Wish you could backpack more often? 5 ways I streamline overnight trip prep and planning 

I totally empathize with researching new trails when you're trying to get out on a moments notice. When you're busy, that research seems to turn into another stressor that I just don't need. You'd think it was the opposite considering where we're headed!

A tip from me would be that, as a giving person, it’s easier to keep commitments to others than to myself. That’s why I guide trips, and have maintained trail for 20+ years. I fill my calendar up with group trips (usually 5-7 people) or maintenance weekends and then I'm locked into going into the woods.

As one of those “backcountry chefs,” I’d say it’s just another layer of prep similar to what you’ve already mentioned. I have a backpacker’s pantry that I stock up at the beginning of the year with various nuts, dried fruits, noodles, rice, jerky, cookies, snack mixes, candy, chocolate, dried vegetables, etc. As long as the staples are there, it’s no problem grabbing ziplocks at the last second and adding 1/2 cup per person per day of each food item. Like you’ve said, 1.5 lbs of food per day total. Then I just fill up my 4 oz Nalgene jar with ghee and grab my spice rack, which is a ziploc full of 1 oz Nalgene bottles with things like salt, black pepper, red pepper, tahini, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and curry. Finish it off with some tomato powder, coconut powder, crystallized egg powder, brown sugar, dried shiitake mushrooms, tortillas, and cheese, and you’re good to go. For emergency purposes, I also pack a powdered soup base, which can be a game changer when helping someone who’s in the early stages of hypothermia. Depending on the weather, I might augment with fresh ingredients like carrots, cilantro, bell peppers, celery, and pearl onions. I almost always bring fresh garlic and jalapeño - any fresh ingredient that you can add to a meal will make a HUGE difference. I have a food list spreadsheet very similar to a gear spreadsheet that I use for a packing checklist for each trip. It sounds like a lot of work but honestly the most time consuming step is refilling the spice kit. As a gourmet cook, I don’t meal prep. I just look at the random pile of ingredients and pull stuff together based on what I feel like making. Pro tip is to visit local ethnic stores. Japanese and Indian are my favorite. These can be a boon for dried vegetables, meats, and exotic spices.

Great video, man! I will definitely be using these tips. Over the past year and a half or so I've been trying to make outdoors more of a part of my schedule, but I consistently fall short. Thanks for this video! 👍

“Kits”. Prepared and always ready to grab and go. Fit in a snack baggie, sandwich baggie, or quart baggie. Contents rarely change, side benefit it helps me understand what more I can leave behind by the weight of each kit. Emer/FAK, (lighter, lip balm, duct tape, meds in their own tiny pill baggie, whatever) poop kit, hygiene/wash/cook utensils kit, minimal fire kit for most trips, or for snow and canoe trips a good save-my-hypothermic-butt fire kit, tarp kit (all the lines specific lines when taking the tarp instead of the tent) …and as you said, most other stuff lives in my pack. Lastly a checklist to either check off as packed or line-out to leave behind.

Thanks for this, Tim. I would LOVE a gear packing list. I have been trying to figure out how to get out more and this vid is a great help. Implementing several ideas immediately.

We have some good areas close by. A lot of time I head out Friday after work. I get home and clean, pack up, doesn’t take long, out the door and drive to the trail. Usually alpine in the summer, so I’ll have some times only a two to three hours till sundown. Then I have the whole weekend! Love doing it like this.

Shareable list is intriguing. I keep the same and also keep in my pack what I’ll always bring. Good video. Thanks. Temps, time out on trail, etc., warrant different items. It is a constant change out that I need to get better at. I have a hydropack water storage that I use with my katadyn which I love. Am going on a long distance hike and decided to use sawyer and am not that familiar so am trying it. I now can’t find my hydropack and I am usually very organized.

As someone who as been trying to help a friend make wedding invites, I instantly noticed that Canva wedding planner design haha.

Many thank for tip 4 on food prep and the links to Andrew Skurka, which is a new name for me.

Tip 1 and 5 are really important! My job required me to travel often, so I developed the habit of being prepared to go, which bled over to everything else.

My gear list takes a layered approach. The base gear is the same year round. This includes base layers, mid-layers, hiking shirt and pants, toiletries, first aid, electronics, and cooking. Variables include shelter (hammock, or tent (1 or 2-person), pack, quilt, pad, raingear, filter (Sawyer or, in winter, SteriPen), insulating layers, and stove (canister, alcohol, wood, or white gas). If I go to an area that’s water challenged, I’ll up my water carrying capacity too.

Great video concept, thanks for putting this together. I use your old system of keeping a full gear kit in a bin, but added a laminated gear list and dry erase marker to the lid. I use the list when I pack, but also to check items back in on my return and identify durable consumables (like first aid supplies) that need replenishing. This system has drastically reduced the number of stragglers I have to hunt down to get on the road. Letting go of the pressure to find a new hike is one of the best things I've done for my backpacking experience. There's always a lake or overlook I didn't make the quarter mile side trip for last time, and the same trail often offers a very different experience at different times of the season. Besides, knowing I'll likely come this way again takes some of the agony out of backcountry decision making.

Please make a gear list on Pack Wizard so we can all see it.

Thx Tim! Such a great topic for a video. Yeah! I would like to take a look at your Google Doc. 🤙🏾

Lol I thought I was the only one making spreadsheets on hiking, love it!

weather based gearlist -> please!! 👍

Great video

I’m interested in what specific skills around backpacking, as opposed to Bushcraft, you’re interested in developing. You seem like you pretty much have it together gear and weight wise. I could see desert hiking, if you don’t get into that sort of environment often, being a weak spot, in addition to off trail navigation, perhaps wanting to take your treks to the next level. Maybe you want to cover 25+ mile days, or want to get into the habit of slowing down and appreciating the land around you, rather than continuously moving through it.

Dope blanket on the couch !

❤ from 🇮🇪

I mark which fuel tank I have used......maybe enough for a quick trip but not a week long. Along the same lines I forgot alcohol for my alcohol stove on a trip. Ramped up those campfire cooking skills!

would definitely appreciate a copy of your gear list

Wonderful video. Thank you. I was trying to find the video you referenced for packing food but I'm not able to find it. Would you be able to share a link by any chance?

where'd you get those sleeping bag stuff sacks with the maps on them at 0:45 ? they look so cool lol

I find it interesting that you referred to backpacking as a sport. For me, sports involve competition in addition to physical activity, which is why I find the word to be a poor fit. You also referred to it as a craft, which I feel is much better. If you’ve completed a thru-hike and can’t shake the hiker trash you’ve become, then it can truly become a lifestyle or addiction, where front-country life is just a necessity to support the next adventure.

How do you go backpacking when your foot is broken😭🤷🏼‍♂️

I didn't go out at all in 2023!