Want Safer, More Comfortable Backpacking?

Contrary to what many think, ultralight backpacking is not just about the freedom to hike more miles or to take your whole pack up the mountain with you. It is also about comfort and safety. Backpackers with heavy loads work too hard and threaten their joints too much. Challenges can add to the knowledge, but why suffer more than is necessary?


The Disadvantages Of Traditional Backpacking


Lack Of Freedom

You can not easily take a side trip up that hill, just to see what is there. If you do it without your pack, you have to go back the same way to get your pack.


Its A Hassle

Putting on and getting off your heavy pack quickly becomes a chore. You initial leaving it on even during rest stops, just so you dont have to deal with it.


Its Tiring

Backpacking is clearly more tiring with a heavy pack, and you probably wont enjoy yourself as much when you are tired.


More Injuries

Sprained ankles, blistered feet, sore muscles, and back and knee problems are just some of the common consequences of too much weight on your back.


Slowness

More weight equals slower progress, which means less access to wild places (you can not go as far on your four-day trip), or it means less time to for enjoyable activities, like a swim in a mountain lake, or a relaxing evening in camp.


More Dangerous

More injuries, and the inability to move quickly when a storm is coming or an emergency requires you to get to a pathway, means that backpacking can actually be more dangerous with a heavy load. Add to that the possibility of bad decisions due to tiredness.


The Ultralight Backpacking Alternative

Done the right way, ultralight backpacking gives you more freedom, more comfort, more safety, more enjoyment and less suffering than traditional backpacking. It allows you to move faster, but notice that I say "allows." It doesnt require it. It just gives you the option. Thats more freedom.

I have yet to meet or hear about a human who has tried lightweight backpacking for a while, and then gone back to a heavy load. I am not saying it is for people. Bad ankles can require heavy hiking boots, and bad habits might require a big pack to satisfy them. But even a backpacker who needs a pillow and big rectangular sleeping bag, may find these in lighter forms.

You just cant understand the sense of liberation felt by a convert to ultralight backpacking, until you try it yourself. When I, with my eleven-pound pack, stroll past overloaded backpackers struggling up steep trails, I remembered being in their place, and I understand I am enjoying myself more now.


Misconceptions About Ultralight Backpacking


Lighweight Backpacking Means Sacrifice

Not so. Bring your most adored camera! A lighter load means you can stop to use it more easily. If you leave behind the things you do not need, and bring a lighter backpack, tent, and sleeping bag, you might more easily bring that telephoto lense or whatever is really important to you.


Lighweight Backpacking Is Less Safe

The opposite! Bring all the safety items; a sleeping bag, first aid kit, shelter, water purification, etc. Just bring lighter versions. A light load makes you less likely to lose your balance and fall, or to otherwise injure yourself. It also means more quickly response to iffy situations.

A note about safety:

It is lagely a matter of experience and knowledge. A trained survivalist will always be safer backpacking with no shelter than a neophyte with the best tent. Learn a little about how to utilize you equipment properly, or to read the sky for comimg storms, and you can go lighter and safer.


Lightweight Backpacking Is Less Comfortable

Is it less relaxed to have 18 pounds on your back than 50? Is it less relaxed to have an ultralight sleeping bag if it keeps you just as warm? I stopped taking blisters (totally) when I started using running shoes instead of hiking boots. Cut the weight on your back by twenty-five pounds, and you might add back a heavier coat, if that is what you need to be relaxed .


Lightweight Backpacking Is Expensive

Ultralight sleeping bags are expensive. Almost everything else needed for ultralight backpacking can be found for the same price or cheaper than traditional gear. There are many sub-three-pound backpacks under a hundred dollars, for example.


Bottom Line:

Try it. The first instant you are fifteen miles into the day, and you realize that you can easily run up that hill-just to see what is there, youll know you made the right decision.