Few Essential tips on how to keep your backpack light for the upcoming trek

Backpacking is one of the best ways of travelling. You explore new places and get to know a destination more closely because you end up living like a local.

But as a backpacker, especially on a trek, one needs to walk a lot of distances. For this, a trekker must make sure that his backpack is not too heavy. Yes, you are going to be out on the trail for a long time and you need to carry a lot of essentials. But this is where smart packing comes into play.

Here are a few tips you can follow to keep your backpack light:

Know the clothes you need to carry

Let's take a three-day and four-night trek into consideration. You should aim to keep the weight of your backpack between eight to 10 kilograms. Considering the fact that your tent would weigh around 2.5 kg and your sleeping bag around 1.5 kg, you would only have five to six kilograms to spare for your clothes, stove and ration. A good way to achieve this is to carry only the clothes you really need--when you are backpacking through high altitude trails, nobody judges you by the clothes you are wearing.

This is all you must carry:

One pair of trekking pants

One full-sleeved shirt

Two half-sleeved T-shirts

One pair of undergarments

One pair of socks

One fleece jacket 

Placing them the right way

This is very important, because it is all about utilising the space you have in the right way. Keep the tent and sleeping bag at the bottom. Since they are voluminous yet not that heavy, they can easily be the base of your backpack space. At the middle must come the jackets and woollen garments--tightly rolled and close to the back. This is where you can also place your ration and mini stove. You small essential, including a medicine box, poncho, and even water should be placed at the topmost layer. As these things are stationary and solid, they remain fine at the top and it is easier to carry the backpack that way. Besides, they are needed at all times when you are on the trail.

Carry the lightest possible equipment

Agreed, the lighter the equipment, the costlier it is. But these one-time investments can save you a lot of trouble when you are on the trail. Make sure you carry the lightest possible backpack, tent, and sleeping bag. Also stuff like ultralight mini stoves and other ultralight equipments with multi functional capacities can save your from adding those extra kilos on your back.

Also read: 5 tools every backpacker would love to have in his kit

Carry easy food

As far as the ration is concerned, don't go with the regular rice and dal. They increase your backpack's weight a great deal. Choose to go for the ready-to-eat stuff like cuppa noodles, chocolates, or anything that is easy to cook with some hot water. This way, you save your mini stove from running out of its capacity, and at the same time, save you from using your time and energy to cook a meal.

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