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1 thing about knives. I don't carry tent pegs, because i only have steel ones and titanium ones are out of budget for me. Instead at every stop i make small pegs from wood, it gives me something to do around camp. I wouldn't call this bushcraft since i am just making a stake.
@@Doile911 that sounds fun , I think I will steal this idea , I use cheap ones wich do the job but I’ve started ike a king and I guess it would be much lighter , thankyiu
Funny, but someone could actually live off of food from hiker boxers at the beginning of the Appalachian Trail. If you can live off granola, you can eat what other people have realized they packed too much of.
One tip for packing light is to finish packing 3 days beforehand, then come back and repack 2 more times, eliminating/substituting to meet target weight. I tend to throw in too many things when I pack at the last moment.
people only think using a phone is a good idea till they've tried it i always bring 2 lamps because without light i feel more likely to fall into a crevice than to properly set up a camp (:
I few things I disagree with: A map and compass never run out of battery , Rice takes the same amount of time to cook as pasta... and uses less water, always carry a Individual first aid kit, coffee bags can be carried with good quality coffee in (similar to tea bags), always carry a knife... a swiss army knife is ideal for light hiking.. also giving you tweezers /scissors etc , a tip for outdoors is that a natural variation for deodorant is crushed pine or cedar needles rubbed on the skin.. which also help as an insect deterrent
Speaking as a 50yo and having had time to reflect on experience, navigation tooling and understanding might be the one skill that saves your life. Other times, it'll be your ability to build a fire, perform emergency signals, etc. A good compass is not too heavy and understanding orienteering is a must. In an emergency you need the right minimum tools because your life will depend on it. But a tool is useless without practice. Regarding food, always bring three days extra, even if you are going for a single night. On Stewart Island in New Zealand, at its most remote place, I ran into a man whose equipment was largely lost or destroyed in an Antarctic storm. I gave him that food. On another occasion I was injured. I use shelf stable sausage for protein and fat and make a stew of mashed potatoes with part of an instant soup mix for flavor. I stick to three pairs of socks; have a backup to a backup. Heavier items should be between the shoulder blades and as close to your back as you can. Add a signal mirror and a chem light to the pack out. It adds minimal weight but I've used both. Have two ways to start a fire...ask me why. Great post, as always. Best-
Solid advice, but it’s falling on deaf ears. I’ve come to realize most of the backpackers of today have absolutely no idea how to land navigate, start fires, or any real survival skills. They carry $400 Garmin GPS and $300 JetBoils to do that for them.
@Davison-CaleI was on a mountaintop caught alone in an Antarctic gale in the South Pacific. There was a hut in my area but the last inhabitants had not restocked wood or protected the dregs of what had been left. They also gave no love to the woodstove cleaning. In raw weather, I had to improvise. On another similar occasion, following a rescue of a severely injured hiker, I had lost my main fire starting material.
@@davidcann6021 Honestly i found the best solution was dog poo bags over thick socks, barely weigh anything, fully waterproof and you can keep a few spare or double layer just in case.
One way to cut down on the overall weight is to lose weight personally. I'm a big guy and since I decided to walk the Cumbria Way in the UK (75 miles) I have lost in the last 5 weeks 9kg. Hopefully I will lose 20kg by the time we go. So yes we bigger walkers can look at our kit but maybe we need to look at ourselves first. Love the video, off to checkout more if your vids now. Cheers (Fanny pack 😂😂😂) (Pants are your underwear as well 😂😂😂)
yea but the lighter you are (around 5-7% of bodyfat) the faster you get tired. The more muscles with 12% of body fat is the key, of course your body will SHOUT for more calories but as long as you maintain your calorie 0 level you can pretty much hike all day long without being tired. Tested on myself
@@dybek0062tested wrong way then. I'm 60kg usually with 16kg backpack. What makes difference is body habituation to constant weight after week of traveling in rough terrain, after some time you can walk whole day until get tired.
@@dybek0062 you're right. The British army discovered that in the Falklands war. Their soldiers who were body builders with 3-5% body fat wore out far quicker on the long march across the main island than did "normal" soldiers with 7-10% body fat.
Several of these compromises are accepting significant risk in the name of saving a few ounces. A well-thought-out and properly stocked first aid kit is of vital importance. It's all well and good to skip a splint, until someone breaks an ankle and all of a sudden you're trying to make sure you can medevac them before it gets damaged so badly they'll never walk again. You can skip a light and spare batteries, until your phone dies while you're answering nature's call and can't find your way back to the campsite. You can skip a compass, until you lose the trail and get lost. I could go on, but if you're even reasonably fit, 5 pounds of kit is hard to notice but might save your life.
Tip At the end of every trip, before putting your gear away, arrange it into three piles. Pile A: Stuff you brought, used and are happy with (or perhaps not happy with but can't afford to replace right away). Pile B: Stuff you brought and didn't use at all, but don't want to get rid of or would be stupid not to bring. I.e first aid kit, emergency blanket ect... Pile C: Stuff that you brought and didn't use and can actually probably not bring again. That third pair of socks, your camp shoes etc. Ditch everything from pile C and only pack A and B on your next trip. You save 100% of the weight of items you don't bring, and it costs nothing. Other tip Take a look at the forecast before you go. It's going to be hot and not drop below freezing? Maybe don't being the puffy jacket and gloves. It's going to be super buggy? Bring a head net, and a long sleeve shirt and leggings. Knowing what to bring for the conditions means taking fewer items for "just in case..." That can save several pounds. And it's free.
If the days are getting in the 80s (28-30C) but nights are dropping into the 40s (6-8C) that puffy jacket will come in very handy. In the Saudi Arabian desert temps would hit around 130F (55C) during the day and drop to the 80s at night, and it was COLD. A folded mosquito net made a great blanket.
@@nolangonzales8534 It's amazing how quickly the body can change too. Once I stayed a few months in Mississippi and by the end I felt like I was freezing wearing a hoodie when it was in the upper 60s fahrenheit. Couple weeks later I was back in Virginia where it was routinely getting down to 40F (mid/late November) and felt completely fine wearing the same hoodie! Both places were _similar_ humidity so it wasn't that making the difference.
I would like to add a few tips: Instead of bringing ingredients for meals, take dehydrated trekking meals. Not only do they weigh less than separate ingredients, they also taste good. In my opinion good food is the key to a good trip and your food should make you happy. Bringing dehydrated meals also reduce cooking time as you only need to boil a cup of water instead of heating a whole meal. That saves weight in terms of gas and regarding cookware because you only need one pot. Only downside is, that retail trekking meals cost around 10-15€ per meal. But if you’re really into it you could make them at home too. The second tip I’d like to share is about saving money on bottles and containers: Check out items sold in small plastic bottles like smoothies or ginger shots or whatsoever. Buy them, clean the bottle and voila, you get a decent storage item that doesn’t add bulk or weight. For example I use a 0.2L smoothie bottle for coffee powder. Third one: Get a buff. It can be a scarf, a beanie, full face cover or even a cover for your eyes to sleep. My general rule is this: For each item I check how many functions it offers. If it has only one use, I check if anything else could perform the same task. Redundancy is only allowed if something is relevant for my personal safety. Such topics are: Navigation, water and hypothermia. Never hesitate to consider aborting your trip if something really fails, that is unlikely to fail. And make sure that you are able to abort your trip by always being able to navigate out. Anything that is not immediately connected to my goals/objective of a trip goes into a “luxury” category. This category should not make up more than 5% of my overall weight. Or 10% if you take weight differences into account like bringing a bigger (>1.5kg/person) tent for luxury reasons.
dehydrated meals are a luxury....a made up bag of oats and milk powder for porridge is about 12p, noodles 35p.... buffs are awesome and great for hot aand cold, i soak mine and use for evaporative cooling.....
Knorr rice or pasta meals combined with some freeze-dried meat & veggies are a good compromise. Cooks fast, works out to about $2 per meal, and there's loads of variety. Not much in the way of breakfast options that route (I just eat rehydrated yogurt & granola anyway), but I've cooked worse dinners in my kitchen!
Great tips on using a dry bag/rubbish bag liner and stuffing in soft gear at the bottom of your pack. Much more efficient. The only caution is rubbish bags will get micro holes if you put them on the ground. You can buy a light dry bag to line your inside pack - 100% brilliant solution. Consider Hydrapak Seeka hydration reseirvors over plastic bottles. They pair brilliantly with the Hydrapak water filter and no more waste. With your rubber mat, consider folding it in half and strapping vertically on the back of your pack if you have panel compression straps - particularly if you need clearance moving through bush/scrub. It will protect your pack also. You can refill your butane canisters pretty easily after each trip using an adaptor and larger canisters. Means you are running at full capacity (don't overfill, causes a flame thrower), reuse the same one for multiple trips (the threads do eventually go) and reduce waste. Suggest also consider small alcohol cookers with a Toaks titanium cup for small overnighters. A lot more fun to cook with. If bringing a frying pan remove the handle. A lot more fun cooking real foods on the trail. Great tip to double check your spot where you stop and the back of the vehicle before you leave for gear on the ground. Note what you do and don't use on a trip, and update your list when you return. Oh, and bring your camp puffer slippers. You've worked hard to reduce your pack weight, so be kind to your feet! Lastly, pack more coffee than you think you need.
@@JoeZUGOOLA dry bags/sacks aren’t heavy at all- I think you have them confused with the entire pack. Sea to summit Big River Dry Bag 65L is 433g, much larger and more robust than most would need.
Tip number 1 is a bad one. The weight of proper backpack rain-cover is very low anyway. Also its usually neatly designed into the pack itself (I sometimes store some other item there, like gloves for quick access). Your backpack will absorb water when it's not covered! The longer the rain the longer you will have carry extra weight even when the rain stops. Backacks can be 0,5 kilogram heavier when wet!
If it really rains, your backpack will get wet no matter what you do. I've never seen a backpack that had a rain cover that made it waterproof on the back.
@@______7224 a trash bag around the backpack? I doubt that but ofc if you pack your gear inside of a trash bag or bags in general, it will work. I prefer dry gear instead of a half dry backpack and half dry gear.
True and false. I use a nylafume bag as liner, but make sure it is also large enough to put the whole pack into for those few places on Camino de Santiago that require pack to be sealed inside bag as bed bug prevention (escape and entry). It is my second means of keeping clothes and gear dry. True rain can soak pack, so my raingear is extra large mens Frogtogs coat to go around me and pack.
the issue with using your down jacket as a pillow is that if it gets cold enough to where you’d want to actually put it on while sleeping, you’re kinda in a tough spot
If it’s that cold your sleeping bag isn’t rated for it. A sleeping bag is essentially a huge down bag. So wearing two down jackets basically. If you have a shitty sleeping bag then yeah.
Hey here's my brilliant idea no one talks about - pack one of those foam kneeling pads (for gardening), or some other bit of really nice dense foam (not too thick!) to sit on. When it's time to sleep that goes under my head. It's not a pillow but reduces the number of pillow problems. I never had a pillow I love camping, so the extra foam makes my imperfect pillows less imperfect.
As a former EMT, please take more medical supplies! You're going to need way more gauze than that little strip, that's one thing you don't want to strip away
I don`t know what you think about this, but if you need more, maybe you could use the gauze you have and a tshirt on top of it(?) let me know what are your thoughts!
@@mateovicuna7640 The shirt fabric would work alright to stuff into a wound if you have nothing else, but you still need to put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. And from where I'm standing "Ripping my shirt off and undoing my belt to wrap around the wound while I bleed profusely" sounds like a much worse emergency plan than "Take pressure bandage from IFAK and apply".
I second this, I was attacked by a black bear when out hiking for firewood for the family camp out in Canada in 2009 and they don't play around, tussled with it for about 4-5 minutes, getting tossed like the buck 25 I was, covering up my head and kicking in fetal, while the family worked on scaring it off, had lacerations and punctures all over head to toe, broken left shoulder blade into 3 pieces, left forearm was mangled to the point where it was almost just dangling off, my right calf was almost non existent, they had used the whole $120 medical kit only to partially stop the bleeding and bought me enough time to get to the hospital where I spent a month, 2 weeks and 4 days in recovery, a few hundred stitches or so and I'm fine today, my leg and arm has healed and I'm grateful to be able to share my experience. I still remember seeing the large pool of blood n trail I left behind when getting in the van all wrapped up in a cold tarp haha
Well done. You don't have to be a gear fetishist or spend a lot of money to hike lighter. Tip 4: rain jacket. Depends. For some, a rain jacket is like a mobile sauna. But true, you should rethink your own layering system. Tip 28: shoes. Right but it depends. If you are not well trained or have weaker ankles, some additional support might make sense but you certainly don't need heavy alpinist boots for a light trail. Tip 32: I bring 3 pairs of socks (when it's colder). 2 for hiking, 1 for the night. It's important that the ones for sleeping are not tight or you get cold (blood circulation). Tip 35: in German it's called Bauchtasche but now more commonly Bodybag. Also not ideal...
You can save a lot of space and weight if you eat raw food. Even oatmeal, that you've previously mentioned you like, can simply be soaked in cold water for 15-30 minutes. It tastes a bit weird the first time, but then you get used to it and can even develop a liking for it (I eat it that way now even at home). If you have a food dehydrator and you are ready to spend some time preparing for your trek, dehydrate a bunch of fruit and vegetables beforehand. Some of it can be eaten as-is,; others (mushrooms, carrots, etc.) can be left soaking in a plastic container during the day, and they'll be rehydrated for dinner. Saves a lot of weight and space without losing any vitamins, and they don't go bad as quickly as fresh fruit and veggies do. As for the soap on long treks... I recommend you read the book "Clean" by James Hamblin. I'll leave it at that ;)
I laughed at the coffee advice - it took years for me to convince my hiking buddy that it was crazy to carry a heavy metal coffee percolator. I drink very good coffee most days of the year - I can deal with instant while I'm on the trail. Starbucks instant is not too bad.
I’m an avid Australian hiker, backcountry fisherman and cafe owner and after years of experimenting I have settled on making cowboy coffee. Very easy once you get the hang of it and taste amazing
@@ripple_on_the_ocean I’m sure there are some TH-cam tutorials but basically course ground coffee added to hot water then brought to the boil for 2 minutes, small amount of cold water added then strained. Very simple but trust me it works. I’ve been making espresso, cold brew and filter coffee professionally for almost 30 years but my cowboy coffee is one that I enjoy immensely
Telling others to not bring a map, while holding a phone with a broken screen isn't a good look. The broken glass on the screen is trying to tell you something.
Theres one tip that weighs nothing, costs nothing, and is essential. Tell someone what your itinerary/route is, an idea of gear you have taken (food, equipment, etc) and estimated latests return time. And instruct them to call authorities the moment you go over that time with all the details. That way search parties have a better idea on how to narrow your location down, speeding up rescue time, and also minimising resources of the search teams. Ill even do this on a day hike, because shit can hit the fan in a millisecond.
Terrible advice to recommend not bringing a map compass and flashlight because "use your phone" now their phones dead, no light, no navigation, and no way to call for help. Bad form dude.
Personally I’ve never needed a compass bc the trails I do are well-marked, so I think that’s more situational. And I use offline GPX trails for guidance instead of a paper map. This seems more dependent on the trail you’re doing and experience level
You can navigate using the stars, sun or landmarks. Paper maps can get wet or blow away easily. I wouldn't go without a dedicated headlamp though personally. He said to take his advice re the map with a grain of salt so grow up.
Big bonus for the food tips!! I watched a lot of videos on lightweight food for camping and the other videos were rubbish - you managed to give me way more advice in just a few minutes than they did in several long videos. Thanks a lot!
I'm a tarp and blanket enthusiast.. you can wear a blanket under your jacket and fold a tarp to cover your bag. Can be much cheaper than traditional set up and about the same weight its also warmer more flexible to set up near fires. I often use my stove under my tarp and it traps so much heat vs a tent which you have to worry about burning. I use propane. It's big and bulky but it's reliable. For food I'd do partially preserved meats and pasta rice, simple stuff and save my freeze dried stuff towards the end. Hot sauce spices and a bag of brown sugar. I'm hypoglycemic. I'm not really a hiker but I live outside. So using the same stuff doesn't always make sense. I also make a lot of my own gear by hand or improvise I also like kombucha bottles. You can use it to pack in milk and it works great to keep hot liquids filter water into use it for soaking rice or use the bottom as a mortar and pestle.
great tips, thanks! You showed several times tooth paste, so just to say it even it is a weight saver of a couple of grams only: try tooth powder, put the required quantity in a small ziplock or so. Less weight, much less volume, same effect. Helps even to clean your cooking gear ... About food - endless discussions possible, but I suggest mainly to always have also a look back on traditional backpacker's food. E.g. cheapest protein source also today is most probably hard boiled eggs, which you can always bring on your 1-2 days trips. Might add some extra weight but that doesn't really matter on short trips. There is no need for cooking at all (neither gear nor fuel required), and eggs can be used as snack or main dish. Another traditional backpacker's source of protein which isn't too costly and doesn't need cooking of any kind is hard cheese (gouda, cheddar etc.), or any summer sausages (or Salami etc.). Such items have by weight same or even better amounts of calories and add usually much less volume as most of modern dehydrated food stuff. Apropos dehydrated - instead of using dried pulses like chickpeas or lentils as they are, try to get (or prepare it yourself) sprouted and later dehydrated pulses. They take half (or less) of cooking time resp. fuel, after a rehydration of 20 minutes or so. And check your pasta items carefully for required cooking time. Some need 10+ minutes, others 3 minutes, others need only adding hot water. Some soup noodles like e.g. Waiwai noodles don't even need water at all, you can easily eat them dry as a snack.
Trying to save a few grams of weight by cutting out a map, compass and headlight and relying on your phone for navigation and light is dangerous. If your phone gets damaged, lost, runs out of power, or just stops working, you are screwed. This is one of the main causes of incidents in the mountains, reliance on technology instead of having good navigational skills and knowing the basics. Also a trash bag/bin liner is very prone to damage (tears or holes), and keeping your kit waterproofed is essential. You're better off having something that is literally a few grams heavier that you can rely on. Keeping your pack weight down is a good idea, but not at the cost of safety.
Great trips Oscar. I would caveat Tip 28 (10:04) with the strength and durability of one's ankles, and the number of hours hiking, the number of days, and the weight of one's backpack. Hiking boots are heavier, but they provide much better ankle support for those of us who have weak ankles. But for those who don't, I agree that lighter footwear is a better option.
Advice from my sports med Dr after yrs of rolling my ankles…ditch the heavy boots, start out VERY slowly w trail runners, and build the foundation and strength of your ankles to manage the stresses of hiking. Worked like a charm. Have only rolled my ankle once in the past 10 yrs.
@@4potslite169 Thanks for the advice that are more true for hiking with much less weight and less days. Hiking shoes or trail runners are good for lightweight backing. However, for hauling a much heavy backpack over many days, boots still are the better choice for the support. I'll try day hikes with trail runners and ankle exercises to hopefully strengthen my ankles.
@@shogunshogun I've trekked for 10 days with more than 20kg of luggage in approach shoes without any problem. I've even hopped from boulder to boulder.
Definitely go on a comfortable 5-7 mile hike one way, camp then return. You'll quickly learn what you can leave behind and what to bring. I backpacked a simple 14 mile round trip over night and very soon realized a heavy nylon belt was not great. Took it off for the trip back and took a lot of pain off my hips. Also tighten your trainers(shoes) as much as you can and double knot them. Nalgene weighs too much as well and takes up a lot of space. Smart water bottles are still my fav. Know your water sources as well. Water weighs a ton..
This is key. I am getting my wife and kids into backpacking and ended up being a pack mule carrying all the things they “needed” for a quick over night. 60 damn pounds later I pulled out all the crap that never left the packs.
Reconsider tightening your shoes and not changing them. I wear boots, but also with shoes it can help to change the lacng depending on the elevation. Going up it can be nicer to have more movement in the heel, going down you want more space at the toes and a tight heel.
These are real tips on a criminally underrated video. Some of these things I figured out by myself while I was homeless. I wish I had a video like this back then it would have saved a lot of hardship.
Well, about hiking boots. I agree, one can just be fine with trail runners, on some trails. But on rocky, steep routes hiking boots may actually save you from injury
I always seemed to pick up burrs, small stones and sharp sticks with low cut shoes. I spent time looking for light weight mid height boots and just prefer something offering a bit mote support and protection, particularly in thick scrub.
Converse sneakers..... try these in Australia! I'll wear my boots thanks, they might be all that stands between my feet and the 10 most venomous snakes on Earth....
Yeah I think there is some very region specific advice here. No snakebite kit, no boots and I always take a topo map and compass if I'm going somewhere remote in the bush and I don't know the track.
I think he said it in the beginning of the video: these advices can differ depending on the region where you are hiking. No problem with venomous snakes or scorpions where I like to hike. But boots are necessary to keep my feet dry!
And without a lamp you can't read either. I take a headlamp on day hikes. Someone pointed out to me that cellphones are $1000 flashlights, better to drop a $30 one.
It depends... In Europe most of the trails are signposted you don't need a map or Phone to navigate. Also closest village is usually an hour hike any direction ;-) it depends where you hiking.
1 item I always bring is a small folding umbrella. Not a necessity but has kept me dry during sudden rains. Quick to deploy enabling you to grab other rain gear while staying dry.
These are something that really needs to be tried how it fits your own style. For example I camped many years without inflatable pillow (only stuffing gear to make a pillow), but getting that extra better sleep is SOOOOOO much more important for me than that extra 100g weight. Good tips nonetheless to try to change the mindset of what to bring with you. For example my first 5-day trip was that I packed individual clothes for every single possible situation, as well as having x3 t-shirts, boxers, socks. Nowadays my total clothing consist of three different layers. For example for upper body I have 3 clothes that can be mix & matched for pretty much every weather (1x merino long sleeve, 1x merino-polyester t-shirt, 1x rain/wind jacket).
Great tutorial going straight to the point in short time instead of turning around (as often seen on other YT channels). I also like your idea of the number of tip and the clock!
I honestly think this was not a great video. A lot of his recommendations are 1) "in an ideal environment" you can get away with this (duh) 2) take away this redundancy (not always a great idea) 3) swap this out to save a bit of weight to massively decrease utility.
Really good video filled with lots of good advice. I've been backpacking since I was 11 in Boy Scouts and I'm now 67. Along the way I picked up most of the tips you mentioned. I've also made plenty of mistakes. One recent change I made was by greatly reducing my toilet paper use by using a TONELIFE Pocket Portable backpacking bidet. When I was younger I typically had a pack that weighted at least 30+ lbs (13.6kg). These days I'm usually at 12 lbs or less (5.44kg) base weight. The reduced weight is so important since it makes hiking so much easier - especially as you get older.
Coffee bags are always a good option now for a decent brew. Also protein powder for weight training is pretty cheap and has some good flavours. Also for all the small volumes of liquids use small electrical bags. Really great bits of advice there. I've never thought to weight my wallet
@USMC6976 I personally haven't had it happen. Even with carrying it in a pocket. Plus, I learned how to use empty lighters to start a fire. Ferro rods are very useful tools still.
I used clothing as a pillow and it was terrible... sometimes pillow was very thin or had hard spots. Also I found myself willing to take more clothing to have something to fill the pillow :-D I found inflantable pillows much better.
I like this guy! And this may turn to became my new favorite outdoor channel. He is showing real, practical hacks and applications, which are actually achievable and accessible for us ordinary people. Not like some other channels, where the main focus is to promote stuff and doesn't put a lot of thought if it is practically, just shoot out any idea, stupid or not, mainly repeating the same things over and over in every video. Often encourage people to overspend thousands on gear. Anyway - I like what you are doing, buddy, keep it up - we the ordinary poor people thank you! :) Love ya!
if you are really serious on losing weight: replace fleece and polar with wool - it keeps you warm in cool and cool in warm weather. Also you might consider using poncho instead of rain jacket - it really depends on your trail area but its worth if you can. On thing I disagree in your video is using gas stove on hiking trip. It is heavy and expensive and you can't regulate amount of fuel you want to take on you. Use the soda can spirit stove instead - the fuel+stove combination will most probably beat the weight of a gas stove and will be a hellalot cheaper for sure. Great video though! Thank you!
spirit stoves are very inefficient and if you have to cook multiple days, the weight of your fuel will be more than the gas canister and the stove. For example with 230g canister, which weights 300 and something grams + 50g stove you can cook more than 10 days twice per day. Plus it is much more stable in windy conditions. Try this with alcohol stove. Also there are smaller canisters too. Wool is heavier than fleece and once wet, becomes even much heavier and dries very slowly.
9:19 i have a rebuttal. I run a Nalgene brand bottle. it's easy to boil up some water, pour into the Nalgene bottle, close the lid (make sure it doesn't leak) and toss it into your sleeping bag/ under the quilt about half an hour before going to bed. depending on how cold it is, it can keep you warm for most of a cold night.
Thanks for the tips. IMO a compass and a map are always a must-have, if you know how to use them. If you don't, add a power-bank... I hike to go offline, so compass and maps usually are my main navigations aids, the GPS smartphone with pre-loaded maps being more a backup and a tracker. Now, I also have a Protrek watch paired to my smartphone that can be really useful for navigation while the phone and maps stay in the pocket.
I sold my Osprey bag to a newbe, because their so called « anti gravity » well, weights about 3 kg. Instead I opted for a Simond alpinism backpack sold by Décathlon that is only 800 gr. Also, I bought only trail adapted raincoat and 2nd layer, gained 600 gr. I am not using any pan, only titanium mug to heat up water and dehydrated trek meals. I will be checking on a small telescopic fishing rod for longer treks for proteins. The silk sleeping bag lining from décathlon is also a great option: takes care of my hair condition, can be used as scarf in cold weather and as turban in scorching sun. Use also merino t-shirts and socks - a must to maintain good thermal comfort and antibacterial - no smell for days. That means you can take a minimum amount of change if any. I also only have only one underwear, microfiber. I can bathe in a lake and it dries quickly on me. I also cut my sleeping mat to about knee length, cut the toothbrush to 10 cm etc..After my first long trek with 17 kg on my back, I went to Decathlon with a kitchen scales and weighted and compared everything. It took me some years to optimize down to 12 kg. Not a good idea to get rid of maps or gps or headlight…
More then the reliability of having a sturdy ultra bright corded buoyant waterproof torch/flashlight and/or headlamp. Can be a life saver. Cell phones are rarely waterproof and not camping friendly, IMHO. And knowing how to use a compass and map/orienteering are essential life saving hiking skills. We should discourage people from counting on their cell phones in the wilderness. Cell phones are less valuable then knowing how to navigate with map and compass.
I tend to use my cell phone a lot but carry a map print out and compass too. It's very comforting to push an icon and see exactly your position and what you expect to see next on the route. But if that fails (and it has on a couple of occasions due to wetness or battery) I can switch to using map and compass. Even when visibility and phone let me down at least the compass got me (and the group) out of trouble. Yes, know how to use m & c and carry them.
First aid is the last thing you should skimp on. Not bringing a tourniquet, splint, and wound packing gauze is a recipe for death if something goes seriously wrong. Which it does, all the time.
Great video! As an avid backpacker I do 99% of the tips you mentioned, like you I used to carry a miniature mocha pot for coffee but now I settle for instant coffee packets, I never carried a hatchet or saw but I do like to have a fire at night when allowed, I'm going to look into a saw, some other ideas are leaving your filter's dirty water bags at home and use one of your water bottles instead, is much easier to fill them anyway, thanks.
I've pretty much learned all of those tips the hard way! The only one I disagree with is a cup, I don't like drinking out of a hot pan so a collapsible cup is a must have for me.
I saved weight by converting a Burley bike cart into a dog cart for my German Shepard. She also has a molle pouch on either side of her harness for her food, silicone water bowl, water, bags for waste and some other small items. She's also a helluva campin buddy. Lol
Two suggestions. 1) take a smaller pack, which forces you to take less. 2) for longer trips, put everything that you think you need in your pack. Empty it, take half and bring twice as much money.
Use smart water bottles and a Sawyer water filter for your hydration system. At a water source, drink liberally, and fill up only as much water as you need to get to the next source. You can even carry an extra bottle, empty, in your pack if you know you will dry camp or have a long water carry at some point in your hike. Us a bottle for dirty water and the other two for filtered water.
This. The weight of the water in a rain-soaked pack will weigh many times more than the negligible weight of a waterproof pack cover, so I think the first suggestion was simply bad advice. Same with relying solely on a charge-dependent cell phone, and not having a paper map and compass to navigate with, especially in the backcountry.
I've basically do every single one of these ideas from my decades of being a weight weenie. I hike in sandals in the mountains, never use a map but do carry a dedicated super cheap and UL plastic cup for making coffee. Also like soy protein, salami and pasta and carry a beer with me to camp regardless of how hard the hike will be.
A few things that I do. Cold soak your food , no need for a stove. I also use a wood burning stove ( Firebox titanium ) the fuel ( dead , dried wood ) for the stove is always free & available since I hammock camp. For coffee , either Cowboy Coffee or a Vargo titanium coffee filter if you want it filtered.
I recommend taking a tarp or big poncho instead of a tent. Much lighter and takes much less room in the bag. I would also not recommend going for more days without a flashlight. Of course there is a flashlight on your phone, but when it eats all the battery and if you don't have a power bank with you, where would you charge the phone in the wilderness? So it is better to have a reasonable flashlight or headlamp with you to spare the phone battery for navigating and communication and not waste it for lighting.
if you are in the back country ALWAYS have a paper map and quality compass. never rely on a computer. ( battery's) there is a metal problem cooking in slum foil. not a one time thing but over many times you can easily reach toxicity levels. just like some anti stick coatings. but those bug hiking boots give your feet the support they must have. will help prevent twisted / broken ankles. and provide some snake bite protection. but i do love your tips on getting lighter. and better loaded.
For rice that cooks like couscous, I recently discovered that Indian supermarkets sell a product called "poha" it is rice that has been parboiled, flattened and dried into flakes. Just like couscous, all you have to do is add hot water and wait 5 minutes.
I love my gsi reusable pour over coffee filter. It clips onto most cups or mugs, it weighs almost nothing, folds flat, it's cheap, it works with or without a paper filter. It is also very durable, I've had one for years that I use at home and while traveling, it has probably made a thousand cups of coffee and is still in good shape. With some practice it can also make some great coffee. I'll eventually get a second one just for my backpack.
Good tips, thank you! I definitely never leave my beanie ( or to us Canadians, a toque) at home, as I wear it at night. I'm gonna start packing a mini first aid kit in a ziplock bag!
I keep my beanie at home only if it's not going to be below maybe -2 C. I learned this on my thru-hike in the Pyrenees in the summer. The lowest temps there were maybe -3C, and I ended up regretting bringing the beanie!
Bad advice not to ring your knife, it has limitless uses and sometimes you really need one to cut your food, open a package, cut some cord, get yourself free from a piece of equipment getting stuck and you along with it, etc. You don't need a bushcrafting knife if you want to save weight, just a very small one, 50 grams won't really hinder you in any way.
Interesting video, thanks for doing it, it helped me out a bit. You did say not to bring an axe, which I get, but then what do you use to pound tent stakes in with? I had a plastic hammer but it took more space than a cheap small skinny axe, and the axe wasn't that much heavier but I can use it to hammer down stakes and make wood chips. You're young, I'm 70 years old, I need a camping chair for my back to rest against! LOL!! Coffee-wise, you can make Turkish coffee really easily, and it's better than just using normal coffee grounds, and way better than instant crap, it is a powder consistency so unless you have a grinder that can grind it that fine you would have to buy pre-ground; the other thing you can do if Turkish coffee is not your thing is to buy the GSI Ultralight Java Drip maker, this is a pour-over method, the drip maker weighs next to nothing and stores extremely flat taking up very little space and was designed to fit under the underside of most fuel canisters. Simply watch TH-cam videos on how to make Turkish or the GSI pour-over coffee, both methods are very easy to do.
If the ground is soft, you push the stakes with your foot. If it is not that soft, you can usually find some stone around. I have something like 200 nights in a tent in all kind of conditions and terains, including stepe, deset, high mountain, winter... and never even imagined that I needed an axe or a hammer to push the stakes :)
I know I am the odd one out when it comes to boots but the amount of times i meet hikers that eat ibu's like candy cause they rolled their ankles on stage 2 of the hike is insane. You can roll your ankle walking in the city 😂, for me personally its well worth the extra weight
Bro, you are practically a Filipino! All the tips you shared are very relatable. Even the first tip is spot on. We always double waterproof our bags. We put our things in ziplocks, then put them in a big plastic bag before putting them in our bag. Haha!
Tip 25 about replacing nalgene bottles with regular, plastic ones is great, but only in warmer seasons. You can put hot water in a nalgene bottle to warm up your sleeping bag or to drink hot/warm tea while walking. A narrow bottle mouth can also freeze over, preventing you from drinking water that you have in a regular bottle - since nalgene bottles have wider mouths, that solves that problem as well.
I've climbed 6434m peak with a water in a regular plastic bottle :) THe bottle was upside down in my bagpack, so the bottle mouth froze, but I crushed it with the Ice axe :)))
The tiny bit of weight a reusable bottle adds is totally worth it. Reduce the use of single use plastics. Someone has to care about the planet enough to reduce our consumption and waste.
If you use a single use plastic bottle more than once, is it still a single use plastic bottle? 😊 Or otherwise: if you buy water in a single use bottle, and then reuse that single use bottle as long as possimle, do you really need an additional multi-use plastic bottle?
Where are the comments on dropping the deodorant??? Fantastic video, by the way, love these and many great tips on this channel. But keep the deodorant! Several reasons: You can buy very light travel ones. You don't smell yourself so much, especially on those multi-day hikes. The bugs don't smell you so much (don't you have mosquitoes where you are? You've got a worldwide audience and some people hike in very hot places). Your company will appreciate it (some people share tents). And ditto for the soap: you can also get very small and light containers (including eco soap). It's wonderful to feel refreshed after an all-day hike. Feeling disgusting can also wear you out. I'm posting because I did see you retract a claim in another video, correcting a myth. Big props to that move! Keep the tips coming, please. I will keep watching!
Number one tip for saving weight for free is to make a spreadsheet and weigh everything with a kitchen scale. Then you can bring the lightest version of everything you own. Number two for me has been to chop and dehydrate all of your food ahead of time. It’s always going to be easier to do your food prep at home than on the trail. Purchasing a dehydrator one time (or making strategic use of the oven on low with the door open) - will save weight on every backpacking trip for the rest of your life
I loved the part about packing a bag properly...I pack my bag based on where things conveniently fit, but I need to reassess to get the greatest weight towards the middle and close to the body. But the part about the socks...my instinct tells me to keep those feet as clean as possible throughout the hike as a matter of survival, really. That is one thing I won't change...I take a pair of socks for everyday, period, and it's worth the weight and space to me. I always manage to fit the socks in small space and in the cracks. I won't skimp on that! I guess everybody has their "thing", but I think this one is pretty important for health.
I think there is a lot of good info here. I believe some people are missing the point. These tips do not work for everyone but helps you to get thinking on how to adjust your needs and equipment. I tend to always over pack so I’m guilty of most of these at least at some point 😅. Talking with your group so making sure not to take double of certain things can be real helpful
This is exactly it. Comments on UL videos always turn into the same arguments but everyone needs to remember (and tbh content creators need to be better at communicating this) that everyone can make their own choices about where on the scale they want to sit. We all have different choices about what comforts we think are worth the extra weight, or hike in different environments. e.g remote Australia is not the same as hiking well known trials in Europe, so I will adjust my packing to reflect that. No one has to do any of these, but even if its a just a few of them, then it will help.
You must have done the camino! Light weight hiking is huge ❤ The suggestions you have for the first aid will address 90% of issues , well done ! Maybe more bandages / gauze
If you watched this and are just beginning hiking. Forget everything he just said. He lightened his load but at great risk to his physical safety. BEWARE!
Hey Oscar! I need to know, where exactly is the spot at :26 into the video? I could have sworn I was exactly there just about a week ago and I gotta know 😮
A simple wood burner like the picogrill is much lighter and smaller than a gas cooking setup. Also use bright colors or reflective markings on your small equipment, so it's easier to find them if lost.
some additions: - toothpaste pills - mini victorinox pocket knife - learn on how to refill gas canisters to reuse nearly empty ones and bring exactly the amount of gas needed - use a swedish cloth instead of a towel - use a garmin inreach as phone backup/emergency communicator - use the sleeping bag stuffsack as pillow liner and stuff it with clothes
For the pillow, it is actually a good idea to put your kiking shoes/boots under the tent and put a layer of clothes in the tent above the shoes. This way the shoes don't get wet and you have okay-ish pillow.
Absolutely reccomend compression vaccuum bags. This may be a little controvertial because you'll be forced to bring an air pump which may be bulky and heavy, and may run out of power. The other issue is that taking clothes out is a hastle as youll have to take pump all the air out again after closing the bag. HOWEVER, the net impact is very positave. My bag may be a little heavier because of the air pump, but thats a sacrifice im willing to take given the fact that it allows me to fit a lot more into the bag, and additionally adds waterproofing to everything. I also cover my sleeping bag in a vaccuum bag of its own, as it really sucks all the extra air out and saves a TONNE of space. Just be aware that these are ripable. If you cover something that you put on the outside of your bag, watch out for branches and other sharp objects. Once the bag is ripped, it doesnt serve anywhere near the purpose it did before, and wont pack down to the compact size that you are now relying on. Long story short; I absolutely reccomend them, but be careful
can sometimes save a few grams by making tooth paste tablets. dab out a bit of your tooth paste onto parchment paper. either like 2 days in the open air. or a few hours in a dehydrator at like 60-70 degrees will turn the blobs into dry-ish tabs. slight dusting of baking soda keeps them from sticking. Can bring like... just enough for as many times as you'll brush your teeth. vs. a tube. can also chop the end of the toothbrush off ... like. if you don't need all the length why bring it? dynema cordage. if you have paracord, or rope in your kit. even for guy lines/tent lines. or rope/paracord on a bear bag/food bag to hang in a tree. can save a tiny bit of weight switching to dynema cordage. super light weight, fairly strong. typically is bright yellow or orange. so easy to see for like bear bags/guy lines. ...can also jettison your head lamp strap. for simple dynema cord loop. if you're good with knots can easily make a simple band .... will save a few grams another "hack" i've always liked, because it tends to save more money than weight is going on ebay, or to the hardware store maybe, buying a length of Tyvek housewrap. vs using a tent footprint. Often time a tent footprint is heavy or thick material. Tyvek house wrap. comes in big rolls. can get a length cut ....once it's used a bit it becomes very soft/flexible. is water proof. tends to be fairly puncture proof. and is much lighter than the misc tent foot prints they try and sell you with tents.
Great tips! Thank you. Wearing a down jacket on the move is not a good plan, even ones with "water resistant down" it still absorbs moisture, ie sweat. Plus loses loft and insulation properties being compressed under a pack. Keep it for camp and wear fleece for walking if cold. Even when wet it will insulate. Relying on one garment for warmth is a risk but depends on the climate to some degree.
If it is an overnight trip, I don't take food. If it is a bit longer, I'll bring nuts, seeds, and dried fruit, but I leave all the cooking gear at home. You can typically save a lot of weight and pack space by taking food that doesn't need to be cooked. If the area I am going to has fresh water, I just bring a filter and a water bladder. I also find that hammock systems generally weigh less, take up less pack space, and cost a lot less than a tent.
Very good & quick - that's good. Never I do take a towel. In summer one just dries or puts on the clothes, they are drying very quick and I use my hands like a windshield wiper. I don't get dry like the windschield but the windshield has not so many hairs everywhere like me. And I don't want to carry water 'home'. When you do a day tour and at noon you see you have too much water I drink it or pour it out. I do this here in the centre of Europe. On long trips i take some very very important things twice: it is my glasses and my shoes. The extra shoes are barefootshoes - one has to teach the food to this - or just very flat flip flops one can also use in the shower of a campground, if you don't need this you can take also duct tape. No not duct tape but 50mm adhesive tape. It is lighter and it glues better, when you go full around and glues it on itself.
I’d feel really stupid if I dumped out my remaining water halfway through a hike and then an injury or bad weather kept me in the woods overnight. If 1kg for 1l of water was that much of a burden I’d start training with an extra 2 or 3 liters. But I do live and hike in a very remote part of the state, in all 4 seasons, almost always solo, even in winter, and seeing anyone else on trail is rare and most places have no cell signal except near the summit.
Thanks for the tips. Very useful. I'd like to share a cool idea for those of us that need our morning coffee. There's a product called a Brewspoon in my country but there might be something similar in other countries that goes by another name. It's light-weight and small. You simply add your ground coffee (or tea leaves) to a small mesh container, close it up and stir it through your cup of hot water. Available in South Africa from YuppieChef, Takealot and Cape Union Mart.
I use an ultralite wood stove in place of a gas stove. You'll avoid the weight, save on throwing out a canister, and you will never run out of fuel. Works pretty much everywhere except maybe the highest elevations. Wood stoves are extremely efficient using pencil sized sticks and they leave only a tiny amount of grey ash most of the time.
I disagree with ditching compass and map altogether. But in case of gas I would replace it with an alcohol stove. It's smaller and can contain some fuel inside already. Also it's easy to buy more if needed.
Although there are tons of good tips in this vid, I must admit I do not get the idea with going ultralight. (I am more a survivalist camper than a through hiker) I usually pack gear that pushes my physical limit as I love the extra workout and I also need to know where my limits are. Ofc I do not pack a huge cleaver axe and naturally just use my old trusted hand axe if that is what my trip needs. I pack for what I need, then toss in whatever I feel I want for comfort/style points, so to speak. Great vid though, glad I found it! The tips are down to earth and can come in very handy in many situations. (accidents, shtf and so on) Thank you!
Hey Everyone! I hope you enjoyed the video! 🙂 If you want to support this channel, check out my website trailgoals.com/, where you'll find posters of various thru-hikes across the world, made by me and my wife. Get 10% off with the discount code "oscarhikes".
1 thing about knives. I don't carry tent pegs, because i only have steel ones and titanium ones are out of budget for me. Instead at every stop i make small pegs from wood, it gives me something to do around camp. I wouldn't call this bushcraft since i am just making a stake.
Can you guys do a Tahoe rim trail!?
@@Doile911 that sounds fun , I think I will steal this idea , I use cheap ones wich do the job but I’ve started ike a king and I guess it would be much lighter , thankyiu
Some times instead of bringing those expensive bulky freeze dried meals you can just eat other hikers
depends on how cute she is 🥰
@@tomcatt998 your the real hero of this comment Section
Funny, but someone could actually live off of food from hiker boxers at the beginning of the Appalachian Trail. If you can live off granola, you can eat what other people have realized they packed too much of.
friend you are genius
I doubt he's a cannibal!
One tip for packing light is to finish packing 3 days beforehand, then come back and repack 2 more times, eliminating/substituting to meet target weight. I tend to throw in too many things when I pack at the last moment.
I always thought this was a symptom of my OCD. Now I am going to start telling people it's an efficiency hack!!! LOL
Headlamps are considered a PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), they are a must have.
people only think using a phone is a good idea till they've tried it
i always bring 2 lamps because without light i feel more likely to fall into a crevice than to properly set up a camp (:
If you are hiking mid summer in Scotland, it doesn't get dark, so it depends on where and when you are.
@@ArcanisUrriah your options are bright or brighter
Phones aren’t bright enough
As a wise person once said: always bring a headtorch and a spare battery. And the best place to keep the spare battery is in a spare headtorch.
I few things I disagree with: A map and compass never run out of battery , Rice takes the same amount of time to cook as pasta... and uses less water, always carry a Individual first aid kit, coffee bags can be carried with good quality coffee in (similar to tea bags), always carry a knife... a swiss army knife is ideal for light hiking.. also giving you tweezers /scissors etc , a tip for outdoors is that a natural variation for deodorant is crushed pine or cedar needles rubbed on the skin.. which also help as an insect deterrent
Rubbing crushed pine needles on my skin...ahhh! Feels great man!
@@samuelschlager9528I guess you snip the sharp tips off with your fingernails or scissors first?
@@Ensensu2take all the fun out of it
@@samuelschlager9528builds character Sammy
Do you not wash your rice?
Speaking as a 50yo and having had time to reflect on experience, navigation tooling and understanding might be the one skill that saves your life. Other times, it'll be your ability to build a fire, perform emergency signals, etc. A good compass is not too heavy and understanding orienteering is a must. In an emergency you need the right minimum tools because your life will depend on it. But a tool is useless without practice. Regarding food, always bring three days extra, even if you are going for a single night. On Stewart Island in New Zealand, at its most remote place, I ran into a man whose equipment was largely lost or destroyed in an Antarctic storm. I gave him that food. On another occasion I was injured. I use shelf stable sausage for protein and fat and make a stew of mashed potatoes with part of an instant soup mix for flavor. I stick to three pairs of socks; have a backup to a backup. Heavier items should be between the shoulder blades and as close to your back as you can. Add a signal mirror and a chem light to the pack out. It adds minimal weight but I've used both. Have two ways to start a fire...ask me why. Great post, as always. Best-
@Davison-Cale”Two is one and one is none.” An age old saying when it comes to survival.
Solid advice, but it’s falling on deaf ears. I’ve come to realize most of the backpackers of today have absolutely no idea how to land navigate, start fires, or any real survival skills. They carry $400 Garmin GPS and $300 JetBoils to do that for them.
@Davison-CaleI was on a mountaintop caught alone in an Antarctic gale in the South Pacific. There was a hut in my area but the last inhabitants had not restocked wood or protected the dregs of what had been left. They also gave no love to the woodstove cleaning. In raw weather, I had to improvise. On another similar occasion, following a rescue of a severely injured hiker, I had lost my main fire starting material.
@@dbbeck90Hopefully, their eyes make it past their ears. Mother Nature always has you outgunned. Build skills. You'll be glad and proud. And alive.
No need for ferro etc. just take a second lighter
"Socks tied to your backpack will dry out while hiking" - have you tried hiking in the UK? 😂
Always bring a pair of waterproof socks in the UK. I change into them if my trail runners are soaked through to keep my feet dry
@@thepissedofflandlord A submarine is the best option. My seal skinz let me down big time last year.
Yeti gaiters are decent but definitely are more suitable for bushcraft than hiking
@@davidcann6021 Honestly i found the best solution was dog poo bags over thick socks, barely weigh anything, fully waterproof and you can keep a few spare or double layer just in case.
I do this unless raining
One way to cut down on the overall weight is to lose weight personally. I'm a big guy and since I decided to walk the Cumbria Way in the UK (75 miles) I have lost in the last 5 weeks 9kg. Hopefully I will lose 20kg by the time we go. So yes we bigger walkers can look at our kit but maybe we need to look at ourselves first. Love the video, off to checkout more if your vids now. Cheers (Fanny pack 😂😂😂) (Pants are your underwear as well 😂😂😂)
yea but the lighter you are (around 5-7% of bodyfat) the faster you get tired. The more muscles with 12% of body fat is the key, of course your body will SHOUT for more calories but as long as you maintain your calorie 0 level you can pretty much hike all day long without being tired. Tested on myself
@@dybek0062tested wrong way then. I'm 60kg usually with 16kg backpack. What makes difference is body habituation to constant weight after week of traveling in rough terrain, after some time you can walk whole day until get tired.
@@dybek0062 you're right. The British army discovered that in the Falklands war. Their soldiers who were body builders with 3-5% body fat wore out far quicker on the long march across the main island than did "normal" soldiers with 7-10% body fat.
@@VoyagerEugen wow really? no experience in hiking makes hiking harder?
@@les3449interesting info, but 3-5% is incredibly low and very few people have a body fat % anywhere near that.
Several of these compromises are accepting significant risk in the name of saving a few ounces.
A well-thought-out and properly stocked first aid kit is of vital importance. It's all well and good to skip a splint, until someone breaks an ankle and all of a sudden you're trying to make sure you can medevac them before it gets damaged so badly they'll never walk again.
You can skip a light and spare batteries, until your phone dies while you're answering nature's call and can't find your way back to the campsite.
You can skip a compass, until you lose the trail and get lost.
I could go on, but if you're even reasonably fit, 5 pounds of kit is hard to notice but might save your life.
Tip
At the end of every trip, before putting your gear away, arrange it into three piles.
Pile A: Stuff you brought, used and are happy with (or perhaps not happy with but can't afford to replace right away).
Pile B: Stuff you brought and didn't use at all, but don't want to get rid of or would be stupid not to bring. I.e first aid kit, emergency blanket ect...
Pile C: Stuff that you brought and didn't use and can actually probably not bring again. That third pair of socks, your camp shoes etc.
Ditch everything from pile C and only pack A and B on your next trip. You save 100% of the weight of items you don't bring, and it costs nothing.
Other tip
Take a look at the forecast before you go. It's going to be hot and not drop below freezing? Maybe don't being the puffy jacket and gloves. It's going to be super buggy? Bring a head net, and a long sleeve shirt and leggings. Knowing what to bring for the conditions means taking fewer items for "just in case..." That can save several pounds. And it's free.
If the days are getting in the 80s (28-30C) but nights are dropping into the 40s (6-8C) that puffy jacket will come in very handy. In the Saudi Arabian desert temps would hit around 130F (55C) during the day and drop to the 80s at night, and it was COLD. A folded mosquito net made a great blanket.
@@philsmith2444 80 Fahrenheit is cold to you? fuck bro, the human body is very interesting as it acclimatizes to different environments.
@@nolangonzales8534 It's amazing how quickly the body can change too. Once I stayed a few months in Mississippi and by the end I felt like I was freezing wearing a hoodie when it was in the upper 60s fahrenheit. Couple weeks later I was back in Virginia where it was routinely getting down to 40F (mid/late November) and felt completely fine wearing the same hoodie!
Both places were _similar_ humidity so it wasn't that making the difference.
I would like to add a few tips: Instead of bringing ingredients for meals, take dehydrated trekking meals. Not only do they weigh less than separate ingredients, they also taste good. In my opinion good food is the key to a good trip and your food should make you happy. Bringing dehydrated meals also reduce cooking time as you only need to boil a cup of water instead of heating a whole meal. That saves weight in terms of gas and regarding cookware because you only need one pot. Only downside is, that retail trekking meals cost around 10-15€ per meal. But if you’re really into it you could make them at home too.
The second tip I’d like to share is about saving money on bottles and containers: Check out items sold in small plastic bottles like smoothies or ginger shots or whatsoever. Buy them, clean the bottle and voila, you get a decent storage item that doesn’t add bulk or weight. For example I use a 0.2L smoothie bottle for coffee powder.
Third one: Get a buff. It can be a scarf, a beanie, full face cover or even a cover for your eyes to sleep.
My general rule is this: For each item I check how many functions it offers. If it has only one use, I check if anything else could perform the same task. Redundancy is only allowed if something is relevant for my personal safety. Such topics are: Navigation, water and hypothermia. Never hesitate to consider aborting your trip if something really fails, that is unlikely to fail. And make sure that you are able to abort your trip by always being able to navigate out.
Anything that is not immediately connected to my goals/objective of a trip goes into a “luxury” category. This category should not make up more than 5% of my overall weight. Or 10% if you take weight differences into account like bringing a bigger (>1.5kg/person) tent for luxury reasons.
dehydrated meals are a luxury....a made up bag of oats and milk powder for porridge is about 12p, noodles 35p.... buffs are awesome and great for hot aand cold, i soak mine and use for evaporative cooling.....
Knorr rice or pasta meals combined with some freeze-dried meat & veggies are a good compromise. Cooks fast, works out to about $2 per meal, and there's loads of variety. Not much in the way of breakfast options that route (I just eat rehydrated yogurt & granola anyway), but I've cooked worse dinners in my kitchen!
Buy your own dehydrator for the price of about 3 store-bought dehydrated meals. Then cook whatever you want at home and dehydrate it for on the trail.
@@mrdeanvincent good point, just checked, we have some here £26....and a single trekking meal £10 might have to think about that
@@jdlessl that's a fantastic freakin idea, doing that next time
Great tips on using a dry bag/rubbish bag liner and stuffing in soft gear at the bottom of your pack. Much more efficient. The only caution is rubbish bags will get micro holes if you put them on the ground. You can buy a light dry bag to line your inside pack - 100% brilliant solution. Consider Hydrapak Seeka hydration reseirvors over plastic bottles. They pair brilliantly with the Hydrapak water filter and no more waste. With your rubber mat, consider folding it in half and strapping vertically on the back of your pack if you have panel compression straps - particularly if you need clearance moving through bush/scrub. It will protect your pack also. You can refill your butane canisters pretty easily after each trip using an adaptor and larger canisters. Means you are running at full capacity (don't overfill, causes a flame thrower), reuse the same one for multiple trips (the threads do eventually go) and reduce waste. Suggest also consider small alcohol cookers with a Toaks titanium cup for small overnighters. A lot more fun to cook with. If bringing a frying pan remove the handle. A lot more fun cooking real foods on the trail. Great tip to double check your spot where you stop and the back of the vehicle before you leave for gear on the ground. Note what you do and don't use on a trip, and update your list when you return. Oh, and bring your camp puffer slippers. You've worked hard to reduce your pack weight, so be kind to your feet! Lastly, pack more coffee than you think you need.
Have you ever had a wet bag!? 😂 It weighs several kg extra
@@JoeZUGOOLAYep. Depends on your use case I guess. I'm off the track hunting, so pushing through foliage means a rain cover will be quickly munted.
You can get the trash bags that are thicker, made for yard work.
How do you refill the fuel canister using an adapter without overfilling?
@@JoeZUGOOLA dry bags/sacks aren’t heavy at all- I think you have them confused with the entire pack. Sea to summit Big River Dry Bag 65L is 433g, much larger and more robust than most would need.
Tip number 1 is a bad one. The weight of proper backpack rain-cover is very low anyway. Also its usually neatly designed into the pack itself (I sometimes store some other item there, like gloves for quick access). Your backpack will absorb water when it's not covered! The longer the rain the longer you will have carry extra weight even when the rain stops. Backacks can be 0,5 kilogram heavier when wet!
If it really rains, your backpack will get wet no matter what you do. I've never seen a backpack that had a rain cover that made it waterproof on the back.
@@Vanadium a trash bag will
@@______7224 a trash bag around the backpack? I doubt that but ofc if you pack your gear inside of a trash bag or bags in general, it will work. I prefer dry gear instead of a half dry backpack and half dry gear.
True and false. I use a nylafume bag as liner, but make sure it is also large enough to put the whole pack into for those few places on Camino de Santiago that require pack to be sealed inside bag as bed bug prevention (escape and entry). It is my second means of keeping clothes and gear dry. True rain can soak pack, so my raingear is extra large mens Frogtogs coat to go around me and pack.
Agreed but the trash bag concept has served me well for decades. I always bring three of them. Multiple uses!
the issue with using your down jacket as a pillow is that if it gets cold enough to where you’d want to actually put it on while sleeping, you’re kinda in a tough spot
If it’s that cold your sleeping bag isn’t rated for it. A sleeping bag is essentially a huge down bag. So wearing two down jackets basically. If you have a shitty sleeping bag then yeah.
He just used the hood of the jacket. He could still use the rest.
Personally I consider my foldable pillow to be nonnegotiable. A good night’s sleep is priceless!
I've been sleeping without a pillow for over six months, it's really not necessary
Hey here's my brilliant idea no one talks about - pack one of those foam kneeling pads (for gardening), or some other bit of really nice dense foam (not too thick!) to sit on. When it's time to sleep that goes under my head. It's not a pillow but reduces the number of pillow problems. I never had a pillow I love camping, so the extra foam makes my imperfect pillows less imperfect.
As a former EMT, please take more medical supplies! You're going to need way more gauze than that little strip, that's one thing you don't want to strip away
I don`t know what you think about this, but if you need more, maybe you could use the gauze you have and a tshirt on top of it(?) let me know what are your thoughts!
@@mateovicuna7640 The shirt fabric would work alright to stuff into a wound if you have nothing else, but you still need to put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. And from where I'm standing "Ripping my shirt off and undoing my belt to wrap around the wound while I bleed profusely" sounds like a much worse emergency plan than "Take pressure bandage from IFAK and apply".
EMTs opinion on gauze is my IBSs opinion on toilet paper so im inclined to agree
A couple of tourniquets will be the unnecessary 300 grams of plastic, but if needed they will save your life.
I second this, I was attacked by a black bear when out hiking for firewood for the family camp out in Canada in 2009 and they don't play around, tussled with it for about 4-5 minutes, getting tossed like the buck 25 I was, covering up my head and kicking in fetal, while the family worked on scaring it off, had lacerations and punctures all over head to toe, broken left shoulder blade into 3 pieces, left forearm was mangled to the point where it was almost just dangling off, my right calf was almost non existent, they had used the whole $120 medical kit only to partially stop the bleeding and bought me enough time to get to the hospital where I spent a month, 2 weeks and 4 days in recovery, a few hundred stitches or so and I'm fine today, my leg and arm has healed and I'm grateful to be able to share my experience.
I still remember seeing the large pool of blood n trail I left behind when getting in the van all wrapped up in a cold tarp haha
Well done. You don't have to be a gear fetishist or spend a lot of money to hike lighter.
Tip 4: rain jacket. Depends. For some, a rain jacket is like a mobile sauna. But true, you should rethink your own layering system.
Tip 28: shoes. Right but it depends. If you are not well trained or have weaker ankles, some additional support might make sense but you certainly don't need heavy alpinist boots for a light trail.
Tip 32: I bring 3 pairs of socks (when it's colder). 2 for hiking, 1 for the night. It's important that the ones for sleeping are not tight or you get cold (blood circulation).
Tip 35: in German it's called Bauchtasche but now more commonly Bodybag. Also not ideal...
You can save a lot of space and weight if you eat raw food. Even oatmeal, that you've previously mentioned you like, can simply be soaked in cold water for 15-30 minutes. It tastes a bit weird the first time, but then you get used to it and can even develop a liking for it (I eat it that way now even at home).
If you have a food dehydrator and you are ready to spend some time preparing for your trek, dehydrate a bunch of fruit and vegetables beforehand. Some of it can be eaten as-is,; others (mushrooms, carrots, etc.) can be left soaking in a plastic container during the day, and they'll be rehydrated for dinner. Saves a lot of weight and space without losing any vitamins, and they don't go bad as quickly as fresh fruit and veggies do.
As for the soap on long treks... I recommend you read the book "Clean" by James Hamblin. I'll leave it at that ;)
I laughed at the coffee advice - it took years for me to convince my hiking buddy that it was crazy to carry a heavy metal coffee percolator.
I drink very good coffee most days of the year - I can deal with instant while I'm on the trail. Starbucks instant is not too bad.
I’ve used coffee (like tea) bags , a step up from instant
AeroPress is the way to go! A good cup of coffee is the one luxury I wouldn’t ditch.
I’m an avid Australian hiker, backcountry fisherman and cafe owner and after years of experimenting I have settled on making cowboy coffee. Very easy once you get the hang of it and taste amazing
@@Jondantic what's cowboy coffee? ☕
@@ripple_on_the_ocean I’m sure there are some TH-cam tutorials but basically course ground coffee added to hot water then brought to the boil for 2 minutes, small amount of cold water added then strained. Very simple but trust me it works. I’ve been making espresso, cold brew and filter coffee professionally for almost 30 years but my cowboy coffee is one that I enjoy immensely
Telling others to not bring a map, while holding a phone with a broken screen isn't a good look. The broken glass on the screen is trying to tell you something.
Theres one tip that weighs nothing, costs nothing, and is essential. Tell someone what your itinerary/route is, an idea of gear you have taken (food, equipment, etc) and estimated latests return time. And instruct them to call authorities the moment you go over that time with all the details. That way search parties have a better idea on how to narrow your location down, speeding up rescue time, and also minimising resources of the search teams. Ill even do this on a day hike, because shit can hit the fan in a millisecond.
Great tips - learned from experience! One big weight game changer - managing how much water you carry based on availability of sources.
Learned this on my last trip, took 3l, I don't know why cos bloody water everywhere 😂
And still ended up having to top up in the morning
My biggest mistake while hiking the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim - too much water (and too much food!).
Terrible advice to recommend not bringing a map compass and flashlight because "use your phone" now their phones dead, no light, no navigation, and no way to call for help. Bad form dude.
Agree in general about relying on phone... Garmin watch is more reliable short-term than paper map
Personally I’ve never needed a compass bc the trails I do are well-marked, so I think that’s more situational. And I use offline GPX trails for guidance instead of a paper map. This seems more dependent on the trail you’re doing and experience level
You can navigate using the stars, sun or landmarks. Paper maps can get wet or blow away easily. I wouldn't go without a dedicated headlamp though personally. He said to take his advice re the map with a grain of salt so grow up.
@@tb-nzhow do you tell what gully you’re in by the stars? You’re not sailing intercontinentally
@@tb-nz speed run the route where the topographic lines touch.
Big bonus for the food tips!! I watched a lot of videos on lightweight food for camping and the other videos were rubbish - you managed to give me way more advice in just a few minutes than they did in several long videos. Thanks a lot!
I'm a tarp and blanket enthusiast.. you can wear a blanket under your jacket and fold a tarp to cover your bag. Can be much cheaper than traditional set up and about the same weight its also warmer more flexible to set up near fires. I often use my stove under my tarp and it traps so much heat vs a tent which you have to worry about burning. I use propane. It's big and bulky but it's reliable.
For food I'd do partially preserved meats and pasta rice, simple stuff and save my freeze dried stuff towards the end. Hot sauce spices and a bag of brown sugar. I'm hypoglycemic.
I'm not really a hiker but I live outside. So using the same stuff doesn't always make sense. I also make a lot of my own gear by hand or improvise
I also like kombucha bottles. You can use it to pack in milk and it works great to keep hot liquids filter water into use it for soaking rice or use the bottom as a mortar and pestle.
great tips, thanks!
You showed several times tooth paste, so just to say it even it is a weight saver of a couple of grams only: try tooth powder, put the required quantity in a small ziplock or so. Less weight, much less volume, same effect. Helps even to clean your cooking gear ...
About food - endless discussions possible, but I suggest mainly to always have also a look back on traditional backpacker's food. E.g. cheapest protein source also today is most probably hard boiled eggs, which you can always bring on your 1-2 days trips. Might add some extra weight but that doesn't really matter on short trips. There is no need for cooking at all (neither gear nor fuel required), and eggs can be used as snack or main dish. Another traditional backpacker's source of protein which isn't too costly and doesn't need cooking of any kind is hard cheese (gouda, cheddar etc.), or any summer sausages (or Salami etc.). Such items have by weight same or even better amounts of calories and add usually much less volume as most of modern dehydrated food stuff. Apropos dehydrated - instead of using dried pulses like chickpeas or lentils as they are, try to get (or prepare it yourself) sprouted and later dehydrated pulses. They take half (or less) of cooking time resp. fuel, after a rehydration of 20 minutes or so. And check your pasta items carefully for required cooking time. Some need 10+ minutes, others 3 minutes, others need only adding hot water. Some soup noodles like e.g. Waiwai noodles don't even need water at all, you can easily eat them dry as a snack.
baking soda is a pretty cheap way to do powdered toothpaste, little mint oil in it. Don't the hard boiled eggs go bad?
Trying to save a few grams of weight by cutting out a map, compass and headlight and relying on your phone for navigation and light is dangerous. If your phone gets damaged, lost, runs out of power, or just stops working, you are screwed. This is one of the main causes of incidents in the mountains, reliance on technology instead of having good navigational skills and knowing the basics.
Also a trash bag/bin liner is very prone to damage (tears or holes), and keeping your kit waterproofed is essential. You're better off having something that is literally a few grams heavier that you can rely on.
Keeping your pack weight down is a good idea, but not at the cost of safety.
Great trips Oscar. I would caveat Tip 28 (10:04) with the strength and durability of one's ankles, and the number of hours hiking, the number of days, and the weight of one's backpack. Hiking boots are heavier, but they provide much better ankle support for those of us who have weak ankles. But for those who don't, I agree that lighter footwear is a better option.
Advice from my sports med Dr after yrs of rolling my ankles…ditch the heavy boots, start out VERY slowly w trail runners, and build the foundation and strength of your ankles to manage the stresses of hiking. Worked like a charm. Have only rolled my ankle once in the past 10 yrs.
@@4potslite169 Thanks for the advice that are more true for hiking with much less weight and less days. Hiking shoes or trail runners are good for lightweight backing. However, for hauling a much heavy backpack over many days, boots still are the better choice for the support.
I'll try day hikes with trail runners and ankle exercises to hopefully strengthen my ankles.
@@shogunshogun I've trekked for 10 days with more than 20kg of luggage in approach shoes without any problem. I've even hopped from boulder to boulder.
Definitely go on a comfortable 5-7 mile hike one way, camp then return. You'll quickly learn what you can leave behind and what to bring. I backpacked a simple 14 mile round trip over night and very soon realized a heavy nylon belt was not great. Took it off for the trip back and took a lot of pain off my hips. Also tighten your trainers(shoes) as much as you can and double knot them. Nalgene weighs too much as well and takes up a lot of space. Smart water bottles are still my fav. Know your water sources as well. Water weighs a ton..
This is key. I am getting my wife and kids into backpacking and ended up being a pack mule carrying all the things they “needed” for a quick over night. 60 damn pounds later I pulled out all the crap that never left the packs.
Reconsider tightening your shoes and not changing them. I wear boots, but also with shoes it can help to change the lacng depending on the elevation. Going up it can be nicer to have more movement in the heel, going down you want more space at the toes and a tight heel.
These are real tips on a criminally underrated video. Some of these things I figured out by myself while I was homeless. I wish I had a video like this back then it would have saved a lot of hardship.
Well, about hiking boots. I agree, one can just be fine with trail runners, on some trails. But on rocky, steep routes hiking boots may actually save you from injury
Yeah and proper boots really arent all that heavy these days, my body and feet feel much better after a long day for having them than not.
I always seemed to pick up burrs, small stones and sharp sticks with low cut shoes. I spent time looking for light weight mid height boots and just prefer something offering a bit mote support and protection, particularly in thick scrub.
Converse sneakers..... try these in Australia! I'll wear my boots thanks, they might be all that stands between my feet and the 10 most venomous snakes on Earth....
Yeah I think there is some very region specific advice here. No snakebite kit, no boots and I always take a topo map and compass if I'm going somewhere remote in the bush and I don't know the track.
I think he said it in the beginning of the video: these advices can differ depending on the region where you are hiking.
No problem with venomous snakes or scorpions where I like to hike. But boots are necessary to keep my feet dry!
Famous last words: you don’t need a map or compass.
Yes, yes, yes you do! And know how to use them!
And without a lamp you can't read either. I take a headlamp on day hikes. Someone pointed out to me that cellphones are $1000 flashlights, better to drop a $30 one.
It depends... In Europe most of the trails are signposted you don't need a map or Phone to navigate. Also closest village is usually an hour hike any direction ;-) it depends where you hiking.
1 item I always bring is a small folding umbrella. Not a necessity but has kept me dry during sudden rains. Quick to deploy enabling you to grab other rain gear while staying dry.
These are something that really needs to be tried how it fits your own style. For example I camped many years without inflatable pillow (only stuffing gear to make a pillow), but getting that extra better sleep is SOOOOOO much more important for me than that extra 100g weight.
Good tips nonetheless to try to change the mindset of what to bring with you. For example my first 5-day trip was that I packed individual clothes for every single possible situation, as well as having x3 t-shirts, boxers, socks. Nowadays my total clothing consist of three different layers. For example for upper body I have 3 clothes that can be mix & matched for pretty much every weather (1x merino long sleeve, 1x merino-polyester t-shirt, 1x rain/wind jacket).
Yep, gotta give yourself a "luxury item" if not for the psychological benefit alone. Life is to enjoy, not to just endure.
Great tutorial going straight to the point in short time instead of turning around (as often seen on other YT channels). I also like your idea of the number of tip and the clock!
While I disagree on the map and compass bit, this was a great video.
I honestly think this was not a great video. A lot of his recommendations are 1) "in an ideal environment" you can get away with this (duh) 2) take away this redundancy (not always a great idea) 3) swap this out to save a bit of weight to massively decrease utility.
Really good video filled with lots of good advice. I've been backpacking since I was 11 in Boy Scouts and I'm now 67. Along the way I picked up most of the tips you mentioned. I've also made plenty of mistakes. One recent change I made was by greatly reducing my toilet paper use by using a TONELIFE Pocket Portable backpacking bidet. When I was younger I typically had a pack that weighted at least 30+ lbs (13.6kg). These days I'm usually at 12 lbs or less (5.44kg) base weight. The reduced weight is so important since it makes hiking so much easier - especially as you get older.
Coffee bags are always a good option now for a decent brew. Also protein powder for weight training is pretty cheap and has some good flavours. Also for all the small volumes of liquids use small electrical bags. Really great bits of advice there. I've never thought to weight my wallet
Always bring a knife... 1. On the hip and 2. Wherever you want .. that's the way I roll. 😉
Thank you for the video!
2 is 1, 1 is none. Redundancy for the one tool that is most important to keep you alive is a good, add a couple fero rods and you are covered.
@@USMC6976honeslty ferro rods aren't necessary. 2 lighters in a plastic bag will do the trick if you care that much about saving weight.
@@f1rebreather123 until you break them and they leak out.
@USMC6976 I personally haven't had it happen. Even with carrying it in a pocket. Plus, I learned how to use empty lighters to start a fire. Ferro rods are very useful tools still.
I used clothing as a pillow and it was terrible... sometimes pillow was very thin or had hard spots. Also I found myself willing to take more clothing to have something to fill the pillow :-D I found inflantable pillows much better.
Yeah, an actual pillow is a game changer.
I take two pillows now
I did that for 1000km hike and it was fine, apart from the few nights when I had to wear all my clothes to be warm
I like this guy! And this may turn to became my new favorite outdoor channel. He is showing real, practical hacks and applications, which are actually achievable and accessible for us ordinary people. Not like some other channels, where the main focus is to promote stuff and doesn't put a lot of thought if it is practically, just shoot out any idea, stupid or not, mainly repeating the same things over and over in every video. Often encourage people to overspend thousands on gear.
Anyway - I like what you are doing, buddy, keep it up - we the ordinary poor people thank you! :) Love ya!
if you are really serious on losing weight: replace fleece and polar with wool - it keeps you warm in cool and cool in warm weather. Also you might consider using poncho instead of rain jacket - it really depends on your trail area but its worth if you can. On thing I disagree in your video is using gas stove on hiking trip. It is heavy and expensive and you can't regulate amount of fuel you want to take on you. Use the soda can spirit stove instead - the fuel+stove combination will most probably beat the weight of a gas stove and will be a hellalot cheaper for sure. Great video though! Thank you!
spirit stoves are very inefficient and if you have to cook multiple days, the weight of your fuel will be more than the gas canister and the stove. For example with 230g canister, which weights 300 and something grams + 50g stove you can cook more than 10 days twice per day. Plus it is much more stable in windy conditions. Try this with alcohol stove. Also there are smaller canisters too. Wool is heavier than fleece and once wet, becomes even much heavier and dries very slowly.
yeah nah mate
9:19 i have a rebuttal. I run a Nalgene brand bottle. it's easy to boil up some water, pour into the Nalgene bottle, close the lid (make sure it doesn't leak) and toss it into your sleeping bag/ under the quilt about half an hour before going to bed. depending on how cold it is, it can keep you warm for most of a cold night.
Thanks for the tips. IMO a compass and a map are always a must-have, if you know how to use them. If you don't, add a power-bank... I hike to go offline, so compass and maps usually are my main navigations aids, the GPS smartphone with pre-loaded maps being more a backup and a tracker. Now, I also have a Protrek watch paired to my smartphone that can be really useful for navigation while the phone and maps stay in the pocket.
I sold my Osprey bag to a newbe, because their so called « anti gravity » well, weights about 3 kg. Instead I opted for a Simond alpinism backpack sold by Décathlon that is only 800 gr. Also, I bought only trail adapted raincoat and 2nd layer, gained 600 gr. I am not using any pan, only titanium mug to heat up water and dehydrated trek meals. I will be checking on a small telescopic fishing rod for longer treks for proteins.
The silk sleeping bag lining from décathlon is also a great option: takes care of my hair condition, can be used as scarf in cold weather and as turban in scorching sun. Use also merino t-shirts and socks - a must to maintain good thermal comfort and antibacterial - no smell for days. That means you can take a minimum amount of change if any. I also only have only one underwear, microfiber. I can bathe in a lake and it dries quickly on me.
I also cut my sleeping mat to about knee length, cut the toothbrush to 10 cm etc..After my first long trek with 17 kg on my back, I went to Decathlon with a kitchen scales and weighted and compared everything. It took me some years to optimize down to 12 kg.
Not a good idea to get rid of maps or gps or headlight…
Oh, and no sticks! I find them useless most of the time. So opted for light leather gloves instead for rocky environments. Works great!
More then the reliability of having a sturdy ultra bright corded buoyant waterproof torch/flashlight and/or headlamp. Can be a life saver. Cell phones are rarely waterproof and not camping friendly, IMHO. And knowing how to use a compass and map/orienteering are essential life saving hiking skills.
We should discourage people from counting on their cell phones in the wilderness. Cell phones are less valuable then knowing how to navigate with map and compass.
I tend to use my cell phone a lot but carry a map print out and compass too. It's very comforting to push an icon and see exactly your position and what you expect to see next on the route. But if that fails (and it has on a couple of occasions due to wetness or battery) I can switch to using map and compass. Even when visibility and phone let me down at least the compass got me (and the group) out of trouble. Yes, know how to use m & c and carry them.
First aid is the last thing you should skimp on. Not bringing a tourniquet, splint, and wound packing gauze is a recipe for death if something goes seriously wrong. Which it does, all the time.
What’s your preferred gauze? Do you bring additional clotting agent? Do you have any recommendations on lightweight first air kits?
Bwhahahahaha 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂
Fanny pack fanny pack... and the visuals of the Top Gear clan laughing..... had Me laughing!!!!
Great video! As an avid backpacker I do 99% of the tips you mentioned, like you I used to carry a miniature mocha pot for coffee but now I settle for instant coffee packets, I never carried a hatchet or saw but I do like to have a fire at night when allowed, I'm going to look into a saw, some other ideas are leaving your filter's dirty water bags at home and use one of your water bottles instead, is much easier to fill them anyway, thanks.
I've pretty much learned all of those tips the hard way! The only one I disagree with is a cup, I don't like drinking out of a hot pan so a collapsible cup is a must have for me.
A small plastic cup does not weigh much and is great for getting water from a small water course on route.
I saved weight by converting a Burley bike cart into a dog cart for my German Shepard. She also has a molle pouch on either side of her harness for her food, silicone water bowl, water, bags for waste and some other small items. She's also a helluva campin buddy. Lol
Two suggestions.
1) take a smaller pack, which forces you to take less.
2) for longer trips, put everything that you think you need in your pack. Empty it, take half and bring twice as much money.
Use smart water bottles and a Sawyer water filter for your hydration system. At a water source, drink liberally, and fill up only as much water as you need to get to the next source. You can even carry an extra bottle, empty, in your pack if you know you will dry camp or have a long water carry at some point in your hike. Us a bottle for dirty water and the other two for filtered water.
i have to disagree with using a bag as a inside liner because if your pack gets wet it will weigh alot more
This. The weight of the water in a rain-soaked pack will weigh many times more than the negligible weight of a waterproof pack cover, so I think the first suggestion was simply bad advice. Same with relying solely on a charge-dependent cell phone, and not having a paper map and compass to navigate with, especially in the backcountry.
10:26 He really said "wear Chucks over hiking boots" 😂
I appreciate the video, and u had some good suggestions, but that one made me laugh lol
I've basically do every single one of these ideas from my decades of being a weight weenie. I hike in sandals in the mountains, never use a map but do carry a dedicated super cheap and UL plastic cup for making coffee. Also like soy protein, salami and pasta and carry a beer with me to camp regardless of how hard the hike will be.
yeah, beer at the end of the day is bloody awesome prize! kudos!
A few things that I do. Cold soak your food , no need for a stove. I also use a wood burning stove ( Firebox titanium ) the fuel ( dead , dried wood ) for the stove is always free & available since I hammock camp. For coffee , either Cowboy Coffee or a Vargo titanium coffee filter if you want it filtered.
I recommend taking a tarp or big poncho instead of a tent. Much lighter and takes much less room in the bag. I would also not recommend going for more days without a flashlight. Of course there is a flashlight on your phone, but when it eats all the battery and if you don't have a power bank with you, where would you charge the phone in the wilderness? So it is better to have a reasonable flashlight or headlamp with you to spare the phone battery for navigating and communication and not waste it for lighting.
It’s a lot easier to hold your flashlight with your teeth so you can use both hands for a task, too.
if you are in the back country ALWAYS have a paper map and quality compass. never rely on a computer. ( battery's)
there is a metal problem cooking in slum foil. not a one time thing but over many times you can easily reach toxicity levels. just like some anti stick coatings.
but those bug hiking boots give your feet the support they must have. will help prevent twisted / broken ankles. and provide some snake bite protection.
but i do love your tips on getting lighter. and better loaded.
Beanie and headlamp are safety items.
Other than that, great video!
For rice that cooks like couscous, I recently discovered that Indian supermarkets sell a product called "poha" it is rice that has been parboiled, flattened and dried into flakes. Just like couscous, all you have to do is add hot water and wait 5 minutes.
I will always carry my headlamp even if i know the hike will end near end of daylight
Me too. You just never know...
Precise and to the point, thank you for sharing! Great video.
As Oscar who hikes I approve this video
I love my gsi reusable pour over coffee filter. It clips onto most cups or mugs, it weighs almost nothing, folds flat, it's cheap, it works with or without a paper filter. It is also very durable, I've had one for years that I use at home and while traveling, it has probably made a thousand cups of coffee and is still in good shape. With some practice it can also make some great coffee. I'll eventually get a second one just for my backpack.
Good tips, thank you!
I definitely never leave my beanie ( or to us Canadians, a toque) at home, as I wear it at night.
I'm gonna start packing a mini first aid kit in a ziplock bag!
I keep my beanie at home only if it's not going to be below maybe -2 C. I learned this on my thru-hike in the Pyrenees in the summer. The lowest temps there were maybe -3C, and I ended up regretting bringing the beanie!
Who started this “beanie” thing anyway? It’s a toque.
Ello thermal mug is my go-to, yes it’s a little extra weight, but it’s great to keep your coffee/tea hot.
Bad advice not to ring your knife, it has limitless uses and sometimes you really need one to cut your food, open a package, cut some cord, get yourself free from a piece of equipment getting stuck and you along with it, etc. You don't need a bushcrafting knife if you want to save weight, just a very small one, 50 grams won't really hinder you in any way.
Interesting video, thanks for doing it, it helped me out a bit.
You did say not to bring an axe, which I get, but then what do you use to pound tent stakes in with? I had a plastic hammer but it took more space than a cheap small skinny axe, and the axe wasn't that much heavier but I can use it to hammer down stakes and make wood chips.
You're young, I'm 70 years old, I need a camping chair for my back to rest against! LOL!!
Coffee-wise, you can make Turkish coffee really easily, and it's better than just using normal coffee grounds, and way better than instant crap, it is a powder consistency so unless you have a grinder that can grind it that fine you would have to buy pre-ground; the other thing you can do if Turkish coffee is not your thing is to buy the GSI Ultralight Java Drip maker, this is a pour-over method, the drip maker weighs next to nothing and stores extremely flat taking up very little space and was designed to fit under the underside of most fuel canisters. Simply watch TH-cam videos on how to make Turkish or the GSI pour-over coffee, both methods are very easy to do.
If the ground is soft, you push the stakes with your foot. If it is not that soft, you can usually find some stone around. I have something like 200 nights in a tent in all kind of conditions and terains, including stepe, deset, high mountain, winter... and never even imagined that I needed an axe or a hammer to push the stakes :)
I know I am the odd one out when it comes to boots but the amount of times i meet hikers that eat ibu's like candy cause they rolled their ankles on stage 2 of the hike is insane. You can roll your ankle walking in the city 😂, for me personally its well worth the extra weight
Bro, you are practically a Filipino! All the tips you shared are very relatable. Even the first tip is spot on. We always double waterproof our bags. We put our things in ziplocks, then put them in a big plastic bag before putting them in our bag. Haha!
Loved the fanny pack bit! That's common in the US also.
Tip 25 about replacing nalgene bottles with regular, plastic ones is great, but only in warmer seasons. You can put hot water in a nalgene bottle to warm up your sleeping bag or to drink hot/warm tea while walking. A narrow bottle mouth can also freeze over, preventing you from drinking water that you have in a regular bottle - since nalgene bottles have wider mouths, that solves that problem as well.
I've climbed 6434m peak with a water in a regular plastic bottle :) THe bottle was upside down in my bagpack, so the bottle mouth froze, but I crushed it with the Ice axe :)))
The tiny bit of weight a reusable bottle adds is totally worth it. Reduce the use of single use plastics. Someone has to care about the planet enough to reduce our consumption and waste.
If you use a single use plastic bottle more than once, is it still a single use plastic bottle? 😊
Or otherwise: if you buy water in a single use bottle, and then reuse that single use bottle as long as possimle, do you really need an additional multi-use plastic bottle?
Where are the comments on dropping the deodorant??? Fantastic video, by the way, love these and many great tips on this channel. But keep the deodorant! Several reasons: You can buy very light travel ones. You don't smell yourself so much, especially on those multi-day hikes. The bugs don't smell you so much (don't you have mosquitoes where you are? You've got a worldwide audience and some people hike in very hot places). Your company will appreciate it (some people share tents). And ditto for the soap: you can also get very small and light containers (including eco soap). It's wonderful to feel refreshed after an all-day hike. Feeling disgusting can also wear you out. I'm posting because I did see you retract a claim in another video, correcting a myth. Big props to that move! Keep the tips coming, please. I will keep watching!
Number one tip for saving weight for free is to make a spreadsheet and weigh everything with a kitchen scale. Then you can bring the lightest version of everything you own.
Number two for me has been to chop and dehydrate all of your food ahead of time. It’s always going to be easier to do your food prep at home than on the trail. Purchasing a dehydrator one time (or making strategic use of the oven on low with the door open) - will save weight on every backpacking trip for the rest of your life
I loved the part about packing a bag properly...I pack my bag based on where things conveniently fit, but I need to reassess to get the greatest weight towards the middle and close to the body. But the part about the socks...my instinct tells me to keep those feet as clean as possible throughout the hike as a matter of survival, really. That is one thing I won't change...I take a pair of socks for everyday, period, and it's worth the weight and space to me. I always manage to fit the socks in small space and in the cracks. I won't skimp on that! I guess everybody has their "thing", but I think this one is pretty important for health.
I think there is a lot of good info here. I believe some people are missing the point. These tips do not work for everyone but helps you to get thinking on how to adjust your needs and equipment.
I tend to always over pack so I’m guilty of most of these at least at some point 😅. Talking with your group so making sure not to take double of certain things can be real helpful
This is exactly it. Comments on UL videos always turn into the same arguments but everyone needs to remember (and tbh content creators need to be better at communicating this) that everyone can make their own choices about where on the scale they want to sit. We all have different choices about what comforts we think are worth the extra weight, or hike in different environments. e.g remote Australia is not the same as hiking well known trials in Europe, so I will adjust my packing to reflect that. No one has to do any of these, but even if its a just a few of them, then it will help.
You must have done the camino! Light weight hiking is huge ❤
The suggestions you have for the first aid will address 90% of issues , well done !
Maybe more bandages / gauze
If you watched this and are just beginning hiking. Forget everything he just said. He lightened his load but at great risk to his physical safety. BEWARE!
Here here!
scout06171 is speaking straight facts
Words "great risk to physical safety" are in my opinion exaggeration.
Yeah, the "use your phone" for light and navigation is a bad idea. Water gets into it, battery runs out or it breaks, you are dead.
Chill people. Oscar did provide a warning to use your best judgment on his suggestions. Everyone hikes their own hike.
Hey Oscar! I need to know, where exactly is the spot at :26 into the video?
I could have sworn I was exactly there just about a week ago and I gotta know 😮
Just leave the backpack at home and wander through the trails naked. What could go wrong?
A simple wood burner like the picogrill is much lighter and smaller than a gas cooking setup. Also use bright colors or reflective markings on your small equipment, so it's easier to find them if lost.
some additions:
- toothpaste pills
- mini victorinox pocket knife
- learn on how to refill gas canisters to reuse nearly empty ones and bring exactly the amount of gas needed
- use a swedish cloth instead of a towel
- use a garmin inreach as phone backup/emergency communicator
- use the sleeping bag stuffsack as pillow liner and stuff it with clothes
Great advice!
Great production, great tips and great presentor, you're going big!
Thanks, I appreciate that!
The nature shots to represent fanny 😂😂😂 great video dude
That glacier needs to put a pair of knickers on.
Your video was an amazing amalgamation of comedy, information, and personality. I enjoyed it greatly
For the pillow, it is actually a good idea to put your kiking shoes/boots under the tent and put a layer of clothes in the tent above the shoes. This way the shoes don't get wet and you have okay-ish pillow.
Absolutely reccomend compression vaccuum bags. This may be a little controvertial because you'll be forced to bring an air pump which may be bulky and heavy, and may run out of power. The other issue is that taking clothes out is a hastle as youll have to take pump all the air out again after closing the bag. HOWEVER, the net impact is very positave. My bag may be a little heavier because of the air pump, but thats a sacrifice im willing to take given the fact that it allows me to fit a lot more into the bag, and additionally adds waterproofing to everything. I also cover my sleeping bag in a vaccuum bag of its own, as it really sucks all the extra air out and saves a TONNE of space. Just be aware that these are ripable. If you cover something that you put on the outside of your bag, watch out for branches and other sharp objects. Once the bag is ripped, it doesnt serve anywhere near the purpose it did before, and wont pack down to the compact size that you are now relying on. Long story short; I absolutely reccomend them, but be careful
can sometimes save a few grams by making tooth paste tablets. dab out a bit of your tooth paste onto parchment paper. either like 2 days in the open air. or a few hours in a dehydrator at like 60-70 degrees will turn the blobs into dry-ish tabs. slight dusting of baking soda keeps them from sticking. Can bring like... just enough for as many times as you'll brush your teeth. vs. a tube. can also chop the end of the toothbrush off ... like. if you don't need all the length why bring it?
dynema cordage. if you have paracord, or rope in your kit. even for guy lines/tent lines. or rope/paracord on a bear bag/food bag to hang in a tree. can save a tiny bit of weight switching to dynema cordage. super light weight, fairly strong. typically is bright yellow or orange. so easy to see for like bear bags/guy lines. ...can also jettison your head lamp strap. for simple dynema cord loop. if you're good with knots can easily make a simple band .... will save a few grams
another "hack" i've always liked, because it tends to save more money than weight is going on ebay, or to the hardware store maybe, buying a length of Tyvek housewrap. vs using a tent footprint. Often time a tent footprint is heavy or thick material. Tyvek house wrap. comes in big rolls. can get a length cut ....once it's used a bit it becomes very soft/flexible. is water proof. tends to be fairly puncture proof. and is much lighter than the misc tent foot prints they try and sell you with tents.
I’m moving to Narvik after 20 years in the UK, I can’t wait to!! 😊😊
Great tips! Thank you.
Wearing a down jacket on the move is not a good plan, even ones with "water resistant down" it still absorbs moisture, ie sweat. Plus loses loft and insulation properties being compressed under a pack.
Keep it for camp and wear fleece for walking if cold. Even when wet it will insulate. Relying on one garment for warmth is a risk but depends on the climate to some degree.
If it is an overnight trip, I don't take food. If it is a bit longer, I'll bring nuts, seeds, and dried fruit, but I leave all the cooking gear at home. You can typically save a lot of weight and pack space by taking food that doesn't need to be cooked. If the area I am going to has fresh water, I just bring a filter and a water bladder. I also find that hammock systems generally weigh less, take up less pack space, and cost a lot less than a tent.
Thanks for the tips. For myself from Sweden and ex-military a good knife is a must.
Very good & quick - that's good.
Never I do take a towel. In summer one just dries or puts on the clothes, they are drying very quick and I use my hands like a windshield wiper. I don't get dry like the windschield but the windshield has not so many hairs everywhere like me.
And I don't want to carry water 'home'. When you do a day tour and at noon you see you have too much water I drink it or pour it out. I do this here in the centre of Europe.
On long trips i take some very very important things twice: it is my glasses and my shoes. The extra shoes are barefootshoes - one has to teach the food to this - or just very flat flip flops one can also use in the shower of a campground, if you don't need this you can take also duct tape. No not duct tape but 50mm adhesive tape. It is lighter and it glues better, when you go full around and glues it on itself.
I’d feel really stupid if I dumped out my remaining water halfway through a hike and then an injury or bad weather kept me in the woods overnight. If 1kg for 1l of water was that much of a burden I’d start training with an extra 2 or 3 liters. But I do live and hike in a very remote part of the state, in all 4 seasons, almost always solo, even in winter, and seeing anyone else on trail is rare and most places have no cell signal except near the summit.
Thanks for the tips. Very useful. I'd like to share a cool idea for those of us that need our morning coffee. There's a product called a Brewspoon in my country but there might be something similar in other countries that goes by another name. It's light-weight and small. You simply add your ground coffee (or tea leaves) to a small mesh container, close it up and stir it through your cup of hot water. Available in South Africa from YuppieChef, Takealot and Cape Union Mart.
Nice summary. Basically all i learned from many different places.
I use an ultralite wood stove in place of a gas stove. You'll avoid the weight, save on throwing out a canister, and you will never run out of fuel. Works pretty much everywhere except maybe the highest elevations. Wood stoves are extremely efficient using pencil sized sticks and they leave only a tiny amount of grey ash most of the time.
I disagree with ditching compass and map altogether. But in case of gas I would replace it with an alcohol stove. It's smaller and can contain some fuel inside already. Also it's easy to buy more if needed.
Although there are tons of good tips in this vid, I must admit I do not get the idea with going ultralight. (I am more a survivalist camper than a through hiker) I usually pack gear that pushes my physical limit as I love the extra workout and I also need to know where my limits are. Ofc I do not pack a huge cleaver axe and naturally just use my old trusted hand axe if that is what my trip needs. I pack for what I need, then toss in whatever I feel I want for comfort/style points, so to speak. Great vid though, glad I found it! The tips are down to earth and can come in very handy in many situations. (accidents, shtf and so on) Thank you!