There is no uniform tutorial on how to lightweight backpacks, which depends largely on the specific environment, needs and experience level you are in in the wilderness.
Backpackers can be roughly divided into three types: ultralight backpackers, lightweight backpackers and regular backpackers.
Ultra Lightweight Backpackers:
This is a true hiker who is characterized by their speed and the light weight of their backpacks (about 10 kg or less).
Due to the use of high-quality weight-saving materials, their equipment is on average more expensive than ordinary weight equipment.
Lightweight Backpackers:
Most experienced hikers will opt for lightweight, with no more than 20 kilograms of items and gear in their backpacks.
Regular Backpackers:
Usually a novice hiker or a first-time backpacker, the backpack weighs about 15 kilograms, and due to lack of experience, it tends to overpack the backpack.
However, we all know that in any case, being able to reduce the load of the backpack will be easier and more enjoyable for hikers and climbers.
First, the 5 basic principles of backpack lightweight:
1. Safety first:
Lightweight has a basic bottom line, that is, in any environmental condition, carrying a lightweight load while being able to ensure safety.
Achieving lightweighting in a backpack requires a certain amount of time, practice, and mindset, and it's definitely not something that can be done in a hurry.
Ideally, weight reduction should be a gradual process, which is parallel to the corresponding improvement of the hiker's wilderness skills.
When you first start losing weight, it's best to be cautious than just bringing essentials, and after practicing in various types of environments for a long time, you'll know what you can't take without and what you can't.
2. Leave non-essentials:
It's not always easy to distinguish between essentials and non-essentials, basically, it comes down to experience, personal preferences, and the requirements of the hiking environment.
Before each departure, check out every piece of gear in your bag and ask yourself two questions:
Hikers are often surprised by the number of extra items they have to carry out of habit rather than having to carry.
3. Reduce the weight of necessities:
With the development of technology, lighter materials and innovative designs have made outdoor products more durable and lighter (e.g., tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, sleeping mats), which has reduced the weight of backpacks to some extent compared with the past.
Therefore, replacing old tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, sleeping mats, and other necessary equipment is the most obvious measure of weight loss.
4. Multi-purpose items:
Many of the items in your backpack, such as sleeping mats, hiking poles, and cooking pots, can be used for multiple purposes.
By enhancing the choice of multifunctional equipment, excess or duplicate items can be reduced, thus reducing the weight of the overall backpack.
5. Simple:
Don't put together all the bells and whistles, any equipment should be practical and necessary, they are not luxuries, nor are they cool props.
Practical but simple equipment will save excess weight in itself.
Reduce the weight of food and water:
For lightweight and ultra-lightweight backpackers, the combined weight of food and water will often exceed the weight of all the gear they carry.
For example, five days of food will weigh about 4.5 kilograms, and drinking water will be heavier.
So when it comes to the weight of food and water, backpackers need to ask themselves the following questions before heading out into the wilderness:
1. Food:
Ultra-lightweight hikers are a group of food-demanding people who demand food that is delicious, nutritious and satiety, as well as packaged in a compact, lightweight and easy to cook.
From the perspective of weight reduction, choose food from the following perspectives:
High-calorie foods have a greater energy-to-weight ratio and can bring you more calories.
Examples include assorted dried fruits, peanut butter, granola, cornflakes, cheese, and certain energy bars.
Eat regular road meals (i.e., every one to two hours) and choose foods that are high in both carbohydrates and fat.
Lyophilized and dehydrated foods are lightweight, easy to carry, and remove moisture without sacrificing calorific values, which is a very effective way to reduce weight.
However, not all freeze-dried and dehydrated foods are the same, and many freeze-dried and dehydrated products are highly processed and have little nutrition.
So, be sure to read the ingredient list of your food before you buy, and if you choose to bring plenty of these items, consider repacking them before you go to save weight and space.
By limiting yourself to eating only one cooked meal a day, you can reduce the amount of fuel you need to carry.
In a warm environment, you can even consider not cooking at all, in which case the stove and cookware will no longer be needed, thus saving even more weight.
Repackage food as much as possible before departure to reduce weight, with excess packaging equating to excess weight and less usable volume.
After a hearty breakfast or lunch, start your tour, which equates to a reduction in the weight of one more meal.
When you travel with 7 days of food and food, your backpack will be heavy no matter how low your base weight is.
However, as time passes, as food and fuel are consumed, your burden will gradually lighten.
2. Water:
How to minimize the amount of water carried without risking dehydration, from the following six aspects:
Be sure to plan your water use before you go, and always know the location of the water source, the current state of your body, and the amount of water left over during the journey, so that you can minimize the need to carry a lot of extra water for safety purposes.
Once you wake up camping, get into the habit of drinking at least half a liter of water, and the sooner you drink, the less water you'll need to drink (and carry) later.
If you're navigating terrain with tight water sources, drink at least a liter of water before leaving each water source.
By doing so, you don't need to carry much water to the next water replenishment point, which in turn will reduce the weight on your back and give you a brisk pace.
In a relatively water-scarce environment, be sure to eat the main meal at the water source, you don't need to bring extra water to cook.
In conditions where water is scarce, hot, and there is little shade, consider doing most of the hiking trails (i.e. early morning, late afternoon, and late afternoon) when temperatures are low.
With such a strategy, you can reduce your water consumption because you are resting rather than exercising during the hottest time of the day.
Carry enough water to allow you to reach the next water replenishment point, but not so much that it adds too much burden, which is equivalent to wasting stamina.
Once you've accumulated a wealth of experience, you know how much water you need in different types of terrain and conditions, and you won't add much weight to your backpack except for water accidents that you carry for safety purposes.
However, if you are walking in an environment where the source of water is uncertain, it is important to pay attention, in which case it is always wise to bring more water and act cautiously.
summary:
The lightweight backpack makes the hike fast and light, and reduces stress on the back, shoulders and legs.
The ultralight backpack is not just a simple weight loss, but also a release for yourself so you can go farther, more comfortably, traverse wider terrain and see more.
Don't deliberately pursue labels such as "lightweight" and "ultra-light", nor do you have to over-analyze your equipment in extremes, the essence of easy backpacking should boil down to the pursuit of simplicity while accumulating the necessary knowledge and skills to hike safely and comfortably in the environment of your choice.
#Wilderness Survival Guide##Travel##徒步 #