover isn’t going to be cheap either. Plan on spending $60-$100. And when you have a smaller trip planned, and your pack is not filled to capacity, guess what? You are going to have a lot of room for that cover to move and flap around, most likely causing rain to penetrate and get to your bag. But is there a way to make your pack “waterproof?” YES! And it’s as simple as going to your grocery store and buying a trash compacter bag that weighs virtually nothing and costs about $5. You can either line the inside of your bag with it, or do what I do, and anything I do not want to get wet (basically anything down), gets put in the bag, and goes into my backpack. I wrap it tight and boom, my stuff is guaranteed dry. And all for $5.
Katadyn BeFree or the Sawyer Squeeze
I’m a BeFree guy, but many are Sawyer disciples. I’ve tried them both and I just like my BeFree better. My hydration system for hiking is simple. I have one, 1 liter smart water bottle and I have a 1 liter BeFree. I start with the smart water bottle. When I finish it, I drink my BeFree. When I’m taking a break near a water source, I tank up on both bottles with my BeFree. If I’m in an area that has water sources everywhere (the Sierra’s in early summer), than I go even lighter and carry the smart water bottle filled only and just reload it with my BeFree when I need too.
Dig Your Cathole When You Get To Camp
This is exactly what it says. When you get to camp, and don’t have to drop a deuce, you can walk around at your leisure, find a great spot to take care of business, and dig a hole (or two) to the correct specifications. I always try to do my thing with the most amazing view I can find. By doing this, it acomplishes a couple things. First, it sucks when you’ve just had your first cup of coffee, and it’s doing it’s thing by waking up your bowels, and you have to quickly find a good spot, start digging (sometimes frantically), six+ inches through gravel, roots and rocks, and still hit the hole. This fixes tthat problem.
Brush Your Teeth
This is also exactly what it says. There’s something psycholocially soothing about being grimy, but going to bed with clean teeth.
Test Out Your Food
I’m not a big fan of freeze dried food. There are a few companies that do a decent job and I will eat a few different meals from them, but mostly, I tend to cook dinner on the trail. For those that go out and spend $13-$15 for a bag of freeze dried food, for god sakes, test it out at home and see if you can stomach it. The pictures and advertising on the front of these bags make the food look amazing, so people buy it. I see it all the time at REI. There’s absolutely nothing worse than getting to camp after a rough day hiking and you are so excited to eat your Kathmandu Curry and when you take your first bite you think you are eating grass and weeds with a little kick to it. While we are on the topic of food:
Invest in a Dehydrator
One of the biggest reasons people come off trail early is they are sick of the food. You don’t have to spend too much money. I bought one off amazon for $150 and more recently was gifted one from a good friend. If you do go the freeze dried route, how awesome would it be to grab a silver dollar sized strip of deyhdrated sriracha to put with your food. Or maybe while your food is rehydrating, add some dried onions, beef jerky, bell peppers or mushrooms? Total game changer. One of my go to’s is dehyrating imitation crab, and adding some of that, some dehyrated onion and siracha to Spicy Seafood Ramen.
Bring AirPods
I know this is controversial. But when I’m laboring up a big climb by myself, I do appreciate listening to music. Second, when I’m laying in my tent trying to go to sleep, I like to listen to an Audible book. This is an invaluable item I bring on my solo trips.
Bring a change of clothes
There is no better feeling than getting off trail, putting your bag in your car and grabbing a bag full of clean comfortable clothes, deodorant and shoes for the drive home. It’s something I look forward too when i’m headed home. If you like to celebrate with an alcoholic beverage and your trailhead was next to a river, I would dig a hole near the riverbank and put a beer or two sealed in a gallon bag into it and cover it up. Having an ice cold beer after a successful trip was a nice reward! These days, I lean towards a cold Diet Pepsi.
These are a few of my hacks, trips, and tricks that work for me and my style. I don’t bring a hiking chair. I prefer dirt or a log. I don’t bring a lot of clothes. I prefer to wash what I have when I get to camp. I don’t bring a tent footprint. I think they are overrated and a waste of money. I don’t bring a large knife or multi-tool, I have a tiny swiss army knife. But that’s me and how I roll. You are different. If it works for you, and you are happy, than go be you. The most important think is having fun and getting out there. Happy trails!
