Backpacking: Help me pack my bag!

The_Mitch

The_Mitch

Member
I'm going on a 3 day trip backpacking in a National Forest. Temps are supposed to be in the 50's during the day and mid 30's at night. The plan is to pack in and set up camp in a different spot each night. I'm generally camp in campgrounds, so this is rather new to me.

What I have so far: 45L backpack, 0 deg sleeping bag, sleeping pad, tarp and paracord for a tarp tent, rain gear, food, water, jet boil, headlight, fire starters (lighter, striker, hatchet, etc.), toilet paper, extra socks and undies, and thermals in case it gets cold.

I don't need to pack ultra light because we will be doing some sight seeing, rock climbing, dicking around; but I don't want to carry around shit I won't use. Are there any essential or luxury items that I potentially missed? What do you guys bring or have forgotten that can make or break a trip?
 
deck of cards. provided you're going camping with a group, this is a must have.

flask filled with something strong, preferably bourbon or whiskey. for the love of god don't purchase fireball.

a decent book. usually i wake up around 7-8am, so that leaves me some time to kill in the mornings.

frenchpress and coffee. this one is pretty self explanatory.

i always bring 6 hackysacks with me backpacking/to festivals. i've been juggling for years and find it to be really entertaining, plus i would say that 1 out of every 10 people already know how to juggle, but very few people know how to pass (pairs juggling) and it can be a great way of passing some time....no pun intended.
 
13656628:Big_Spence said:
.no pun intended.
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There are four of us going, forgot to add. Solid list, I had thought of the deck of cards before, but forgot to throw it in the bag. Booze was kind of a given, pack a flask and a few walking around beers. Good idea on the book, I'm an early riser and the other dipshits sleep in, so that'll give me something to do. I like to pack some tea bags rather than a french press to take up less space. I should've backed off on the coffee this week to avoid the lack of caffeine headaches, but hopefully the nice fresh air will help.
 
I like to bring a slack line to camp - not only does it provide a fun activity and drinking game but you can also hang clothes and shit on it to dry.
 
Med Kit, Water filter pump, hat & gloves, map & compass, hand sanitizer, extra lighters, extra batteries.

Do you know how to tie a taught line hitch? That's serve you well stringing up your tarp.
 
13656659:Kazabazua said:
I like to bring a slack line to camp - not only does it provide a fun activity and drinking game but you can also hang clothes and shit on it to dry.
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Jesus... slack line + Drunk = impossible, right?
 
13656735:Slush said:
Jesus... slack line + Drunk = impossible, right?
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Guess it depends on how good you are/tolerance - it gets pretty impossible for me after about 5 beers. It's pretty fun though, if you walk to the end you choose one person to drink. If you go there and back choose three people, if you fall off before making it to the end you drink. Do it backwards and everyone chugs.
 
I always bring about 3 lbs of these:

43939-Sour-Gummy-Worms.jpg


The ladies love them

The dudes also love them.

I always run out by the end of the trip
 
Don't think I actually saw pocketknife listed anywhere. If you have a water purifier bring it, otherwise you can just boil water. You can find really lightweight hammocks for pretty cheap that will get you off the ground and save you carrying the sleeping pad if you don't mind sleeping in them. Also, I recently lost my Nalgene and got one of those reusable water bags, and I have to say it's way lighter, the top is better, you can fold it up to almost nothing, and it holds the same amount of liquid. I also like taking pictures and have a bunch of old film gear, so I bring it when I'm worried about running out of batteries on the digital camera.
 
some duct tape is never a bad idea. dont take the whole roll just take a long strip and wrap it around something else.

also you might consider an extra bungee cord or two, you almost never end up carrying everything on the outside of your pack the exact way you originally strapped it on. this has saved me after straps have broke and when ive had to reorganize items on the outside of my pack in the past
 
13657688:CabbyArrant said:
Do you have a 30 degree or 20 degree bag? Sometimes the zero degrees take up too much space in packs
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Yeah 0 degree is pretty excessive for a 45 liter pack. Your gunna find you have no space.
 
13657359:ReetsAdeets said:
Don't think I actually saw pocketknife listed anywhere. If you have a water purifier bring it, otherwise you can just boil water. You can find really lightweight hammocks for pretty cheap that will get you off the ground and save you carrying the sleeping pad if you don't mind sleeping in them. Also, I recently lost my Nalgene and got one of those reusable water bags, and I have to say it's way lighter, the top is better, you can fold it up to almost nothing, and it holds the same amount of liquid. I also like taking pictures and have a bunch of old film gear, so I bring it when I'm worried about running out of batteries on the digital camera.
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30 degrees is pretty dang cold for a hammock without investing in an under quilt.
 
13657688:CabbyArrant said:
Do you have a 30 degree or 20 degree bag? Sometimes the zero degrees take up too much space in packs
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ehh. my 0 degree packs almost to the size of a nalgene with proper compression. depends on the bag.
 
13660280:Kid.Kelley said:
You can use a sleeping pad instead but probably still won't be as warm as anunder quilt
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This is true, but it's also a massive pain to keep a pad underneath you while you are sleeping in a hammock unless you have one with a sleeve designed for it.
 
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