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Almost all backpackers seek to minimize the weight and bulk of gear carried. A lighter pack causes less fatigue, injury and soreness, and allows the backpacker to travel longer distances. Every piece of equipment is evaluated for a balance of utility versus weight. Significant reductions in weight can usually be achieved with little sacrifice in equipment utility, though very lightweight equipment is usually significantly more costly.

 

A large industry has developed to provide lightweight gear and food for backpackers. The gear includes the backpacks themselves, as well as ordinary camping equipment modified to reduce the weight, by either reducing the size, reducing the durability, or using lighter materials such as special plastics, alloys of aluminum, titanium, composite materials, impregnated fabrics and carbon fiber. Designers of portable stoves and tents have been particularly ingenious. Homemade gear is common too, such as the beverage-can stove.

Some backpackers use lighter and more compact gear than do others. The most radical measures taken in this regard are sometimes called ultralight backpacking.

Due to the emphasis on weight reduction, a practical joke common in some circles is to secretly pack a small but relatively heavy luxury item, such as a soft drink, into another backpacker’s pack. Then, once the group stops for a rest, the perpetrator retrieves the item, thanks the bearer for carrying it, and consumes it.

Water

Backpackers often carry some water from the trailhead, to drink while walking. For short trips, they may carry enough to last the whole trip, but for long trips this is not practical. A backpacker needs anywhere from 2 to 8 L (roughly 1/2 to 2 gallons) or more per day, depending on conditions, making a water supply for more than a few days prohibitively heavy.

Backpackers may carry one to four litres of water, depending on conditions and availability. Although some backpacking camps in heavily-used areas provide potable water, it must usually be obtained from lakes and streams.

According to health and medical experts, untreated water found in backcountry settings in the U.S. and Canada is generally quite safe to drink. [1] Yet despite this, many backpackers believe that drinking and cooking water nearly always needs treatment with a filter or chemical tablets to protect against bacteria and protozoa (see Potability of backcountry water and Portable water purification).

If water is unavailable, or if the only water available is irreparably filthy, backpackers may need to carry large amounts of water for long distances.

Water may be stored in bottles or in soft, collapsible hydration packs (bladders). Some backpackers store water in ordinary plastic beverage bottles, while others use special Lexan bottles or metal canteens. For accessibility they may be carried by a shoulder strap or attached to the outside of a pack. Bladders are typically made of plastic, rubber, and/or fabric. They are light, easily stored and collapsible. They may be equipped with drinking hoses for easy access while hiking. In spite of this convenience, bladders are more prone to leaking than bottles, particularly at the hose connections. Hoses also allow the hiker to lose track of the water supply in the bladder and to deplete it prematurely.

Food

Some backpackers enjoy cooking elaborate meals with fresh ingredients, particularly on short trips, and others carry the gear and take the time to catch fish or hunt small game for food. However, especially for long expeditions, most backpackers’ food criteria are roughly the same: high energy content (particularly protein), with long shelf life and low mass and volume. An additional concern is weight; while Dutch oven and campfire cookery are historically popular, small liquid-fuel campstoves and ultralight cooking pots made of aluminum or titanium are more common in modern usage due to weight limitations and fire restrictions in many locales.

 

Ordinary household foods used on backpacking trips include cheese, bread, sausage, fruit, peanut butter, and pasta. Popular snack foods include trail mix, easily prepared at home; convenient and nutritious energy bars, chocolate, and other forms of candy, which provide quick energy and flavor. Traditional outdoor food includes dried foodstuffs such as jerky or pemmican, and also products like oatmeal (which can also be consumed raw in emergency situations).

Most backpackers avoid canned food, except for meats or small delicacies. Metal cans and their contents are usually heavy, and, like all trash, the empties must be carried back out.

For dinners, many hikers use specially manufactured, pre-cooked food that can be eaten hot. It is often sold in large, stiff bags that double as eating vessels. One common variety of special backpacking food is freeze-dried food, which can be quickly reconstituted by adding hot water. One can also purchase a commercial food dehydrator which removes the majority of water from a pre-cooked meal. To eat, water is mixed in with the meal several hours before eating and allowed to rehydrate before heating. Some various distributors of this are Backpackers Pantry and Mountain Outfitters. Another kind of special backpacking food is UHT-packaged without dehydration, and can be reheated with a special, water-activated chemical heater. This technology originated with the U.S. military’s Meal Ready-to-Eat (”MRE”), but is now produced also for the commercial market. The small chemical heater obviates the need for a portable stove and fuel, however the added weight of the MRE’s and their packaging reduce the weight advantage. MRE’s can be useful to backpackers for several reasons:

·        They do not need to be rehydrated or heated which is useful in areas where flame is not allowed, and water is scarce (Most of Australia)

·        They are very durably packaged

·        A single MRE contains a full meal complete with snack and desert

·        They offer a great deal of variety in each meal, including condiments

·        They are individually packaged inside the “brown plastic wrapper”, so you can place individual components in various pockets and “eat on the move”.

As more and more “big box” retail stores carry pre-packaged dehydrated foods (such as Mountain House Brand) however, it is becoming increasingly easier to buy packaged meals retail versus mail order, whereas MRE’s are rarely carried in retail stores.

There is a genre of cookbooks specializing in trailside food and the special challenges inherent in backcountry cooking. Most such cookbooks espouse one of two philosophies; the first, generally used on short trips, involves planning out meals and preparing many ingredients in one’s home kitchen before departure. The second method, bulk rationing, simply supplies the hiker with ingredients, allowing on-trail cooking with minimal prior planning, and is sometimes used for extended outings. A third form of the genre deals in Dutch oven cookery, which has considerable historical cachet (especially in countries such as the United States with a long pioneer tradition), but is dependent on suitable locations for a campfire.

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