Hi my name is Erik Halfacre and I'm with the Last Frontier Adventure Club
And today I want to talk a little bit about packing your backpack
We have two backpacks here. We have a REI Flash 45, which is a 45 liter pack.
And a REI XT85, which is an 85 liter pack.
I'm going to pack this one as I would for lightweight backpacking. On both of these packs I'm going to do an overnight load
and then I'm going to pack this one as I would a more traditional load
so we're going to have a little bit heavier stuff, a little bit more clothing, and things of that nature.
This is the load for our traditional pack. Some of the things that are different:
We've got a synthetic sleeping bag, that's a 20 degree bag. We have a full length thermarest mattress
Some more odds and ends than we would carry if we were lightweight backpacking
And a full change of clothes, Which is something we would not bring if we were trying to go lightweight.
This is our load for the lightweight pack. You'll notice there's actually a lot less stuff
Definitely a lot less clothing. We don't bring an entire change of clothes when we're lightweight backpacking
because it's not something that we need. We have a down sleeping bag
We have a much lighter weight, one man tent. As opposed to the two man tent that we have on the other side.
In both cases the load that you see obviously that's going to have to change
depending on where you're going and what you're doing and what time of year it is
But the principles should still apply one way or the other
and part of the reason we're doing both packs is to show that no matter how much gear you're carrying
Some of the principles remain universal
The first thing I'm going to do with this pack is I'm going to line it with a trash bag
That's going to keep all of our gear dry in the event that we get rained on really heavily
Or we accidentally dunk in a creek or something.
Then once I've done that the thing that we want to put in the bottom is the sleeping bag
and just to illustrate real quick here, you want to think about your pack
in terms of trying to keep the heaviest things right in the middle and close to your back
and then getting lighter as you progress away from that.
and so our sleeping bag is light, so what we're going to do is put it down right at the bottom of the bag
to fill it up. You'll notice I'm not using a stuff sack. A lot of people say that you need one, in fact most people
Are going to want to use a stuff sack. But I've found I can actually pack my pack better if I don't.
The next thing I'm going to put in is I have this bag here that has the tent fly and the tent body in it.
A lot of times I would go ahead and take that out of the stuff sack as well so it could take up the space
I'm just going to go ahead and jam this down in there since it's a little bit denser and heavier than the sleeping bag
It's going to go just above the sleeping bag
Before we go any further this pack actually has a hydration bladder
It's important to note, that's got to go in the sleeve that runs right down along the back there.
Some people might be tempted to put that on top. I've seen other people pack their packs that way
But actually water is about the densest thing you're going to have in your pack
Unless you're carrying lead or something
So right there in that bladder puts it about here in the pack, right dead center between your shoulder blades
That's a perfect place for something that dense
I'm going to run the hose out the side here, through the hydration port.
The next thing we're going to want to do is get as much of the dense heavy stuff as we can
into the pack, close to the back
And the first we've got is we've got our pot, and this is completely empty.
We'll take the stove, set it in there. We're actually going to cram some of the clothing that we've got here
in there as well.
Go ahead and put that down into the pack.
Trying to keep it where it goes.
Then we're going to take the fuel, which is the next heaviest thing, go ahead and jam that in there.
Then we've got all of these clothes, and we've got some food, and toiletries
We're going to take our food and cram it down along the side wherever it will go there.
and then we've got our toiletries, we're throwing these in here because we're not going to need those until we set camp.
So we don't need real access to them at any point on the trail
We've got a spare shirt that's going to go in here
We're going to set aside our raincoat, and our extra, warm top though
and then we'll put the extra pants and base layer in
go ahead and jam those down where ever they'll fit
and then at this point, actually we're going to put the shoes in there too, first.
okay and at this point we're going to go ahead and close up
the garbage bag on to, and just kind of twist it and fold it over and push it down
The last thing I'm going to want in the body of the pack, is this thermarest.
and I've got it folded in half hot dog style and then rolled up. The idea being
So long as I can get it into the pack it's going to be more protected from anything that might pop it
like going through the brush and hooking a stick or something. Go ahead and cinch that down
Now some of the things we've got we're going to want to have immediate access to if we need them
Toilet paper is one of those things you just absolutely have to have that.
Now I have it in a ziploc bag, I'm going to suck the air out
and then seal it off. And that makes it compact, easier to put in there.
also I've got my lighter in that ziploc bag. I've got that with the toilet paper so in case I have to start a fire
real fast I've got toilet paper and a lighter handy and ready to go
putting that in one of these top pouches here. I'm also going to go ahead and throw some of the snacks
that I might want along the trail so I can have them ready and handy
I've got a knife here, that's something I'm to want relatively close at hand
most times. Let's see. I've also got a headlmap, another thing I might want at a moments notice
This one doesn't actually have to be waterproofed really particularly
it's fairly water resistant. So I'm going to go ahead and just stick it in there. I'll zip that one up
On the other side I've got a water filter this is something that you're going to use multiple times on the trail
so that's going to go ahead and go into this pocket here. I've got a spork which just needs a home
so I'll go ahead and throw that in there kind of back behind the water filter
so it's cushioned and protected. I'm going to zip that up
I've got a first aid kit which I'm going to want to have somewhere where I can get access to it immediately
so I'm actually putting it into this side pouch and then tightening it in there.
Now on this side of the pack I'm going to go ahead and stuff this empty water bottle
which is to filter into when we get to a place where we need water into this side pocket here
and then I've got the stakes and the tent poles which I'm also going to put vertically along the side
and then go ahead and cinch that down to hold all that together. then I'm going to use this
strap here to come across and hold those tent stakes firmly in place
I'll cinch that down. And then we're going to go ahead and pull all the compression straps real tight
that's important because it keeps your load really secure and tight to your back. and the closer
and tighter it is in to your back the less it's going to throw off your balance
The last couple of things I've got here is I have a digital camera I'm going to put that inside this dry sack
to keep it protected as well as this pad of paper, even though it's write in the rain paper
and then I'm going to go ahead and try and keep all of the air out of that .
but go ahead and just loosely roll it up before I stuff it into the lid of the backpack
which is going to be a good place to have a camera so I can get it out as quickly as I need it
I'm also going to go ahead and stuff this cup into the lid of the pack so that I've got a home for it
The last thing I'm going to do is I've got my warm layer and my rain coat
I'm going to put the warm layer into the rain coat fold it up in there so that it's protected
and then I'm just going to roll that up, and that's going to go right on top of the pack
but underneath the lid, so that when I need to get it out, I've got it available to me
and then I'll actually use the lid and its straps to hold it securely in place
so here we've got our fully loaded over nighter rei xt85 this is a traditional style pack with a traditional style load
Let's go ahead and move on to our lightweight pack.
On this one I've got a 35 liter dry bag. Which I'm actually just going to shove down in there like I did
with the trash bag on the other one.
Again, with our lightest thing, which is actually going to be our down sleeping bag
significantly lighter than synthetic but also a lot less tolerant to becoming wet
pack that down into the bottom as tightly as we can. and I actually am this time going to
go ahead and take the fly and the tent body and the stakes out of the stuff sack
and stuff those in right on top of our sleeping bag since they're a little bit denser
I'm going to take the tent poles out of their stuff sack and these I'm actually just going to run
in the pack down alongside everything. Then I'll take the stakes and kind of pin them in behind
the bag there so that they're close to my back. I've got a few other things I need to keep dry
but we want to get some heavy stuff in there now. So i'm going to take my fuel and this is a titanium pot
with a titanium stove and an aluminum windscreen in there
okay, I'll go ahead and put those right up against my back there at the back of the pack
inside the dry bag of course so that if it rains I can still light those things
I've got some clothing. The only clothing I'm bringing is a base layer for the night and then some
nice warm wool socks everything else I would be wearing when I'm lightweight backpacking
is synthetic and would dry out over night enough to wear the next day
stuff those down in there and then I'm going to finish it off with my thermarest.
which this is only a 3/4 length thermarest which makes it much lighter
smaller, more compact. I'm going to roll the top on the dry bag, make sure that everything inside of it stays dry
Then the last thing I've got to shove in there is I've got these two bags of food, I'm going to shove down
behind everything else since those are fairly dense
I've got another dry bag here a little bit smaller one, I'm going to go ahead and stuff my down insulative layer
in there because it's very warm, light and compressible, but again it does not stand up to water very well
my rain coat's going to go in that same bag and this goes right in the top of the main body of the pack
So that it's accessible. The other thing that's going to go in there is I have a 2 liter spare platypus bottle
that's for me to filter into. I just want to have that up at the top so that when I stop when I'm getting close
to camp I've got that ready to go.
And the rest of this stuff, I've got some snacks I'm going to put them in this last tiny dry bag
and I've also got my little one battery headlamp. That's also going to go in there
and then the last few things I've got are a little lighter, a spork, a little leatherman knife
and then I've got a roll of toilet paper that is only partial because I'm going over night and I pulled the core out of
inside of a ziploc bag inside of a dry bag. Because I want to make sure that none of that stuff
Gets wet at all. I'll go ahead and roll that up.
And then that goes into the lid of my pack
Where I'm going to have the best access to it
and the last thing that goes into the lid of my pack that I'm going to need access to
is my water filter, which is a squeeze filter. and whenever I need water I'm going to have to pull that out
so it goes up into the lid with the rest of the important stuff
Then I'm going to put my camera into my hipbelt pocket here because this is a waterproof camera
A little bit smaller and lighter than the one I had in that other load
and it doesn't need to be waterproofed, so it can go there
and actually the last thing I'm going to put in is this bottle of water which is what I'm drinking
I don't have a hydration bladder in this one because I think the hose is kind of unneccessary
So that's just going to go right in there alongside in the webbing
Now the last thing I'm going to do is go ahead and strap everything down tight cinch it pull up anything that's not
pulled down just as tight as it can be, and then there is our lightweight backpack
I've got my lightweight pack, and I've got my more traditional pack
These are both packed up ready to go obviously you might be bringing some different things
than what I brought. One thing that I definitely did not pack in this, or show being packed in this
is a lightweight adventure medical kit that would need to be in this pack before I went anywhere
but I didn't find it before we made this video
You can see the size difference. Realistically this one actually has a lot of the very same stuff
Just lighter and smaller versions of it. And honestly when I stopped camping like this
and started camping like this I'm no less comfortable now than I was then.
I'm just a lot more comfortable on the trail
So that's pretty much it. Go ahead and leave your comments about what you would do differently
or what your techniques are. We'd love to hear about it. Until next time, happy hiking