5 ms·

You don't even really need gear to camp either.

justinator 3y ago
I'm curious about this opinion, and I don't want to make a snarky joke. Can you elaborate how you camp without needing any gear?
- valleyjo 3y ago
  “Ultralight” backpacking favors skills rather than gear. Folks have done entire 3k mile thru hikes with 5lbs of gear. The main way you get that low is simply by not taking much with you. You carry only the essentials. I don’t know if this is what the parent poster was referring to but it’s what my mind went to.
  - justinator 3y ago
    5lbs of gear is 5lbs of gear. And this seems like an extreme example - have you done 3k mile thru hikes on 5lbs of gear? What does that look like?
    - CottonMcKnight 3y ago
      5.87 lbs: https://lighterpack.com/r/89huvt https://lighterpack.com/r/89huvt
      - justinator 3y ago
        Sure is cheap, but I don't think the weight is correct. For example, the tent in this 880 grams alone (almost 2lbs). The sleeping bag/quilt is 626 grams, or around 1.6 lbs. The backpack is 765 grams or 1.7lbs. So that's 5.3lbs for just those three things. I'm assuming the price of an entire kit will also be more. We haven't even gotten to clothes.
    - astr0n0m3r 3y ago
      When I hiked the AT, my backpack was a previous year's model (2006 Camelbak Cloudwalker, I think) that I bought for $35. It's smaller than most daypacks. In fact, it's still the daypack I usually use but sometimes it is too small for day hikes, like in winter. I used a summer sleeping bag that was 14 oz after I cut the zipper off (Marmot Pounder, which I wish they still made). I had a "blue foam" sleeping pad that was cut down to size, which is extremely cheap and light. I now opt for much heavier sleeping pads. When cowboy camping along the AT you do not need much of a sleeping pad because you'll likely be on top of leaves, but on a shelter floor it's not enough. For shelter, I just had a 6 oz sil tarp for when an AT shelter was full and I expected rain. I set up the tarp exactly once, and it didn't rain anyways. My spare clothes were a spare pair of socks, a fleece shirt, fleece gloves, and a fleece beanie. None of those were expensive. I had a $0.99 plastic poncho for rain gear. I did not cook, so no cooking gear. I had a digital camera which I barely used. And then just small stuff like toothbrush, water treatment drops, etc. My base pack weight was like 6 lbs and change, and I had a tarp and camera I wasn't really using. So, yeah, you can hike extremely light and not spend a lot of money. It depends on what trip you are doing. I started very late in the season, so the weather was warmer and shelters were not full.
      - elijaht 3y ago
        How did you eat
        astr0n0m3r 3y ago
        I'm not sure specifically what you want to know. I resupplied food in towns along the way. And while in town, I had a hot meal there. Also consider that resupplying is often not done in an actual town, but in a convenience store or whatever is closest to the trail. Backpackers typically only cook dinner, and those get repetitive, so forgoing those with the added benefit of not carrying a stove, fuel, and a pot is sometimes nice. Some people find it wearisome to not have at least one hot meal a day. Of course, I have done countless backpacking trips and have cooked on most of them.
  - siegecraft 3y ago
    In my experience, the ultralight gear is the most expensive of all
  - swell36 3y ago
    You should be carrying more than 5 lbs of emergency water on anything more than day camping... yes finding water is a skill, but one that is dependent on there being water nearby.
    - OfSanguineFire 3y ago
      >You should be carrying more than 5 lbs of emergency water on anything more than day camping Sure, if you really are in the wilderness. But if, like so many of the weight weenies interested in UL gear, you are hiking a well-trodden trail where water stops are frequent and well-mapped, no one is going to lug that weight until the end of the day when they might fill up for cooking with.
  - nonameiguess 3y ago
    This seems quite misleading. Generally, lighter gear costs more, for one thing. Second, going by the shopping list posted below about someone making it at just over 5 lbs, that works fine if you never go into high altitude or anywhere with very bad weather, but you're going to need more if you do. Also, it's listing "0.14 lbs" of food and water, which is obvious bullshit. That's only showing the weight of the containers. You can't actually live very long off of 10 grams of water and 20 calories of food and you're not going to get by not carrying any unless you're both following a river the entire way and you're a hell of a hunter, but also apparently not carrying any hunting equipment.
    - metal_am 3y ago
      When people talk about weight in this context, they really mean "base weight" not including consumables or worn clothing/shoes. The general rule of thumb is about 1lb/500g of food per day.
  - Fezzik 3y ago
    If you’re thru hiking across the entire country with 5 lbs of gear you’re either fully van-supported or have done a massive number of food drops to prep. This is something only .001% of backpackers do. It is not remotely common. Edit, to add: or you’re not counting all the gear your pack animal is carrying.
- myself248 3y ago
  Steve Wallis is one of my favorite YouTubers lately, and his whole schtick at first was camping with cheap and unconventional gear. Ten bucks of blankets from the thrift store, no tent, for instance. (The blanket fort remains one of my all-time favorite episodes.) Or a tarp and some straps from the hardware store. Or those $0.99 mylar "survival tent" things, what's the experience in one of those actually like? Another classic is the "can you make a tent from bubble wrap and survive in it in the dead of Canadian winter?"... No spoilers, but it's hilarious. I forget which episode he explains it in, but the idea was that he was sick of seeing all the glamping channels with expensive gear in exotic locations, and their implication that camping and being out in nature was somehow a luxury for the rich, when it should be, no, it IS, everyone's to enjoy. From there, his focus grew to the locations themselves. Opposite of exotic. Downright silly. Behind billboards, in a storm drain culvert, in the landscaping in the middle of a suburban roundabout... Not only can you camp without gear, you don't need a campground either.
- zeroCalories 3y ago
  What special gear do you need? For clothing gym clothes work fine, I already have a backpack, a cheap water bottle, etc. For shelter you can car camp, or if it's viable in your area you can cowboy camp with a cheap tarp and quilt. You don't need to over think things, it's not like you're trying to climb Everest.

I'm curious about this opinion, and I don't want to make a snarky joke. Can you elaborate how you camp without needing any gear?

valleyjo 3y ago
“Ultralight” backpacking favors skills rather than gear. Folks have done entire 3k mile thru hikes with 5lbs of gear. The main way you get that low is simply by not taking much with you. You carry only the essentials. I don’t know if this is what the parent poster was referring to but it’s what my mind went to.
- justinator 3y ago
  5lbs of gear is 5lbs of gear. And this seems like an extreme example - have you done 3k mile thru hikes on 5lbs of gear? What does that look like?
  - CottonMcKnight 3y ago
    5.87 lbs: https://lighterpack.com/r/89huvt https://lighterpack.com/r/89huvt
    - justinator 3y ago
      Sure is cheap, but I don't think the weight is correct. For example, the tent in this 880 grams alone (almost 2lbs). The sleeping bag/quilt is 626 grams, or around 1.6 lbs. The backpack is 765 grams or 1.7lbs. So that's 5.3lbs for just those three things. I'm assuming the price of an entire kit will also be more. We haven't even gotten to clothes.
  - astr0n0m3r 3y ago
    When I hiked the AT, my backpack was a previous year's model (2006 Camelbak Cloudwalker, I think) that I bought for $35. It's smaller than most daypacks. In fact, it's still the daypack I usually use but sometimes it is too small for day hikes, like in winter. I used a summer sleeping bag that was 14 oz after I cut the zipper off (Marmot Pounder, which I wish they still made). I had a "blue foam" sleeping pad that was cut down to size, which is extremely cheap and light. I now opt for much heavier sleeping pads. When cowboy camping along the AT you do not need much of a sleeping pad because you'll likely be on top of leaves, but on a shelter floor it's not enough. For shelter, I just had a 6 oz sil tarp for when an AT shelter was full and I expected rain. I set up the tarp exactly once, and it didn't rain anyways. My spare clothes were a spare pair of socks, a fleece shirt, fleece gloves, and a fleece beanie. None of those were expensive. I had a $0.99 plastic poncho for rain gear. I did not cook, so no cooking gear. I had a digital camera which I barely used. And then just small stuff like toothbrush, water treatment drops, etc. My base pack weight was like 6 lbs and change, and I had a tarp and camera I wasn't really using. So, yeah, you can hike extremely light and not spend a lot of money. It depends on what trip you are doing. I started very late in the season, so the weather was warmer and shelters were not full.
    - elijaht 3y ago
      How did you eat
      - astr0n0m3r 3y ago
        I'm not sure specifically what you want to know. I resupplied food in towns along the way. And while in town, I had a hot meal there. Also consider that resupplying is often not done in an actual town, but in a convenience store or whatever is closest to the trail. Backpackers typically only cook dinner, and those get repetitive, so forgoing those with the added benefit of not carrying a stove, fuel, and a pot is sometimes nice. Some people find it wearisome to not have at least one hot meal a day. Of course, I have done countless backpacking trips and have cooked on most of them.
- siegecraft 3y ago
  In my experience, the ultralight gear is the most expensive of all
- swell36 3y ago
  You should be carrying more than 5 lbs of emergency water on anything more than day camping... yes finding water is a skill, but one that is dependent on there being water nearby.
  - OfSanguineFire 3y ago
    >You should be carrying more than 5 lbs of emergency water on anything more than day camping Sure, if you really are in the wilderness. But if, like so many of the weight weenies interested in UL gear, you are hiking a well-trodden trail where water stops are frequent and well-mapped, no one is going to lug that weight until the end of the day when they might fill up for cooking with.
- nonameiguess 3y ago
  This seems quite misleading. Generally, lighter gear costs more, for one thing. Second, going by the shopping list posted below about someone making it at just over 5 lbs, that works fine if you never go into high altitude or anywhere with very bad weather, but you're going to need more if you do. Also, it's listing "0.14 lbs" of food and water, which is obvious bullshit. That's only showing the weight of the containers. You can't actually live very long off of 10 grams of water and 20 calories of food and you're not going to get by not carrying any unless you're both following a river the entire way and you're a hell of a hunter, but also apparently not carrying any hunting equipment.
  - metal_am 3y ago
    When people talk about weight in this context, they really mean "base weight" not including consumables or worn clothing/shoes. The general rule of thumb is about 1lb/500g of food per day.
- Fezzik 3y ago
  If you’re thru hiking across the entire country with 5 lbs of gear you’re either fully van-supported or have done a massive number of food drops to prep. This is something only .001% of backpackers do. It is not remotely common. Edit, to add: or you’re not counting all the gear your pack animal is carrying.
myself248 3y ago
Steve Wallis is one of my favorite YouTubers lately, and his whole schtick at first was camping with cheap and unconventional gear. Ten bucks of blankets from the thrift store, no tent, for instance. (The blanket fort remains one of my all-time favorite episodes.) Or a tarp and some straps from the hardware store. Or those $0.99 mylar "survival tent" things, what's the experience in one of those actually like? Another classic is the "can you make a tent from bubble wrap and survive in it in the dead of Canadian winter?"... No spoilers, but it's hilarious. I forget which episode he explains it in, but the idea was that he was sick of seeing all the glamping channels with expensive gear in exotic locations, and their implication that camping and being out in nature was somehow a luxury for the rich, when it should be, no, it IS, everyone's to enjoy. From there, his focus grew to the locations themselves. Opposite of exotic. Downright silly. Behind billboards, in a storm drain culvert, in the landscaping in the middle of a suburban roundabout... Not only can you camp without gear, you don't need a campground either.
zeroCalories 3y ago
What special gear do you need? For clothing gym clothes work fine, I already have a backpack, a cheap water bottle, etc. For shelter you can car camp, or if it's viable in your area you can cowboy camp with a cheap tarp and quilt. You don't need to over think things, it's not like you're trying to climb Everest.