Backpacking is just like day hiking. Except instead of finishing the day by going home to a shower and a home-cooked meal, you camp alongside the trail, don’t shower, and eat someone’s best attempt at a freeze-dried pot roast. The main philosophies at play in backpacking can be boiled down to minimalism in both gear and action. Since you’re carrying everything you need on your back, backpackers are very thoughtful about what they take with them. Minimalism is also embodied within Leave No Trace. This is the honor system by which backpackers pledge to show no evidence that they went backpacking at all. (On the landscape, that is. Bragging to your friends and family is par for the course.)
There are a lot of people out there who want to start backpacking, but hold themselves back. They say things like, “I am not in good enough shape.” Or, “I don’t have the money for gear.” Or, “Everyone who works at REI is really hot and intimidating.”
The secret to backpacking is not being rich or being the best shape of your life. I am a soft-handed admin assistant who is middle class, at best. I have a bunion and I eat too much cake. I have also been backpacking for two decades. If I can do this, anybody can. You do have to be realistic with yourself about what your physical limits are, of course. But the nice thing about backpacking is that it’s entirely self-directed. My approach to backpacking is more like aggressive forest bathing. I’m less interested in chasing arbitrary footstep counts and mileage goals at the cost of my sanity or safety.
Table of Contents
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Deciding Where to Go Backpacking
The best backpacking trails are discovered through word of mouth. That means you’re lucky enough to know someone who has already been somewhere great. Better yet, they decided you’re worthy to hear about the place they discovered. If you have no backpacker friends, however, the next best trail guides are found in books.
Guide Books vs. Online Trail Sources
I have long ago burned any potential bridges to sponsorship by AllTrails so I will tell you the truth. Most people who write about trails online are lying to you. But people who write about trails in guide books tend to be certified experts. Their advice has gone through a panel of editors and fact checkers. These writers understand that if they make mistakes or fabricate information, it could ruin their career.
People writing online have no such compunctions. That’s why online users tend to give incomplete, amateur, or incorrect advice, even if they don’t mean any harm. You absolutely can and should research up-to-date weather and trail condition reports for a particular trip. But do not let any casual public online forum be your only source of planning wisdom. I’m telling you this as someone who used internet-only sources to plan a backpacking trip in Big Sur. I ended up bushwhacking through poison oak for a mile. Twice.
National Parks vs National Forests
When thinking about where to take their first backpacking trip, most people first look to national parks. It’s true that National Parks are home to America’s most historic and cherished landscapes. That’s why they usually have majestic backpacking routes. But they are usually so busy that the permitting process to go backpacking there is competitive. Expect to sacrifice your firstborn to get a backpacking permit there.
National forests, on the other hand, are like national parks’ scruffy, neglected, banjo-twanging sister. They are less frequented, less expensive, less organized, and in terms of landscapes, generally just as lovely as national parks. In a national forest you can camp virtually anywhere, gather wood, shoot guns, and all but hook a guitar up to an amp and play a Dolly Parton tribute concert for the squirrels. If you are someone who balks at the idea of a permit lottery, look into national forests before national parks.
How to Plan Your Backpacking Itinerary
Most pre-planned backpacking routes (like those found in books) clearly state how long each day’s hike should be and where to camp each night. That’s great information. I go backpacking to indulge my hatred of society and to pretend I’m the only person who’s existed, ever. But that doesn’t mean I can’t borrow someone else’s tried-and-true playbook for how to tackle that trail.
Maybe you want to replicate an itinerary or invent your own from scratch. Either way, be sure to consider these key elements. The two most important things to lock down are your daily water sources and your daily mileage and elevation. Carefully calculating each day’s food intake is also important. That’s how you avoid running out of energy or lugging around more weight than you need (a cardinal sin of backpacking). But planning meals and snacks is not as important as planning water. And you want to ensure you don’t accidentally get stranded because you’re too tired to reach your next checkpoint.
When trying to figure out “how hard” each day will be, consider elevation gain more than miles traveled. Elevation will ultimately affect your pace more. Walking 8 miles over flat terrain bears no resemblance to hiking 8 miles over 4,000 feet of elevation gain. But these are just numbers on paper. What will they feel like to you?
Do Some Day Hike Training
This is where day hike training comes in. Day hikes are good backpacking preparation not just for building stamina, but for self-discovery. Load 30 pounds into your pack of choice and go on a few day hikes. Keep track of how much elevation you have gained over what mileage. This information should be readily available for most hikes, whether found online or in books. Smart phones or a GPS watch, if you’re into that sort of thing, can also track this for you.
At the end of each hike, make a note of how that distance and elevation felt to you. For example, say you do a 6-mile day hike wearing a 36-pound pack with 1,500 feet of elevation gain. If you’re completely beat afterward, ensure you don’t have any days in your backpacking trip that go much beyond this. Most pre-planned backpacking routes will state how much mileage and elevation you will tackle each day. So compare those to your day-hike skills to see if you’re up for it. There’s also an excellent “hiking difficulty” calculator on Northwest Hiker’s website. It can provide a rough idea of what each day of a particular backpacking trip will feel like.
Online tools like those found at Hiking Project and AllTrails can help you better visualize elevation gain and loss. Pair that with a topographic or digital map allows you to see water sources along your trail. Combining those tools and you’ll feel relatively confident about what you’re planning to do each day.
A Note on Water
Day hiking can also help you get an idea of how much water you’ll need to carry for a safe and enjoyable time in the backcountry. Say you completely finished 2 liters of water during your 6-mile, 1,500-foot training hike. And say you have a similar (or harder) day planned on your backpacking trip. You want to either ensure you’ll have a reliable water source on the trail that day, or you need to carry more than 2 liters. It’s worth taking time to discover this for yourself, as different bodies have very different hydration requirements. Common sense rules like planning to have more water when you are hiking in the heat apply, too.
I find the math around how much water I need rather stressful. Water is also heavy. Two liters of water weighs about 4.4 pounds. This is why, wherever I’m hiking, I always prefer to camp near a water source. It just makes me feel less worried knowing that whatever happens, I’m heading toward more water.
Finally, it’s imperative to test your water filter before you head into the backcountry. Do this even if you’ve used your filter before. I forgot to test mine once while hiking a steep trail at 9,000 feet in the mountains of Utah. I drank both my liters within 4 miles and had planned to fill up at a lake midway on my hike. When I reached the lake, I discovered my Sawyer Squeeze — a filter I had used at least a dozen times — was clogged. The slog out of that valley was a date with dehydration I never, ever want to repeat.
Backpacking Gear
If you ever want to hear a backpacker to talk for 45 minutes, ask how they pack their backpack. Packing one’s pack is like decorating one’s home. There’s not a perfect way to do it, and much of it comes down to personal taste. There are multitudes of opinions about which food, water filter, and stove are best. Rather than quibble over those arguments here, I’d like to focus on the thing that really matters: avoiding pain.
Best practices for a pain-free backpacking trip include wearing the right size pack for your torso length (not your body height). You should also ensure you have most of your pack’s weight riding on your mid- and lower back. That way your legs do more work than your shoulders.
When I was a teenager, I was taught that every backpacking backpack should be fitted so that you have an inch or two of free “floating” space between your shoulder strap and your actual shoulder. I used to think this rule applied to every backpack, and didn’t understand why some packs gave me aches. I found out later that this “floating shoulder strap” rule is not something every pack is designed to have. Whatever pack you end up with, check if the company has a “how to fit” video guide. This will ensure you wear it correctly and can save you literal aches and pains.
What to Bring Backpacking, and How to Pack It
Generally speaking, this is everything I pack into my backpacking backpack, and how I pack it.
The Bottom of the Pack
- Sleeping bag in its stuff sack
- Sleeping pad (could also be attached to the exterior of your pack)
The Middle of the Pack
- Backpacking food
- Bear canister, if applicable
- Small backpacking stove
- Stove fuel
- Shelter system like a backpacking tent or ultralight tent, which includes tent body, poles, rainfly, and footprint (if applicable)
The Top of the Pack
- Two pairs of pants
- Two shirts
- Two pairs of your various underwear (sports bras, boxers, women’s underwear, whatever you do)
- Two pairs of hiking socks
- Base layer
- Mid layer
- Shell layer
- A beanie or buff
- Swimsuit (if you’re a prude, like me)
The Brain of the Pack
The “brain” is the top lid that fits over the top of the main compartment of your pack. It’s usually contained by a zipper and accommodates many smaller items while keeping them relatively accessible.
- A first-aid kit. It should include tweezers, gauze, iodine (can serve as a backup water purifier and antiseptic), painkiller, anti-diarrheal medication, bandaids, emergency blanket
- A toiletry kit (mini toothpaste and toothbrush, moisturizing salve for lips, legs and hands)
- Headlamp and extra batteries
- Topographic map (plus the knowledge to use it, which is ideally in your brain)
- GPS or satellite messenger
- Firestarter
- Pack cover
- Your water purification system of choice
- Sunscreen
- Insect repellent
- Gaffer tape (great for blisters, saves your skin without tearing it)
- Pocket knife
The Underside of the Brain
There’s usually an additional zippered compartment on the underside of your pack top. Separate your essential gear (above) from your backcountry bathroom kit.
- Toilet paper stored in a clean Ziploc bag
- A bag to stash used toilet paper (contained within a larger Ziploc for double-protection). This is usually covered in duct tape to obscure the contents
- Small shovel for digging catholes
- Hand sanitizer
The Outside of the Pack
- Two cotton bandanas, taking their sun bath
- Trekking poles (and other stabby items like ice axes and crampons, if headed for the snow)
How to Not Spend $2,000 on Backpacking Gear
Backpacking can be an incredibly expensive sport, but there are ways to save hundreds of dollars. For example, buying used gear from REI, Geartrade, or eBay is an excellent idea, especially for items like rain gear, backpacks, tents, and even stoves. You can easily spend a fortune on specialty hiking clothing, or you can rifle through your closet at home and simply wear whatever is comfortable and not cotton. How to layer your backpacking clothes for warmth is an art, but you may be able to incorporate many items of clothing you already own.
In my experience, the place where you do not want to cheap out is on your shoes and your sleeping system. A lot of problems can be overcome in backpacking. But if you can’t walk well or you’re too cold to sleep, your whole trip will be toast.
Spend on Your Shoes…
An entire book could be written about hiking boots. But after ruining my feet on several trips with blisters, achilles tendonitis, and athlete’s foot, my main advice is to purchase your backpacking shoes at least a half size larger and, if you can, wider, than your street shoe size. When you get deep into your backpacking trip, your feet will begin to think you’ve just become nine months pregnant with twins and have decided to take up the Hajj. Give them space to accept the situation.
REI is a favorite for shoe shopping because of their excellent return policy. You can buy a pair, test them out on the trail, and if you realize you got the wrong size, exchange them for something better. Always break in your shoes before taking them into the backcountry. There is no hard and fast rule here, but in my experience, three solid day hikes should do the trick.
…and Your Sleep System
For sleeping bags, you can hold out for a Black Friday sale, but you may have to just be prepared to shell out funds here, especially if you plan on camping anywhere that sees freezing temperatures. Used sleeping bags are a gamble, especially if you’re buying from a stranger and you don’t know if they abused it (such as storing it compressed, so that it has lost some of its insulating properties). Keep in mind that although sleeping bags are temperature-rated, what comfort they actually deliver is entirely dependent on the sleeping pad you pair them with. (Read about R-Value and why it matters.) The easiest way around this problem? Invest in a sleeping pad with a high R-value rating, so you can enjoy the maximum capabilities of your sleeping bag.
FAQs About Backpacking
While you will have to properly size your pack to your body, you will also need to consider the volume of the backpack itself. Different backpackers carry different size packs (there are minimalists and maximalists even in backpacking), so there’s no one right answer. A 30 to 50 liter pack is about standard for weekend trips, international travel, and ultralight thru-hiking. You can go smaller for day hikes or simple overnights, particularly in warmer weather. Bigger packs do exist, and those are usually for more extended trips or expedition-style outings that require specialized gear.
They’re not mandatory, but hiking-specific socks are a good idea. Good hiking socks are cushioned in the right spots and available in different lengths to prevent blisters and chafing. You definitely want to opt for a moisturing-wicking material like wool. Any similar sock that’s labeled for hunting, skiing, or other outdoor pursuit should usually work fine for backpacking. Remember: Your shoes and your socks will make or break your experience on the trail.
Final Thoughts on Backpacking
Backpacking is a great way to run away from your problems while convincing friends and family you are actually very responsible. Take a course in basic wilderness medicine, learn how to read a topographic map, and test out dehydrated meals at home. Don’t forget to read up on Leave No Trace principles, too. Preparing will help with the culture shock that inevitably comes when you’re living outside for days at a time.
Every time you go backpacking, you will make mistakes and learn a new way to do something better. You’ll possibly learn this from other backpackers. The nice thing is that backpackers tend to be some of the kindest, most generous people on earth. We are all just out here to help each other enjoy pretending we’re the only people out here. If you’re interested in reading more about backpacking, check out my book, How to Suffer Outside: A Beginner’s Guide to Hiking and Backpacking.
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