Backpacking In Style: How to Cram Your Gear Without Looking It
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Keywords: backpacking
As they say, backpacking is only ever as good as what you can carry in your gear. However, that does not mean that you throw in everything that you can grab and cram it in. There are many ways on how you can pack lightly but still have everything you need within arm's reach. Here are a few tips how.
1. Always plan ahead. One of the best ways to skip the useless items from your backpacking gear is to plan your itinerary and your route. For example: if you are traveling in an area where bears are not known to exist, you might want to leave your bear repellent at home. Also, if you know you will be traveling cross country without any chance of gaining altitude or moving into colder zones, you might want to leave your foil blanket behind. These can easily considerably lighten your gear's load.
It also pays to know what kind of weather you can expect while on the trail. Bringing along your rain gear or extra protection from the sun or snow just might help preserve your good health and cheery disposition.
2. Choose larger but complete items rather than its more compact but incomplete counterpart. Choosing larger items seems to be unreasonable especially during backpacking. However, toting around larger but more complete items are more favorable instead of carrying along devices that you cannot rely on during emergencies. Examples of these would be first-aid kits, maps | trail guides, and water containers.
3. Categorize items and pack them in groups. This practice would help make acquiring items from your gear a lot easier to accomplish. The best way to do this is to segregate items into categories. First aid devices should go into one pocket of your gear. Dry clothes and socks should go in another. Food and water should have separate containers, etc. Never cram all your items indiscriminately in your bag's many compartments. This will only make things harder to pull out and return.
4. Always carry two or more kitchen garbage bags. Plastic garbage bags weigh almost close to nothing and can be crammed into the tiniest spaces. These items have many potential uses. Primarily, garbage bags would be great for picking up camp litter. But you can also store wet clothes and shoes in these, use these to line the ground if you want to settle down for a nap, and even create emergency rain gear when the weather turns.
5. Carry a fanny pack for your "essentials." Whatever makes your backpacking trip a little easier to bear is always worth bringing along. If you feel the need to bring along your sunscreen, lip balm, washcloth, pen knife, flashlight, hand sanitizer, etc. then do so. Don't pack these in your backpack gear though because that would mean you have to stop and sort through your gear every time you want to use any of the aforementioned items. You can store your essentials in a small fanny bag (or any sling bag) instead. Bags like these would mean ready access, whenever, wherever. |
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Author Resource:-
Kellie is an expert when it comes to Backpacking Hiking. To find out the latest News and Tips on Backpacking and Hiking, visit Backpacking Hiking at http://backpackinghiking.net/
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By :
Jessie Stone
Submitted
2010-10-15 07:38:45 |
Article From Article Mayhem
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