The Essential Backpacking Checklist

are you feeling a little overwhelmed as you prepare for a backpacking trip not exactly sure all the things that you need to bring well I hope to help I have laid out all of the things that I take with me on my backpacking trips before we get into it if you've enjoyed our video series here on backpacking 101 and just making your experience better please like and subscribe to the channel and stay tuned because we have more videos that will really help you get out there and be inspired to have some fun without further ado let's get into all the things that you need for your backpacking adventure so I know that it can be a little overwhelming because it seems like there are a million little things that you need to remember for your backpacking trip and maybe the sight of all of this stuff here isn't helping with your anxiety but I think that we are going to come to an agreement here that this is going to be helpful and if you would like to see just a visual breakdown that you can read go check out my essentials backpacking checklist which will have a link down below the video here to make sure that you can access that at any time and refer to it in an easily readable manner but here we go let's go with the visual side of things I have broken down everything that you need to take that with the exclusion of really two things and that is your backpack which is gonna be off to the side and your clothing and if you want to talk about clothing please refer to the video that we have made on all of the clothing that you need to bring on your backpacking trip but for gear let's just talk about the gear pieces and I have kind of the essential side this is the super essential zone right over here this is all things sleep and shelter that you're going to need so typically I recommend that people take a two person backpacking tent is probably the most common size and it's for most people I think what I recommend not only can you sleep in it with two people but it's light enough that you're if you're on solo adventures it's a very handy tent to have as well even if you're just backpacking by yourself it gives you plenty of room to throw your gear inside the tent whereas if you just have a one-person tent it's pretty confined inside that tent you definitely can't share it and you might not even have room for your gear as well inside your tent so here I have the ultralight tungsten two-person tent for Marmot the tent that I've really come to enjoy it's got two walls or two doors which I really like having two access points but well not trying to get too distracted here I can talk about gear all day but it's important that you obviously have a shelter there are other options there are just tarp shelters that you can use you can use bivy sacks that are great options as well but kind of if you're just getting started and you're watching this video you probably just want your standard two-person tent that's gonna be pretty easy and straightforward to do the next part of the sleep equation is your sleeping bag you definitely want to have a sleeping bag of course most commonly people are buying a three-season sleeping bag somewhere around a 15 degree rating that's usually a great place to start you can get something lighter weight if you're gonna be doing warmer weather stuff or if you're going to be doing colder weather camping I recommend a winter bag or a four season bag but this is a good place to start just your general three season bag and then with that make sure that you combine that with an excellent sleeping mattress or sleeping pad I am a big proponent of decieving mattresses I love them I sleep so much better on them and we have a whole video that can explain all of the different mattresses and pads that are an option for you so if that's something that you want to explore more please check that out we also have a video all about sleeping bags as well that you're welcome to check out as well it can be a helpful break down what you need to buy so with shelters they're gonna keep you safe that's very important you need somewhere that you can take refuge in if the elements get bad having the right clothes is an essential of course having rain shells clothing insulation layers all of those things are very important the right Footwear all of these things we are breaking down in other videos as well so if you're interested we're gonna have a million links to all the videos that are gonna be the right thing to explore all of these topics but I don't have them laid out here this is all more of like the gear and the stuff that inside your backpack so next is going to be the nutrition side of the equation so I have some amounts of food here it's not everything I would bring but it's kind of my basic breakdown for about two days of food I've got two dinners I've got a breakfast here from wild Zora I've got some just basic Quaker Oats that are like 50 cents of hops so super easy I've got some trail mix I wouldn't pack it like this but this is just for display purposes and just take like a ziploc bag and then I've got my eating Bowl my utensils those things are super easy to forget do not forget your eating utensils or a bowl to put your granola into that's very important so don't forget these and then trail snacks so I've got some protein bars I've got some basically some beef jerky from epic that are super tasty I like to say that it's really important to have your food weight be around 2 pounds per day or less don't exceed that that you're probably not gonna actually eat that much even though you're gonna work up quite a bit of hunger out there but this will that kind of - 2 pounds per day will minimize the amount of extra food they are kind of just bringing and hauling and not actually eating next that's tangentially related to food let's go to your cook system you're gonna want to have some sort of stove cook pots maybe I live been really enjoying the one pot style of cooking setup Jetboil makes a great system I really like that if you're just doing backpacking meals you just need an efficient way to heat up water then a gem oil is great if you're actually cooking meals then a little pocket rocket stove or something like that plus a pot this is a really nice titanium pot from sea2summit that I've really enjoyed been using getting a lot of life out of this one I definitely recommend something like that and then of course make sure that you bring plenty of fuel and if you're wondering how much fuel to bring a canister like this can usually last me for about 3 days if all I'm doing is boiling water now if I'm doing a lot of extensive cooking sauteing onions and kind of more elaborate cooking I'm certainly gonna need more fuel than that but as a rough guideline I would bring one of these for every two to three days that you're planning on being on the trail okay now another super important thing is water you have to be able to haul and transport and safely drink water on the trail so a lot of very common thing is having a bladder system that's very easy it goes in the back of your backpack next to your back and that is an efficient way to carry water I like doing that and you just can keep sipping through that hydration system throughout the day so it's very convenient however sometimes they despite the fact that they do a very good job at not leaking I have actually come to like these dromedary bags this is one from MSR these are awesome they're a great way to transport and haul water they're bomb-proof you can they pretty much just don't leak or at least I have had very good luck with them and that's just a really handy way to haul water I like doing that more than just carrying say like four water bottles as as you drink the water or as you use the water they collapse they become very small whereas if you just have a bunch of water bottles those obviously don't change shape no matter how much water is in them but I also like having one water bottle with me not only is this good to have just on the hip of my backpack it's handy to be able to walk around camp and be able to use this and if it's cold out I like being able to heat up water throwing it inside the Nalgene which I can then slip and send my sitting bag and it will keep me warm throughout the night so that is a nice little tip and a good reason to have a steady Nalgene bottle now it's also important to have water filtration some sort of water treatment device I really like this grail system this is the geo press from Grail this also doubles as my water bottle so sometimes I will just ditch the Nalgene altogether and just use the grail feature because this is your water filter this also is a water transportation thing so if you want to see more about water filters we've got a video about that you guessed it yes we do have a video about that too so that is a great water filter system you can also use aqua tabs iodine tablets chemical treatment you can use your typical hand pump from katadyn or MSR or there's a bunch of other brands and other options out there and so this is just one that I really like water related but it's anti water is a dry bag I always like to carry at least one probably two or three dry bags with me I think it's really important to have one for your sleeping bag unless you have a Civic bag sack that is also waterproof like this one is from sea2summit it is really nice to have something that you just can guarantee at the end of the day no matter what the weather conditions are like if it's been raining all day you will have dry clothes that you can change into your sleeping bag will be dry and those are kind of your refuge items you can get in and be safe and warm and comfortable throughout the night it's also handy to use for dirty clothes separating dirty clothes from clean clothes sometimes I put my trail snacks in them sometimes I use them then to hang a bag up in the trees if I'm worried about animals dry bags are great super handy they weigh almost nothing when they're empty and so I totally recommend having at least one with you illumination is a super important part of the equation I definitely have forgotten one a time or two but do not forget a headlamp or some way to have illumination because it gets dark early and it's a long night if you don't have a way to see anything so kind of a safety piece just for walking around camp if you ever need to navigate if you're out later on the trail then you expect if you need to send a message or you're trying to signal somebody it's a great thing to have a good powerful robust headlamp and I like ones that you can use rechargeable batteries on that's pretty nice too I think it's a good idea to travel with some sort of medical kit something that's pretty lightweight but is good for blisters or any kind of accidental injuries of course while any injuries should be an accident it's good to have something with you like that so adventure medical kits makes some good ones some good lightweight ones sometimes what I'll often do is I'll actually take these and I'll even minimize them down to just a couple of things some tape some moleskin some scissors some needles for pop and blisters if I need and things like that sometimes I feel like these can be a little bit more than I want to carry but that is entirely a personal decision but I think that's a good idea to have a first-aid kit with you poop stuff everybody wants to talk about poop I love talking about poop and I just made a poop video and if you're worried about pooping in the woods well we've got you covered but it's a great idea to have a trowel and at least a toilet some toilet paper you can use obviously sticks and rocks and natural items if that is what you so desire and in a pinch or an emergency I've definitely been known to use that as well but old tried-and-true toilet paper is nice to have and I definitely recommend having some sort of container for your toilet paper whether it's a couple of zip locks or something like that just to mostly keep it dry but also it's nice to be able to keep any sort of poop related items separate from the rest of your gear so you're not cross contaminating stuff and if you're wondering about what this is this is a wag bag it's not used in all situations but however it can be an important thing for Leave No Trace principles in sensitive ecosystems so depend on where your backpacking you may have to bring one of these with you and then you will actually be hauling your poop out if you are watching this video and need some tips then that might be a slightly more advanced or aggressive thing for you but just letting you know that is a real thing that sometimes you have to do with backpacking sometimes you need to carry your poop out with you a few other items that I think are really important are bringing sunscreen with you some sort of skin protection sun protection is really important when you're outside you're gonna be under that Blazing Sun all day so being able to protect your skin protect your eyes with bringing some sunglasses bring a ball cap bring something that can protect your skin I like to have these long sleeve shirts that I can then roll down if I'm feeling over exposed and just like I'm getting too much Sun then that can really be helpful I was like to have a pocket knife or something that is small just like a utility knife or something I generally don't backpack with Leatherman Zoar kind of like the utility knives some people love them and I just think that they're a little bit overkill the only thing I typically end up using is the actual blade so I just like a nice clean saying folding knife and that's what I recommend but it's up to you couple more little items I always forget lighters do not forget lighters it is not fun if you backpack and you don't have some sort of incendiary device and you need to get that stove cooking or that campfire started your friends might be beating you and making fun of you forever if you forget that lighter so bring that I don't always do it but it's a good idea to have some extra paracord or some extra twine this comes in handy if in case an emergency arises or in case you just need to string up some food into a tree at night keep it away from animals it's always a good idea there's like a million reasons why I'd have it or use it but you don't always use it but it's a good idea I would just take you know somewhere around at least 20 to 30 feet especially if you're planning on stringing up bear bags or bear canisters or things like that you're probably even more than that so know where your backpacking and you might need even more than that but it's a good idea to have at least a little bit with you and kind of on the same front I always bring at least a little bit of duct tape with me I certainly don't bring a full roll I usually will take a little bit and start a roll that I can then use from there sometimes I like to take this and apply it around a Nalgene bottle to give me you know something like 10 feet of usable duct tape that I can pull off the bottle so that's a good idea it's always handy in a pinch if you tear a jacket or get an ember and a down jacket it's nice to be able to plug the hole there's a things that you can do with duct tape obviously so having a little bit is a great thing to have I'm also a big proponent of trekking poles high for a long time I thought that they were just for either dorky people or for the old and incapable people and then I actually tried trekking poles and found that they made a big huge difference so I like to think that trekking poles tend to reduce the impact of your body by about fifteen maybe twenty percent not sure what the actual science is but it is measurable and so at the end of the day if you've hiked ten miles but your body feels like you've hiked eight miles you're gonna feel a lot better to translate that into the next day so I like having trekking poles they're also super useful for if you need to string out extra guidelines for your tent or just random things or in case an emergency that can be used as splints there's a bunch of reasons to have trekking poles but I like having them mostly just for the convenience of the actual hike another thing that it's important to have with you is a map maybe a compass maybe you've downloaded some maps on your phone phones are obviously batteries die things happen with technology it's nice to be able to have something that's paper it's not going anywhere it's not result reliance upon technology or cell service to get you out of trouble so have that have it accessible with you apps are great phones are great but apps are tried-and-true and they will not fail you we haven't really talked about the actual backpack itself but that's a gonna be another video on its own is how to actually pack all of this into a backpack so make sure that you are stay tuned for that video and yeah if you have any questions or if you have any gear ideas that you think that I missed it's very possible that there are a thing or an item or two that I did not think about but this is kind of like my go-to setup for backpacking the great thing about backpacking is that something like this can set you up for a one-nighter and it can be great for 14 days on the trail it can get you through the PCT you can do a long distance trail and all of the same things apply just need a little bit more food hope you liked this video if you did enjoy it please like and subscribe to the videos in our Channel make sure you turn on the notifications and stick your own for more because we are out here all the time making lots of videos for you to be entertained and hopefully educated as well thanks a lot for watching I'm Eric Hansen this is backed by MTV I'm out

Channel: BackpackingTV

Views: 40,835

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Keywords: backpacking, hiking, outdoors, camping, backpacking gear, backpacking trip, hiking essentials, backpack, hiking gear, backpacker, what to pack, Gear, backpacking checklist, hiking checklist, what to take backpacking, what to take hiking, hiking video, backpacking video, camping checklist, camping gear, what to take camping, what you need for hiking, what you need for backpacking, backpacking essential, essential hiking gear, essential camping gear, essential backpacking checklist

Id: kpo9F_1LBAM

Length: 18min 11sec (1091 seconds)

Published: Tue May 12 2020