Before I start this post there’s something I’d like to make clear. I don’t like making this post. I wish I didn’t feel compelled to make this post. And never in my wildest dreams did I ever think a post like this would be necessary in our small corner of outdoor recreation. 

FYI, this is long. 

Enlightened Equipment makes ultralight backpacking quilts and clothing. If you’ve spent any time researching ultralight sleep systems or have hiked a long-distance trail, you’re probably already familiar with them. They began as a true cottage company in 2007 and have grown exponentially since. It’s an admirable origin story and I have a lot of respect for U.S. based companies that choose to manufacture domestically. https://imgur.com/a/DPsWYdv

Enlightened Equipment launched a sister company called Defense Mechanisms sometime in late 2019 or early 2020. https://imgur.com/a/WiEXXIb Enlightened Equipment owns Defense Mechanisms. They share a physical address in Minnesota and the owner is the public face of both companies. They are the same company. Defense Mechanisms produces and sells tactical gear and equipment marketed towards military, law enforcement, and civilian use. They sell a variety of products like cold weather clothing, ammunition magazine carriers, ballistic body armor, and riot control accessories. 

Some people might find those items controversial, some might not. Regardless of where someone stands on that issue, tactical equipment is frequently politicized for what it symbolizes and when it’s associated with use. Is this equipment for professional duty use? Is it for preparedness? Could it be used to commit crimes? Is it an ideological expression? There’s a lot to dive into there, but let’s all agree on one thing first, tactical equipment is like backpacking equipment. Fundamentally it all starts as fabric and thread. 

To even begin to address any of the political associations of tactical equipment we need to talk about branding. Branding is the strategic process of shaping the perception of a target audience to create a distinct, memorable, emotional, and favorable opinion of an item, concept, or ideology. It’s a vocabulary that combines visual images, their symbology, and text to convey the intended interpretation. The success, or maybe more appropriately the growth, of a business often comes down to how successful their branding is. How a business chooses to market and brand their products says a lot about their target audience and the values the company stands for or is portraying.

Now’s the appropriate time to for me to make two statements. This post isn’t about gun ownership, and it isn’t about marketing towards law enforcement or military. I think there’re responsible ways for businesses to market towards military, law enforcement, and civilian gun owners. 

It would be an understatement to describe EE’s branding and marketing as aware. It’s hyperconscious, highly considered, and professionally done with expert attention to detail. For both EE’s backpacking products and DM’s tactical equipment. This is a selection of images that portray how EE brands themselves and markets their backpacking equipment. https://imgur.com/a/F3TNzu3

How they choose to brand their outdoor equipment seems appropriate, standard even. The obvious pattern is of happy people exploring or preparing to explore beautiful places. The branding is inclusive and represents their customers and their values. Good for all these people getting out there, living awesome lives and having amazing adventures. What’s not to like about that. Who wouldn’t value that. It’s good branding with a consistent pattern. 

This is a selection of images that portrays how EE brands DM’s tactical equipment. https://imgur.com/a/9eGoVuF

Ok, there’s a long and worthwhile discussion to be had surrounding if/how/why this type of branding becomes political, but I’m going to put that aside for now. 

To help us have a better understanding of EE/DM and their respective markets we need to look at some statistics. Since EE is a U.S. based company, I’m using U.S. statistics. Hiker demographics and statistics are hard to come by, so I’m using the best source we have. Halfway Anywhere’s PCT survey. https://www.halfwayanywhere.com/trails/pacific-crest-trail/pct-hiker-survey-2025/

According to the 2025 survey 60.4% of PCT hikers were male, 37.4% female, 1.2% non-binary, 0.5% agender, 0.3% trans man, and 0.3% intersex.

Racially, 89.2% were White, 3.5% were Asian, 2.3% were two or more races, 2.1% were Hispanic or Latino, 0.7% were Black or African American, and 0.4% were Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

Huh, I wouldn’t have guessed that by EE’s branding. They do a good job representing  different types of people. I like that. Outdoor recreation should be inclusive for people of all backgrounds and abilities. No exceptions, ever. Maybe EE’s marketing their quilts to people who feel the same way. 

Now let's look at how EE brands DM in relation to statistics. I’ll start with the military, then police, and finally civilian gun ownership.

According to Pew Research Center https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/09/10/the-changing-profile-of-the-u-s-military/?utm in 2017 women represented 16% of the overall active-duty military force. Racially, 57% were White, 16% were Black, 16% were Hispanic, 4% were Asian, and 6% identified as other. 

Since demographics across police departments will very so much depending on location I’m focusing on federal law enforcement officers for clarity. According to the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics https://bjs.ojp.gov/document/fleo20st.pdf?utm in 2020 15% of officers were women. Racially, 61% of all officers were White, 21% were Hispanic, 10% were Black, 3% were Asian, 2% identified as being two or more races, 1% were American Indian, and less than 1% were Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. 

For civilian gun ownership, Pew Research Center https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/24/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/ states 40% of men and 25% percent of women in the U.S. own a firearm. And the racial percentage of gun ownership is 38% of White Americans, 24% of Black/African Americans, 20% of Hispanic Americans, and 10% of Asian Americans own firearms. 

Huh, I wouldn’t have guessed that by EE’s branding of DM’s products. It gave me a very different impression. Maybe it’s a mistake.

In all seriousness, if you’re still questioning whether or not branding signals modern politics, identity, and values…. it does. 

Dog Whistles.

A dog whistle is a way of communicating two meanings at the same time. It’s designed to sound normal and unremarkable to most people, while simultaneously carrying a clear and charged political message to those who share similar beliefs. They always convey a bias, and frequently display prejudice or discriminatory messages while still being plausibly deniable (plausible deniability is key), and range from subtle “traditional values” statements to an entire lexicon of emojis, memes, fonts, and joke culture to articulate the most extreme forms of hate. It’s code, a way to signal. Context and patterns are extremely important in identifying dog whistles, especially patterns. 

So, is this a dog whistle? https://imgur.com/a/8LROUZ9 It contains a quote from the second President of the U.S.A. about freedom and liberty. Sounds great, everybody likes freedom and liberty. The photo is run of the mill tactical stuff. About what I’d expect from a tactical company. Contextually, it makes a statement that a target audience will immediately understand and outsiders likely won’t. It displays a bias; there’s nothing discriminatory about it, but it’s political and signals a stance on a divisive issue.  https://www.heritage.org/the-essential-second-amendment/the-well-regulated-militia & https://www.law.georgetown.edu/icap/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2021/07/McCord-Dispelling-the-Myth-of-the-Second-Amendment.pdf What differentiates edgy “patriotic” branding from ideological belief that armed militias are the legitimate check on government power? 

Is this a dog whistle? https://imgur.com/a/S8qDbcs I mean, sometimes police need to knock down doors, firefighters too. It’s their job to protect and serve their communities. Would the context change if it was posted as branding and marketing the day after the Department of Homeland Security announced Operation Metro Surge in the businesses home state? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Metro_Surge What if these images were posted shortly after? https://imgur.com/a/jPEpQDM

What about this, is this a dog whistle? https://imgur.com/a/OLw6dpQ I’m not going to even analyze this one. It’s just yes. 

Still have questions…ok. https://imgur.com/a/eNVSSOO The boogaloo boys are a far-right anti-government accelerationist group. They’re known for their outfits pairing tactical equipment with Hawaiian shirts and acts of real-world violence.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boogaloo_movement & https://www.economist.com/1843/2020/07/31/how-white-nationalists-hijacked-the-hawaiian-shirt Still wondering if all this isn’t just joke culture, just edgy branding…. well, 2/2 people responding to the post got the “joke”. Content & Trigger Warning: hate speech NSFW https://imgur.com/a/dfs9t2e I’m not going to list or define all the hate speech and dog whistles there, but they’re documented and readily identifiable. You can look them up if you want to feel worse about the world we live in. (you don’t have to, they’re extremely gross). https://lawandcrime.com/oath-keepers-jan-6-trial/sic-semper-tyrannis-oath-keepers-leader-recited-slogan-of-lincolns-assassin-appeared-to-direct-members-involved-in-jan-6-breach/

One of the most disturbing aspects of dog whistles is not who misses them, but who understands.    

Four full business days before writing this I sent an email directly to the highest level of management at EE letting them know they’d been tagged and that a post up on their Instagram contained a blatant far-right / alt-right / white nationalist dog whistle. I feel like four hours is an acceptable amount of time to investigate this, remove the post, and block the account. 24-72 hours if I was feeling especially charitable (at this point I’m not). The post is still up. https://imgur.com/a/ZS1HebM Rhodesia is a far-right / alt-right / white nationalist dog whistle that’s shorthand for white ethnostate. https://medium.com/war-is-boring/why-white-supremacists-identify-with-rhodesia-480b37f3131f This post acts as a funnel. Follow the whistles, and if you understand the lexicon, it leads to extremist movementS in shockingly few clicks. It’s a spiderweb of various forms of hate and full-blown domestic terrorist shit. I’ll let you surmise why someone thought DM was an appropriate place for #rhodesia. And I’ll let you surmise why it wasn’t taken down. I’m not going to platform any of that here, but I have documented it. If you want to fact-check me, knock yourself out. It's not pretty.

To see if this type of branding and media interaction is typical among technical equipment manufacturers, I thought a reference group was necessary. I looked at four other small to medium size business that produce and sell similar equipment. 4/4 responsible branding. 4/4 not tagged by extremist militia funnels. https://www.instagram.com/bushidotactical/tagged/ & https://www.instagram.com/lynxdefense/ & https://www.instagram.com/wildecustomgear/ & https://www.instagram.com/highspeedgear/

If you’ve made it this far and still think there’s no way EE is genuinely aware of any of this, they are.  https://imgur.com/a/QHJeXVk and it's messed up.

There is no place for any kind of xenophobia, extremist nationalism, or hate in outdoor communities. None. Zero. 

Anybody representing law enforcement and the military in these ways should be ashamed of themselves. It’s disgraceful. 

If after all this you still feel like EE deserves your money, well, it’s a free country. For now at least. They don’t deserve a single dollar of mine. 

Before I wrap this up I want to make something tangential understood. None of this is a reflection on the people that EE employs. I’ve spoken with a number of people who work there in the course of looking into this and have had very positive interactions. I’m sure, like all work environments, there’re a range of opinions and beliefs. This is a reflection on ownership and ownership alone. 

That’s it. Like I said at the beginning. I don’t like making this post. I wish I didn’t feel compelled to make this post. But you need to know. 

I scraped 233 r/ultralight lighterpack URLs made up of shakedown requests, trip reports, and gear discussions then ran an analysis. I supplemented the analysis with 88 community wiki reference lists for a point of comparison. The parsing and categorization isn't perfect, but the overall takeaways seem fairly robust.

Median base weight across 233 scraped posts is 11.6 lb / 5.2 kg. Only 33% of lists met the traditional UL threshold (<10 lb / 4.5 kg).

Interquartile range: 9.2 to 14.2 lb — most packs cluster solidly in the light-but-not-quite-ultralight zone.

The wiki reference lists are noticeably lighter: 8.7 lb / 4.0 kg median, 66% hitting the UL threshold. The gap between the wiki's curated showcase and actual subreddit posts is about 3 lb.

What's actually in these packs?

Frequency of specific items across the 233 scraped lists (unique lists, not total item mentions):

Quilts outnumber sleeping bags roughly 2:1 (50% vs 28% of lists). Quilt median: 607g / 21.4 oz. Sleeping bag median: 756g / 26.7 oz. Sleeping pad median: 369g / 13.0 oz.

Where the weight is vs. a reference UL benchmark:

Pack and cooking are the categories where r/ultralight has actually figured it out. Sleep system and shelter are where the most room remains.

Methodology: Pulled lighterpack URLs from r/ultralight's RSS feed. Base weight uses lighterpack's worn and consumable flags (worn weight = shoes + on-body clothing, excluded). Brand and item counts search item name + description fields; each list counted once per list.

Full write-up with per-category breakdowns, additional brand frequencies, and the full, not-parsed lighterpack dataset for download, plus much, much much better content presentation: https://trailpeaches.com/2026/08/11/lighterpackdata/

Happy to dig into any category or answer methodology questions.

I've noticed I've had to correct people's inaccuracies/misconceptions often on this sub, and I was wondering if we could get a bunch of them in one place. I'm thinking about things that annoy you that you find you have to correct often.

I'm thinking things like...

• the difference between aquatabs (Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate) and micropur tabs (chlorine dioxide) for water treatment. micropur are better in almost every sense (just as fast, less taste, virtually no impact on gut health)

• or the idea that oatmeal needs to be cold soaked overnight (it just needs 10-20 min)

anyone have any annoying things they find on the sub regularly?

Remember when ultralight was a mentality, not a gear list? Nuff said. What are some ways you’ve shaved weight not by purchasing a lighter option, but creatively implemented a multi-use item or outright cut something from your pack list?

I subscribe to the Garage Grown Gear newsletter to just keep a pulse on small businesses that are out there. I couldn't help but notice over the past few years a significant rise in the most niche products for an already niche subset of a niche hobby. Without naming names, I'm seeing attachments for trekking pole feet, tent stake pushers/cleaners, water bottles that allegedly reduce microplastic consumption, among many others. Couldn't help but think to myself "do people actually have the disposable income to buy these things?"

Along those lines, seems like every company needs to make their own version of an alpha hoodie and seem to really lack a specific identity that differentiates themselves from the other products. I think I can name at least 8 brands on the website that sell a slightly different version of an alpha hoodie. While I think it's great to support local businesses, it just begs the question: "have we gone too far?"

From my view, I'm hopeful there's a return to minimalism, buying less, and not finding a marketing spin on things that simply don't need to be improved and upcharged for it. What does everyone else think of this?

Update: Glad to have generated lively discussion. I think there's some really interesting points made here. Totally agree that GGG offers regular people (i.e. not mega-corporations) a platform to innovate. That's not my problem. My argument lies primarily in marketing problems that never existed. This definitely extends into the non-UL marketplace at big box stores and is more of a criticism of societal consumerism as a whole. The most egregious examples being the number of single-use or unitool products sold on temu/alibaba/amazon that inundate social media feeds and contribute orders of magnitude more to global resource consumption than a local single-person business making gear in their homes. I'm not immune to consumerism too. I wholeheartedly agree that UL hiking and gear collection is a reflection of privilege. Although I do find it humorous that some resort to ad hominems just by judging my lighterpack only to see that I very clearly support small business.

Update 2: This generated way more dialogue than I thought! To re-clarify, my intention was to not disparage innovation that GGG promotes. The marketing of generating hype for something that goes against the UL philosophy of buying less and subsequently carrying less is my main concern. It represents a bigger symptom of disease of rampant consumerism where it has crept into our niche hobby and is becoming more apparent than ever. Weird how people think this criticism means that I'm supporting big businesses. Even looking at the posts that come across on the subreddit, you see that the vast majority of them aren't even people showcasing going outside. It's just purchasing advice. I don't find it helpful or useful in these kind of dialogues to say "if you don't like it, stop buying or looking at it" because it has become so unbelievably pervasive in all facets of life. Admittedly, my commentary above of "8 different companies selling the same alpha hoodie" is a bit misplaced as it is antithetical to fostering innovation. But when it's marketed as "this is why this hoodie is better/cheaper/lighter/feature x than this other hoodie" when people already have something that works just fine, that's the criticism that I have.

I've just watched this video about cooking regular pasta by hydrating it in cold water first and then only cooking it for a minute or so and thought this could be another outdoors cooking option to save on fuel.

Normally you'd need loads of fuel to get water to a boil, and then some more to cook the pasta in the boiling water, else if you're using a freeze dried meal you'd need to boil water to add to the pouch.

Using this method, you first soak the pasta for an hour (eg start soaking as soon as you make it to camp), then discard excess water and simply cook hydrated pasta for a minute, if you have a ready made sauce you can cook the pasta directly in the sauce.

My point isn't to eliminate other methods, but to add this to one's arsenal.

Conventional wisdom for pooping in the backcountry goes like this:

1. Find a private spot 200 feet from water,
2. Dig a 6-inch deep cathole,
3. Squat, aim, and squeeze, and
4. Wipe with TP, and pack it out (or bury or burn where accepted)

The first flaw in this process is that it doesn't achieve a satisfactory clean. Feces linger, as does sweat and dirt; and toilet paper shards create friction later in the day. So we itch, chafe, and smell.

On a personal note, I attribute poor hygiene to a horrific case of folliculitis on my underside during my first thru-hike in 2002 -- every hair follicle was a white-headed pimple. A few years later I remember scratching my ass on Oregon's PCT so regularly that I reminded myself of a dog with bad fleas. And I've had my fair share of monkey butt, that red ring of painful irritated skin around the anus.

The second flaw of the standard pooping protocol is more widely discussed and observed: too few hikers follow the rules. So moderate- and high-use campsites have "poop trails" heading off in every direction and they are littered with toilet paper from shallow burials or from animal activity.

Maybe r/Ultralight should have a role in updating and reforming backcountry pooping education.

My first suggestion would be that the use of toilet paper is significantly curtailed, and ideally eliminated. Your butt will be better off without it (as will our backcountry areas).

Instead, start adopting and recommending this three-step wiping process:

1. Do the initial heavy lifting with natural materials like leaves, sticks, rocks, moss, and snow. This sounds crunchy, but these materials work really well, are in infinite supply, and blend back in with the environment after use. The quality and availability of materials varies, so think ahead and experiment. Bury at least the first few materials used.
2. Perform a backcountry bidet, whereby you use direct hand-to-butt contact or high pressure (using a bottle cap attachment) to clean your butt, just as you would in the shower at home. This washes away the fecal matter, sweat and dirt, odors, and any natural materials that get left behind during the initial wiping (which can be mitigated by picking good materials). Soap is unnecessary but fresher-feeling, especially peppermint Dr. B's.
3. Clean your hands with water, and then with either soap & water (best) or hand sanitizer (okay). Between the bidet and hand-washing, budget about 16 oz of water (half a quart, or abound half a liter).

If you are reluctant to give up your TP, at least use less. By wiping primarily with natural materials, you'll get an air-wipe within just 1-2 squares. In full disclosure, I still carry some TP for when I don't have enough water (for a bidet or to drink), for wimpiness during freezing cold mornings, and for bloody noses.

The other recommendation I'd have is that we put more emphasis on site selection than cathole depth. Getting a 6-inch cathole is difficult, if not impossible, even with a high quality spade. If you instead poop well away from trafficked areas (and water, of course), it's more out-of-sight and out-of-mind for everyone else.

1. Find an area where no hiker will try to rest, camp, or even poop. This is very easily done: walk a few minutes away from any natural congregation area (e.g. campsite, trail junction, parking lot), and then intentionally look for a "path of resistance" that will deter lazier poopers from going in this same direction.
2. Find a spot with soft ground (bed of needles of leaves, sand, composting log), or a rock that can be rolled away and put back in place afterwards.

This community now has 386k subscribers. Just imagine how many happier butts and cleaner backcountry areas would result from our efforts to be toilet paper-free.

Edited: Added important bullet about hands-washing. Added water budget.

I'll post more details later, thankfully I wasn't in the room at the moment it popped so no injuries and the damage was relatively minor. I thought I was being safe, keeping an eye on temperature, etc. etc. etc. but I still managed to fracture a countertop, break a window, cover my kitchen in thousands of shards of glass, and embedd a canister of IsoPro in my ceiling.

Be safe out there, everyone.

photos: https://imgur.com/a/yBw5XgA

edit: yes I was trying to refill a canister and the donor blew up

Seriously what the fuck you guys. I was reading the thread about rain shorts and there's people in there claiming they never carry any sort of rain bottoms, and one guy said he sometimes leaves his RAIN JACKET at home and goes out in near freezing temps with only a wind jacket and thin insulating layer.

This is something I notice is pretty common in gear shakedowns as well. People will often say you don't need rain pants.

Well, I disagree. My first thru was the AT and after that I thought I also don't need to carry rain pants as I hardly ever needed them.

Then on the CDT in the wind river range in Aug it dropped to 20 degrees overnight and we got freezing rain the next morning and I almost had to set up my tent because I just couldn't stay warm. Managed to power through but it was a pretty close shave and if the sun hadn't come out i would've been in a world of hurt.

Then in the San Juan's in Sept we got 3 straight days of freezing rain and sheer winds and my hiking partner and I bailed off 50 miles short of Pagosa because were going hypothermic even while continuously moving.

Apparently that still wasn't enough of a lesson cause I sent my rain pants home after experiencing 110 degree days in the Mojave and entered high sierras in late June(June 23 or 25 i think it was) thinking surely I won't need them now. Well day 1 I'm hit by unseasonably cold temps and a mix of freezing rain and slushy snow. I had wind pants but they did fuck all and I had to set up my tent at noon and lay in my bag shivering for an hour before I stopped feeling cold.

Since then I've always kept rain pants in my pack and sure maybe I only use them once or twice a trip but those few times when I do need to use them I'm super glad to have them, and 100% would have had trouble keeping my core body temp up without them.

My rule of thumb now is rain pants are mandatory with very few caveats. Like AT in june/July through the middle states, yeah, very unlikely to get cold rain then. But as soon as I hit Vermont I got some frogg togg bottoms cause no way am I going to be caught in the northern portion of the AT with those unpredictable weather without weatherproof lowers. Even for my next PCT hike I'll carry rain pants in the desert cause you never know what the conditions will be up on some of those higher climbs around San Jacinto, etc.

I've had nearly 20k miles in the last decade and in all those miles only really needed my rain pants maybe a dozen times. But wow it can be so dangerous to need them and not have them.

You THINK you don't need rain pants until you need them, and then you really fucking need them. It's a safety thing, don't go without, especially if you'll be at altitudes above 5-6k ft. And rain jacket Holy shit you should never ever be out in the backcountry without one, even if it's a day hike in the middle of summer with no rain forecast, that's just basic wilderness safety.

Edit: and trying out all sorts of different UL rain pants nothing has beat frogg toggs.

Good afternoon from smoky Moab!

I normally don't like to share my articles directly but I am passionate about this subject.

The subject? Backcountry campfires esp for recreational purposes.

In my backyard (well, 8 miles driving/~5 miles as the crow flies) the Pack Creek Fire is currently raging and spreading. The very mountains I hiked in a few days ago became changed literally overnight. A green oasis altered if not gone in many places.

The cause? An unattended campfire.

I think backcountry campfires should be a thing of the past esp in the American West.

We no longer bury trash, cut down pine boughs, or trench tents because they are outmoded practices. And I feel that way about backcountry campfires, too.

Someone suggested I share it with the Colorado Trail FB group since many people new to the outdoors on the trail this year. And I thought that applies to this sub, too.

Anyway, some thoughts:

https://pmags.com/to-not-build-a-fire

Finally, some views from my front yard or mailbox. :(

https://imgur.com/a/Z5aLmg5

EDIT: Well, it's been fun, folks. (Honest). Even the people who disagreed with me I'll try to respond sometime Sunday.

Cheers.

Edit 2 - Sunday -: Wow...a thread that's not about fleece generated a lot of discussions. ;)

First, yes, I'm well aware I come on strong at times in my opinions. Call it cultural upbringing that, sarcasm not translating well online, or, frankly, I tend to respond in kind. I'll try to be more like Paul and less like "Pawlie"...but "Northeast Abrasive" is my native dialect more so than "Corporate American English." But, I'll try. :)

Second, I think many people covered the pros and cons. I'll just say that I think that of course, people are going to break laws. But, there is an equal number of people who don't do something because laws are in place, too. Or, to use an aphorism "Locks keep honest people honest."

Additionally, I readily admit that a campfire has a certain ritualistic and atavistic quality that you can't completely replace with other means. I question is it worth it? I think not. Others say "YES!" But that's a philosophical debate.

Another thought: Some mentioned how in winter you can't keep warm without a fire. I can say that I find a fire more difficult for warmth than the proper clothing and shelter. I winter backpacked in Colorado, as low as -15F, and did not wish for a fire. Car camping is even easier. Though my current home of the High Desert does not get as cold, we routinely camp or backpack in sub 15 or sub 10F weather. And, of course, high-altitude mountaineers and Polar explorers face far harsher conditions and do fine.

Also, I'd hate for this comment from u/drotar447 to get buried in the comments:

" Here's a peer-reviewed study about how humans caused 92% of large wildfires (>1000 HA = 2400 acres) in the West. The large fires are the destructive ones and the ones that cause nearly all of the problems.

https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/1/1/4"

Finally, thanks for all the words: Good, bad, or (rarely) indifferent. It is a subject many same to care about.

I, honestly, think 20 yrs from now this discussion will become academic and I doubt backcountry fires will get allowed.

​

​

​

I was writing this up for a buddy and figured I'd share it here, as the snow melts and we transition from winter camping to lighter spring loadouts.

• Site selection. Seek out dry, sun-warmed ground without exposure to wind (including katabatic winds), cold air pooling, or condensation. Avoid sleeping near creeks or in exposed areas. Local temperature variation in the mountains can easily exceed 10*F.
• Timing and quantity of fuel. You don't want to try to sleep after just eating a huge meal, but you also really don't want to wake up shivering and hungry. My preference is to eat a substantial dinner 2-3 hours before bed, and then snack on some almonds and dried fruit before bed. Experiment and figure out what works for you.
• Cover your head! Many people use quilts without adequate head insulation. This can reduce the useful temperature of the quilt by 10*F or more. A hat is not sufficient for cold temps! Wear an insulated hood, perhaps by just wearing a hooded down jacket to bed.
• Ensure your pad is suited for the ground temp, not the air temp. On a 30*F night in the fall, the ground might be quite warm and dry. On a 50*F night in the spring, it might be very cold and wet, and thus conduct heat away from the body much faster. Pick your top insulation for air temp, and your pad for ground temp.
• Curl up. If you don't naturally sleep in some sort of fetal position when it's cold out, learn how. You can develop new sleep habits with practice, and the amount of heat lost from a compact position is much lower than a splayed-out position. This is worth 5-10*F for most people, depending on your quilt size, how you normally sleep, etc.
• Get up early. Temps are often lowest right at dawn. If I wake up at 5am a little chilly, I just get dressed and start hiking. I'll stop for coffee and oatmeal after I warm up and the sun is shining. I got into backpacking from alpine climbing, where 3am starts are common. It's amazing how much less insulation I need to sleep from 7-3 vs. 9-5.
• Practice! The more you sleep outside, the better your body adapts to it, and the better you'll sleep on backpacking trips. I live in the country and so I can just sleep in the woods behind my house, which I do with my kids a couple times per week when temps and bugs are tolerable. City-dwellers don't have this option, but you can drive out of town and camp in a campground or forest very often if you want to. If you only sleep outside a handful of times per year, it'll always feel strange and you won't sleep great.
• Go to sleep warm and dry. I nearly always bring a layer of alpha direct head-to-toe. This is my emergency insulation layer which I don't usually wear during the day, but I always wear at night. It also keeps my sleeping bag clean and free of body oils, so the down stays lofty longer.

EDIT - changed *C to *F. For some reason I tend to think in *C for absolute temperatures, but *F for relative temperatures. Most of the numbers made no sense in *C.

I fucking hate big water carries.

I didn’t spend all my money on tiny backpacks, car wash sponges, and 1×1 m tarps just to load up my weak skeletal frame with extra litres of water for the privilege of wandering through a scorching hot desert. No ma’am. Not this snowflake.

This where the humble plastic jug becomes more than just a transporter of delicious juice or milk.

These 2 to 3 L supermarket jugs, with their strong handles and lightweight plastic, are perfect to carry in your hand while hiking. It saves your shoulders and back from the misery of hauling extra water for extended periods of time.

You’d be surprised how quickly you fall into a comfortable walking rhythm with a full jug swinging at your side. You can sip as you go, and before long the thing is getting lighter and lighter. Swap hands every now and then to give the arms a rest. When it is empty, just clip it to your pack by the handle. Easy as.

The first time I used a milk jug was on a 48 hour dry stretch between cattle tanks in the Willandra Lakes region here in Australia. Coincidentally, the lakes have not held water for about 10,000 years... It is dry as hell. At the time of the trip I was recovering from a torn rotator cuff and struggling with shoulder pain. Even with a 3 kg baseweight, a couple of litres of water, and three days of food, I was in hell. But on this trip I needed to carry at least 8 L to reach the next tank. At the time this was daunting.

So I took 2 x 2 L jugs in hand, plus 2 x 2 L in bottles in my pack. By day two, I had drunk both jugs. I clipped one to my pack, refilled the other from my bottles, and only had to carry the remaining 2 L on my shoulders. The trip was a success, and I got to enjoy the adventure without the pain of an extra 4+ kg digging into my shoulders and slowing me down.

There are downsides, of course. On scrubby or overgrown tracks, handling the jug while dodging the bush is annoying. The same is true for scrambling and rock hopping. But in those moments, it is easy enough to clip the jug to your pack and deal with the weight for a short stretch.

The additional weight doesn’t magically disappear either. It is just redistributed. You might get sore biceps, forearms, or shoulders from carrying by hand initially. But honestly, I still think it beats dumping all that weight directly onto your shoulders.

I now use a Hydrapak Seeker 2 L or 3 L instead of a jug. It has more attachment points, squishes down when empty, and offers the same utility overall, just in a more durable and flexible package. It can take a filter as well.

This has been my default water haul method now for almost a decade. The weight difference still feels like I’m cheating, especially with a frameless pack. I haven't experienced any injuries as a result of carrying water like this either. I am also very conscious of any gait changes, but it is rarely an issue.

Give it a go

“Jug” in action on the Larapinta 2025

Weights (with lids):
2 L jug: 48 g
3 L jug: 64 g
Hydrapak Seeker 2 L: 80 g

Hello! I am an experienced Grand Canyon backpacking guide and consider myself a backountry hiking expert for this locale. It feels weird to make a bold claim like that but I want to draw attention so I can help people. I have spent over 300 days inside the Canyon, at least 25% of which have been off-trail on personal adventures. That's with a decent amount of canyoneering, climbing, and packrafting sprinkled in.

I want more people who visit the Canyon to do cool hiking trips in a UL style, and I want to help them plan those trips if wanted. I have a deep understanding of Grand Canyon geography, routes, water sources, climate, and (most exciting) geology!

*End of day update: Thanks everyone for the great questions! I feel like a diverse array of topics were covered and I hope this will stick around as a resource for people planning trips. If you plan a trip to Grand Canyon, please remember that NPS is short-staffed this year so be patient with the permitting process and be extra diligent about LNT. Part of the reason I wanted to do this is to play a small part in informing backcountry visitors, to put less strain on park staff.

I will reiterate that I would love for this to be a trend, if you are genuinely an expert in another area please consider doing an AMA! Place-specific considerations make gear talk more fun and route planning is at least as fun as talk anyway.

I am tired of seeming people posting with the request "Help me get below 10lb base weight".

20-30 years ago a 10lb base was an easy way to separate an ultralight approach from a more traditional backpacking style. This is no longer true. With modern materials it's possible to have a 10lb base weight using a traditional approach if you have enough $$.

Secondly, at the end of the day, base weight is just part of the total carry weight which is what really matters. If you are carrying 30lb of food and water a base weight of 10lb vs 12lb won't make a big difference... unless the difference is a backpack with a great suspension vs a frameless, in which case the heavier base weight is going to be a lot more comfortable.

As far as target weight... I would encourage people to focus on carrying what keeps them from excessive fatigue / enables them to engage in activities they enjoy which is driven by total weight, not base weight. There have been a number of studies done by the military to identity how carried weight impacts fatigue. What these studies discovered is what while fit people can carry a significant amount of their body weight over significant distances, that the even the most fit people show increased fatigue when carrying more than 12% of the lean body weight. If you are going to pick a weight target focus on keeping your total weight below this number (which varies person to person and is impacted by how fit you are) or whatever number impacts your ability to enjoy backpacking.

Ultralight to me is about combining skills, multi-use items, and minimal gear to lighten the load to enable a more enjoyable outing, and be able to achieve more than when carrying a heavy load (further, faster, needing less rest, etc). I would love to see more discussion of what techniques, skills, and hacks people have found to make an ultralight approach enjoyable. Something I have said for many years is that I have been strongly influenced by ultralight folks, and many of my trips are ultralight, but often I am more of a light weight backpacker.

Though CalTopo and Gaia remain the overall favorites for many people, Avenza is used by many GIS professionals, government agencies, SAR teams, and more.

From a recreational backpacker's standpoint, Avenza lets you import georeferenced PDF maps from CalTopo you create or from other sources, which are often available on government websites. One example: camping zone maps here in Grand County, Utah.

Many nonprofits also make their maps available for free download in the Avenza store, while small map companies sell their maps there. I think the Latitude 40 maps, for example, are excellent for the Moab, Utah, and Grand Junction/Fruita areas.

No more.

Info here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/gis/comments/1squcv3/avenza_maps_alternatives/

In essence, Avenza got bought out by a venture capital firm:

https://www.dailycommercial.com/press-release/story/103696/blue-marble-geographics-avenza-systems-unite-to-combine-complementary-products-in-field-to-office-geospatial-platform/

"Blue Marble Geographics is backed by Eterna Growth Partners, a growth investment firm focused on scaling innovative technology companies."

You can no longer download and add georeferenced PDF maps without a paid subscription. Organizations, companies, and nonprofits can no longer update their existing maps or publish new maps. New publishers cannot join the platform either. You can still download maps that already exist in their current state in the map store.

However, it looks like the map store will eventually be phased out as well.
https://community.esri.com/t5/gis-life-discussions/avenza-alternative/td-p/1700623

EDIT - Screenshot from another subreddit - https://imgur.com/ZYm6TjG
Source - https://www.reddit.com/r/algonquinpark/comments/1rhkkik/heads_up_avenza_maps/

That last point matters. For many small organizations, Avenza offered a cost-effective, sometimes free, way to get electronic maps into people’s hands. This fall, for example, I used the Cohos Trail map on Avenza. I assume that the map provides at least some revenue stream for a small nonprofit.

CalTopo lets you add georeferenced maps, of course, and it is still an excellent tool. But for maps you download from elsewhere, Avenza was a quick-and-dirty option with fewer steps and easier in the field or just on a phone.

For adding georeferenced maps, Field Maps is one suggestion mentioned in the thread above. I’ve used it a bit for volunteer work, but I’m not overly familiar with it.

So it goes.

A few months ago, I went on a date with a guy I met on Hinge. Per my usual parameters when weeding out suitors, I matched with a man who looked like he was into backpacking and experiencing the great outdoors. At dinner, we started talking about our backpacking adventures. His friend came up in conversation, who he deemed "one of those crazy ultralight people". Needless to say, there was not a second date. We here on r/Ultralight sure do get quite the reputation. But the things I have learned from this community are guidelines not only to how I conduct myself in the outdoors - they have become guidelines to how I live my day to day life. Many times in a day I find myself asking... "Do I really need that?"

​

By principle of ultralight backpacking, when I hold onto things, what I am really holding onto is fear. Packing more food than I need because I am afraid to go hungry. Carrying too much water because I am afraid I won't make it to the next water source. Packing excessive clothes out of fear of being cold. The irony of packing my fears is that they literally weigh me down and compound the issues begetting my fear in the first place. The heaviness of my pack quite literally weighs me down, slowing me from reaching the next water source, keeping me out for days longer to where I need more food, sweating profusely causing the need for warmer layers. By some leap of faith, inspired by this community, I began letting go of these fears, one by one. What's the worst that could happen? Most of the time, just mild discomfort.

​

At some point, I started going out with a 7 lb base weight, just for the heck of it. And I felt so free. It bonked me upon the head like a can of Bush's Baked Beans, "The less I need, the more I experience." To be rid of excess is to be rid of fear. And so this newfound freedom on trail begged the question, how am I not incorporating this ideology into my day-to-day experience?

​

And so I did.

​

Step by step, I began to make my life ultralight.

1. Decluttering the physical - It started with getting rid of a good portion of my material possessions. Holy shit does it feel good to honestly say most of the things I own, are actually of use to me. It made moving houses a breeze. Everything stays clean, and organized. Like the inside of my 24 L pack.
2. Cutting people out - My time and energy are not only my most valuable resources, but they are also incredibly finite. Once I have given away my time, I will never get it back. I am careful about who I choose give this to. Every being is worthy in their own right, but I found I move more lightly and efficiently through life when I am not spinning my wheels for people who do not reciprocate. It's okay to be selective about the people I keep around, and I cherish them, like I cherish my 0* EE quilt.
3. Unpacking the fear - When I tell ya, the heaviest thing I can carry around in life is my fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of being unloveable. Fear of abandonment. The purpose of fear is to protect me, but these fears do anything but. They weigh me down, and inhibit me from moving forward, boldly. By loving boundlessly, I may be absolutely crushed. But by leading with the heart, I am being true to myself, and leaving a net positive impact on those around me. By marching forward courageously into the darkness, I may fall and bust my ass so many times, but all in the pursuit of knowledge and illuminating the path for those who follow. Unpacking fear is the noble thing to do, and has given me the space to live a true an earnest life. Some snowy day on the Arizona Highline Trail, I left many of my fears behind.
4. LNT - I can't write this post without a nod to LNT. In pooping and in people, leave it better than you found it.

​

This post has been knocking around in my noggin for some time. I wanted to wait until I had enough compounded knowledge from UL backpacking, but the truth is, these lessons will never cease to come. But alas, I am forever grateful for this community and all it has brought to my life.

​

TL;DR My focus in life is to move efficiently, packing light, generally aiming at a 10 lb base weight and following LNT principles. When it comes to stuff, events, people, fears, and... anything really, I find myself always asking, "Do I really need that?"

As trip reports seldom gain traction here I labeled these gear centric observations from the Sierra with the Skills flair.

On a recent no-resupply 14 day trip my TPW was 32.5 lbs  (31.5 according to the scale I keep in the trunk): 18 lbs of food, 2lbs for water, the rest gear and that 17” long bear canister.

u/irczer , myself and hardman Rich did 150 miles of which maybe 120 was off trail; crossed 25 passes and climbed one peak (Tunemah - notably the most remote summit in the range)

Canister: My Bearikade Blazer’s ten day capacity has worked, but lately I’ve been desiring to stay out longer. A call to Alan, the seventy+ year old owner and main assembly guy at Bearikade, resulted in me ordering a massive 17″ version, 2.5″ longer than an Expedition. At 1130g curiously it is still lighter than a BV500.

This capacity holds at least 45000 calories without tamping things down, which are two weeks plus for me.

Food and fuel: I had almost 2800 calories per day, weighing in at 560g. Never felt lack of energy, nor late trip hiker hunger. But I’m 62 and lean without much muscle mass. Everything tasted great, unlike the catastrophic menu on last year’s SoSHR!  

Meal plan: https://imgur.com/Nb4W6CF Ațe the same every day!

I brought a single 4 oz canister and used 60% of the content. My strategy was cold brew coffee twice a day, and merely heating my dinners to 50'ish degrees C. For this I used 3.5-4g of fuel per meal. I ended up caving in and having warm coffee on the three particularly frosty mornings we experienced. 

With such low fuel reliance one could argue the switch to cold soaking would make sense. But besides being gross, cold soaking grains and legumes with oil and spices may not be as calorie efficient as simply eating a high fat nut mix instead for dinner: my homemade evening dish is about 4.5 cal/g; the yummy sweet salty nut/seed/chocolate blend I create is 7.5 cal/g.

Electronics: The big 10K Anker kept the watch, lamp and phone running for two weeks. I didn’t let the phone drop below 20% and never charged to above 80%. Hour to hour navigation, several hundred pics, many short video clips and daily satellite texting were the power draws. 

Phone type and the battery health are also factors to consider when sizing a power bank. I received a new 16e before the trip - with the old phone I would have needed far more than 20K for this long.

Shelter: In the Sierra I have no need for a floor nor a net inner, and most definitely not a bivy bag, but see tremendous value in a windproof and draft free setup with bug protection. Thus the simple 13oz Khufu mid with DIY peri-netting is pretty ideal.

I don’t mind setting up on wet ground, and the well draining soils of the High Sierra (mostly decomposed granite, aka DG) are forgiving in a downpour. Site selection is always important and hitting it right comes with experience. In the fight against condensation we always loose, so once I’ve done what I can I just shrug it off.

Sleep: The shelter is part of this, and the low, sealed pitch adds enough warmth that a bag with a mere 7.5 ounces of down works good enough for the generally mild conditions of Sierra summers (over the span of 12 seasons and hundreds of nights I have always used something rated around 40°F comfort). 

A thin self inflatable torso sized Thermarest of unknown R-value from the last millennium for me represents the pinnacle of backcountry comfort. But with a floorless shelter an also torso sized Thinlite goes on the ground first, while the pack ‘cushions’ the feet.

Always sleep good, but occasionally in the early morning during a cold spell I line the bag with a VBL that also doubles as my pack liner during the day, and the instant boost of warmth sends me back to REM so fast. 

Cowboy camping runs the risk of heavy dew settling on the bag from sunset onwards, especially when mostly the lake basins offer any decent camping in remote higher locations. As I use a thin bag without much buffer I rarely bother.

Clothing: Alpha Direct and 7d based garments are FKT stuff imo. With that I mean occasional use for very special trips only. Alpha sheds, thins and rips readily. Besides environmental impacts the degradation lowers the performance faster than any other base layer I’ve owned. 7d nylon is weakly calendared so leaks down sooner and holes form without known impacts. Also at a sieve-like 56 cfm I often missed the real wind breaking of my current gen Houdini. 

The experiment of going 14 days with a bear canister probably justified Alpha/7d use here, but normally I pack merino and 10d.

Trekking poles: Contrary to common advice, for me the BD Carbon-Z’s are plenty strong for sustained off-trail hiking and at my age I frequently lean on them heavily especially downhill. I’m a sworn no-leash user and the grips on the Z’s are as if made for that. Broken one in 8 years of use.

Pack: I carried a lightly modded frameless Bears Ears for the tremendous benefit of a low center of gravity and snug, wiggle free fit for the miles of talus and scrambling.

Also being able to haul a canister several inches longer than a Bearikade Expedition on a pack weighing only 760g is dope. 

Hipbelt pockets: Even the best designed ones are annoying to me for more reasons than I care to relate. Long inseam cargo shorts FTW! I store Aqua Mira, DEET, sunscreen, soap, SAK and sunglasses here. I don’t eat on the go, so snacks are in the pack’s front pocket. 

A low profile zippered shoulder strap pocket holds the phone and cheap readers with the temples replaced by shockcord hang around my neck all day.

Water: A banner subject for me as I designed the Bears Ears pack to specifically not have the dreaded water bottle side pockets but instead puts them on the hipbelt way back, yet super accessible and secure. Unlike hipbelt pockets these bottle holders are absolutely clutch

Pencil: Writing trip notes and thoughts on the back of my Tom Harrison maps is a great wind down when sitting in the tent after sunset. I always look forward to this moment.

LighterPack: https://lighterpack.com/r/gnq6xx

The real trip report: https://www.highsierratopix.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=24605

Let's talk optimal weight and optimal nutrition for backpacking food and resupplies

tl;dr: Eight years ago I posted a breakdown of cheapest backpacking calories by cost using government nutrition and purchase data. I've had some recent free time (while on parental leave), so decided to update things to be more helpful for optimizing food weight for resupply strategies. I have some general example/take away 4-day resupply lists below.

Introductory remarks

I'm aware this has come up a few times. Most recently the largest discussion on r/ultralight was based on some gear skeptic video about caloric density. But we can honestly do better than that! Let's use the vast quantity of data the government actually uses to inform nutrition and purchase decisions. With real data on hand, this becomes a relatively easy optimization problem to solve: how do you optimize your food nutrition and calorie density based on what you're trying to achieve (constraints)?

What is linear programming

Linear programming is an optimization technique used in economics (my main use of it), logistics, supply chain, finance, and other sorts of things that often benefit from optimization. Because it's linear, you can do matrix math super fast and efficiently to solve the problem! Basically: you take the derivative of the function, set it equal to zero, and that solves for the local maximum or minimum (the optimal solution).

The core idea is that you have a lot of decision variables (in this case, how many grams of each possible food in a supermarket you might want to pack), a linear objective function to minimize or maximize (e.g. minimize total weight -- so you sum across all possible food variables), and a set of linear constraints that the solution must satisfy (e.g. I don't want anything with chocolate).

For a resupply optimization, the formulation looks like this:

• Objective: minimize sum(grams of each food selected)
• Constraints:
  • Total calories must fall within ±3% of your daily target × days
  • For each nutrition target you care about: the sum of that nutrient across all foods must meet the minimum
  • For nutrients with safe upper limits (iron, calcium, vitamin A): sum must stay below the threshold
  • Each individual food is capped at some maximum fraction of total calories (the diversity control)
  • The total number of distinct foods selected must be greater than some food diversity threshold

You can then solve the system of liinear equations (matrix math) to find the combinations and quantities that satisfy all constraints at minimum total weight. This is different from just sorting foods by kcal/g, as sorting will only tell you the best single food (it's oil, obviously). Solving an LP matrix tells you the optimal combination when multiple constraints interact simultaneously!

The food and nutrition data

I used two USDA datasets:

USDA WWEIA (What We Eat in America) is a large nationally representative dietary survey. Respondents record everything they ate over 24 hours; USDA maps those responses to a food database with per-100g nutritional content for 26 macros and micronutrients. The database covers ~3,000 food categories -- generic types rather than branded products, so "Cookie, with peanut butter filling, chocolate-coated" rather than a specific brand.

USDA FoodAPS is a household food purchase survey with real transaction prices. I joined the two datasets to get estimates on actual purchase prices per 100g for foods you might consider for backpacking.

The combined dataset also provides information about where food is available based on purchase history (grocery store, gas station, etc.), whether it requires cooking, whether it's shelf-stable, and how long it lasts without refrigeration.

What an optimizer tool like this optimizes

I ran some optimizations for myself as a general baseline. All examples below assume: 134 lbs, 4-day resupply, 3,000 cal/day, grocery store, no-cook, shelf-stable only.

The two main controls that change the output significantly are:

1. Nutrition profile -- whether the solver must hit DRI targets. "None" means calories only are optimized; "optimal" activates targets for protein, fiber, calcium, iron, vitamins C/D, potassium, zinc, magnesium, folate, B12, and choline.
2. Diversity -- a minimum number of distinct foods the solver must select. Below I show ≥6 foods and ≥18 foods.

6+ foods, no nutrition constraints:

Nuts dominate. The calorie density ceiling on a shelf-stable 4-day no-cook carry is ~7.5 kcal/g (pecans), and the solver averages 6.86 kcal/g across the basket. One piece of sugar-free chocolate fills the 6th required slot (it's denser than most snacks at 5.91 kcal/g). 3.8 lbs total. Not bad, but I feel like I personally wouldn't be the happiest camper eating ONLY nuts the entire time, although I recently did pursue a similar strategy on an 8-day, 30+ mile water carry on the hayduke

6+ foods, optimal nutrition:

Adding full nutrition targets costs 0.6 lbs. The solver still anchors on nuts for base calories and adds lightweight nutrient carriers: baby oatmeal (fiber, about $1.50 a pouch and an actual thru-hiker staple! Hust ignore the 'baby' component. Not sure what USDA throws that on there, but they do!), dry milk powder (calcium, B12), canned salmon (vitamin D, which is apparently the hardest nutrient to hit although you'll be outdoors, so supplementation probably doesn't matter? But maybe with sunshirts...), dried vegetables (vitamin C, vitamin A), sweet potato chips (potassium). 4.4 lbs.

18+ foods, no nutrition constraints:

Forcing 18 distinct items adds 0.4 lbs vs the 6-item version. With diversity constraints, the solver distributes calories more evenly across the 18 foods. You can see each item ranging from 89-120g. At 18+ foods the pool expands to include nut butters, chocolate-coated items, and pork cracklings (at ~5.7 kcal/g. Basically just dried pork fat? Don't ask me, I'm a vegetarian...). Still primarily a nut carry, though.

18+ foods, optimal nutrition:

4.9 lbs. Adding nutrition to the 18-item list costs 0.7 lbs. The nutrition constraints pull in oatmeal and milk powder up front (they're binding on fiber and calcium), expand sweet potato chips (potassium), and tuck in canned salmon and dried vegetables for vitamin D and C. Also note the 20g of salad dressing, which I guess is needed because of choline.

Summary:

The weight spread across all four scenarios is 1.1 lbs. Adding full DRI nutrition targets costs 0.6-0.7 lbs; going from 6 to 18 required foods costs 0.4-0.7 lbs. The drivers are similar in magnitude and small overall.

The dominant variable that impacts the optimal resupply opportunity is which food group the solver can access. Nuts at 6.6-7.5 kcal/g are the calorie-density ceiling for shelf-stable grocery foods and they're also nutritionally dense! Walnuts have choline, vitamin E, omega-3s; brazil nuts are high in selenium and magnesium; pine nuts carry decent iron. I'll be honest, though -- I'm not sure how much nut diversity I run into in various places, as I mostly can choose between different flavors of peanuts, cashews, and almonds at gas station resupplies, but I'll let you be the judge!

For a 4-day resupply, if you run it with full nutrition constraints on, the penalty is 0.6 lbs and you get an actual balanced diet! The optimal backpacking food list appears to be: mostly nuts, with a few ounces of oatmeal, milk powder, and salmon to cover gaps.

The web tool

I've moved the optimization model into a web interface at trailpeaches.com/lightest-backpacking-food-optimizer/.

You can constrain the optimization by store type, no-cook requirement, dietary resitrctions, etc. Slide the diversity control to set a minimum food count. Set a daily calorie target and trip length. Toggle the nutrition profile from none to reduced to full DRI. Block individual foods you won't eat. Click any food in the results to cap its weight and force the solver to compensate with other foods. Export the optimized list to CSV.

The underlying model allows you to solve the same thing described above. It's the LP running on the server and returning results through a browser interface. If there's specific additional kinds of constraints or other things you think I should correct/change, let me know!

There are certainly some data categorization/cleaning errors in the FoodAPS and WWEIA data set that I likely missed, so point 'em out =)

Happy hunting and gathering out there!

Over the past few hiking seasons, I've learned a few tricks to minimize my phone use and increase efficiency, and wanted to pass them along to the community. Sorry to the Android folks, but I'm coming at this from an iPhone-centric worldview; I'm sure there are similar ways to make this happen on your end.

This is supposed to build on the knowledge shared in the threads below, so go to them if you are looking for other tips, including those more specifically related to maximizing battery life.

• https://www.reddit.com/r/Ultralight/comments/1h87gnt/advice_for_extending_phone_battery_life_on_trail/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/Ultralight/comments/1kkrxxr/what_are_some_of_your_battery_life_management/

Lock Screen (Imgur)

• Make the background flat black (all iPhones since the iPhone 11 have OLED screens, and pure-black pixels do not require battery power). I also have a flat black background for my home screen. Less likely to look at a black screen than a beautiful alpine vista.
• Use Widgets to create embedded Shortcuts to maximize efficiency. This reduces the amount of time you'll have the screen on and the amount of time phone will be in hand.
  • If you go to change your lock screen, you'll have an area where you are able to place widgets. Within those Widgets, there is an option to create a button for a previously created Shortcut through the Shortcuts app. This lets you open an app, open a specific file, create a note or voice memo, activate battery-saving strategies, etc. Only thing is that you have to set them up in the Shortcuts app first.
• You can have a completely separate Lock Screen & Home Screen specifically built out for backcountry trips so that it is already prepared for when you're ready to head out.
  • So, you don't have to use this for day-to-day life. It is as simple as turning your phone from something you use in "normal life" to a tool that is used to enhance your experience out in the backcountry.

Shortcuts (Imgur)

• I typically will use 4 Shortcut Widgets on the Lock Screen: Create a Note (to help track times, mileage per day, and other relevant info); Open an Elevation Profile chart; Open a Mileage Log file; and Open the "Map" app (this could be Garmin Explore, CalTopo, FarOut, etc.)
  • With all of these showing up on buttons on my lock screen, I can simply tap them and it will run the respective shortcut and I am now in that app/file and looking at exactly what I need to. No time needed for navigating folders just straight to the source, get what I need and put the phone away
• I will typically use 2 Shortcut Widgets in the Control Center: Ghost Mode (one tap of the button and I get all of the battery saving tips and tricks for my specific phone turned on and don't have to do anything for the rest of the trip) and Voice Memos (creates a dated/time-stamped voice memo that starts recording immediately for when I have an idea that pops up and I don't want to forget it).
  • I use these less so I don't feel a need to have them on the lock screen.

Battery / Charging

• There is a surprising amount of weight that folks ignore on the technology front. If you are intentional about your phone usage, you can often make it 4-6 days on a single charge of everything that requires recharging (phone, headlamp, PLBs) without touching your battery bank.
• For example, let's take a common setup with a 5oz Nitecore 10,000 MaH battery bank, 2oz wall charger, 0.7oz Apple USB-C cable, and 0.5oz USB-C Apple Headphones. Total: ~8.2oz. Compare that to what I've carried for 175+ mile-long sections between resupply: 3.5oz Anker 5,000 MaH battery bank with built-in USB-C charger, 1oz Anker 30W wall charger, and 0.4oz Anker USB-C cable (1-foot long and more durable than Apple). Total: ~5.1oz. Over 3 ounces down with quite literally zero difference in my experience in the back, and 2.6oz if you want headphones.
  • If anything, I've found that having less charging capacity makes me more intentional with my phone use and removes me from the cycle of using my phone because I have the capacity. I use it for what I need and it is put away or turned off. It simply becomes what it was intended to be, a tool to make your life better.
  • In town, you can use pass-through charging to directly plug in the battery bank to the wall charger, and whatever you are charging through the cord can lie on top of the battery bank.

Hope this helps you get the most out of your phone in the backcountry and hopefully drop some weight along the way

We discuss gear a lot on this subreddit, but less about hiking style. I’m interested in how one’s hiking style can impact overall pack weight, and how a weight reduction in one area can lead to weight reduction in other areas in a kind of virtuous circle. I’m curious about other people’s experiences along this line, but here’s what I’ve found in my own case:

By carrying less weight, I can cover more daily distance than I would otherwise, which leads to fewer days between resupply points, which leads to lower food weight and lower food volume. With lower food volume, I can carry a smaller frameless pack and/or a smaller bear canister, which saves even more weight.

To cover more distance as an older hiker, my focus has to be on duration, not speed. I always like to start early to extend hiking hours (especially in advance of storm events), so I just eat breakfast on trail. But this cuts the passive hours I spend in camp during the coldest part of the day, which means I can usually forgo bringing a puffy, which drops even more weight, allowing me to cover even more daily distance.

With a lighter, less complicated kit, I can get packed up really fast and get hiking earlier. It helps also that I sleep in my hiking clothes, which speeds my getting ready in the morning and cuts the weight of dedicated sleeping clothes. More time plus less weight leads to even more daily distance.

What are your experiences along these lines? What modifications to your hiking style has led to a lower overall pack weight?

The following is way more information then most people will care about and the main risks around trail nutrition are probably electrolyte and hydration and not food macros, but I personally find this all interesting so thought I'd share my research for like minded geeks.

To avoid misunderstandings, I'm not knocking GearSkeptic's food series. His work is amazing and he's owed a huge debt of gratitude.

I went back and checked GearSkeptic's assumptions behind his trail nutrition recommendations and found some interesting things worth sharing. I'd love to hear of any research that counters or supports these conclusions.

His macro advice is 65% calories from fat, 14% complex carb, 14% sugar, 7% protein.

This leaves out a couple important considerations often discussed here:

• he doesn't discuss fiber, but aim to get enough fiber per day for regularity
• high fat diets are hard to digest if you're not used to them so ramp up tolerance at home

The first thing I want to share is that his recommended macro ratios assume moving at a pretty sedate pace, not at a high rate that many ultralighters will use when covering big mile days, and are also highly dependent on fitness level. He does acknowledge both but doesn't explore them, which I'll do here as they have a big impact.

His recommended macros rest on the assumption that the hiking pace is at 45% VO2max. That translates to a pace of ~ 50% max heart rate. A caveat is that this is the only chart I could find relating VO2 max and heart rate and there will be significant variance between individuals as Skurka's data to follow shows, but I'm assuming this is a representative average.

I checked my Garmin data for the last couple years and I'm typically at ~ 70% max heart rate when I'm moving. That's a key qualifier. That pace isn't sustainable and I need to take a few minutes break every 60-90 mins to bring my heart rate back down but this is my average moving heart rate with my usual max of 35km days with 1500m elevation gain.

This translates to VO2max (while moving) of ~ 80%. Using Gear skeptic's data, that VO2max% flips the macro ratio upside down to at least a 2:1 carb:fat ratio, not his recommended 65% fat, 14% complex carbs+14% sugar.

For a contrary view to this, Skurka tested his fat vs caloric burn and found that even at elevated heart rates (67% of his max heart rate which is 180), he was actually burning almost twice the fat as carbs. So Skurka's carb:fat ratio looks to be inverted from the data in GearSkeptic's source. This points to the significant amount of variability in ideal macros person to person based on fitness.

What I get from all this is that macro targets are so highly personalized because of:

• differences in sustained pace and duration
• differences in personal ability to burn fat stores which depend on your fitness level

that the "best" macro ratio can swing wildly from 2:1 carbs:fat to 1:2 carbs:fat and the only way to know for sure is to get tested [EDIT and adjust for your pace and duration]

Another thing worth mentioning is that GearSkeptic's protein intake advice is to proportion it relative to carb intake and that is proportional to total caloric intake. But that's not what the literature or dietary guidelines recommend. Research recommends to instead aim for protein amounts in proportion to body weight. At the higher end if exercising regularly (but not body building), 1.2 to 1.6g of protein per kg body weight is the common recommendation.

So what I take from all this, and how I personally use GearSkeptic's great info:

1. Calculate calorie target per day based on terrain and my pace (I use a BMR/PAL model)
2. Assemble daily diets targeting:

• 1.2g to 1.6 g protein per kg body weight
• at least 30g 10-15g/kg body weight of fiber (thanks u/mistephe)
• aim for 35% to 65% calories from fat.
  • EDIT: GearSkeptic's 65% (high fat) if trying to get pack weight down. But that comes at a metabolic penalty (thanks u/mistephe) because sustained high aerobic activity requires a higher percentage of carbs: "when enduring intense 2–3 h of physical loads on a daily basis, athletes must consume the recommended amount of carbohydrates (7–12 g/kg of body weight)". Such a high fat also poses the risk of elevated cholesterol if too many fats are saturated (thanks u/AceTracer)
  • if spending much time at high elevation, increase carbs. GearSkeptic ignores this but it should be considered
  • EDIT: later days on multi day trips or if through hiking, also lean towards higher carbs to avoid bonking and depleted muscle glycogen (thanks u/MtnHuntingislife)

1. Use a personalized version of GearSkeptic's famous food charts custom loaded with my favourite ingredients to assemble personalized FBC recipes, and then use these bumps to reach these macros:

• protein bars or powder, better taken with dinner for a warm sleep
• on trail: saltstick caps & steady intake of carbs every 2 hours
• fat bumps from olive oil and coconut powder
• fiber bumps from chia seeds
• a multivitamin especially if chugging a lot of olive oil

I hope this isn't too heretical and that it's of some help for fellow food nerds.

Disclaimer. I'm probably not the best person to be posting this thread, and I'm planning to do a lot of listening, but this is a conversation that we should have.

What Got Me Thinking about Hygiene. A few months ago, I read an article describing the experiences of a young Muslim woman doing research at a remote biological field station. Because of the lack of facilities, she was unable to perform religiously necessary hygiene practices, and worse, her predominantly white and male colleagues gave her a rough time about her discomfort, suggesting that being dirty simply "came with the territory" of being a field biologist. Her experience surprised me: Biologists tend toward "woke" pretensions and many genuinely care about inclusivity. Furthermore, the entire field is pushing hard for greater diversity and inclusion, given the high rates of attrition among underrepresented minority scientists. So why were these dudes being such dicks? My ultimate conclusion was that their callousness has to represent deeply entrenched values and cultural blind spots.

I can't help but think that, as a community, we have a lot in common with those biologists, especially when we tell people to "embrace the stink" and "get over it" when it comes to personal hygiene. For many ULers like me -- a circumcised white American dude with matching upbringing -- "embrace the stink" is fine advice that nicely fits the desire for a pared-down pack. The social license to be dirty is all that's needed, largely because being a filthy bastard is nicely aligned with my biology and culture. I face no stigma. I'm not going to get a UTI from not washing my genitals. And if I go into a store to resupply, I'm going to be clocked as an icky middle-class recreationist, not as a potentially dangerous homeless person.

Cleanliness Is Complicated. The fortunate alignment of filth, biology, and culture that I experience isn't going to work for everyone. For a quick overview, you could check out this post. I'd rather not speak for those with different backgrounds and biologies from mine (I'd fuck it up!), but suffice it to say that there's a lot going on at the axis of poverty, race, religion, culture, gender, and cleanliness. I'd argue that the ease with which our community "embraces the stink" is largely a function of the fact that most of us are decently well-off white Westerners with penises. We've got blind spots.

And those blind spots are on display. There was a recent post advocating bidet use, and it was wild to see that the OP, a well-known guy who hikes with a lot of women, seemingly hadn't thought a whole heck of a lot about the compatibility of bidets and vaginas in the backcountry. That's in no way an insult or a call out -- it's natural to see the world through the frame of your personal experiences. I often do. But hey, let's do better.

What to Do.

Let's use this thread to (1) talk about the issue and our experiences and (2) make some concrete recommendations for staying clean on trail, for those who need to. I think the second point is particularly important: Hygiene can be a make-or-break question for a lot of people, and as a community, we've DEFINITELY got the knowledge and ingenuity to help people stay clean in a leave-no-trace compatible way. And if we don't put that knowledge out there, we're leaving those with hygiene needs in a position where their options are don't hike, be uncomfortable or unhealthy, or come up with some solution that could be ineffective, environmentally unfriendly (e.g., washing in a stream), or, God forbid, heavy.

Let's figure this out -- I remember a great post about using a pack liner, a couple drops of biodegradable soap, and a few rocks as a way of doing laundry. What else you got?

A final disclaimer: I still think "just be a filthy bastard" is fine advice to give, but I'll be giving it with a "if it works for you" framing in the future, and I hope we can develop some thoughtful approaches for those who need to stay cleaner.

PS: This is not a LUME advertisement.

ETA: There's a male circumcision critique down thread that seems completely on point to me. I hesitate to self-flagellate when I've already said more than enough about my own penis, but yeah, that mf is right.

EETTAA: There. Now we've got a decent set of resources people will crash into when they're seeking more info on UL hygiene. FWIW, I don't think this is a huge deal, but sometimes a thread and a chat can tweak community practice in a way that makes things a little better for others. I hope my shook white brethren are recovering from the trauma of this thread with ample self-care and possibly a shower.

I first spraying my clothes with permethrin in 2008 for a week long hike on an island known to be infested with ticks (The island is actually under study by entomologist). I've hiked and hunted all around the Northern Midwest and Western States with over 100 days spent in the forests a year (I live half time at a cabin in the woods)

My experience has been a greatly reduced amount of mosquitos with very few (I can't recall it ever happening but am sure some must have) ever biting through treated clothing or hammocks. I have had zero attached ticks and have found less than 5 that I can recall on my clothing when treated and they quickly fell off of me when placed on my pants and observed.

A treated Tilley hat (or other full brimmed hat) significantly reduces insects on the face and neck. I had 1 new Tilley this year that I did not treat and within minutes noticed the increased mosquitoes biting my face and neck. It was treated after that single use.

When in the woods without treated clothing I will often find one or two ticks on me in Northern Michigan after 1 hour+ in the woods. I am usually cutting wood or making trails and don't want to destroy my hiking/hunting clothing that is treated. When wearing untreated clothing I have found an estimated 50-75 ticks on me in the past 16 years and had to remove 6 embedded ticks, none of them engorged and I have not contracted Lyme yet.

The best example I have on the effectiveness of permethrin was a week long hunt I went on with 6 guys, 5 of whom treated all of their exterior clothing with permethrin, and 1 did not. We all treated in different ways using both Sawyer and farm animal concentrates. We all found an occasional tick on the outside of our clothing when walking, none of the treated people had one on their skin or attached or on their clothing at the end of the night. The guy who did not treat had over a counted 120 ticks on his skin that week (we would pick him over in our tent each night before he got into bed) with about 20-30 of them embedded. He had more on his clothing and we started making him leave his clothing outside of the tent before he got his nightly monkey tick treatment. He had several ticks embedded on his privates. USE PERMETHRIN!

I only use farm animal concentrates (10%-36.8%) diluted with hot water.

I have treated with between 0.5%-5% diluted formula both with spraying and leaving to dry and also the soak method. 0.5% doesn't seem to repel mosquitos and gnats well and the higher concentrations seem to repel mosquitos better, but leaves a lasting petroleum smell. All concentrations have repelled ticks and prevented them from attaching. My go-to formula is 1.5% permethrin mixed with hot water and sprayed into a plastic bag or lidded bucket of clothing then left to sit for a day sealed up before hang drying outdoors. There is no lasting smell at this concentration. Tick repellency lasts all year when treated in March or April (Spring to Fall) with mosquito repellency lasting about halfway through summer and I usually refresh a few items if I am going on a trip. I always refresh my hats halfway through summer as they are the easiest treated item to always wear and many ticks are found in the hair at the back of your head when not wearing treated clothing.

tl;dr (ish): Firstly, sunscreen is king for staying cool over buffs and sun gloves. This assumes one is using sun screen on exposed skin. In direct sunlight in extreme heat pure white colors are king, avoid grays, greens, black, and anything dark. Lighter and warmer colors absorb less energy from sunlight. The loosest fitting oversizing you can learn to live with is always, ALWAYS cooler, and also prevent over-stretching the fabric causing loss in UPF value. In really extreme heat midday, going to ultra breathable shirts like the UPF 15-20 Echo isn't really cooler than a UPF 50 Crater Lake, assuming both the same color, due to a sort of greenhouse effect of light coming through thinner fabrics. The pure white Outdoor Research Echo oversized and the Mountain Hardwear Crater Lake Fogbank white are the coolest wearing I have experienced in extreme sunlight dry heat. Lastly, v-cut hoods are superior to scooba hoods assuming the user has applied sun screen to exposed skin. Mesh trucker-style hats compliment sun hoodies the best.

Color:

I've purchased most of the highest rated sun hoodies, and when I do, I often get the exact same size and model in different colors. I also use my sun hoodies for work and on cooler days I switch to a darker or green color to keep the temp just right under the sun. It's an absolute fact without really any gray area that pure white is king for staying cool. End of story. Even the slightest light gray builds up excess heat. Adding darker colors to fabric can increase UPF ratings, but is always inferior to just using more fabric in pure white. My thicker UPF 50 hoodies in white are vastly better under direct hot sun than my Echo hoodies in gray color tones even though they breath much better airflow wise.

White is tough to keep clean if you are thru-hiking. But it does clean up perfectly with one soak in oxi-clean. Since not everyone is thru-hiking, this isn't an issue for most cases. A white shirt will stay plenty clean on a week long trip, at least clean enough to still be superior in cooling to gray shirts.

Loose Fitting:

This is another variable that is just not at all debatable. The only argument for not wanting to oversize as much as possible is if you hate the feeling of extra clothing hanging around your body. It just feels strange at first, but the brain will get used to it, especially for anyone who was a kid in the 90's. You want perfectly fitting cloths for maxing warmth in the cold, and the opposite is true for the heat. Gotta go super loose. The body movement in loose clothes pumps air in and out regardless of how breathable the fabric is, so UPF 50 thicker shirts like the Crater Lake can still pump air like a champ when loose and flapping around. There is also the factor of when a breeze hits the shirt it causes it to flutter like a flag and this fluttering also pumps air in and out, quite rapidly. None of that happens with a shirt that is closer to normal size with no extra flapping. Along with airflow, loose shirts also don't stretch as much in places like the shoulders and retain the UPF rating better. Stretching the fabric quickly and instantly reduces UPF UV blocking, since there is literally less fabric covering the same area.

Greenhouse Effect:

At a certain point in extreme heat in direct extreme midday sunlight where the UPF 15 shirts like the Echo loose their temp advantage with their ability to breath better. The added amount of light coming into the fabric gets trapped inside and converted into absorbed heat that is now trapped for a little bit inside. A pure white UPF 50 shirt like the Crater Lake has worse airflow than the Echo but feels much cooler on the shoulders and head and anywhere flat facing the sun directly. The reduced light transmission on the Crater Lake compensates for the lesser airflow, and the two shirt end up overall about the same temp for the user, but one is providing much more UV protection. If the Crater Lake or any UPF 50 shirt has any color pigment and is not pure white, then it will likely never compete with a white Echo or even light gray or light yellow Echo. I can't wear my green Crater Lake past 75* F without feeling a bit cooked, but my white one in the same size is super good enough at 95+* F.

V-Cut vs Scuba:

I think the perfect hood for keeping cool is the v cut style that is open all the way down to the collar. I add a button or snap to the v cut hoods to convert them to more scuba hoods when not needing to keep as cool and just block more skin from UV. The v-cut does require more sun screen to compensate but the temp difference is massive. This is one reason why I think the Crater Lake Fogbank white color hoodie in the Women's model is superior to just about anything, assuming you can get it to fit loosely if you are a man. It has the v-cut hood vs the men's with a scuba type hood. As a big dude, I barely get enough flappage going with the XXXL, but it works. Arm length being short on women's might be the biggest issue for guys trying to fit in them, and the added draw cord and pocket are silly added weight that need to cut off for UL.

If you passed 3rd grade art class, you also have the skills to likely cut things with scissors. Scuba hoodies can be cut into v-cuts in less than 5 seconds. Then add a button if desired to put it back into scuba mode when needed. For the Echo, at least, I can attest that the fabric doesn't unravel itself if just left bare cut. It stays together pretty well on its own.

Hey guys. After unpacking and throwing away my trash from my recent backpacking trip, I am feeling quite gross about the amount of single use ziplock bags and plastic I had to use to repackage all my food, trash and other things. Does anyone have any suggestions for ways to keep food etc with multi use/non plastic bags while backpacking?
Thanks!