How To Pack For A Trek

Trekking is fun, adventurous as well as challenging. You cannot take a suitcase along with you but you do need things without which you cannot survive. It could be a phone charger or even toiletries. The list of essentials varies from person to person. Be it a short duration trek or a long one, you must carry things in a much systemic manner so that you do not regret later and spoil your mood. So here is a complete guide on how to pack for a trek that you can use for your upcoming treks.

Packing Essentials

Trekking Essentials

• Backpacks: Backpacks come in various sizes and shapes. You must pick the one that serves almost all your needs. Backpacks are light in weight but have a capacity of 70 liters or even more.
• Daypack: Perfect for when you are going for small walks and strolls. You can just carry it, stuff a few things and go around.
• Backpacking tent: Backpacking tents must be spacious, sturdy, well-designed and easy to build.
• Sleeping Bags: In order to sleep cozily inside the tent; a nice quality sleeping bag must be carried.
• Cookwares: Since there are no hotels or guest-houses, try to carry a few cookwares such as water purifier, stove, gas, spice shaker, maggie and much more

Clothing Essentials

• Trekking shoes
• Socks
• Thermal Wear
• Caps
• Trackpants
• Quick-dry T-shirts
• Treeking Jacket
• Scarfs
• Gloves
• Fleece
• Sweaters

Personal Hygiene Essentials

• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Toilet paper
• Small towel
• Sunscreen lotion
• Lip balm
• Pack of tissues
• Soap
• Nail clipper

Contingency Kit

First-Aid Kit
Flashlight (Torch) / Head lamps
Chocolate Bars
Insect repellent

Rule To Pack

A good way to pack for a trekking trip is to understand what you might need the most and what is needed the least and then layer them on one another. It is called the Ranger Roll method.

• Bottom Layer: Add your sleeping bag and sleeping tent
• Middle layer: Clothes and other personal essentials that are not needed much.
• Top Layer:Water, first-aid kit, food

If you are going for a long trek and intend to camp then you need to carry more items, which means you need to organise your backpack even more efficiently. While carrying out a big load you need to keep in mind the 3 As. Accessibility of various items and the Alignment of your backpack’s weight and Arrangement of various items within the backpack.

If your backpack isn’t packed in a way that it aligns with your body’s center of gravity then it becomes difficult to carry. Not only do you get more tired but also risk falling due to the imbalanced backpack. To align your backpack properly you must keep the heavy items close to your back

• Put the most most frequently needed gear like camera, flashlight, phone etc and food, water, first-aid kit etc at a place that is most easily accessible to you.
• Use the pot intelligently. Put as much gear and cutlery inside the pot as you can and then put the pan on top of the pot to cover it. It is obvious that you choose the pot and pan of such sizes that you can use the pan as top of the pot.
• Put all your food inside a single bag. It takes less space that way and its easy to find anythign that you are looking for, instead of stuffing different food items in different corners of the backpack. As mentioned above, keep your Food and water in the top layer

Bonus Tip

If you are hiking or trekking in an area that’s new to you, always remember to carry a physical map of the area/region. Not to forget, you also need to carry a compass to make use of the physical map. There is no bigger rescuer than a map, compass and a first-aid kit.

Packing for the trekking trip correctly and systematically will not only save your time but will also save your trip from getting spoiled. Not to mention, it can save you from getting trapped in very inconvenient situations. Do let us know in the comment section down below how you pack for your trekking. You may also find this as an interesting read Facebook group that allows users to travel the world.