Intro & Definitions

From the Gossamer Gear blog:

"If you enjoy hiking, you may find yourself wanting to extend your experience in the great outdoors and go backpacking. A backpacking trip involves carrying all of your gear on your back to stay outside for a night or longer. Backpacking may involve camping inside a tent or inside a wooden shelter or hut along a trail. This type of trip is also referred to as wilderness backpacking, not to be confused with backpacking as a means of travel-often experiencing other countries and cultures.

You may think it's hard to take the plunge to become a backpacker, but with a little prep work and purchasing a few key items, you may find yourself hitting the trail quicker than you'd expect! You may find that you desire to get away from it all. Backpackers are rewarded with pristine wilderness, uncrowded trails, minimally impacted land and solitude.

Backpacking makes it possible to see parts of the world you would never be able to otherwise. Some of the world's most beautiful destinations can only be found by on your own two feet. This can be extremely rewarding. Backpacking can be done in groups or independently, known as solo hiking. Backpacking is a wonderful activity to do with friends, your significant other, your children, or your dog and can be a great bonding experience. The feeling of working together and traveling with everything you need to survive on your back is very freeing and addictive.

When you go car camping, your activities are based around a set location. When you go backpacking, you follow a trail or route and make camp along the way. One of the biggest differences between car camping and backpacking are the amenities. When you go backpacking you will not have toilets or showers like many campgrounds offer. You will need to go to the bathroom in the woods and become more self-reliant, carrying everything you need on your back.

You may be boggled at how you can possibly carry everything you need to hike and camp in the woods for multiple days. If you are used to car camping, you may be surprised to learn that you can transition to wilderness backpacking simply by changing your perspective and goals as well as some of your gear. The extra effort is well worth the rewards."

Backpacking has both physical and mental benefits. Backpacking is a prolonged low endurance workout that exercises cardio endurance and core muscles in addition to improving balance. Research suggests the mental benefits from backpacking in the wilderness environment can reduce stress, and improve cognitive ability. Many areas have limited to no service which naturally reduces participants’ screen time. Backpacking in a group has a social element that brings its own health benefits.

Spending time in nature is good for you: This study (published June 13th, 2019) determines that spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing.

The Japanese referred to something like this as forest bathing. In 1982, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries instituted a national forest bathing program and has since designated a number of regional forest bathing reserves. Forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku, is simply spending time outdoors under the canopy of trees. In Japanese, “shinrin” means forest and “yoku” means bath, or immersing oneself in the forest and soaking in the atmosphere through the senses,

Nearly 40 years of extensive research shows a wide range of health benefits from forest bathing, including decreased stress, improved mood states, a variety of mental health benefits, improved vigor, reduced fatigue, and feelings of awe.

The real satisfaction comes with the sense of accomplishment. Many Scouts (and adults!) indicate that they're amazed they finished such a feet, and come back to do it again!

In general, camping gear is generalized, less expensive, bulkier, heavier; it's simpler and requires less skill in order to use. Conversely, backpacking gear is specialized, generally more expensive, take up less space, and much lighter. For example, you may be able to buy a heavy camping tent that will work in many situations, but a lightweight backpacking tent isn't as versatile. Imagine carrying that 10-20lb camping tent for 10+ miles!

Definitions of backpacking range from "Backcountry Camping" to "Backcountry Hiking." Backcountry camping could be a brief hike every day (say 4-5 miles), whereas backcountry hiking could be hiking from sunset to sundown, covering as much ground as possible. There is a class of backpacker, referred to as a speed hiker, who breaks camp at sunrise and hikes until sunset, covering 30 or more miles a day.

Trips that fall into the backcountry camping style tend to be organized more around comfort. People bring some (not a lot!) extra gear with the intent of spending more time in camp. Conversely, the backcountry hiking trips tend to have lighter packs so participants can crush more miles on the trail. If you're joining someone for a "backpacking" trip, make sure you know what their style is!

Another difference in styles may involve food. Some trips are organized so that people cook and eat in a group, in other trips participants are expected to bring their own food and cooking equipment. There are advantages to both styles: Group cooking and eating is a great social activity, but it puts the burden on one or a few of the trip members to plan a menu around different dietary restrictions, and accurately estimate how much food to bring. Conversely, a trip where members are responsible for their own food and gear means each participant needs the skill to plan their own menu and cook their own food on the trip, but the trip organizer can put together a trip faster, and possibly more frequently.

While there's no formal definition for how many miles a backpacking trip needs to cover each day, how sore participants feet need to be in the evening, or how hungry people need to be at the end of the trip, if you're not moving an average of at least 4-5 miles a day, you should probably consider it a camping trip!

It can be confusing being around people who know the slang and you don't. This is by no means an exhaustive list, just a few phrases to get you started.

While it is impossible to give blanket advice on how much weight an individual can carry, below you'll find a general recommendation to start with, and it's up to you to figure out what you're capable of. In general, Scouts who are regularly active in high-intensity sports (swimming, running, rowing, etc.) generally do well on the hikes and can manage to carry a pack. Scouts who are inactive (an occasional bike ride, a weekend walk, etc.) generally don't do as well.

These recommendations are based on my experience leading Scouts of various experience levels with a balance between the lightest possible pack and the exorbitant cost of the lightest possible gear taken into consideration. That is, while these weights are restrictive, consideration has been made so that one doesn't have to buy the most expensive, lightest weight gear. There are some reasonable alternatives that can make these weights work. There are other strategies (such as budding up with a stronger Scout to share equipment) that can also help reduce pack weight.

In the table below, the recommendation is based on " Indiv. Weight / AHMR max." This means that you take the lower of the individual's weight or the AHMR maximum for the individual's height.

As mentioned before, backpacking gear is generally more specialized, expensive, and lighter than camping gear. That said, you don't necessarily need to spend a fortune on "ultralight" gear to reduce your pack weight if you put some effort into increasing your skillset it can reduce your pack weight for not a whole lot of extra money.

Compare the two packs below:

• The first pack is put together by purchasing cheap gear or gear that people are familiar with. While this pack may look much more appealing from a cost standpoint, take a look at the weight; it's prohibitive! This pack will not work! I've seen a Scouts families purchase a pack similar to this, only to turn around and have to replace most of the gear.

• The second I consider a budget lightweight pack. However, it requires some extra knowledge and a willingness to learn new methodologies. While it is more expensive than the budget pack, its weight isn't prohibitive and can work for 3-season backpacking very effectively. Building a lighter pack with "ultralight" gear can easily run over $2,000.

Remember, you don't have to buy a full kit right away. There are plenty of people in the Troop to borrow gear from. Renting gear is a cost-effective option to try an activity before committing to it.

Typical Budget Pack Example 4-day Trip

Budget Lightweight Pack Example 4-day Trip

A Scout is Thrifty, a primary definition is "given to or marked by economy and good management." I would argue that spending money on gear that has to be replaced is neither economy nor good management. One may look at these lists and have several questions, such as:

• What makes the $160 backpack better than the $70 one? Would a $300 backpack be better?

• What if I don't want a freestanding tent?

• Why is there so much difference between gears?

And plenty more. I'll go further into detail in the next pages. For a deep dive, sign up for my Intro to Backpacking seminar.