How to Choose Backpacking Supplies

Video Transcript

"There are actually a lot of factors that go into how to choose backpacking supplies. One thing to think about is the amount of money that you want to spend on your backpacking supplies because obviously a lot of things can be really expensive and if you're only going to be going out for a weekend a year or a few weekends a year you probably don't want to invest tons of money into all this brand new backpacking gear. So you can always think about borrowing from friends or going to some secondhand stores that have great backpacking supplies at a really discounted rate. There's always your options of getting the outlet online, REIOnline.com, outlet, or the outlets on online that have cheap gear as well. And then just trying to find sales, this is a really important thing. A couple other factors in choosing your backpacking supplies are what types of things do you want from a tent to maybe a bivy sack which is a single person tent which can be less expensive and less weight. You have your classic foam insulite pad versus your new thermo blow up pad. A lot difference in cost and in weight. And then of course the plethora of companies that make outdoor clothing and rain jackets and hats and things like that. So it can be a little bit overwhelming to choose what supplies you need. Ultimately you need to figure out where you're going, what type of environment, are you going to be in a wet climate or a dry climate, do you need a lot of cold weather gear or more warm weather stuff, what types of boots do you need, if you're going to be in wet a lot you're going to want some Gortex boots versus maybe just some hiking shoes that you can use on in dry climates with not a lot of rocks. So where you're going is really important to think about, how long you're going out for and then how much money you want to invest in your supplies. Water and food as a backpacking supply is always a big subject because you need to carry food for your journey and you need to know how you're going to purify your water. So in terms of your choices, for water purification you have your filters that you can pump water. You want to make sure that you get a 1 micron or less size filter to make sure you're getting out the viruses and the bacteria and the protozoa. In terms of other options you can use iodine, so dripping some sort of iodine into your water and letting it purify and there's these cool new starry pens that actually use UV light to purify the water. And then you can also just do the classic boiling your water to a rolling boil and killing everything that's in there, so obviously you'll need a camp stove which leads into food. It's a big thing to plan for food if you're going out for a multi day trip, what types of food do you want, the dehydrated backpacking meals are really great, they're lightweight but they can be pretty spendy. So can you dehydrate your own food or can you make your own meals that are a canned foods, they can be cheaper but more weight. So those are all things you need to think about as you're considering what types of supplies to bring on your trip."