Essential Items for Backpacking and Camping

What you bring with you while backpacking and camping will either make or break your experience. The goal here to be as comfortable as possible with just the essentials. That doesn’t mean you can’t bring a couple luxury items. A couple of luxury items I cannot leave without is my camera (and lens of course), camera shoulder strap and tripod.

Equipment for car camping versus backpacking will vary in weight and size. Backpacking equipment are compact and lightweight. What equipment to get will depend on whether you backpack often and the size of your budget.

The list of equipment below is what I’ve found to fit my needs and capabilities. I absolutely enjoy backpacking and photography. I decided to cut weight in my backpacking and camping gear to make up for the weight in my photography gear. Depending on the trip (hard or easy), I pick and choose from the list below to fit my needs and the terrain and weather conditions.

Essential items at camp

• 2 person backpacking tent – Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2 (+ footprint)
• 5F lightweight sleeping bag – Teton Sports 5F bag or REI Igneo bag
• Lightweight sleeping pad – Thermarest NeoAir Xlite
• Ultralight hammock – Hummingbird hammocks
• Bear canister (for bear country) – Bearvault BV 450
• Lightweight camp chair (car camping) – Moon fence camp chair
• Adventure medical kit – Trauma Kit with quickclot
• Emergency blanket – Mylar blanket
• Headlamps – Black Diamond Spot headlamp or these 1000 lumen headlamp (car camping)
• Petroleum Jelly coated cottonballs (fire starter for campfires)

Essential items for cooking

1. Water boiler – Jetboil or SnowPeak LiteMax (for backpacking)
2. Cup – Toaks titanium 450ml cup
3. Utensils – Long handle spoon or a spork
4. Fire ignitor – Plain old matches or the MSR Ignitor
5. Fuel canister – Jetboil 4 season fuel
6. Insulation pouch – Optimus Heat pouch
7. Towel – Pactowl
8. Multitool knife – Leatherman skeletool CX
9. Pot – Evernew titanium pots

Essential items for hydration

1. Water filter – Sawyer mini water filtration
2. Water bladder – Ultralight Evernew bladder
3. Water bottles – I reuse the 1L smart water bottles

Essential clothing and items for hiking

1. A solid lightweight backpack – Granite Gear Crown VC 60L, Lutsen 55L or Nimbus 60L
   • My backpacking set up is the GG Crown VC 60L + VC airbeam frame – under 2lb.
2. Comfortable footwear
   • When it’s muddy, rainy, or snowy terrain my go to is the waterproof Danner 600 boots.
   • When it’s sunny and no forecasted mud or snow terrain, I opt for the lighter New Balance Leadville v3 with speedlaces.
3. Socks – I wear a sock liner underneath my Darn tough socks.
4. Hiking poles – I usually only use my poles during longer trips so I went with a compact and very lightweight Black Diamond Carbon Poles.
5. Base layer top – Drifit UPF 50+ long sleeve shirt (men | women)
6. Insulating layer top – 400g/m2 100% merino wool (men | women)
7. Shell jacket – Marmot Precip jacket (men | women)
8. Insulating base layer bottom – 400 g/m2 100% merino wool ( men | women)
9. Hiking pants – Columbia hiking pants (men | women)
10. Sun hat – Outdoor Research hat
11. Crampons (for icy conditions) – Yaktraks

Essential hiking and camping food

1. Freeze dried pouches – My favorites are the beef stroganoff and chicken a la king.
2. Snacks – I like Clif Bars or Probars because they taste good and are high in calories.
3. Water electrolytes – Propel electrolyte packets
4. Coffee packets – Starbucks VIA ready packets

Let my list help you with gathering the necessary equipment to make your back country adventure memorable. Happy trekking!