this week I'm just going to talk a little bit more in depth about some of
the equipment we put in our pack and where we put it in why last week we
talked about the three things to take into account when packing our pack now
let's get a little more in depth with the actual equipment first thing of
course is your sleeping bag and pad I pack mine a compression bag like this I
know it looks a little contorted and goofy here because I put my pad in with
my bag these pads or air pads so I'm always nervous they're gonna spring a
hole or a twig something's gonna gonna break a pop a hole in it or a
sharp Rock so I'll just put my sleeping pad in with my bag so it's all one unit
compressed I'm panic about getting it wet so I always bring just a lightweight
trash bag that I throw this into a trash bag is just a extra insurance policy you
know it has a ton of different uses I mean you could pack a cape out in it if
anything that's good to put your trash in on the way out I eat those mountain
house meals and they're kind of gooey when you're done with them so they kind
of get all over everything so you want to keep those kind of contained so it's
always good to have this you know can work as a poncho keeping things dry even
a baby sack if you need to so I always just a lightweight sack throw it in
there so it's totally protected because what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna put this
in my pack first at the very bottom it's pretty dense once it's compressed down
and it's probably one of the heaviest pieces of equipment I have other my
spotting scope my weapon for its size so it goes in the pack first and it'll go
to the bottom but we also want to keep that protective because if we set our
backpack down on some snow or we drop it in a creek or it rains and water gets in
the backpack it always ends up at the bottom and this thing will be sloshing
around and trust me you don't want to get on top of a ridge at 10,000 feet
pull your sleeping bag out after a raining trip up there and it's sopping
wet so I put it in in this trash bag put it in first at the
bottom of the pack the next thing I put in is my tent the reason I do that I put
my tent in usually vertically so on top of my sleeping bag because it has poles
in it I don't want these poles to break so I
kind of run this tent along my spine in the top of the pack with the sitting bag
at the bottom and the main compartment so that even if I drop my pack or it
falls down on its front the poles are protected because if you break a tent
pole the tent doesn't operate to its maximum ability and it can really be a
danger issue so you definitely don't want to break or bend a tent pole so I
kind of protect those two things those are the first two things in into the
pack the other thing we want to want to take into account is our spotting scope
because it's probably one of the heavier pieces of equipment this is a great big
80 millimeter I probably wouldn't take this backpacking but it's the one I have
here to show so what I do with with my spotting scope is I to maintain the the
to maintain the balance in the pack I put my spine scope on the opposite side
I wear my my rifle foam rifle hunting I always wear my rifle on my right
shoulder so I will slip the spotting scope in the left side pouch to the
backpack where I can get it quickly it does put the backpack a little
off-balance but when I put my rifle on my shoulder it kind of balances out out
the way so it's I'm not riding real heavy on one side these beautiful
spotting scopes are probably the most dense piece of equipment you'll carry in
your pack period so you want to be careful where you put it so once we have
the tent and the sleeping bag and the pad and your clothing in there now it's
kind of time to deal with some of the knickknack odds and ends type stuff you
know your cookware your stove I tend to put my stove and cookware and a side
pocket and elongated pocket I can get at it easy you don't want to every time you
get hungry you have to empty your whole backpack to get to your stove and these
things are pretty durable but you know not them you know I don't know you could
actually break one of these I'm sure so you kind of want to be careful you put
it not in the very bottom of your backpack
where where all the weight is or if you sit down on a rock or drop your heavy
packet crushes it or breaks it so I put down on it on the long side pocket
opposite my spining scope then this is a very important piece right here this is
all my safety equipment and knickknacks and this is the stuff that I have to
have this is my firestarter my knives my rope my flashlights my headlamp
everything that I need to survive in the backcountry I put in these Navy SEAL
really heavy-duty waterproof zip locks but I keep it one spot and I wrap it
with this orange strap and always helps if I get it deer or an elk or something
I can strap the horns to my pack with it but also it helps me find it even in the
dark this thing gets buried in one of these
pockets I can find it easily just by feel or sight with a flashlight I want
to put this somewhere it's really accessible so if something happens you
can just grab it right out of there so I always put this usually on the top
pocket of my backpack or it's close to my spine because it is kind of heavy but
it's really accessible easy to find easy to pull out and I'm rocking and rolling
and I don't need to empty the whole backpack to find the spotting scope or
something like that and then the last thing you have is just some odds and
ends saw off your elk hunting don't really
need that for deer hunting build gloves rain gear food you know a lot of guys put
the food just kind of ever anywhere it'll it'll fit and that's kind of the
method I use for the most part but you know some guys will break the food down
individually by day first day second day third day fourth day in individual
ziplock bags which is a good idea I tend to break mine down my meals so I might
breakfast my lunch at dinner so I know which one I'm grabbing and not each
individual day because a lot of times I don't feel like eating what I pack it
seems like you pack certain things at home then you get up there and feel like
eating something else I'm always robbing one day for another so I do mine by my
meals so I can grab my breakfast bag my lunch bag my dinner
depending on what I'm doing or if you're at camping out in the base camp
I believe the dinner back there because I don't ever eat till I get back to camp
and just take the lunch lunch bag and food with me instead so that's just some
of the things you want to look at when packing your pack always weigh it when
you're all done kind of see what your your base weight is you should be in
that 25 to 35 pound range for a five-day trip if you're getting up toward 40
pounds you're carrying too much stuff usually so you want to make sure you're
in a fairly decent decent weight range and not gonna kill yourself too many
people I've back packed with their first few times out they just bring everything
and they're just not afraid to leave anything behind and they get halfway up
the trail and they wish they were left at all lines so you want to go as light
as possible but have the stuff you need to not get yourself in a bind