Complete Backpacking Checklist {Packing List & Backpacking Essentials}

Our Backpacking Checklist

Use this backpacking packing list to help you get organized for your next trip.

Backpacking Checklist

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Essential Backpacking Gear

This section covers the essential backpacking gear systems: hiking, shelter, and sleeping. These items tend to be the heaviest pieces of gear you’ll carry, so it’s worth considering their weight in addition to other features to keep your total pack weight as low as possible.

Backpacking Backpack

Every successful backpacking trip starts with finding the right backpack. Most backpackers find a pack in the 40-65L capacity range versatile for nearly all trips.

If possible, go to a gear store like REI, have your torso sized properly, and spend time trying on a bunch of different packs to find the right one. When I first started backpacking, I hiked too many miles with packs that were just wrong for me. Finding the right pack made a huge difference!

Here are our top picks based on our experiences:

Ultralight Pick: Zpacks Arc Series — If you’re looking for a framed ultralight pack, I recommend looking at the Zpack Arc Series backpacks. I have the women’s pack and find it perfect for my almost-ultralight kit. I love that the arc frame creates an air gap to help keep me cool.

Lightweight with high capacity: ULA Circuit or Catalyst — The Circuit and the Catalyst are two of the most popular packs among PCT thru-hikers for good reason: they are super versatile, can carry a lot of gear, and are lightweight. The Catalyst was the first lightweight pack I owned, and I hiked the JMT comfortably with it fully loaded. These packs are great if you’re working on decreasing your load but aren’t yet at an “ultralight” base weight.

Budget pick: REI Flash 55L — For under $200, the REI Flash 55L is a great pack at a budget-friendly price.

Tried & true traditional backpacking pack: Over the years, Osprey’s Anti-Gravity packs have stood out to us as solid, durable packs with great suspension and load-carrying capabilities and at a pretty reasonable price point. At the end of the day, these packs are heavier but often carry heavier loads more comfortably.

Here are some options to consider:

In our packs—Tarptent Double Rainbow: Before becoming a family of 3, this was our tent for 10+ years (and I still use it for solo trips!). It’s semi-freestanding and single-wall, so it’s lightweight for its size, and it comes at a lower price than many of the light/ultra-light tents out there. We loved it because Michael is 6′ 5″ and fits with room to spare!

Ultralight Pick—Zpacks: These are two of the lightest tents out there (14.6oz for the solo/17.9oz for the two-person), which is probably why we saw so many of them out on the JMT!  It relies on trekking poles and stakes to set up properly, but that’s how it stays so light! However, we won’t sugarcoat it—this is a pricey tent, but if you’re looking for a great ultralight option, this tent is hard to beat.

Best freestanding—Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL: The Copper Spur is a freestanding tent with lots of interior space. It’s double-walled and can be set up fly first. Its freestanding nature comes at a bit of a weight cost, but it means you don’t have to deal with the sometimes finicky setup of a semi- or non-freestanding tent.

Budget Pick—REI Trailmade: At just over 4 lbs, the REI Trailmade tent isn’t exactly lightweight, but if you’re on a budget, this is a great tent under $200 (and includes the footprint!). 

Sleeping Bag

At the end of a long hiking day, nothing beats cozying up in a warm, fluffy sleeping bag! When buying a sleeping bag, you’ll be confronted with a lot of different temperature ratings.

The rule of thumb when it comes to temperature ratings is that the listed rating is what you can survive in, but to be comfortable you’ll want to add ~15F, particularly if you’re a colder sleeper.

Another option for those looking to cut weight is a sleeping quilt or hybrid quilt/bag. This design eliminates the down on the bottom of the bag, which gets compressed under your body weight and loses a lot of its insulating property anyway.

Backpacking sleeping bags and quilts to consider:

In Megan’s Pack—REI Magma: The REI Magma is a great all-around sleeping bag that I find to be so comfy. It’s available in a variety of sizes and a 15F or 30F temperature rating.

In Michael’s Pack—Enlightened Equipment Revelation Quilt: Michael uses the Enlightened Equipment Revelation Quilt. It’s ultralight, compressible, and versatile—in warmer weather, it can unzip all the way to allow some of the heat to escape so you don’t overheat. The temperature rating is definitely on the “lower limit” end of the spectrum, so consider getting a bag at least 10F warmer than you think you need if you’re a cold sleeper.

Sleeping Pad

Your sleeping pad serves two purposes: it provides cushioning, and it insulates you from the ground. The insulating power of sleeping pads is measured in “R-Value”.

Here is a rough estimate of what R-value to look for based on nightly lows:

Down to 50F: R-2 or less
Down to 32F: R 2-4
Down to 20F: R 4-5.4
Below 20F: R 5.5+

Backpacking sleeping pads to consider:

In our packs—Nemo Tensor All-Season (R 5.4): After trying multiple sleeping pads, this is the one we keep coming back to. It’s lightweight at 14oz, super comfortable, easy to inflate, packs down small, and quiet.

Ultralight and warm—Thermarest Neoair XLite NXT (R 4.5): The Thermarest Neoair XLite’s warmth-to-weight ratio is hard to beat. This 3-season backpacking pad weighs only 13oz and provides R-4.5 insulation.

Good for side sleepers—Sea to Summit Ether Light XT (R 3.2): With 4 inches of cushion, the Ether Light XT is a great pad for side sleepers. It’s lightweight at 17.3oz, compact, and quiet.

Most Comfortable—Sea to Summit Comfort Plus SI (R 4.1): When sleeping well is more important than packing light, look no further than the Comfort Plus SI pad. This is arguably the most comfortable sleeping pad we’ve used in the backcountry. It’s 3 inches thick, quiet to sleep on, and the stretchy fabric that it’s covered is a nice break from the plasticky feel of other pads. The tradeoff is that it’s 3lbs and much bulkier to pack.

Camp Pillow [optional]

A pillow is totally optional and is entirely a personal preference. We use this lightweight Cocoon Pillow and the Sea to Summit Aeros Ultralight pillow. Or, you can just put your extra clothes in a stuff sack and call it a night!

Hiking Poles

We consider hiking poles to be part of our essential backpacking gear, but really they are optional. Poles will help you on the uphills and take the pressure off your knees on the downhills, so we think they are well worth the weight!

In Megan’s Pack—Black Diamond Trail Shock Pro: I’ve used these trekking poles for over 10 years, and they have really stood the test of time.

Budget Pick—Cascade Mountain Tech Carbon Fiber: These poles will only set you back $55-$65 (depending on color), but they are solid, lightweight (just under a pound for a set), and have cork handle grips. These are the ones Michael uses!

Backpacking Kitchen

In addition to the cooking gear below, you’re obviously going to want to pack enough food! Check out some of our best backpacking meal ideas here.

Backpacking Stove

Your cooking system is going to be very dependent on your food strategy, the number of nights you’re out for, and the number of people you’re cooking for. You can read all about the best backpacking stoves here.

In our packs: Soto Windmaster — The Soto Windmaster is an efficient canister stove with a quick boil time, even in windy or colder conditions. It’s 3 oz and has a lot of deluxe features like a fuel regulator and integrated ignition.

Favorite Integrated System: JetBoil MiniMo — The JetBoil MiniMo is fuel-efficient, so we don’t have to worry about running out of fuel as quickly. It boils water lightning fast when we’re just cooking freeze-dried backpacking meals, but it also provides enough simmer control that we can cook our own dehydrated food. If you only boil water, check out the Jetboil Flash.

Budget stove: AOTU Stove — You can usually find the AOTU stove for under $15. It’s user-friendly, fairly lightweight, and has decent fuel efficiency and wind performance. This stove is a great value if you are new to backpacking or on a tight budget.

Ultralight stove: BRS-3000T — This is the lightest canister stove out there at .89oz, and it’s budget-friendly, too (not usually the case in the ultralight world!). It comes with some tradeoffs; namely, it requires a narrow pot for stability, and it’s kind of garbage in the wind, so you’ll want to bring a windscreen or be OK finding a sheltered spot in the field (we usually make one using a large rock and our bear canister).

Cooking pot

If you opt for a stove instead of an integrated system, you’ll need to pack a cook pot! For solo hikers, 650-750mL tends to be a good size, and for couples aim for a pot in the 1.2L+ range.

In our packs—MSR Ceramic 1.3L: If you like to cook on your backpacking trips, you can’t go wrong with MSR’s ceramic-coated pot. It’s light at 7.5 oz, the handle is removable for storage, and the ceramic coating makes cleanup a breeze. You’ll want to make sure you use non-metal cooking/eating utensils to protect the coating, but we’ve found it’s pretty durable, with no flaking or scratching after several years of use.

Best ultralight titanium: TOAKS Pots — It doesn’t really get lighter than titanium, and TOAKS makes pots in a variety of sizes so you can get exactly what you need and nothing more!

Fuel

Lighter

Even if your backpacking stove has an auto-ignite switch, don’t rely on it 100%. Pack a lighter in the event it craps out.

Eating Utensil

We like to use a utensil that has a true spoon shape (not a spork) because it allows us to scrape down the last bits of food from our pot, making it much easier to wash it out. These Humangear GoBites utensils have served us well over the years.

Mug [optional]

If you’re morning coffee (or tea) drinkers like us, you’ll probably want to pack a dedicated mug.

We carry this GSI mug. Sure, it won’t keep your coffee hot for hours, but we find it perfect for backpacking mornings. Bonus: The cup has measures on the side, so you can use it to measure water for your breakfasts and dinners.

Knife

It’s always good to carry a small knife or multi-tool. I found that the only part of the multi-tool I ever used was the knife, so we ditched it in favor of our lighter Opinel knife.

Bear Canister

If you’re backpacking in bear country, it’s smart to use a bear canister (and in many places, it’s required!). We use the BV500 (there’s also a smaller version). I have been able to pack 6-8 days of food for myself or 3-4 days for the two of us into it.

BearVaults are super durable and approved by nearly all agencies in the US, but they are on the heavy side. If you backpack in areas that allow it, an Ursack might be a better choice (while the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee approved the Ursack in 2014, many places still do not allow them).

You can read more about how and when to use a bear canister here.

Water Treatment

You never know what is in the water sources you come across in the backcountry, so make sure you have a reliable way to filter water.

Here are our favorite water filters:

Best Gravity Fed: GravityWorks 4L — It’s not the lightest filter at 11.5 oz but gosh it is EASY to use! The GravityWorks filters water at 1.75L/min with essentially zero effort, and it’s easy to maintain on the trail. You simply fill the bag, then hang it so the “dirty water” bag is hung above the “clean water” bag. Gravity takes care of the rest.  This is a great system for small groups or for hiking in areas where you might not set up camp right by water sources.

Best Squeeze-Style: Katadyn BeFree — The Katadyn BeFree is our pick for an ultralight squeeze-style filter and is the filter we currently use on our backpacking trips. It’s simple to use: just fill the soft flask and screw on the filter. Then, you can drink right from the flask or squeeze filtered water into your pot or into another bottle.

Best UV: Steripen — The Steripen Adventurer Opti UV purifier uses a battery-powered UV lamp to kill harmful protozoa, bacteria, cysts, and viruses in your water. Simply fill your bottle and then submerge the lamp as directed. Since this isn’t a physical filter, you’ll want to pre-filter silty water with a bandana.

Water Bottle(s)

Dishwashing kit [optional]

You may want to pack a small dishwashing kit if you cook in your pot. Here is what’s in ours:

✔︎ Small Piece of Sponge

✔︎ Biodegradable Soap

We like the unscented Dr. Bronner’s biodegradable soap for washing dishes. Please read up on the proper way to use soap in the backcountry, and for the love of god don’t use it IN any water source.

✔︎ Quick-Drying Dish Towel

The REI Multi Towel Mini is super light (optional–dishes can always air dry!)

Toiletries

Toothbrush & Toothpaste

We use folding travel toothbrushes. They take up less space and guard the bristles from touching anything else in your toiletry bag.

Travel-size toothpaste tubes are perfect for backpacking trips (no point in dragging a full tube out on the trail!). Personally, we have switched to these toothpaste tablets when backpacking—they weigh next to nothing and take up almost zero space.

Sunscreen

An absolute must for faces, necks, and hands. We try to reduce the amount of sunscreen we need by covering up (long sleeves and pants), but a small travel container of sunscreen is critical.

Lip Balm

Between the sun and the wind, it’s so easy for lips to get chapped on the trail–be sure to pack some lip balm with SPF.

Hand Sanitizer

Let’s be honest: cleanliness becomes a relative term on a backpacking trip. But before we prepare our food and after we go to the bathroom, a quick spritz of hand sanitizer goes a long way to cover our bases.

Wet Wipes

We budget 2-3 of these wipes per day to clean off all the sweat and grime. These wipes’ ingredients are just water and grapefruit seed extract, so we find they don’t leave a weird residue feeling behind.

Bathroom Kit

✔︎ Trowel

This trowel is cheap, durable, light, and faster at digging a cathole than a stick. If you want to spend an extra $15 to save weight and some space, check out this ultralight trowel.

✔︎ Toilet Paper + Trash Bag

If you’re following Leave No Trace principles (and we hope you are!), you’ll know that packing out all your trash is important–and that goes for your used toilet paper, too. I use a ziplock bag that I “black out” with painter’s tape.

If you’re looking for TP alternatives, you’re in luck! There are a number of products designed with backpackers in mind that will help you cut down on the trash you have to pack out.

• Kula Cloth: This is an antimicrobial pee cloth that can be used in place of toilet paper for #1.
• Bidet: A TUSHY travel bidet is a great TP alternative for backpackers. We met a gal on the JMT who used this one and couldn’t say enough good things about the experience.

Trash Bag for Food & Misc Waste

Technically, you could have one trash bag for everything, but I like to keep opening and closing my TP bag to a minimum, so I bring a separate one for storing my used food packaging.

Headlamp

The Biolite 325 headlamp has a minimalist headband design, which distributes the weight in a way that’s super comfortable. Additionally, it’s USB-charged, so there’s no battery pack, which helps make it one of the lightest headlamps we’ve found – it’s only 50 grams!

First Aid Kit

You can make a DIY first aid kit or buy a pre-packaged one like this.

Our current kit is a bit Frankensteined, but generally speaking, our basic kit includes things like band-aids of various sizes, 2nd skin/blister bandaids/moleskin, butterfly bandages/wound closure strips, gauze, tape, elastic bandage, antibiotic ointment, antiseptic towelettes, tweezers, safety pins, ibuprofen, Imodium, and antihistamine.

Backup Water Treatment

In the event our water filter fails, we keep these Micropur tablets in our first aid kit.

Gear Repair Kit

Sleeping pad patches, spare stove O-ring, duct tape, a sewing needle, nylon thread, etc.

Firestarter/Matches

Small Mirror

Whistle

Navigation

GPS

While there are plenty of expensive hand-held GPS devices out there, we have been happy over the years just using our iPhones and Gaia GPS! The premium version will set you back a few bucks (save 20% by using our link) but allows you to download maps before your backpacking trip so you can use them offline, and you can create and print paper maps for your route as well.

Paper Maps

While we usually use a GPS app on our phones for navigation while hiking, we still bring paper maps that we generate using Gaia (see above). If your phone runs out of juice, gets water damaged, or drops and the screen cracks, you don’t want to be stuck without a way to navigate. Maps are stored in a ziplock bag along with any required permits.

Compass

This Suunto A-10 Compass is a solid, lightweight option. Your map and compass will only help you if you know how to use them, so you might want to check out a navigation class at your local REI.

SOS/Satellite Device

We carry a Garmin In-Reach Mini, which works outside of cell service, meaning we can text with our family or friends via satellite (for weather updates, wildfire info, or just to say “we’re having a blast!”), call for SOS help if needed, and act as a GPS with tracking. It’s only 3.5oz, but it is a pricey item, and it requires a subscription to use all the satellite functions. However, it’s been worth it for peace of mind for us and our families.

Insulated Jacket

A warm, insulated jacket is essential for cool mornings and cold nights. We look for jackets that can be compressed and packed down small so they don’t take up a ton of room in our packs.

• In our packs: Patagonia Down Sweater
• Ultralight (Down): Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer 2
• Ultralight (Synthetic): Enlightened Equipment Torrid
• Budget: REI 650 Down Jacket 2.0

Long Sleeve Sun Shirt [optional]

When hiking at higher elevations and on exposed trails, we like to pack a lightweight UPF-rated long-sleeve shirt for additional sun protection.

Rain Jacket / Windbreaker 

A lightweight, waterproof rain jacket will be worth its weight in gold if you encounter rain on your backpacking trip! We’ll pack these regardless of the forecast since the weather in the mountains can be unpredictable, and it doubles as a wind-resistant layer.

• In Our Packs: Columbia OutDry
• Budget: REI Rainier
• Ultralight: Outdoor Research Helium
• Ultralight *small biz made*: Enlightened Equipment Visp

Hiking Pants / Shorts

Look for breathable, quick-drying materials. UPF sun protection is always a big plus! Here are a few of our favorites:

• Men’s Pants: Eddie Bauer Guide Pro
• Women’s Leggings: Eddie Bauer Trail Tight
• Women’s Shorts: Vuori Clementine

Hat/Beanie

A brimmed hat is nice for keeping the sun off your face during the day, and a warm beanie is a must for when the sun goes down!

Warm Gloves

Warm gloves always find their way into my pack—I like the REI Polartec Gloves. Michael finds that for most summer trips, a pair of merino wool glove liners are sufficient.

Sunglasses

Camp Clothes [optional]

One of the luxuries we bring when backpacking is a different set of clothes to wear at camp and while sleeping.

At the end of the day, we strip off all our dirty, sweaty hiking clothes, wipe ourselves down with wet wipes, and change into our clean(ish) camp clothes. We feel fresher going to bed, and since these clothes don’t carry any residual hiking sweat, we sleep warmer, too.

We each pack a shirt, bottoms, underwear, Teva camp shoes, and cushy socks.

Camera Gear and Electronics

Peak Design Camera Clip

This handy clip attaches your camera to your backpack strap so you can have your camera easily accessible on the trail.

Battery Bank

A battery bank is optional, but if you have devices that need to stay charged it might be worth the weight. This 10,000mAh pack will charge your phone 2+ times.

We hope this backpacking checklist will be helpful as you plan your next backpacking trip! If you’re looking to buy or upgrade gear, be sure to check out this post about where to buy discounted outdoor gear to save a bit of cash.

If you want to dig deeper, we have articles about choosing a backpacking stove, details on our backpacking kitchen, dehydrating food for backpacking, and buying and packing backpacking food for your trip.