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 …
Read More »Ultralight 101
How to Sleep Under a Tarp in the Rain
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 …
Read More »The Joy of Esbit
Esbit Cubes are the simplest, lightest, and most reliable way to boil water or cook food on backpacking trips. There’s no extra container weight to carry with Esbit Cubes, like a white gas stove bottle or isobutane canister, and you can even …
Read More »Ultralight Backpacking Double-Wall Tent Guide
The number of ultralight double-wall backpacking tents available today has grown significantly, driven by consumer demand and advances in material technologies. If you prefer a double-wall tent over a single-wall tent because it’s more spacious, warmer, less drafty, and has a separate …
Read More »Ultralight Backpacking Tent Footprint Substitutions
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, …
Read More »Ultralight Backpacking Tent and Shelter Guide
Ultralight backpacking tents and shelters come in all shapes and sizes, but each type has advantages and disadvantages 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 …
Read More »How to Reduce the Weight of Your Consumables
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 …
Read More »Ultralight Cooking without a Stove
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 …
Read More »Big Three Ultralight Backpacking Makeovers
When it comes to gear list weight reduction for lightweight and ultralight backpacking, the biggest gains come from lightening the big three, including your backpack, tent, and your sleep system which includes a sleeping pad and sleeping bag or quilt. These are …
Read More »Ultralight Backpacking Stove Guide
Lightweight and ultralight backpackers have a lot of different options available when it comes to picking an ultralight backpacking and camping stove. Here are the pros and cons of using alcohol stoves, canister stoves, solid fuel stoves, and wood stoves. Alcohol Stoves …
Read More »9 Essential Ultralight Backpacking Skills
Ultralight backpacking requires an extreme form of self-reliance where backpackers compensate for bringing less gear by having more advanced backcountry skills. While many other backpackers and day hikers have these same skills, “going ultralight,” or the less extreme “lightweight” is more committing, since ultralight backpackers carry less …
Read More »Ultralight Bivy Sack Guide
Ultralight bivy sacks are used by backpackers using floorless shelters to protect their sleeping bags or quilts from moisture and their heads from biting insects, as a kind of substitute for the inner tent that you find in more conventional double wall …
Read More »Short Length Ultralight Sleeping Pads
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 does in three season conditions. If you have …
Read More »My Gear List Philosophy
When I started getting into lightweight backpacking, I spent a lot of time staring at my gear list to make sure I squeezed every ounce of weight out of it. That’s ok. It’s part of the process that every lightweight or ultralight …
Read More »