What to carry while backpacking?

[thorborg]

In another life it would seem, I've backpacked just about all of skyline trail and Pacific Crest trail in Oregon and lower Washington, most of it before their modern repurposing when the orignal trails left by pioneers and Indians had disappeared to all but the untrained eye, Old blazes extremely hard to find required backtracking much to find the easier pass routs.
So went for Eagle Cap wilderness and the Imnhaha valley down to the snake. Also a good part of the Frasier River canyons and areas from Quinell Forks to Prince Rupert in British Colombia. Also backbreaking work building trails for the Forest Service around Olallie Lake area and Bagby Hot springs when the bears were so hungry they were swarming the campgrounds for food. I did not carry a gun for much of this time.
These were one to four week trips. Food, Knife, change of socks, matches, in that order first on the list. Water tabs and disenfectant, (today it would be Neosporan) compass and map Bota bag next on the list, The rest, added weight up to 55 pounds, of what ever I wanted to carry on my back for days on end. A couple times I packed a 22 to get camp meat but hunting for meat is usually time consuming A mater of great luck, Ok if you are going to stay some where for a while but if you intend to cover much ground every day, prohibited. fishing gear is good, more productive, tasty, helps fill you up but no fat energy.
I've seen plenty "wild" life but never felt threatened. Nor any of my like minded friends. Saw more squirrely guys looking for no good I managed to avoid but most of those were in Canada and promoted me to start packing concealed (not bears and cougars). but for every pound of iron, something in the pack has got to go. If you don't believe that, wait for the third or fourth day after you have put on thirty to sixty miles. You will start looking at your equipment from a utilitarian point of view. cook gear, tarp, axe, sleeping bag. it ads up fast. A camera is a better choice, its product a great asset when you get too old to back pack any more.
Go ahead and carry the 500 magnum and fifty rounds if you feel your morning wake up call will look like this:

I'm willing to bet that 99.9% of you will never fire it for life saving reasons your entire life unless you piss them off first.
I'd rather stay at home than feel like that.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Well I figured someone else would have said it- I carry a Kel Tec PMR 30 with 25 rounds.
I am not afraid of bears, but cougars are killing machines. Men and cougars do not stand up to a 22 mag very well.

.22 mag has horrible ballistics out of a handgun.
Might as well carry a .22lr.

 

[orygun]

But you can burn the hair off of anything or start a fire with the muzzle blast.

 

[TNThomas]

Robear, thats probably a great choice in my opinion. Cheap gun, cheap on ammo, fairly light, and you wont feel bad if it gets rusty/beat up. I would think a cougar on average will be your biggest danger, and that should fare well with a few rounds. In the cascades we are generally fairly safe from wildlife. Black bears are all over, but are not nearly as dangerous as Grizzlies, which I dont think you should have anywhere in Oregon, and if so, not many. Wolves very rarely attack humans, maybe 1 confirmed case, in North America, the real danger should be with cougars. I put alot of thought into my daily CC, and it covers the both urban and mountainous environments. It is the "Bear" minimum I would feel safe carying deep in the woods of Alaska or Idaho. I have a cabin near the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho, and regularly hike deep back by by myself in the summer, and ride snomobiles overnight to get there in the winter. Its a S&W 340PD. A J-frame 5 shot snub nose Scandium Alloy .357 Mag that comes in around 12oz unloaded, and about 15oz loaded. The thing hurts to shoot, but at close range, it would be a little beast if needed. I Carried it in my front pocket for years working in Seattle, and on the hip in the mountains. The best hiking experiences I have had, are when im alone, with a map, compass, hiking along game trails on ridge tops in Idaho. Alot of the mental comfort vomes from knowing you can defend yourself if needed. I remember hiking alone in my youth before I owned a handgun. I had a hunting knife on me, but was on a ridgetop, about 2 miles in from our cabin. I kept finding deer body parts on the trail, fur every few hundred feet, a part of an ear, blood, part of a leg, fur, etc. I saw a few wolf prints. Kept going another hour or so. On my way back I was looking at my footprints and remember seeing one of my prints, with a wolf print on top of it. They knew I was there, but I never saw them. I remember really wishing I had a gun, and my cool 9" hunting knife didnt seem so tough. I ended up decending another ridge and finding another kill site, elk bones everywhere, and even found a broken off K-9 tooth in the mix. You will provably never need it, but ypu will have plenty of times ypu are glad to have packed in a little 9mm, even if its not a cool 10mm or tough 357/44mag.

 

[Olderguy]

In another life it would seem, I've backpacked just about all of skyline trail and Pacific Crest trail in Oregon and lower Washington, most of it before their modern repurposing when the orignal trails left by pioneers and Indians had disappeared to all but the untrained eye, Old blazes extremely hard to find required backtracking much to find the easier pass routs.
So went for Eagle Cap wilderness and the Imnhaha valley down to the snake. Also a good part of the Frasier River canyons and areas from Quinell Forks to Prince Rupert in British Colombia. Also backbreaking work building trails for the Forest Service around Olallie Lake area and Bagby Hot springs when the bears were so hungry they were swarming the campgrounds for food. I did not carry a gun for much of this time.
These were one to four week trips. Food, Knife, change of socks, matches, in that order first on the list. Water tabs and disenfectant, (today it would be Neosporan) compass and map Bota bag next on the list, The rest, added weight up to 55 pounds, of what ever I wanted to carry on my back for days on end. A couple times I packed a 22 to get camp meat but hunting for meat is usually time consuming A mater of great luck, Ok if you are going to stay some where for a while but if you intend to cover much ground every day, prohibited. fishing gear is good, more productive, tasty, helps fill you up but no fat energy.
I've seen plenty "wild" life but never felt threatened. Nor any of my like minded friends. Saw more squirrely guys looking for no good I managed to avoid but most of those were in Canada and promoted me to start packing concealed (not bears and cougars). but for every pound of iron, something in the pack has got to go. If you don't believe that, wait for the third or fourth day after you have put on thirty to sixty miles. You will start looking at your equipment from a utilitarian point of view. cook gear, tarp, axe, sleeping bag. it ads up fast. A camera is a better choice, its product a great asset when you get too old to back pack any more.
Go ahead and carry the 500 magnum and fifty rounds if you feel your morning wake up call will look like this:
View attachment 756732
I'm willing to bet that 99.9% of you will never fire it for life saving reasons your entire life unless you piss them off first.
I'd rather stay at home than feel like that.

Well, you've convinced me- nothing will ever happen- so its stupid to carry when in the woods. Thanks - I guess i'll give my pistol away now.

 

[HikerKat]

Several folks slid into my DMs asking about what I carry backpacking. Sharing it here in case someone else might find it helpful. Probably goes without saying to gun folks but of course we all should observe Leave No Trace principals whenever we head out.

Enlightened Equipment Revelation 20 quilt w/900 fill down, thermarest neoair xtherm, sea to summit UL pillow
MSR pocket rocket stove, Snow Peak Ti spork, MSR .85L Titan kettle, microfiber camp towel
MSR Hubba 1p tent OR Mountain Laurel Designs Grace Tarp Duo (w/MSR Groundhog stakes for either, and I use a piece of 4'x8' tyvek for a ground sheet w/tarp), 50-100ft paracord
Black diamond carbon cork trekking poles
Gossimer Gear Kumo 36L pack
Hill People Gear Runner's Bag
Black Diamond Storm headlamp
Sawyer mini filter with Platypus 2L bag and a Smart Water 1L bottle
med kit, 2 extra black plastic garbage bags, backup iodine pills for H2O purification
1 or 2 small Bic lighters wrapped in duct tape, extra gallon ziplock, backup flint/steel
Leatherman Squirt PS4 (often I will also carry a Morakniv)
sometimes I will carry a hammock like Eno Sub-7 and on quick summer overnighters I may only take this for sleeping with no other shelter
20 sheets of good TP plus hand sanitizer and the Duce of Spades
Suunto M-3 compass, paper map, plus GPS map downloaded to OnX on my phone
small portable charger w/phone chord (good for about 1.5 phone charges)
travel Dr Bonnors soap for longer trips
sunscreen, bug spray, etc., depending on conditions
Clothing: what I'm wearing, plus a down jacket, beanie, and maybe an extra layer for up top
Sleep clothes: clean wool socks, wool long johns, wool shirt (this stuff is only for sleep)
S&W 329PD or 396NG with one extra speed strip and a round or two of snake shot

Nice setup. What's your base weight?

 

[BillyJean]

Nice setup. What's your base weight?

Thanks for the kind words. It's been ages since I weighed my pack or gear so I couldn't say. Running either the MLD tarp or just the ground sheet, a non-winter small size NeoAir and dropping a few other things and I can get down pretty dang low, but I'd rather be in the woods than counting grams at this point as I am dang busy. If I were often doing bigger or gnarlier routes these days I'd probably pay more attention.