There is no universal blueprint as to how you should backpack. We all have our own motivations, needs, and levels of experience. That being said, one thing upon which everyone can agree is that hiking is substantially easier and more enjoyable if your pack doesn’t weigh the proverbial tonne. Here are 30 telltale signs that you should consider lightening your wilderness load.
(Note: This is a revised and expanded version of an article I published in March 2019 – 14 Signs You’re Carrying Too Much Stuff in your Backpack; Note 2: For the other end of the load-carrying spectrum, see 50 Signs You May Have Taken Ultralight Backpacking Too Far):
(L to R) Over the decades, I’ve carried packs of all sizes and weights. The shot on the left is from the Pyrenean Haute Route in 1999. The image on the right is from the Cape to Cape walk in 2010.
1. Your backpack has a capacity of 70 liters or more. Irrespective of the length of your hiking trip, you always find a way to fill it.
2. Your trail name is “Kitchen Sink.”
3. You have to sit down to put your pack on.
4. When you subsequently get up, not only do you inadvertently groan and wince, but anyone who happens to be in the vicinity also groans and winces.
5. You’ve got a poster of Cheryl Strayed in your gear storage area at home. You have a miniature version of the same photo in the leather wallet you carry on trail.
6. Your First Aid Kit puts EMTs to shame.
7. When fully loaded, the top of your pack is above your head.
8. You regularly reach water sources with between one and two liters of H20 still in your pack.
9. When trekking in the Himalaya, porters refer to you as “brother.”
Porters on Nepal’s Annapurna Circuit (Photo: Dmitry A. Mottl, Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons License).
10. You have named your pack one of the following: Ennis, Bertha, Goliath, Beast, or Ben (like the big bell inside Elizabeth Clock Tower). Alternatively, if you predicate any reference to your backpack with the “F” word, that’s also a pretty good indicator.
11. Your go-to sleeping bag for three-season trips has “Arctic” in the model name.
12. Irrespective of whether you are going up or downhill, people on horses always give way to you. Mountain bikers too.
13. You consider carrying a heavy pack to be a badge of honor. Funnily enough, in recent years, I’ve seen the “pack weight script” flipped on its head. These days, you’re more likely to hear cherry-picking ultralighters drone on about their pack’s tininess than bipedal packhorses puff their chest out about how much weight they’re carrying.
14. Your luxury items outnumber your essentials. Two to one.
15. Your balance is significantly compromised any time you’re negotiating river crossings, snowfields, blowdowns, scree, boulder hops, and steep/uneven descents.
16. While out on the trail, you constantly find yourself rummaging through your pack, looking for items that you are sure are in there somewhere but can’t quite remember where.
17. Boy scouts point at you and giggle whenever they see you on the trail.
Scouts getting ready to hit the trail (Photo: NThurston, Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons License)
18. After breaking camp and hitting the trail, your morning coffee finally kicks in and you realize you forgot to take a #2 before departure. However, your pack is so heavy that you don’t want to go through the process of taking it off and putting it back on again. Therefore you decide to suck it up and subsequently spend the next hour in a hide-and-seek battle of wills with Terry the Turtlehead. When the point of no return inevitably happens and you realize that Tezza won’t be denied, you drop your pack unceremoniously in the middle of the trail and dash for the woods. However, you don’t make it more than ten yards before you lose all sphincter control and soil yourself prior to being able to dig a cat hole and lower your shorts. Making a bad situation even worse, you were in such a rush that you left your toilet paper in the backpack. The moral of this not-uncommon story is: A. Have your coffee a little earlier, and; B. Carry a lighter, less encumbered load, which is easy to take off whenever the need arises.
19. When it’s pouring rain, your hiking companions (all six of them) congregate in your tent’s vestibule to play cards.
20. You are constantly worrying about not being sufficiently prepared and invariably overcompensate by bringing items that are unsuitable and/or unnecessary for the environment into which you are venturing (e.g., mega multi-tools).
21. You recently signed a deal to be the face of Coleman Camping Equipment.
22. You carry sports sandals (which weigh almost as much as your footwear). “But I need them for river fords.” Are you sure? Alternatively, take your socks off and insoles out and cross in your trail runners.
Crossing the Rio Verde (in trail runners) during the Copper Canyon Traverse (2013).
23. When you empty your pack after finishing a trip, you realize that there are at least five items that you not only didn’t use but that never actually saw the light of day during the course of your hike.
24. You regularly find yourself leaning too far forward while hiking. This is often a sign that not only is your pack too heavy but also that it is sitting too low on your back. Given time, this posture can result in rounded shoulders, neck strain from constantly tilting your head up in order to see properly, and pressure on the lumbar region.
25. Your camping kitchenware for an extended backpacking trip consists of a pot, plate, bowl, frying pan, two mugs (one for strangers in need), knife, fork, spoon, french press, and a cheese grater.
26. You pack an extra day’s food for weekend trips.
27. You wear sturdy hiking boots on three-season backpacking trips. Traditionally speaking, heavy-duty boots and overloaded backpacks go together like peanut butter and jelly or vegemite and toast. If you see one, you’ll often see the other (For a detailed discussion, see Trail Runners Vs. Hiking Boots: A Thirty-Year Perspective).
28. Your clothes and all your hiking equipment are in camouflage design. Even your bog roll is in camo.
29. You’re a bushcrafter (see #28).
30. And the biggest sign that you’re carrying too much stuff in your backpack while out in the woods? You focus more on how uncomfortable you feel than the beauty of your surroundings.
Conclusion
Obviously, some of the above-listed points are tongue-in-cheek. However, the premise of the article is quite serious. There are a number of reasons to carry a lighter load while out in the wilderness*, however, in my experience, the big ones are simply comfort, health, and enjoyment. It’s better for both your body, which is less likely to incur stress-related injuries, and also your mind, which will be less distracted than it would be under the burden of a heavy load (*Note: Always in accordance with your experience level and the dictates of the environment into which you are venturing).
Postscript: I was just about to hit publish for this article when the old axiom, “don’t pack your fears,” popped into my head. This is one of those phrases that hikers repeat ad nauseam when discussing what (and how much) you should carry in the woods. However, I’ve long felt that biases, preconceptions, and plain old-fashioned stubbornness can often be equally limiting and heavy. As someone who travelled the long route to lightweight/ultralight backpacking, I’ll leave you with three parting thoughts: 1. No matter how long you’ve been hiking, keep an open mind when it comes to gear choices; 2. Do your due diligence and listen to people with a broad depth and breadth of experience, and; 3. Ultimately, we’re all trying to optimize our time out in nature. Lightening your load can help.
Related Articles
- 50 Signs You May Have Taken Ultralight Backpacking Too Far
- Trail Runners Vs. Hiking Boots: A 30-Year Perspective
- Going Lighter and The Big Three
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I appreciated this one and the last “too much stuff” post. I happily started lightening my load after taking up backpacking again after a hiatus of many years of job and kids. No way could I carry all I did when I was 20, hiking in jeans, leather boots, and 45 pounds of – I don’t even remember what. I also don’t get giant heel blisters any more either, nor do I think that’s just the intrinsic nature of backpacking! There’s always sweat and strain and bumps and bruises, but they’ll come naturally and don’t have to be caused by overload. Let the trail beat you up; don’t do it to yourself.
I do get sick of people critiquing others’ gear out on trail, from any quarter. If someone doesn’t ask for advice, don’t give it! (I guess that’s my advice.) And if they ask, be gentle – don’t tear apart their whole pack. A few basic suggestions – fewer clothes, not so much food, etc. – will help them get lighter. They’ll figure it out or they’ll refuse to do so and that’s ok. I still fail the water test sometimes. I hate, hate running out of water, esp in a very dry, hot area. So yes, I do arrive at the next water source with some water left. Packing my fear!
Funnily enough, people who overpack often critique light-packing hikers too. One of my dear friends always critiques me for not carrying a knife big and bold enough to slaughter small game. On busy trails like the TRT. Because you never know when you will need it in a survival situation. It’s now an on-going joke between us. Last time we hiked together he brought a slingshot… just in case. I don’t critique him for not being able to hike very far though, because his pack and boots and gear is all way too heavy…HYOH!
Hi Cam, it’s always great to hear from you!
I’ve found it’s also a balance to the question, “How uncomfortable are you willing to be”.
One guy I saw will only carry a 40 degree sleeping bag even in freezing temperatures. His solution was to get up and do pushups/situps during the night if he got too cold, or just get up and night hike. That’s not for me.
I guess I try to be as comfortable as I can be “within reason”. An extra pound or two was never a big deal to me if it means I get a good nights sleep, and can be fairly comfortable in the trail environment.
There’s a ‘Badge of Courage’ mantra going on in hiking these days. Millennials showing off their 5 pound base weight packs. It always makes me feel like they’re hypothermia bait (but they look cool in the process).
About the best I’ve been able to do is a 14 pound base weight.
I’ve found nature to be totally unforgiving. But it’s also true the more weight doesn’t necessarily mean more prepared.
Hi Bart,
Thanks for the comment.
The ‘badge of honor/courage’ mentality mentioned in #13 is really two sides of the same coin (though neither party would likely admit as much).
Regarding ultralight specifically, with the appropriate skills, practical experience, fitness/strength, gear choices, and objectivity, it is possible to go relatively lightweight, even in challenging conditions. Unfortunately, in the case of a lot of ultralighters, their theoretical knowledge far outweighs their field experience, and that’s where they can get themselves into trouble (particularly when pride/ego enters the equation, as it often does).
Cheers,
Cam
“that’s where they can get themselves into trouble (particularly when pride/ego enters the equation, as it often does).”
Yup!
“Son, your ego is writing checks your body can’t cash.”
–Cam, just wondering, have you ever added up how many hiking miles you have under your belt at this point?
–Oh and I don’t know if you’ve read this book but it’s great: “A man in a hurry : the extraordinary life & times of Edward Payson Weston, the world’s greatest walker”
Mind bending. Weston estimated that he walked about a 100,000 miles in his life. And I have to remind myself that he did those miles in leather riding boots.
As I remember his 24 hour walking distance record was 117 miles. Incredible.
Hey Bart,
Thanks for the message. I just picked up the Kindle version of the bio you mentioned. Old Edward certainly seemed incredibly prolific! I’ve still got a long way to go before I reach 100,000 miles, and I can pretty much guarantee you that not a single one of them will be hiked in leather riding boots!
Cheers,
Cam
Love number 18. That crap is hilarious…literally !!!!!!!
Lol
Good to read on a snowy evening in Vermont. Loved #18. Seen all of this and then some.
That was hilarious…
The best luxury you will take is a light pack
Great read
Excellent and always funny Cam, thanks for sharing. I’ve not done much packing, but did guide a group on a multi-day trip in Joshua Tree, and carried a hugely heavy pack, to make sure the guests had what they needed. It was a very painful experience, and have learned a lot reading your articles. Cheers, S2
Hi Cam:
I often have too much water since a dry source in New Mexico..but this mainly rings true and funny.
Bamboo Bob
I won’t ever feel bad about too much water. But the more you backpack, the more you learn what you need and don’t or whether there’s a lighter alternative.
Hiking the AT, I was 20 pounds, that’s without food and water. That’s a tent, sleeping bag, air matress, clothes, cooking stove w/ gas canister, and other small items.
As a 105lb, 4’=11″ woman, I keep my pack at 25 pounds. That’s 1/4 of my body weight, fellas. This works for 3 nights on the trail and I could probably get it lighter with new, expensive equipment that I cannot afford. Any more weight and it stops being fun and the altitude can get to me.
I only carry water when none is around ,planning is key
“kitchen sink” is what best one it’s what my wife does to me all the time lol!
Thank you for this write-up. Rawe! (awesome) ????… I saw myself at no.1 (shameful lol), def no.2 then curled over, and haven’t stopped laughing since no.4. The worst thing is that I’m going on my first hike next week… I relate just from traveling domestically ????… E mihi ana (thanks again)
Yep, I know someone who completely represents both #14 and #16. Some of these are hilarious yet true. This is the best article I’ve stumbled across today.