Hiking & Camping: Gear List

I have tried out lots of gear over the years and the following gear list is an attempt to summarise what I've learnt. The list has a column for each of a variety of trip durations and the number of red blobs gives an indication of what quantity of the item concerned I would take for each duration. Some items are optional extras (e.g. binoculars) or items that only apply to certain types of hike (e.g. gaiters) - tailor your gear list to your specific trip and avoid taking loads of gear that you're not realistically going to use. At the end of each trip make a note of the items that you didn't use and consider leaving them behind next time (this obviously does not apply to most of the safety items, but even here it pays to be realistic).

Weight: a wise proverb states "what weighs an ounce in the morning, weighs a pound at night". Try to keep your pack weight down to 15kg [33 lbs] or less, even (and especially) for the multi-day trips. This weight limit does not include day gear nor water, but does include all other gear, including food. It also includes the weight of your empty pack (my Macpac Glissade is an incredibly rugged and feature-laden bit of kit, but it weighs 3kg [6½lbs] empty - not ideal in my book). You can reduce your pack weight in several ways - sharing the gear between more people is the easiest. Critically evaluating what you will need for your specific trip at that specific time of year also helps a great deal. This includes validating the quantities of the things you take - do you need a whole bottle/can/box of ..? If all else fails, you can throw cash at the problem (not my favourite solution). Be wary of being too obsessed about minimising weight, however - if you're starting to compromise your comfort, or, worse, your personal well-being, your hike will be less enjoyable (and less safe) for it.

Weight vs Bulk: lots of people are concerned with minimising both (which equals lots of cash). I stress light weight over low bulk - as long as everything is tied down and not getting in the way, I think it is worth trading weight for bulk. An example is your sleeping mat - a self-inflating mat might save you a small amount of space, but a foam mat is much lighter - I'd go the foam mat.

Cost: you can spend an awful lot of money on outdoor gear. Some gear is worth every cent. Some is not. Build up your collection slowly and consider each purchase carefully - do you really need it? Really, really? Also consider what you can fabricate yourself - a light weight fly sheet is a pretty easy thing to make yourself, for example. Making it yourself also means you know how to fix it yourself. On a different tack altogether, one observation once directed at me was "instead of spending thousands to save a few grams, perhaps I'd consider not eating that pie?", i.e. losing some body mass could be a better solution to reducing the total weight carried. ;-)

The list below does not include food - don't forget to leave plenty of space in your backpack for this very important item! On a day or overnight hike blow your weight allowance on nice things to eat - leave the freeze-dried stuff for the multi-day hikes.

'Printer-friendly' gear list/check list.