Lightweight camping

[ManassasEagle]

Okay, you've got everything you need to fit in your backpack for your lightweight camping trip. This includes your nice little tent/shelter that's only big enough for you and your sleeping bag. What's the best thing to do with the backpack that you used to haul everything in? Anybody got any favorite tips and techniques for convenience, weather protection, etc?

[le Voyageur]

 

 

For my pack, I use the NRS Paragon Pack http://nrsweb.resultspage.com/display.php?=Q&ts=custom&w=packs

 

The Paragon allows me switch from dry bags, to Pelican cases, to packbaskets with little effort....and, on portages with multiple trips, it allows for more comfort than the old Duluth packs...

 

With Dry Bags I can carry water for camp, turn em into washing machines, add rocks for an anchor, store food underwater....

 

 

[Eagledad]

Hmm, I was thinking more on the backpacking treks and suggest a backpack raincover from Campmor or even a large trash bag.

 

That being said, I learned a lot from le Voyageur's post for our next Northern Tier trip. Never thought about using a dry bag to carry water.

 

Barry

[bucabaker]

One option is to square lash an 18-24 inch long cross piece to a tree and hang pack by the shoulder straps.

[DugNevius]

i pack everything in ziplock plastic bags and also use a pack cover for double protection. then i just hang it on a branch. no way any of that is getting wet.

[packsaddle]

Most of the time I just use one of those really thin plastic drop-cloths instead of a tent. Really lightweight (4 oz, max) and there is a lot of room under that tarp for all the gear. If there's a bad storm and it tears away, well, it's only water.

The tent is good if I'm going to be out for more than a couple of nights.

Then I cover the pack with a garbage bag to shed water and haul it up from a tree limb.

[gavvin]

I use the bungie cords that secure my sleeping bag and tent to secure the pack to a tree and then put a cover over the pack.

[theysawyoucomin']

After many nights in the infantry in the Union Street Marble Club I used a big black trash bag and rolled the end and tucked it underneath. Very light very dry. Norway, N. Carolina., Saudi Arabia, and everywhere in between

 

There is simply no room in a shelter half for a flack jacket, helment, a pack your "hooch" mate and you..

[madkins007]

2.2oz silicone-treated rip-stop nylon. The stuff is great for super lightweight gear! You can make a 'pyramid'-style tent with one tarp and a ground cloth with another, and the two bundle up to a double fist-size ball. Also makes great fly, poncho, sleeping bag shell, etc. Available from www.owfinc.com (GREAT source for outdoor fabrics!)

 

 

 

 

[madkins007]

Superlightweight gear...

 

Backpack- have you seen the superlight Tyvek backpacks? You can make your own from Tyvek house wrap (ask at a building site for leftovers). The stuff is nearly indestructable and nice and lihgt. Makes great groundcloths, too. A bit stiff for ponchos, etc.

 

Use sturdy plastic bags (I wonder if the new ForceFlex from Glad would be good?) to line your backpack with so your pack itself is the fiorst line of weather and abrasion protection, and the 'liner bag' is the second defense.

 

Wine box bladders make good water carriers- tough, light, reliable- if you can finangle the spout off and back on again! Cliff Jacobsen (author of several camping and canoeing books) suggests sewing a webbing strap to the 'waste' part of the bladder for carrying.

 

Consider, depending on location, forgoing a tent and trying a hammock with a fly suspended over it. A 'tube' of skeeter net can be used in buggy places. OR a home-made lightweight poncho rigged up as a temporary shelter with a lightweight sleeping bag inside.

 

Cliff J. also has several 'superlightweight' first-aid kit ideas. You really should check out his books- super stuff in them!