Packing for a hiking trip is easy with these tips. Get advice on backpacking, hiking, and the great outdoors in this video.
JOHN FLAHERTY: Hi, my name is John and we are going to talk about how to pack for a backpacking trip. The gear that I usually take backpacking, and this is not all of my gear but the most important parts of my gear are laid out here. Most importantly, we are going to start with el pack, the pack that you are going to be carrying. The most important thing is to pack the backpack with the heaviest items toward the bottom and closer to your back. The lighter items up on top and put on the outside. Some heavier things that we might pack down low on the inside, cook set and fuel canister, both lots of metal. This ones got liquids, pretty heavy. That is going to go down low on the inside there. Extra water, if you are hiking in an area that does not have a lot of water, you might want to carry an extra water bottle too in your pack. That is obviously pretty heavy. That is going to go down low. Another heavier item is my tent. Now, the tent is a little awkward to get inside the pack, at least this one is. It might fit in there. But you can also, with most good quality packs, strap things on the outside of the pack. In this case, I have got some straps here. They work very nicely. Make sure it is nice and snug. And again, the idea is to keep the heavier items like the tent down low. Now, lighter items, like a sleeping bag and some clothes are going to go up higher. But before I do that, I am going to pack my food away. Food tends to be a little bit heavier sometimes. That is going to go down there, except I am going to hold out a few snacks. Put them in my pockets, on the outside portions of my pack. And these lighter items, they are just going to go on top. I have got a sleeping bag there. If I am not carrying a tent, I might carry my bivy sack, which is a small cocoon like item that goes around the sleeping bag. Sleeping pad, very light, less than a pound. That can go just about anywhere. It is kind of long. And I have got straps on my pack so I may as well use them. I am going to put them underneath on this portion of my pack. Because it is lighter it can go up high and on the outside. The last but not the least, I might pack away my clothes and I am going to keep clothes that I might need on the trail, for example my Gore-Tex rain top just in case it rains. I am going to keep that pretty handy near the top. And even though I said last but not the least, truly last but not the least is first aid, safety first. Always take a first aid kid when you are hiking or backpacking and that will go on the top in an easily accessible point. And then I snugger up and we are ready to go backpacking. And I am going to put my hip belt nice and snug, making sure I keep the weight off of my shoulders, most of the weight is down here. And we are ready to go backpacking.
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