Ultralight Backpacking

Lightweight double-wall backpacking tents are making a comeback amongst ultralight backpackers with gear weights that rival their single-walled competitors. Double-wall tents have many advantages over single-walled tents, including: Less internal condensation Less drafty because they don’t have to be wind tunnels to …

If you crave a deep connection with the wilderness, there’s nothing more intimate than sleeping under a square or rectangular tarp. Pitching a tarp takes more thought than setting up a tent because you need to consider what the best setup or “shape” will …

Backpackers are split about 50/50 when it comes to using a backpack rain cover or lining the inside of their backpacks with a plastic bag or backpack liner designed for that purpose. When I started backpacking, I used a backpack rain cover …

Tarps are a great ultralight backpacking shelter option, provided they’re used in a climate where there’s no rain or occasional rain. To clarify, I’m talking about square or rectangular tarps with or without catenary cut ridgelines and sides, and not single walled …

Many waterproof and more durable ultralight backpacks are made with Dyneema Composite Fabric (DCF) or X-Pac, another high-tech laminate fabric similar to DCF but less expensive and easier to make backpacks with. Below, we explain the tradeoffs between these DCF and X-Pac …

There are three different types of ultralight bug shelters suitable for cowboy camping, sleeping in a lean-to, or underneath a flat tarp: Bivy Sacks Bug Bivies Net Tents While they’re all similar in certain respects, they have distinct differences, pros, and cons. …

Ultralight backpacking tents and shelters come in all shapes and sizes, but each type has pros and cons for different camping conditions. It’s best to understand these before you waste money on a tent or shelter that doesn’t suit your needs or …

Ultralight bivy sacks are used by backpackers for cowboy camping or under floorless shelters, such as tarps or pyramids, to protect their sleeping bags/quilts and sleeping pads from wind, insects, mice, and other creepy crawlers. Most are not waterproof and function more …

The lightest weight ultralight backpacking shelters are tarps, including flat tarps and catenary curve tarps, sometimes called “flat cut” or “cat cut” tarps for short. They both have their pros and cons as we discuss below, but if your goal is wilderness …

Switching to a shorter torso-length sleeping pad is a good way to reduce the weight of your ultralight backpacking gear because your legs don’t need the same amount of insulation as your core in three-season conditions. If you have a short torso-length …

Over fifty percent of backpackers use a manufacturer’s tent footprint under their tent on overnight backpacking trips. They do this to protect the bottom of their tents from sharp rocks and sand that can rip or puncture their tent floors, improve their floor’s water resistance, …

How would you like to eliminate the weight of your backpacking stove and the fuel container (canister, liquid fuel bottle, or alcohol bottle) that you use to carry your cooking fuel on backpacking trips while still being able to boil water and …

The heaviest items in your backpack are water, food, and fuel. They’re called consumables because you use them up as your trip progresses, as opposed to “base weight” which measures the weight of non-consumable items like a backpack, tent, unworn clothing, a …

A few years ago, I wrote a series of posts on how to lighten your backpack, that outlined the basic principles of lightweight ad ultralight backpacking: weighing your gear, cutting the weight of your big three, selecting gear that can serve multiple …