The 6 BIGGEST Mistakes I Made As A New Lightweight Backpacker 

I knew nothing and had no mentor when I started backpacking at 13. So I guess everything I did was a mistake. But the South San Juans are out my back door, and I couldn’t resist. I carried the kind of sleeping bag you'd use to spend the night at a friend's house. No pad. A plastic tarp. My schoolbag pack (no hipbelt). A gallon milk jug tied on for water if needed, and no filter: Drank right out of every spring, stream, or river. Canned food. Sterno cans. An ax. Wore jeans, cotton tshirt and sweatshirt, and my school sneakers w no tread. Cell and PLB didn’t exist. I carried over 60 lbs. What I thought was normal: Bruised collarbones, lying awake all night freezing as I watched the moon's slow traverse, wet gear, my sleeping bag choosing the worst moments to slide out of the garbage bag that I inexpertly tied under the pack... I will always appreciate gear designed for backpacking! But those early trips with makeshift gear are some of my favorite memories. Discovering the magic of nights above timberline, of tiny alpine flowers, of total solitude. I'll always still be learning, and I appreciate these videos! Many thanks.

Biggest future mistake I see myself making is cold-soaking. 🤔🤗🤪😩😥😂

I started in Scouts back in the 80s. Wow (I feel old now). I remember a fellow scout had his mom help pack his pack, and he had an entire backpack of canned goods. God bless her, but we divided all his cans among the troop. Lol. I was certainly guilty of a lot of your mistakes as well and have tried to reform my ways (mostly). Thanks for the great video

Well presented: thorough, specific, honest, organized, brisk yet clear.

Loved how you summed up why we do what we do 'You only get so many back packing trips in this life, And I want to come back with the best memories possible' (Well said!)

Biggest mistake I made when I started LW backpacking was saving 3 oz by leaving the second pair of hiking socks back home. One pair of hiking socks make it much harder to hike in a clean, dry pair of socks after day-3. Depending on the environment, if you don’t wash your socks and get the traces of dust and dirt out, it will build up and start rubbing against your skin like sandpaper. Once you start getting skin rubbed raw along the fronts and tops of your toes, it’s game over.

An excerpt from Patagonia's Field report on Ultra Light Camping via Kelly Cordes: A mess of gear lay strewn before us in Pakistan’s Charakusa Valley. Too much stuff. I stared 8,000 feet up at K7, where we would soon receive a righteous ass-whuppin’, then looked at Scott DeCapio and fluttered my big doe eyes. “What do you think about bringing just one sleeping bag?” I asked. My desire to go light comes down to one primary thing: laziness. I hate carrying a heavy pack. I’ll sometimes go to absurd ends to avoid it, which leaves me shivering on some godforsaken mountainside, cuddling with a swarthy dude for warmth before rapping off feeling ashamed and confused. For all of the chest-thumping “single-push” and “light-and-fast” bravado - something I know well - an unlikely link exists between this decidedly macho endeavor and the decidedly un-macho act of snuggling up with another dude. You know, the ManSpoon. “No way,” Scotty said. After all these years of climbing together, we’re like those old married couples who sleep in separate beds. Some people just aren’t into the ManSpoon - not that there’s anything wrong with that. Some, apparently, even prefer hypothermia. On a midnight descent in a Canadian Rockies thunderstorm with Jim Earl, for example, as we shivered beneath a rock overhang and I scooted closer, I swear Jim growled at me. Here, in the Charakusa Valley, gorgeous alpine lilacs sprouted from the grass around us, suckling off the morning dew that still clung to their petite petals. “Scott, this won’t be like the Catholic Church. I know there’s a difference between good touch and bad touch. We’re just two sensitive, mature men who are secure enough to share a sleeping bag to save weight.” In a breathy whisper I added, “Do you want to talk about it?” “No.” “Look at those guys,” I said, pointing to Vince Anderson, Steve House and Marko Prezelj, merrily frolicking in the meadow after their K7 West ascent. “You think those guys brought three sleeping bags? This is perfectly natural, Scotty.” Since the negatives of the ManSpoon are apparent enough, I encouraged Scotty by sharing the positives and my claim to fame: I’ve spooned with some of the best alpinists in the United States. 1. Jonny Copp stood a strapping six feet tall, packed 175 pounds of solid muscle, and was a sensitive, music-playing renaissance-type guy. Spooning with the “muscular flautist” in Alaska felt like curling up next to a fire - I miss him. 2. Josh Wharton makes this list for a simple reason: osmosis. In a week of accumulated on-route snugglefests in Pakistan, I’ve become not only a more caring and sensitive person but, more importantly, I’ve become a better climber. (Strangely, though, Josh didn’t get any worse after our climbs.) 3. Supple young Colin Haley may lack size and muscle, but he’s enthusiastic about everything - and enthusiasm goes a long way. Plus, climbing and spooning with Colin in Patagonia allowed me that self-satisfying, has-been-never-was claim that I influenced the next generation. Somehow. Feeling satisfied with my presentation, and even a little tingly inside, I tilted my head at Scotty, raised my eyebrows, and smiled. “No,” he said. I looked again at the huge pile of gear. “What if I wear the wig?” He ran off to get the other sleeping bag.

ALL of this! and i can fully attest to layering quilts.. last winter my girlfriend started coming with me. she sleeps super cold. we did foothills and wound up getting some crazy weather. i gave her my thermarest 20 and layered it with a MYOG costco quilt that i did a few years ago. with a 5R pad, and smartwool sleeping layer she was completely comfortable down to 18 degrees for 5 nights. i was literally de-icing my tarp in the morning and keeping our filters in our quilts.

as someone who works at REI in the clothing department, i completely agree that cheaper options for base layers are more than sufficient. the most important thing to look for is just what fabric the clothes are made out of so if you can find a 100% polyester or a polyester nylon blend base layer at walmart for way cheaper than something at Patagonia or REI, absolutely do it!!!! the literal only trade off is that the garment might not last as long, but if you’re just trying to get started, go for the cheaper option and upgrade overtime once you find yourself consistently hiking

Very thoughtful and well considered list, I agree with everything you brought up and made many of the same mistakes but learned the balance and now have a light but luxurious setup.

Thanks for a great video. Really appreciate not only the great visualisation of how to tie the knots - but also the explanation and reasoning about them and their usage.

The part about getting over your ego in order to make sure you're packing to create the best memories possible really grabbed me at the throat. I may have even had a little tear. :) I am heading out shortly for my longest through hike (7 nights out - Killarney PP, Ontario) and I just realized that I'm a little mixed up in my priorities. Thanks for this video. I'll be looking through my kit and may make a few different decisions to enhance my experience. Gosh, that ego is a pain. I'm inspired by your candidness and humility. Cheers!

Great video man! From the content to the edits. Nice work.

pack for the goals of the trip, so true

This video will become a classic.... Well done....again.

Good stuff. You are a natural communicator. Well done.

Good stuff bud. Thanks for sharing

Wow, editing and graphics - next level

👍👍👍 .. good advice, thanks. I started 'camping and hiking' back in the 60's and much of my gear was that begged, borrowed and 'requisitioned' from home. Time, learning due to experience (self and seeing others fall into the same / similar pitfalls) and such, took it from there. And I am still learning albeit not necessarily complying with everything now said out there .. I am still learning how to navigate 'marketing' 😏. Foam sleeping pads. Back then, they were the go-to. Inflatable pads then (plastic 'lilo's'), had a terrible reputation for deciding to unilaterally deflate whenever it suited them. We survived 😏. How, I do not know .. similar to my thoughts then on how my ancestors managed without a closed cell pad under them at night 😊. Some advice from the Peanut Gallery, for what it is worth. Start at home and in good weather, in the back garden if possible, using stuff from home or borrowed. Take it from there. My kids started in our back garden, using 'cheap' kit I no longer used, me having moved to to better 'stuff'. Evolution will then work it's magic .. either further out into open waters or a Darwinian dead end. Thanks for sharing .. take care ..

Great advice on the sleeping bags

Nice. 👍 Add to foam mat, cheap rubber airbed! (Or even a plastic one, aka, li-lo or Lilo.) For years and years I kept using the same cheap rubber airbed, because, that's what all my friends used as well, and so, that's what we used. (And when eventually it couldn't keep air in anymore, I bought another one! Because!) Had many freezing nights on it, body heat just goes straight into the ground. Popular advice (also from my friends) was, put an emergency foil blanket on top of it if you're cold. Or, just get something decent. My first proper Thermarest mat was a total revelation! 😲👍❤

Good info…thank you

Everything you say makes sense. Well made video

Great video! Really intrigued on what card game was featured.

love montbell, had no idea they made sleeping pads or bags. thanks for the video! also first

“I severely underestimated how warm the bag was”. Jeez I’ve been there. Sticking leg out to cool off. Leg cold, body hot

As a high functioning autistic man this is exactly the video I needed. To the point very specific and lots of detail about the packing method procedure. I thank you.

Great video and advice 🙂👍

Great Vid thank you, I was so meticulous back in my youth, now I pack 12 yr old Whisky. it stops me from complaining.

Great vid! Just discovered your channel.

My two mistakes were: 1- Carrying everything I thought I might need. 2- carrying back-up gear for when my primary gear failed.

The thing Im learning today is backpacking your lightweight bag will affect the confort of your back. Lightweight bag doesn't have backframe so the weight distribution on your back will be depend of how you're packing your item into the bag.

Great video! I’m the same where my brain wants consistency, but it’s impossible. I generally have the same regular stuff and my same regular pattern and put stuff in certain sacks and put stuff in my tent in certain corners. Some stuff changes for the seasons or the destination or who I am with, but mostly the same. Fast forward to oh yeah, I have the opportunity to hike the John Muir trail this summer so I’ve been practicing. The bear canister is a BEAR for sure, but required. I started hiking with other things I thought I needed and changing things from my norm and it all became too complicated. I now know that I am not bringing a sun umbrella and I will bring a cut down version of my closed cell pad vs., my sit pad and I will bring my regular few stuff sacks rather than try to stuff everything into the hole. ..still working on the clothing list, but as I hike around with full weight, that’ll probably be much of the same too. Too many gear changes at once for me make things awkward.

I take beer, wine, good food, chair, table, a 3 man tent, and all the comforts I can manage.. I'm a motorbike camper. 😂

I'm glad I started young and before there was RU-vid. I think I packed some sandwiches, a couple of Gatorades (when they were still in glass bottles), a cheap slumber party bag, a D-cell flashlight and a pup tent into an army duffel. Probably wore jeans and my dad's M65 jacket. I walked from the house through the neighborhood and into the woods. The tent had horrible condensation, and with no pad I was cold the whole night. But it was still great. I was about 12 years old. I think I finally quit chasing the latest and greatest gear about 15 years ago. Now I just replace something if it's worn out. I can get by with a 5 lb base weight in my old frameless GoLite pack in the summer, and I have a 4 season tent that weighs more than my summer baseload when needed. I don't see those as mistakes so much as stepping stones to knowledge building. Plus it's good to know I could still improvise a night out using an old duffel bag.

I agree with the 45 + 20 F sleeping bag/quilt purchase, and then using them together for use to 0 F or even lower. Lightweight backpacker beware, however. You can’t buy the lightest 20 F solution if you’re intending to use with another bag/quilt, as the lightest weight bags don’t have a lot of wiggle room inside (less material = less weight). If the 20 F bag isn’t loose enough, when you mate it with another bag inside it will not allow that inner bag to fully loft up, and suddenly the two bags aren’t as warm as you expect. I have combined an outer bag with an inner bag, and an outer quilt with an inner bag, successfully. I have no experience with combining two quilts, however. Would the slick material of the two cause the outer quilt to shift around too much and not be able to efficiently trap warm air? 🤔 Seems like pad straps are a necessity for two quilts, at the very least.

Looking for an inflatable sleeping pad in the $100ish range, any suggestions? Thanks in advance

Very good information. Your examples of why and why not are spot on. Turn off the background music. It is beyond me why RU-vid content creators think playing background music over their voice is somehow enhancing their videos, it is not, it is distracting. We came to hear you, not to fight background music which quickly becomes extremely annoying and intrusive. Many folks have hearing difficulties, thus while concentrating on your voice they must also concentrate on tuning out the music; frustrating. Your background music ruins an otherwise exceptionally good presentation.

Wool does not dry faster than cotton, it just keeps its loft while wet. Synthetics do dry faster than wool and cotton. There is so much misconception about fabrics in the backpack community.

Not buying a Kuiu Peleton 97 hoody when it’s 29% off (current Founder’s sale)

UL hikers: "Why would you use a backpack with a bunch of pockets? I don't need all that." Also UL hikers: "I really need to stop using so many stuff sacks."

I’m not sitting through 2 15 second ads for backpacking advice

feedback: I feel motion sickness from your style of rocking back and fourth into the camera

Don't get me wrong, you aren't dumb, but I think you think you're a lot smarter than you actually are.