How does one go “backpacking”

What size of bag do i need to buy.

Camping….everything we have with us previously fitted into 56 litre panniers and an 8 litre bar bag…the tent and sleeping mats strapped onto the top of the rack so they werent included into the 64litres space….

A 60 litre or so rucsack. Sounds like you may need to get some lighter/smaller gear? Google is your friend.

MO: Google is not your friend.

(also a fan of the mighty Pavement)

60 seconds on google gives this[/url]

What does MO mean?

Me and the missus backpack with a 65 and 55 litre pack. really its more to do with weight. She used to carry 11kg and i’d have about 15Kg. Don’t buy a great big bag ‘cos you’ll fill it up and won’t have any fun at all.

Get a 60 lite one with an articulated lid. Macpac are by far the comfiest to carry. Handy that….

does this help: http://pavemoresongs.blogspot.com/2007/08/box-elder.html

Mr Nutt – still under the influence? Must have been a great Saturday night.

Buy a big pack and use self-discipline – 60 litres is cool, but if you want to do a multi-day hike, carrying food, in winter, you’ll struggle for space. Just don’t fill it when you don’t need to. Like someone else poits out, extendable lids make sense.

I used one that expanded out to the full 100 litres (was probably 80 in it’s compact size). The advantage is you can get everything inside the pack instead of being strapped outside – this is a major advantage when it comes to loading/unloading on planes, buses etc by unsympathetic drivers where tents etc might get damaged.

If you don’t have to carry tents/stoves/ sleeping bags etc then I’d go for about 80 litres.

Worth getting a holdall / cover that the rucksack can go inside of…protects the pack …some airlines get a bit snotty with rucksacks with straps hanging everywhere (can get stuck in their loading belts) but if it looks like a bag they are fine.

scuse my stupidity, are you considering cycling with this 60ltr backpack, or just walking/hiking? 🙂

It partly boils down to how comfy you both want to be, and whether you can afford new equipment (lightweight tents/sleeping bags/backpacks).

I have a fair bit of lightweight kit now which is great. Although it can get quite expensive, it’s something that should last 10 years or so 🙂

A good tip is to get compression stuff sacks for lots of things (tent / sleeping bag / top-layers).

Mines 45L + 10L. Only real problem is whether you carry food / water or not, or whether you can get it on way.

One should ask one’s butler to pack up the Rolls and set up a tent for him.

😉

MO means for “me only” in this context ie..trying to be clever and amusing oneself at the detriment to others understanding.

my two pennies worth…………………

having gone on trips with both 35l and 65l ruckscks i can safely say the 35l trip was the more fun, smelly, but more fun, and you can just about ride a bike with a 35l rucksack on.

Depends on what you mean by backpacking. If you mean heading off to the hills in the UK then I’d say a 100l sack is far too big, I’ve a 75l Osprey for longer days out and 3 days with no re-supply fits easily (tent, sleeping bag, food, clothing, fuel, stove etc.etc). A big bag just means you take stuff you won’t actually need/use (as pointed out up there). Have a look at here[/url] or here[/url] for starters.

If you are off to the mountains then your requirements are different. Same if you’re off on a plane to travel the world.

If you don’t have to carry tents/stoves/ sleeping bags etc then I’d go for about 80 litres.

What on earth are you carrying if you need an 80l pack without tent/stove/sleeping bag? You seem to have rather missed the point anyway, and are talking about a rather different sort of backpacking (though when I did the sort you’re talking about I managed with a 65l pack carrying tent/stove/sleeping bag for 3 months anyway).

I do wonder whether some on here have come across the idea of packing light, as I reckon I comfortably manage with only a 50l pack for a week (can happily do a couple of nights with 30l, and we used to tour on the tandem with only 25l each without camping kit).

Get yourself to a decent outdoor shop at a quiet time & try a few packs for size. Good shops will have weights that you can use to simulate the sort of load you’ll be looking at carrying.

If you’re in the West Sussex area, i’d recommend Peglars in Arundel.

I comfortably manage with only a 50l pack for a week

I agree – I reckon 50L is a good size for a week – actually the length of time is a bit of a void point, as it really depends on how often you need to re-supply food. If you have to carry all your food then you need a bigger pack to accommodate that.

When it comes to backpacking, the lightweight idea is pretty popular these days. Lightweight = less effort = more miles with less pain 🙂

I never used to enjoy lugging around a full 70/80L pack for any trip so downsized and packed my gear better, with no reduction in comfort. If you do consider a lightweight pack, check out OMM[/url].

If you haven’t thought about it already, think how you’re going to waterproof stuff. Ideally get some drybags. The other benefit is that they make it easy to organize stuff.

I’d also recommend getting mug to eat out of like this, rather than having a full on cookset. I guess that depends whether you want to have a fry up on the way 🙂

i went to a pawn shop here in NZ and bought a 65 litre bag which i could strap the tent to the out side of

We have cycletoured NZ and are now away to backpack/bus/hitch down the east coast of aus for three weeks … ive never traveled from a rucksack before. never even did DOE so at a loss as to what size to buy , didnt realise i could strap the tent to the outside of most descent quality bags.

now to decide what i need out of my panniers and what can be sent home !

and as for cycling with a rucksack …im not a complete mentalist….

*remembers mike ayles telling me he is about to ride over the brecon beacons on his unit with a bergan to the start line of transwales !

Try ‘the backpackers handbook’ by Chris Townsend – full of useful info from a guy who has hiked the UK and done major trails all around the world. He covers everything – socks, rucksacks, sleeping bags (and bear proof containers if you travel to the USA).

Also be aware that ultralite camping is now the rage. If you go down that route it is unlikely you will need huge rucksacks. Do a web search – there are several UK companies that specialise in light weight camping equipment.

I would agree – 60 litres would be fine – I managed 3 months with one of that size (inc. tent and associated stuff).

Top tip – pack everything you need then go for a walk around the block, go back home and take out the 50% you realise you didn’t really need.

If the backpacking involves travelling, you can plan in such a way that you can send home things when you don’t need them anymore – ie when I went (back in 1990), we took warm weather clothes for northern Europe but as we travelled south we would nip into Post Offices and buy boxes and send things back to our parents).

Of course if you are just weekend backpaking you can ignore that last bit. 🙂

I recently spent about two months doing teh East Coast. I had my 15 year old Eurohike backpack which did the job, although to be honest you could manage with a holdall really. Especially if you are going to take the Greyhound Bus.

Pick up the East Coast Aus Lonley Planet and get a rough idea of where you want to stop. There are hostels in practically every town between Cairns and Sydney and they are pretty cheap, I think they were cheaper than NZ hostels if I remember rightly, so you may even want to leave the tent behind.

Noosa is a beautiful town. Byron Bay was good craic too and the Arts Factory have dorms, big teepees, little private tents and a camp site. I didn’t bother with Surfers Paradise, it was described to me as ‘a bad spanish resort’. Although Wet and Wild was woth a trip down from Brisbane. There are tons of other towns down the coast that are great too. But those are the first two to spring to mind.

You can see the Greyhound route on here http://www.greyhound.com.au as they don’t stop in every little town, although they do cover a lot.

Enjoy it anyway, I had a ball!

I have no problems being self sufficient for 5 day stints carrying a 65 litre rucksack, inc waterproofs/tent/bag/food/cooking gear etc etc. You do have to be fairly inventive with clothing. Any bigger and I’d just pack more clothes I think.