Recommended Backpacking Gear

RECOMMENDED GEAR

Lightweight & Ultralight
Backpacking & Hiking

Best Lightweight Rain Jacket for Hiking and Backpacking

Best Lightweight Rain Jacket 2020

February 25, 2020/17 Comments/by Alan Dixon

This guide will help you pick the best lightweight jacket and pants for your needs, your travel, and your budget. No BS! All these lightweight rain jackets have all earned their spot on this list by performing far better than the competition.

Best Backpacking Backpacks 2020

April 25, 2020/45 Comments/by Alan Dixon

A backpack is the single most important piece of gear that any backpacker will own. As such, there is no reason to settle for a heavy, old-school pack. That’s why this buyer’s guide highlights the very best backpacking backpacks for hiking in 2020. Below you will find exceptional and light hiking backpacks for men and women, and for all types of backcountry adventures and budgets. From the top all-round performers, to ultralight backpacks we have you covered!

Best Backpacking Tent 2020 | Lightweight & Ultralight

April 10, 2020/50 Comments/by Alan Dixon

There is an exceptional and LIGHT tent here for every type of backpacker. But you’ll need to choose carefully to get the perfect tent for you at the right price! This guide to the Best Lightweight Backpacking Tents will help you do just that. We divide backpacking tents into 5 basic categories of features, weight and price. This makes it much faster and easier for you to find a fantastic backpacking tent at the right price that has the features that matter the most to YOU.

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Best Sleeping Pad for Backpacking 2020 | Complete Guide

February 2, 2020/11 Comments/by Alan Dixon

In this guide, we showcase the very best sleeping pads on the market, the ones we use the most. We back up these recommendations with a data-based analysis of weight, warmth, & cost as well as extensive field experience in a broad range of conditions. With better sleep comes more spring in your step, more alertness on the trail, and wider smiles all day long. Sweet dreams!

More Backpacking Gear

A list of the best lightweight backpacking gear.
Recommended Backpacking Gear has a focus on value—great performance and reasonable cost.

Lightweight Hikers’ Guide to REI Anniversary Sale 2020

The vast inventory at a REI Sale can be overwhelming. I've done a bunch of research to help you select the best lightweight gear at the sale.

Best Backpacking Sleeping Bags & Backpacking Quilt 2020

Beginners, Recommended Gear, Sleeping Bags & Quilts

In this guide, we showcase the very best sleeping bags and camping quilts on the market. We back up these recommendations with a data-based analysis of weight, warmth, & cost as well as extensive field experience in a broad range of conditions. Save weight and money while still getting a great night's sleep!

Bikepacking GAP Trail & C&O Canal Trail

Bikepacking, Recommended Gear, Trip Guides

Bikepacking the GAP Trail and C&O Trail from Pittsburgh to Washington DC is a superb mix of natural beauty, wooded trails, quaint towns, & American history. It’s the perfect introductory trip for those new to bikepacking. But it’s just as suitable and rewarding trip for accomplished riders. Virtually all of the trail is away from traffic on flat, wide, non-technical dirt trails (double track) that do not require great riding skills.

2019 Best Satellite Messengers – SOS Devices

Emergency & SOS, Recommended Gear, Skills

Buy wisely and be safe! This post has the best Satellite Messenger - SOS devices that will get help when needed and reassure family and loved ones that you are OK when everything is hunky dory. And yes, there are HUGE differences between devices.

2019 Smart and Light Gift Guide for Hikers and Backpackers

Gear List, Recommended Gear

This gear is smarter, lighter and more thoroughly tested than your typical buyer’s guide. Enjoy our picks of the best light and practical gear in our Smart and Light Gift Guide for Hikers and Backpackers.

Review of Dutchware Chameleon Hammock – Light & Superbly Versatile

Hammocks, Recommended Gear

One hammock can do it all—and well! The Chameleon, works in all conditions from hot, bug-infested jungles to bitter cold winters of the Northeastern US. In the following "Review of Dutchware Chameleon Hammock," I discuss what makes it possibly…

Guide to Lightweight Down Jackets and Pants for Backpacking

Clothing, Recommended Gear, Uncategorized

Forget synthetics! Down rocks. A lightweight down jacket is the most weight and cost effective way to stay warm. Lightweight down jackets are less expensive than synthetics,* they weigh less, but most importantly they are so much warmer! It…

Best Lightweight Backpacking Electronics Gear

Electronics, Gear List, Navigation, Recommended Gear

This best lightweight backpacking electronics gear is supremely functional, but is also light, low-cost, practical, and durable. It is the gear I take backpacking. This post has many Tips on How to Effectively Use this Gear. This is part…

Best Cheap 25 cent Backpacking Gear

Backpacking Food, cooking & stoves, Recommended Gear, Skills

The Best Cheap $0.25 Backpacking Gear in my kit are Pint Ziploc Freezer Bags. They are a perfect size and have a ton of uses. I’ve used them to protect my iPhone and other expensive equipment packrafting in Alaska, rafting down the Grand Canyon in winter, trekking in Patagonia and the rain forests of New Zealand. Surprisingly, they are virtually unknown and you won’t find them on grocery store shelves.

Practical Light Gear List Appalachian Trail

Gear List, Recommended Gear

Just how light can you go on backpacking gear for the AT and still be an efficient hiker? I believe this "Practical Light Gear List Appalachian Trail" is very close to the lower weight limit of gear to efficiently walk long days on the AT without sacrificing comfort, functionality or miles hiked per day. My goal is a sub 12 pound total pack weight (gear, food, water & fuel) to do a ~100 mile section of the AT without resupply.

Best Backpacking Stove System – Trail Designs Caldera vs. JetBoil

cooking & stoves, Recommended Gear

Best Backpacking Stoves: Trail Designs Caldera, the best alcohol stove system, and JetBoil, the best canister stove system. What makes these systems “best” is that they are fuel efficient, wind-resistant, stable and stow into a small package. Which is the best for you?...

Recommended Lightweight Backpacks

Backpacks, Beginners, Recommended Gear

Do-it-all Packs: These are your first choice if you want one light pack to work for all your trips. These packs will carry gear and food for trips up to 7 days or more—yet at around 2 pounds they are not too heavy to use for a long weekend on the Appalachian Trail.

Recommended Tents, Tarps and other Shelters

Beginners, Recommended Gear, Tents Tarps Shelters

Possibly the best all-around, lightweight shelter is a pyramid shelter. I have used Pyramid Shelters on trips to Alaska, Patagonia, the Sierras, major European treks and around the world. (Picture of Alison in a Mountain Laurel Designs…

The Big Three – Recommended Backpacking Gear

Backpacks, Recommended Gear, Sleeping Bags & Quilts, Tents Tarps Shelters

To save as much as 10 to 12 pounds with with the minimum of effort, look at The Big Three. 1) Backpack, 2) Tent/Shelter, and 3) Sleeping bag (or quilt). The lighter versions of these are just as functional as their heavier counterparts.

Recommended Pyramid Shelters

Recommended Gear, Tents Tarps Shelters

A pyramid shelter is likely your lightest effective shelter, unless the weather forecast is for constant, pouring-down rain or there are going to be a bunch of bugs (and there is an optional Innernet to handle that). This is the collective…

Recommended Tarps and Shaped Tarps

Recommended Gear, Tents Tarps Shelters

Tarps and Shaped Tarps are significantly lighter and have more floor area than pyramid shelters. e.g. a 2-person MLD Grace Cuben Grace Duo tarp is 8 oz vs the 16 oz for the DuoMid XL. For many backpackers, Tarps and Shaped Tarps are more…

Recommended Tents and Tarptents

Beginners, Recommended Gear, Tents Tarps Shelters

If you aren't up to Pyramids and tarps: Consider lightweight tents like the REI Quarter Dome 1 Tent, or the Big Agnes Fly Creek UL 1 Tent. (If you want to save some weight, look at the Tarptents, altho these will not be from REI.)

Backpacking Gear Sources

Recommended Gear

Sources for Ultralight and Lightweight Backpacking Equipment This is only a small sample of the many sources for light equipment. Many other sources can be found by reading through the reviews and technique articles at Backpacking Light www.backpackinglight.com. …

Recommended Gear

The Big 3 Look at The Big Three:1) Backpack, 2) Tent/Shelter, and 3) Sleeping bag (or quilt) You stand to loose a bunch of weight from these: as much as 10 to 12 pounds. Take a Backpack that weighs less than two pounds (see Recommended…

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Disclaimer: Posts on this site contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking on these links, a portion of the sale helps support this site at no additional cost to you. I do not receive compensation from the companies whose products I review. Unless otherwise noted, products are purchased with my own funds. I am never under an obligation to write a review about any product. Finally, reviews express my own independent opinion.