How to pack your backpack?

It depends on the environment, your needs, and your experience level.

Backpackers can be divided into the following types:

  • Ultra-light backpackers
  • Light backpackers
  • Ordinary backpackers

Ultra-Lightweight Backpackers:

It is a real backpacker, they are fast and light (under about 10kg).

Using premium weight-reduction, their gear is on average more expensive than others.

→ 60L+5L Multifunctional Mountain Bag with Rain Cover

Lightweight Backpackers:

Carrying orders of magnitude more experience, they will choose to carry it with ease, rather than carrying more than 20+kg items and gear.

→ Outdoor Mountaineering Camping Lightweight Bag

Ordinary backpacker:

Usually a novice hiking hobby or a first-time backpacker, the backpack weighs about 15kg, and it is often over-packed.

However, we all know that in any case, being able to reduce the load on the backpack will be easier and more enjoyable for hikers and climbers.

5 advice of pack backpack

  • Safety
  • Reduce Non-essential items
  • Reduce the weight of necessities
  • Multi-purpose items
  • Simple

1. Safety

Lightweight has a basic bottom line, that is, under any environmental conditions, it must be able to ensure safety while carrying a light load.

Achieving a lightweight backpack requires a certain amount of time, practice, and mentality, and it is not something that can be done in a hurry.

Ideally, weight reduction should be a gradual process that parallels the corresponding improvement in a hiker's field skills.

When you're just starting to lose weight, it's better to be cautious than to bring only the essentials, and over time you'll learn what you can and can't do without.

2. Reduce Non-essential items

It's not always easy to distinguish between essentials and non-essentials, and basically, it boils down to experience, personal preference, and the requirements of the hiking environment.

Before each trip, take a look at every piece of gear in your bag and ask yourself two questions:

  • Do I need it?
  • What if without it?

Hikers are often surprised by the number of excess items they carry out of habit rather than necessity.

3. Reduce the weight of necessities

With the development of technology, lighter materials, and innovative designs make outdoor products more durable and lighter (eg tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, sleeping pads), which has been reduced to a certain extent compared to the past backpack weight.

Therefore, replacing old tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, sleeping pads, and other necessary equipment is the most obvious measure for weight loss.

4. Multi-purpose items

Many items in your backpack, such as sleeping pads, trekking poles, and cooking pots, can be used for multiple purposes.

By enhancing the selection of multi-purpose gear, redundant or repetitive items can be reduced, thereby reducing the weight of the overall pack.

5. Simple

Don't tidy up that fancy and flashy equipment, any equipment must be practical and necessary, they are not luxury goods, nor are they cool props.

Practical yet simple equipment that saves excess weight on its own.

2. Reduce the weight of food and water

For lightweight and ultra-lightweight backpackers, the combined weight of food and water often exceeds the weight of all the gear they carry.

For example, five days of food would weigh about 4.5kg, plus water would be even more.

So when it comes to food and water weight, the questions backpackers need to ask themselves before heading out into the wilderness are:

"How can I reduce the amount of food and water I carry without compromising my health and safety"

Food

Ultralight backpackers are a group of food-critical people who demand food that is tasty, nutritious and filling, yet packaged in a compact, lightweight, and easy-to-cook form.

From a weight-loss perspective, choose foods from the following perspectives:

  • Foods with high-calorie
  • Minimize the moisture content of food
  • Less cooking = less weight
  • Repackaging
  • Go out after eating
  • Reasonable foods prepare

1. Foods with high-calorie

High-calorie foods have a greater energy-to-weight ratio and give you more calories.

Examples include assorted dried fruits, peanut butter, granola, corn chips, cheese, and certain energy bars.

For regular road meals (that is, every one to two hours), choose foods that are high in both carbohydrates and fats.

2. Minimize the moisture content of food

Freeze-dried and dehydrated foods are lightweight, portable, and remove water without sacrificing caloric value, which is a very effective way to lose weight.

However, not all freeze-dried, dehydrated foods are the same, and many freeze-dried, dehydrated products are highly processed and have little to no nutrition.

So, be sure to read the ingredient list of food items before buying, and if you choose to carry a lot of these items, consider repacking them before you go to save weight and space.

3. Less cooking = less weight

By limiting yourself to one cooked meal a day, you can reduce the amount of fuel you need to carry.

In a warm environment, you might even consider not cooking at all, in which case the stove and cooker will be eliminated, saving even more weight.

4. Repackaging

Repack food as much as possible before departure to save weight, extra packaging equals extra weight and less usable volume.

5. Go out after eating

Start your trip after a hearty breakfast or lunch, which is equivalent to losing an extra meal of weight.

6. Reasonable foods prepare

When you're heading out on a trip with 7 days, no matter how low your base weight is, your pack will be heavy.

However, over time, as food and fuel are consumed, your burden will gradually decrease.

So, eat the heaviest, most hydrating foods (such as fruits and vegetables) in the first few days of your hike.

Water

How to minimize the amount of water you carry without risking dehydration, consider the following six aspects:

  • Make a plan
  • Drink water in the morning
  • Like a camel
  • Cooking
  • Time
  • Experience

1. Make a plan

Be sure to plan your water use before you set off, and always be aware of the location of the water source, your current body condition, and the amount of water remaining during your trip, so you can minimize the need to carry large amounts of extra water for safety purposes.

2. Drink water in the morning

Just half-awake, constitutes a water-drinking habit, the sooner you drink the more water, the least amount of water you need to drink (and carry) later.

3. Like a camel

If traveling over water source tensions, drink a liter of water before leaving each source.

This way, you don't need to carry water to the next water recharge point, and it also allows you to easily get back to the weight on your back

4. Cooking

In a relatively water-scarce environment, be sure to eat your main meal at the water source, so you don't need to bring extra water.

5. Time

In the context of water scarcity, her, and almost obscuring the sun, consider the entire activity in this afternoon's time.

You can reduce your dosage because you are resting rather than exercising during the hottest part of the day.

6. Experience

Carry enough water to get you to the next water place

Once you gain a lot of experience, you know how much water you need in different types of terrain and conditions, and don't take too much weight to the pack, except for the water you carry for safety purposes.

However, if you are walking in an environment where you are uncertain about the source of water, you must be careful, it is always wise to bring more water and exercise caution.

Summarize

So that is how to pack a backpack. The lightweight pack makes hiking fast and light and reduces stress on the back, shoulders, and legs.

Ultralight packs don't simply reduce weight, they release you so you can go farther, be more comfortable, traverse wider terrain and see more.

 

Related Articles:

How to choose camping water bottle?

Day Hiking Checklist

Tips for Backpacking in the Rain


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