5 Ultralight Backpacking Hacks for Efficient Hiking

When you are out on the trail, there are small things you pick up on while you hike. Things that make your day simpler. These types of small changes to your routine during a hike can drastically improve your time in nature, lighten your pack, and give you more energy. Below, I’ve complied a short list of ultralight backpacking hacks that I’ve grown to love.

Ultralight Backpacking Hacks

1. Pack More Food

Although this one sounds counter-intuitive, and maybe you wouldn’t expect to see on a list of ultralight backpacking hacks, I would argue quite the opposite. More food means more energy. When I pack just enough food, I tend to eat less. I want to conserve more, just in case. In my opinion, more food just makes everything better. 

Somewhere along my thru-hikes, I had a mindset shift. I began packing fresh vegetables, fruit, entire deli sandwiches, bagels, and so on. These are foods that give more energy, and although they are heavy, it’s weight you can eat! Once I approached food as a friend rather than just another place to save weight, I realized it was a hack that not many people used. I like to eat the heaviest or more perishable food the first or second day out on the trail, and save your other food later. 

I like to view packing light as a justification for eating like a king while in the woods. 

2. Minimize Zippers

Once I began to think of my backpack as a playground to craft an efficient system, I wanted to limit my risks of unforeseen problems. 

One thing I’ve always tried to avoid is zippers. They jam up, they get hard to pull, and eventually they just decide to stop working. I learned this on the very last day of my Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike. I woke up to greet my final day, and when I unzipped my tent, the zipper came apart. My trusty tent no longer functioned as intended. And now it was snowing in the Northern Cascades. From then on, I’ve had a chip on my shoulder about zippers. 

Since then, I’ve become keen on prioritizing gear with less failure points and pieces. Easily misplaced items, finicky electronics, propane cylinders for stoves, too many odds-and-ends etc. Basically, these are things that can cause problems for you at inopportune times. Some of these items with vulnerabilities are just unavoidable. But from my point of view, it’s more about being aware of possible failure points and to eliminate as many of them as possible.  

3. Prioritize Multi-Use Gear

Gear that can serve multiple purposes is beneficial, because it limits the amount you need to carry. This naturally lends to having a lighter pack.

Multi-use gear, also known as eliminating redundancies, is a pillar of ultralight backpacking hacks. If you want a truly well-oiled backpack, figure out where your redundancies are. A few multi-use items off the top of my head are as follows: Trekking poles (tent poles), umbrella for the sun (and as a piece of rain gear), a tarp (that doubles as a rain poncho), and a CCF sleeping pad (used as a makeshift frame for a frameless pack).

If you employ a few or all of these examples, you will find more room to pack food, and a lighter pack in general. Not to mention, a lighter load on your mind. Less items = less things to worry about. You’ll have no choice but to be that much more present on the trail. And in my opinion, the less you notice your gear, the better. (See this post for my tips on choosing gear)

4. Go Stoveless

Being able to eliminate the need for a stove, cook pot, and certain types of food that need to be cooked can help reduce your pack weight, and allow more efficient hiking. I hiked the PCT and the CDT completely stoveless. I found that it made me more willing to take fresh food, or more dense food since I would be able to allocate more weight to the food than the gear used to cook it.

Some of my favorites are cheese and crackers, shelf-stable bacon, bagels, bags of chips, or bags of cereal with powdered milk. I hike with an empty plastic jar with a lid and my trusty spork (which has seen every mile of my thru-hikes), so I can enjoy milk and cereal in the morning, or mix up some instant cold coffee. You can also soak dehydrated foods while you hike, and then eat as soon as you get to camp.

Going without a stove is potentially one of the most divisive topics I’ve encountered in the backpacking world. And I understand the hesitancy to try it. A morning without hot coffee, or a night without hot dinner on trail can sound like a nightmare. But I implore you to try it. You might like the freedom of less gear to pack, and the wonderful feeling of just sitting down and eating without a messy pot to clean up.  

5. Midday Siesta or Night Hiking

I love desert hiking. Mainly because it gives you an excuse to sit around and enjoy the views, under the shade of a shrub or a large boulder. Taking a midday break does wonders for your energy with high temperatures and sun exposure.

I learned this quickly after feeling drained for a few days. My approach to the desert had to change; No longer was I hiking in the shaded, humid environment of the Appalachians. No more hiking during the hottest part of the day. I found it refreshing to wake up before the sun, hike until around 11 AM, then break until around 2 or 3 PM, then resume your hike refreshed.

Over the years, I’ve also gained an appreciation for night-hiking. Although seemingly passed over, night-hiking can offer a glimpse into a different world of the trail. A vast buffet of stars to feast your eyes on. The sounds of the night. Vibrant mountain sides become mysterious dark walls with only your headlamp to light the way. It can provide a wonderful burst of energy, conducive to covering more miles. Add in the pleasant temperatures, and there’s great hiking to be had in my experience.

Conclusion

With these 5 tips, my goal was to set you up with some ultralight backpacking hacks that you can consider using on your next trip. Some of these are meant to be aimed specifically at lightening your pack, while others are meant to help facilitate the ultralight backpacking mindset and philosophy – less gear, less worries, and more time to enjoy nature and cover more ground.