by Chris Shamati

Created on: September 28, 2009   Last Updated: September 29, 2009

Backpacking in general is a great way to go out and explore nature and to spend time with close friends. Ultralight backpacking is similar in all aspects to regular backpacking except for the rather obvious fact that it's, well, lighter. As an experienced backpacker with experience in 50 milers there is a clear difference between ultralight and normal back packing.

First off, let's just go over the pros and cons of ultralight backpacking

Pros:

You're carrying less so you wont feel as tired and fatigued as the day goes on

More than likely if you're attempting to do this you have backpacked before and know general strategies for packing

You will have be able to get where you want to go faster and to spend time doing things like setting up camp and preparing an early dinner or anything else that you might enjoy doing

Cons:

One of the most notable trade offs with a heavier pack is the lack of clothes that you tend to bring. Normally you carry only the bare minimum and if something happens you are s.o.l. (so out of luck)

Unfortunately some of the nicer and lighter gear is quite a bit more expensive, this is especially true for sleeping bags and tents

As you can see there are some advantages and disadvantages of ultralight backpacking. In general ultralight is for the more experience who have camped before and are confident in their outdoorsman skills. Normally a good ultralight pack for a 50 miler can weigh 30-35lbs depending on the amount of group gear that needs to be carried (really no way around lugging group gear) while a normal pack with extras and spares will weigh 40-45lbs, again calculating the weight of group gear is difficult. Anyhow we see that those 10-15lbs lightens up the back by roughly 33%. Not bad at all. It is a general rule of thumb that at most a pack should only weigh about a third of your body weight but as seeing how these packs are for 50 miles or more, it's understandable why they're slightly more.

Some basics for ultralight backpacking are one to two pairs of clothes MAX. Clothes take up a lot of space and honestly, when you are backpacking one to two sets of clothes will serve you fine. A 20 degree down sleeping bag is a must as they weigh under a pound and are most versatile as they are comfortable from in the High Sierras (snowy and rainy) to Boundary Waters, Quetico (humid). A flaw about ultralight down bags are that they are a lot more expensive than synthetic and if gotten wet they take forever to dry. For this reason extreme care is needed to keep it dry as it is one of your most important pieces of gear. Another must have is a good tent, if you plan on going ultralight those Colemen tents from Walmart have got to go. Preferably you want a tent that weighs about 3 pounds, is seam sealed, and durable. One last thing for ultralight backpacking is to always have a buddy! Safety in numbers, someone to enjoy the scenery with, and someone to help cook, whats not to like about that?

Finally, here are some sites that I use to purchase ultralight equipment, they are reputable and are some of the foremost outfitters today. http://www.cabelas.com, http://www.rei.com, and http://www.llbean.com/

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