If you missed it, I recently spent a weekend out at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area camping overnight on the bank of the Colorado River by the Arizona Hot Springs!
I detailed it in the post, and — while the trip didn’t meet my snobby wildland fire expert Hotshot’s definition of “backpacking” — it was MY first time hiking all my gear several miles off a trailhead to stay overnight.
To recap: it was an ideal first backpacking trip because it was a shorter hike (about 7 miles total with about 1,000 feet of elevation gain) on an easy-to-follow trail that led to a busy location with water and vault toilets (so spoiled, right?!), outside of bear country (no food storage worries). Also, I was with snobby wildland fire expert Hotshot Ryan, who was fully prepared to keep me from dying, and friends, who had gear to share.
I was also able to share a bunch of stuff with Ryan, like our tent. Which, yes, I totally made him carry.
To be fair, Ryan essentially spends every off-season training for fire season, which means lots of long hikes with heavy loads… so he offered to carry all of my stuff, and I said no. He did carry all of Yukon’s stuff — and Yukon — though.
I spent a lot of time preparing by 1. walking around our apartment with my hiking pack asking Ryan if I looked like “a serious hiker who knows what she’s doing” (answer: “no”) and reading blogs and outdoor sites.
Luckily, I do spend a lot of time day hiking and doing other outdoors stuff so I already had most of what I needed to bring, which made packing easy.
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What I packed:
Pack: Gregory Jade 53 + Black Diamond Women’s Trail Trail Series trekking poles.
Water: Gregory 3D Hydro 3L bladder.
- My 3 liters was enough water to last me the entire overnight trip, but we also had access to a Platypus gravity filter from some of our friends who were also on our trip.
Sleep/ shelter system: Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL2 mtnGLO tent (Ryan carried), Kelty Galactic 30 (men’s) sleeping bag + Sea to Summit Reactor Extreme Thermolite sleeping bag liner + Klymit Static V sleeping pad + Nemo Fillo pillow.
Camp kitchen: MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe + IsoPro fuel canister + MSR Titan Kettle + Sea to Summit Alpha Light Spork – Long + Etsy mug.
- Ryan packed his JetBoil Flash Cooking System and the matching french press attachment.
Clothes: For the hike in, I wore my Danner Mountain Light boots + Smartwool HikeLight socks + Lululemon Wunder Under leggings + Lululemon Energy bra + Lululemon Sculpt crop + Goodr OG Sunglasses. I packed my Teva Original Universal shoes (camp shoes/ hot springs sandals), a swimsuit, extra socks, my Lululemon On The Fly pants (an extra layer for sleeping), Patagonia Nano Puff jacket, Smartwool Intraknit shirt, Carhartt Watch beanie and a baseball hat.
Hygiene/ toiletries: Lululemon Small Things Count Kit with: ChapStick, generic Safeway-brand baby wipes, contact case and solution, Kleenex packets, sunscreen, a foldable hairbrush (with a built-in mirror), deodorant, micellar water, cotton balls, toothbrush and toothpaste.
- Like I mentioned, we had vault toilets near our campsite so we didn’t need trowels or wag bags.
Misc.: iPhone, head lamp, battery pack (mophie Powerstation Plus 6000 mAh – Built in Micro USB and Lightning Cables), Apple Watch charging cable, AirPods, journal and pen, knitting project, Kindle, REI Flexlite chair, Turkish towel, HotHands hand warmers, first aid kit (Adventure Medical Kits Mountain Series Day Tripper Lite Medical Kit), Leatherman Skeletool.
Food:
- Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly sandwich (we make our own whole wheat bread)
- Snacks: Dried fruit (Fruit for Thought), think! protein bars, wine (the single-serve Sutter Home bottles are great for packing), Liquid IV packet, Justin’s peanut butter packets
- Dinner: Backpacker’s Pantry (Pasta Primavera)
- Breakfast: Homemade oatmeal (rolled oats pulsed in a food processor, dried apples, cinnamon, nutmeg and walnuts) packed in a Stasher bowl
- Lunch: Tuna packet, mayonnaise packet, two slices of bread
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And, that was it! My pack weighed about 20 pounds, so it wasn’t too heavy.
I wish I’d brought a Nalgene because pouring water out of my bladder for my dehydrated meals was a little annoying, and, in retrospect, I didn’t need to bring my Kindle because I spent all my time talking with the friends I was there with. I also wish I’d brought a back-up sleeping pad (like an accordion-style folding pad) because my Klymit Static V apparently got punctured sometime between the last time I used it in Michigan and now, and I spent the whole night cold and sleeping on the ground. I also packed too much food!
With all this said, I definitely wouldn’t use this list as a packing guide for a backpacking trip. I’m pretty inexperienced with backpacking (obviously), but I still like to document this kind of stuff. It’s fun both for me to look back on it, and also, if you’re planning on taking your first mini backpacking excursion? Maybe it’ll help you!
Either way, it was a great trip!
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