Your First Backpacking Trip: The Complete Gear Checklist to Print

Friday night, the evening before you leave. Piled on the bed: a tent a coworker lent you, a sleeping bag that smells a bit like the attic, three flashlights, a cast-iron skillet, and a family-size box of pasta. For a first night out, the hard part isn’t thinking of everything: it’s deciding what to leave behind. Here’s the list, item by item, with what each piece weighs according to its manufacturer, what you can borrow, what stays home, and a checklist at the bottom of the page.

It picks up where our day hike packing list leaves off: water, food, a rain jacket, a warm layer, and the first aid kit stay in your pack, and the night adds a shelter, a bed, a kitchen, and light. The National Park Service’s Ten Essentials already include emergency shelter, such as a tent, tarp, bivy sack, or space blanket [1]. For an overnight, Rocky Mountain National Park’s summer backpacking checklist adds a sleeping bag and pad suited to the season, a stove with fuel and a repair kit, a lighter or waterproof matches, cooking pots, utensils, water bottles, and a filter or tablets [2]. For several days on your own, France’s hiking federation (FFRandonnée) gives much the same list, plus several trash bags, a roll of strong string, and a large plastic tarp [3]. This page fleshes out the checklist in our step-by-step guide to a first backcountry camp, which covers where to sleep and how to go about it.

What it all weighs: about 12.6 lb before water and food

Let’s start with the scale, since it decides how much you’ll enjoy the hike in. The table gives, item by item, the weight a manufacturer lists for one of its models. These models are examples of spec sheets, not recommendations: check the sheet for the gear you’ll borrow or buy, since weights vary a lot from one model to another.

Add up one item per category, using the backpacking tent, the summer sleeping bag, and the foam pad, and you get 12.6 lb (5.7 kg), before water, food, clothes, and cookware. Mostly, the math shows one thing: four items, the tent, the backpack, the sleeping bag, and the pad, weigh 10.6 lb (4.8 kg) on their own, or 84% of the total. That’s where the pounds are won or lost, far more than in your toiletry kit. Ultralight devotees will do better, and more power to them; on a first trip, what matters most is not forgetting anything.

Then there’s water, which weighs 2.2 lb (1 kg) per liter. Compare the total with what you can carry. For a multiday hike, France’s hiking federation recommends no more than 20% of your body weight, or about 24 lb (11 kg) if you weigh 121 lb (55 kg) and 35 lb (16 kg) at 176 lb (80 kg) [3]. The pack in our example is designed for loads of 26 to 33 lb (12 to 15 kg), according to Deuter [4].

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Shelter and sleep: the three items that matter most

For shelter, a two-person tent is still the easiest way to start. Look at its packaged weightThe weight of everything in the box: tent body, rainfly, poles, stakes, guylines, and stuff sacks.: at MSR, it counts everything in the package, while the minimum weight covers only the tent body, rainfly, and poles, which gives 3 lb 13 oz (1.72 kg) versus 3 lb 6 oz (1.54 kg) for the Hubba Hubba NX 2 [5]. A camping tent of the same capacity gets heavy fast: 5 lb 15 oz (2.7 kg) for the Campo Compact 2P, which Vaude lists for camping [6]. A tarp, just a sheet of fabric pitched taut, gets down to 1 lb 12 oz (790 g) for a 3 × 3 m model, about 10 by 10 feet, without stakes or guylines [7], but you need to know how to pitch it: our guide to tarp setups explains which ones to use.

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At night, two pieces of gear work as a team. Choose a sleeping bag by its comfort rating, not the number in its name, which often gives the limit: Deuter’s synthetic Orbit +5° has a comfort rating of 48 °F (9 °C) and a limit of 41 °F (5 °C), and weighs 2 lb 5 oz (1,050 g), plus a 1.7 oz (48 g) stuff sack [8]. A down bag like Sea to Summit’s Trek lists 2 lb 10 oz (1,197 g) for a 30 °F (-1 °C) limit [9]. Our guide to sleeping bag temperature ratings explains how to read these numbers.

The pad, meanwhile, insulates you from the ground, which pulls heat from your body when you lie down. Its R-valueA pad’s thermal resistance: the higher it is, the better it insulates you from the ground. tells you how well: 2 for the Z Lite Sol folding foam pad, which weighs 14.5 oz (410 g) [10], and 4.5 for the NeoAir XLite NXT inflatable, 13.1 oz (370 g), which comes with a field repair kit [11]. Foam doesn’t care about thorns; the inflatable insulates better for less weight, as long as you remember the patch kit. Our guide to R-value explains how to compare them. Add a warm layer and dry socks saved for the night, plus the extra layer the Ten Essentials call for, such as a jacket, a hat, or gloves [1].

Food and water: a stove, a pot, and water

The kitchen fits in one hand: a canister stove like MSR’s PocketRocket 2 weighs 2.6 oz (73 g) [12], and a canister holding 3.9 oz (110 g) of fuel is listed at 7.4 oz (210 g) [13]. Add a cup, a bowl, and a spoon, as Rocky Mountain National Park’s checklist suggests, with a pot and a lighter or waterproof matches [2]. The stove stands in for a campfire: the Leave No Trace principles recommend a lightweight stove for cooking [18], and the Ten Essentials ask you to check your park’s fire rules [1]. And it never goes inside the tent.

For food, plan dinner, breakfast, a snack for when you reach camp, and an extra one. Take it out of excess packaging before you leave: the Leave No Trace principles recommend repackaging food to minimize waste [18]. In bear country, storage matters too: Rocky Mountain National Park’s checklist includes a hard-sided, lockable bear canister for all food, trash, and scented items [2], and the Leave No Trace principles ask you to store food and trash securely [18]. Then there’s water, which adds up fast, especially since a hard-sided bottle already weighs 6.2 oz (177 g) empty [14]. Plan for evening and morning, for drinking and cooking, and bring a way to treat water from streams, a filter or tablets: our guide to backcountry water compares the methods.

Light, navigation, and first aid

Night always falls sooner than you planned, and Rocky Mountain National Park’s checklist asks you to be ready for sudden weather changes and even a night out in extreme conditions [2]. A headlamp keeps your hands free to pitch the tent or cook, which is why the Park Service recommends it [1]: Petzl’s Actik Core, for example, weighs 3.1 oz (88 g) and charges over USB-C, but doesn’t come with a cable [15]. Charge it the day before, and pack extra batteries [1].

For navigation, the Ten Essentials start with a map and compass, with a paper map as a backup if you use your phone, and an extra battery for the phone [1]. A charged phone is also how you call for help: dial 911 [20]. Rocky Mountain National Park’s checklist rounds out the safety kit with a first aid kit, a whistle, and a multi-tool or pocketknife [2].

Hygiene, trash, and a few extras

For washing up, a toothbrush, a little soap, and a small towel are plenty, as long as you wash away from the water: the Leave No Trace principles ask you to carry water 200 feet (61 m) away from streams or lakes and use small amounts of biodegradable soap [18]. For bathroom needs, a small folding trowel weighs 2.4 oz (68 g), and its depth markings help you dig deep enough [17]: catholes go 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) deep, at least 200 feet from water, camp, and trails, and toilet paper gets packed out [18]. Our guide to Leave No Trace on the trail covers the details.

Bring several trash bags too [3]: pack it in, pack it out, which means all trash, leftover food, and litter [18].

Borrow or rent instead of buying

For a first trip, there’s no need to buy a tent, sleeping bag, pad, and big backpack before you know whether you like sleeping outside: borrow them from friends or family, or rent them. In Montana, for example, the outfitter Glacier Guides rents a backpacking bundle with a tent, backpack, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and trekking poles, picked up at its office in West Glacier, near Glacier National Park [21]. Save your money for the small personal items you’ll also use on every day hike: the headlamp, the water bottle, the first aid kit, the space blanket. When it’s time to buy the pack, our guide covers how many liters you need.

Borrowed gear is sometimes heavier than what’s on the spec sheets: with a 5 lb 15 oz (2.7 kg) camping tent instead of a 3 lb 13 oz (1.72 kg) backpacking tent, our example goes from 12.6 to 14.8 lb (5.7 to 6.7 kg) [6, 5]. On a short hike in, those extra 2 lb or so are no big deal; on a long climb, you’ll feel them.

What stays home

Everything that makes car camping comfy stays in the garage. For extra comfort, Decathlon’s French camping checklist adds a cot, a cooler, a folding table and chairs, and a solar shower [23]: none of it belongs on your back. Neither does the big family tent: besides its weight, it’s the opposite of a bivouac as France’s national parks define it, a night in a small, compact tent you can’t stand up in [22].

The ax and saw stay in the shed: campfires can leave lasting marks, and where fires are allowed, the Leave No Trace principles ask you to use existing fire rings and keep fires small [18]; check your park’s rules before you go [1]. The speaker stays home too: “Let nature’s sounds prevail,” the same principles say, and avoid loud voices and noises [18]. As for the third sweater “just in case,” the cast-iron skillet, and the three flashlights, you’d already spotted them.

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The printable checklist

Check it off the night before, laying each item on the floor, then go over it again as you close your pack. Adjust it for the season, the elevation, and the forecast.

Shelter

• Tent, set up at least once before, or tarp and guylines
• Poles, stakes, and guylines, counted
• Footprint or ground tarp, depending on the shelter

Sleep

• Sleeping bag chosen by its comfort rating
• Insulated pad, plus its repair kit if inflatable
• Warm layer, warm hat, and dry socks saved for the night
• Gloves for evening and morning, depending on the season

Food and water

• Stove and compatible canister, tested together
• Lighter and waterproof matches
• Pot, cup, spoon, sponge, and dish towel
• Dinner, breakfast, snacks, and an extra ration
• Bear canister, where your park calls for one
• Water for the hike, the evening, and the morning
• Filter or tablets to treat stream water

Light and navigation

• Headlamp, charged, or extra batteries
• Map and compass
• Charged phone and backup battery

First aid and protection

• First aid kit and personal medications
• Space blanket and whistle
• Knife and tick remover
• Rain jacket
• Sunscreen, sunglasses, cap
• Hiking boots, already broken in

Hygiene and trash

• Toothbrush, a little biodegradable soap, small towel
• Toilet paper and a zip-top bag to pack it out
• Small folding trowel
• Several trash bags

Extras

• Camp shoes or light sandals
• Sleeping bag liner
• Length of cord
• Inflatable pillow or rolled-up fleece
• Earplugs and a paperback

The smart move, once your pack is zipped: set it on the bathroom scale, water and food included, and compare it with 20% of your body weight. If it’s over, pull out the “just in case” items first, never the first aid kit, the headlamp, or the warm layer.

Worth watching

In this REI video, Miranda unpacks what she brings on a backpacking trip, a quick walk-through of the gear behind a printable checklist like ours.

The video is hosted by YouTube (Google): nothing loads until you play it, and Google may then set cookies.

Guillaume Hoarau

Camping, backpacking, bushcraft and hiking

Guillaume Hoarau writes for Outfarer about camping, backpacking, bushcraft, and hiking. A survival-skills buff and a collector of vintage field manuals, he loves clear explanations, lists that actually help and other people’s stories, which he tells well.

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