Some years ago, I was packing for several months travel in Africa. With an itinerary that included climbing mountains in Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya, scuba diving on the East African coast, doing historical research from Kilwa to Lamu, going on game safaris, gorilla tracking in western Uganda, and studying Swahili in Zanzibar, I packed a whopping amount of stuff. Good thing the baggage allowances were liberal on my airline, because I needed a separate duffel bag just to handle all my trekking gear. Traveling with that heavy load on local buses and matatus (east African group taxis) was no mean feat.
Today, I wouldn't have the same problem. Long-distance backpackers have led a movement toward lighter-weight hiking gear, and more and more lightweight choices are available, despite the fact that many manufacturers have been slow to embrace the new trend. (Lightweight gear can be less durable, so it causes problems with lifetime warranties; it's made of more expensive materials, so the price point is higher than the target market wants to pay; and bad gear decisions made by beginners in the field can lead to dangerous situations.)
Lightweight Gear and Adventure Travel
For adventure travelers, however, lightweight gear opens a whole world of travel possibilities. A decade ago, if I was traveling somewhere where I might want to do an overnight hike, my gear included a seven-pound pack (state of the art at the time), a four-pound tent (considered very light), and a three-pound sleeping bag. Sometimes the best choice was to leave the stuff at home, and either rent equipment at the destination (not always possible) or forgo the adventure (never preferable).
Today, my entire pack-sleep-and-tent systems weighs between six and eight pounds, depending on what temperature and conditions I'm packing for. And that's really the key: Get the weight of your "big three" items down, and the rest takes care of itself. Here are some guidelines:
- A tarp tent, complete with bathtub floors and bug netting can weigh two pounds or less; a simple tarp can weighs in at less than a pound.
- High-end sleeping bags have broken the two-pound barrier; bags weighing in somewhere around pound and a half can be good to about 20 degrees.
- Packs with stripped down suspension systems are weighing in at around two pounds.
- Use a lightweight canister stove (depending on fuel availability in your destination) or an alcohol stove. I have a home-made stove made out of an empty cat-food tin; it runs on denatured alcohol, which is available almost anywhere. Brasslite makes an only slightly heavier, commercially available variant if you don't want to make your own.
- Finally, carrying such a light load means I don't have to worry about carrying hiking boots; trekking shoes will serve just fine.
All of which makes it a lot easier to throw camping equipment into my luggage.
What the new gear gives adventure travelers is flexibility: No longer do you have to use half (or more) of your luggage allotment to haul gear you may only use for a few days. But with only an extra ten (or fewer) pounds of the right equipment, you'll have what you need to head out to the backcountry, whether it's climbing a mountain in East Africa, doing an overnight paddling trip in South America, or trekking to an alpine hut in Europe. And you won't feel that you're carrying the weight of the world in your luggage.
Karen Berger - Karen Berger is the author of 15 books. Please click on her name to read her full bio.
