10 rules of how to properly prepare and pack a backpack for trekking

10 rules of how to properly prepare and pack a backpack for trekking

To assemble a backpack in a hike is a whole science, which can only be known with experience. It is important not to forget anything important, not to put too much. It is equally important to pack all carefully selected equipment in a backpack in such a way that you do not have to disassemble all the contents at the nearest halt in search of, for example, a knife. Besides, on how correctly you will pack a backpack, your perception of its weight will depend.

I asked my friend John Gimson Jr. - an experienced tourist who passed with a backpack behind his back about 7000 miles, to give some advice on picking up a backpack on a hike.

1. Start to gather in a few days

Write a list of things; fasten it in the corner, where you will put the equipment, gradually removing it from the list. During these days you will understand what you really need, what you can not take, and what is missing and you should buy. Slow fees also reduce the chances of forgetting a thing, and passing glances at a bunch of gears raise your spirits. Then, when you have already accumulated experience, the fees will pass faster, but from the list of things still do not refuse!

2. Choose the appropriate backpack

Proceeding from the things left in the corner; choose a backpack of the required volume. I do not like that something hang outside and I prefer that everything fit inside the backpack. Outboard equipment must necessarily cling to trees, bushes or rocks. I'm not talking about clattering kettles and pans, which some people like to hang outside.

If you fasten things outside the backpack under the screeds, duplicate their fastening with small carabiners, or laces. Often things are forgotten during halts: you need to get something out of the backpack and you unfasten the straps, then fasten them back and just forget that you have something fixed.

Of course, foam is difficult to fit inside the backpack, so, more often; it is attached from the outside. I refused the pens because of their cumbersomeness, and I go camping with Term-A-Rest pneuma mats: they are softer on them and they take up less space.

3. Properly distribute things

The basic principle is to place the heavy equipment closer to the back, from the waist up to the level of the shoulder blades. If you pack heavy equipment from below, the backpack will pull you to the ground. Having placed heavy things above the shoulder blades, you will feel like a pendulum.

It is also important to observe the balance of things on the sides of the backpack. If something heavy was put on the right, then put the counterweight to the left. The backpack should not be outweighed on one side.

4. We pack the sleeping bag

Do not fully tighten the straps on the compression bags - you will have a ball, in a backpack, it creates around itself a lot of space that is difficult to fill with anything. The loose bag lies flat and "envelops" other equipment, fixing it during the transitions and useful filling the volume.

Try generally to refuse compression for a sleeping bag (or tent), of course, based on the situation, and you will see how cool it is distributed over the free cavities of the stuffed backpack.

5. Use special bags for things

So you can quickly find the necessary equipment, and there will not be a mess in the backpack. For example, for clothes I use a compression bag, and the clothes are also distributed to me in small bags: a spare set of thermal underwear in a separate zip-lock, socks in another.

Zip-Loks are good because they can be squeezed together with things, leaving a small hole, and, having got rid of excess air, close. So they will take less volume.

Sacks for equipment come in different colors and sizes, from durable Cordura material or lightweight from the mesh. So you can even better distribute your things and do not waste time searching for them. And yes, please do not take rustling t-shirts, do not disgrace your fellow travelers with an eternal rustle, especially in the morning.

6. Distribute meals by day

Distribute meals by day - it's much more convenient than dumping, pasta and other food in one package, and then gets it every time, measuring the right amount for dinner.

Packages with food can be pulled off food film to save space, put deeper into the backpack and forget about them, only in the evenings getting 1 package the next day. It can be placed where it is easy to reach during the day, preferably closer to a burner or a bowler.

7. Collecting things in the upper valve

At the top of the backpack there is usually a convenient large pocket for things that you will certainly need during a day trip: a windbreaker, a rain poncho, a cap, toilet paper. Use it for such things; do not put the necessary things that you may need during the day, deep into the back of the rucksack.

8. Do not hide the camera in your backpack.

If you think that in beautiful places you will stop and get it to photograph - you are mistaken. Carry the camera at hand, for example a soap box can be put in the pocket on the femur strap.

It is convenient to carry a large camera in a triangular case by fastening it in front of the shoulder straps.

9. Protection against rain

Depending on the weather, think about the case from the rain. It can be a classic cape for a backpack or a more complete option - a poncho. So the water will not seep between the backpack and back.

Sleeping bag or clothes I would still advise to put in waterproof bags or hermetic bags. They, by the way, come with windows, which simplifies the search for the right thing. Provide also hermetic covers for your electronics, documents and maps.

10. Setting the backpack

Correctly adjust the suspension of the backpack for growth, if possible. There should be no space between the shoulder and the straps, and the thigh strap should fit tightly around you. Remember that most of the weight should be on the femoral belt, and not on the shoulders.

Tighten all the side straps; fill all the dangling ends of the ties and straps: they will not hang out in the wind and irritate you with their clapping. One day, the dangling end of the strap over my shoulder flew into my eye with force. Sensations are very unpleasant, I tell you.

Bonus

Wear a backpack slowly and without jerks - take care of your shoulder ligaments, as well as the seams of your backpack from ruptures!