Ultra Light Backpacking Tips 

There’s a saying among backpackers…

“Be comfortable during the day or comfortable at night.”

What is Ultralight Backpacking?

Ultralight backpackers do almost anything possible to reduce their Base Pack Weight – the weight of their backpack plus all gear less any consumables like food and water.  Where a traditional backpacker may carry twenty to thirty pounds or more of gear, and ultralight backpacker shoots to carry close to ten pounds!  They do this by not only carrying less stuff, but also by using high tech gear that offers performance with high wuality materials that weigh less than standard gear.

How Much Weight Can I Safely Carry on My Back? 

 In general, a safe backpack weight target is 20% or less of your body weight.  For example, say you weigh 150 pounds – 150 pounds x .20 = 30 pounds target max weight on your back.  But you never want to just start carrying that much weight without training.  Learn how to train to backpack here.

How Much Does Food and Water Weigh?

 Backpacking food

You usually need 1.5-2 pounds of food/day.  Remember that you are usually eating breakfast off trail on Day 1 and dinner off trail on the final day.  So for a 4 day trip, you will need 3 breakfasts, 4 lunches and 3 dinners.  The first week of a backpacking trip, you can probably get away with the lower amount of food.  Through hikers or those hiking more than a week will find their appetites growing rapidly and will most likely want two pounds of food per day.  Aim for high calorie yet lightweight foods.  For some backpacking food ideas, check out our Nutrition Show Page and podcast.

 Water Weight

Water weighs 8.34 pounds per gallon/ 1 kg per liter.  So you don’t have to carry any more water than necessary, be sure to check out our podcast episode and Show Notes page on How to choose a water treatment system for backpacking.  

How to Reduce Your Base Pack Weight

The four bulkiest and heaviest items that make up your base weight are your backpack, shelter, sleeping bag and sleeping pad.  This is the first line of attack when you hope to become an ultralight backpacker. 

Ultralight Backpacks  

A regular backpacks weigh 3-4 pounds but you can find a quality ultralight backpack for under 2 pounds!

            How to Fit and Choose a Backpack               How to Backpack

Shelter  

For your shelter, consider all means:  a tent, tarp, or bivvy sack (Episode 11).  You may find your shelter base weight going from 5 pounds or more to under 1 pound.  Traditional tents weigh about 2.5 pounds per person.  Only buy a three season tent instead of four season if you don’t camp in winter or where temperatures dip below forty degrees (4-5C).  Use titanium stakes instead of aluminum or steel stakes. TIP: Tie neon surveryor tape on the hooks so you don’t accidentally leave one behind.

Sleeping Bag     

One way to save a lot of weight on your bedroom is to use a down sleeping bag.  Down fill is much lighter and compresses more than synthetic fill (although the synthetic fills are getter better all the time!). Make sure that the sleeping bag that your choose has down that is treated to be water resistant as once down gets wet, it takes forever to dry!  You can buy a quality down sleeping bag for less than two pounds. 

•     Buy a sleeping bag that is rated for the temperatures you need (three season or four season)
•     Do you need the hood on your sleeping bag?  Why not skip the hood on your mummy bag and just use your balaclava or wool hat instead?
•     Consider a quilt as these can weigh less than a sleeping bag as well.

Sleeping Pad

•       Choose an ultralight blow up sleeping pad that weighs less than a pound.

o  Buy the shortest size that fits your body

o  Consider a torso only pads (You could even try Ray Jardin’s suggested foam pad just for your torso)

o  Pay attention to the insulating qualities and buy the one that best suits the temps you camp in

Every little bit of pack weight reduction helps and adds up.  Here are some easy tips to try:

• Cut your toothbrush in half and just bring the bristled half – some folks even drill holes in the handleJ
• I buy a package of baby wipes and open it when I get home.  Over time, all the water evaporates but the cleansing agent stays behind.  I then re-activate the cloth by getting it wet when I’m backpacking. Remember how much water weighs!
• Try to use multi-use and multi-purpose items:  I use a plastic spork as both my fork and spoon.  My bandana can screen debris from water before I filter it or it can even filter coffee, it can be my head cover, an emergency tourniquet, give me a little shade when taking a nap,  a rag, a washcloth, or when rolled up and tied around my wrist is a sweat rag (that’s how I carry it daily). My coffee and tea mug is the same thing as my bowl, which also doubles as my plate.  Cut. Out. Stuff!  
• Stuff your clothes in your sleeping bag stuff sack to make a pillow
• My zip off hiking pants are also my shorts, and my roll up long sleeve hiking shirt becomes short sleeve when I use the ties.
• If hiking with others, share gear.  Do you all need to bring a kitchen? Can you share a tent?  Split up the weight among you.
• Remove any parts of the gear you don’t use.  Trim any excess adjustment straps like your hip belt.  But be sure you put on all of your bulky clothes on before you cut it!  You may need to put a flame to the edges to keep them from fraying. 
• Examine EVERY item you are taking…can you bring it in a smaller or lighter weight container?  
• Look at different stove options and consider the weight of the fuel it requires.  If you use canister fuel, weigh them so you bring one with only the amount that you need.  Save fuel by rehydrating meals up to two hours before cooking them to speed things up.
• Bring dehydrated foods that you add that heavy water to.  Only bring slightly more food than you think you’ll need. In the beginning of your trip, figure about 1.5 pounds of food per day and over time this will increase to about two pounds per day.  Think instant foods, like instant mashed potatoes or oatmeal and repackage foods into lighter zip bags before you go.
• Examine every single piece of gear, including things like stuff sacks, to see if there is a lighter weight yet durable alternative.  Gear is improving each year. If you’ve had something for a while, see if technology has improved since your purchase.
• For toilet paper, instead of the bulk of a full roll, estimate your needs, and then tear off and fold sheets flat in a small zip bag.  I use a larger zip bag clearly labeled TRASH to carry out my trash, which I dump out at every trail town.
• In most cases, you can forget about packing a toilet trowel – just use a stick to dig your cat hole
• Using compression sacks instead of regular stuff sacks may allow you to carry a smaller pack.  Definitely use a compression sack for your sleeping bag and clothes.
• Fill up on water before you head out each day and you may not need to drink as much heavy water as you hike.  Consider a collapsible water bottle instead of standard plastic bottles. . 
• Buy the smallest backpack you can get away with to avoid the temptation to over pack
• Don’t get so ambitious that you don’t allow yourself any luxury.  For me, it’s my teeny down pillow. For you, it might be a paperback.  But consider burning the pages you’ve read in each evening’s campfire to reduce the weight as you hike.  If you are doing a thru hike with mailed resupply, cut up your book into sections to add to each box.
• Finally, get organized so that you don’t rush to pack.  When you rush, you tend to overpack and bring a lot of ‘just in case I need it’ junk.  Make up your own spreadsheet and use it as a packing guideline. Keep your gear together and organized for easy packing.

 When you get home from your adventure, review what you packed and pay special attention to anything you didn’t use.  Can you remove it from your spreadsheet? Keep your spreadsheet current so you can continue to fine tune your gear and minimize your pack weight.

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