Everyone loves free things and every backpacker loves saving weight and money. As ultralight backpackers, we all look for the lightest, most versatile gear for our loadout. But what if the most important item isn’t even a piece of gear at all? Checklists can help save time, weight, and money for even the most experienced backpackers. They can also help new backpackers feel more confident in their gear setup. In this article, we will discuss 3 ways that a checklist can help you feel more confident on the trail all while saving weight, time, and money.  How Backpacking Checklists can...

The Importance of staying warm cannot be underestimated Too many of us have found ourselves shivering on the trail, far far away from the central heating we’re used to in civilization. The weather conditions in the mountains can often be unpredictable. A scorching hot day in the desert can be followed by a freezing-cold night. The temperature changes get even more drastic in higher latitudes and high elevations. Given certain conditions, being unprepared in the wild can lead to hypothermia, frostbite, and even death. Therefore, it’s important to educate yourself as much as you can about staying warm, especially at...

What Is a Top Quilt? A top quilt is an ultralight backpacker’s dream. Think of it as the ultimate minimalist sleeping bag. In a sense, a top quilt is a sleeping bag without all of the extra weight. It has an open back, no hood, and no zippers. This allows a top quilt to shave ounces and sometimes even pounds compared to a sleeping bag of the same temperature range.  Top quilts were originally designed for hammock campers. This is because a hammock camper will typically have an under quilt hanging underneath their hammock keeping their underside warm. This allows...

You know that uncomfortable cotton feeling you get in your throat when you haven't been drinking enough water? You feel ready to drink an entire ocean! Yet even if someone were to hand you the world's largest glass filled to the brim with clear ice-cold H20, for backpackers, it wouldn't be enough. Water is not enough. To explain, there is so much more to hydration than just drinking water, especially when you are active on the trail and carrying a load on your back.   This article will teach you the do's and don'ts of staying hydrated while out on the trail.   ...

Backpackers can spend a lot of money on their gear. But what many don't realize is that they may be slowly ruining a lot of that expensive gear just by not cleaning it correctly! Some people simply don't clean their gear enough because they are afraid of doing it wrong. Others may clean their sleeping bags and other items too often or not use the proper method.  In this article, we'll cover: Why you need to clean your gear and what can happen if you don't. How to clean specific types of gear like down sleeping bags and jackets, boots, backpacks, base...