I’ve always gone camping with my
family since I was a kid, it wasn’t until I was about 15 that I started getting
interested in backpacking. The first time I went I was very green; I didn’t
make the rookie mistake of bringing way too much stuff or anything. Really I
was just unprepared. I didn’t have a sleeping pad, so I was fairly cold
sleeping on the ground. I didn’t want to carry my heavy tent so I shared a two
person tent with my sister and her boyfriend. None of us slept well. We didn’t
go very far, only really an overnight trip. But I loved it.
When I moved to College I was
very interested in going fairly light. At the time I was obsessed with the
movie “Into the Wild” and I had ideals of hitchhiking and travelling with a
backpack, but I was far too young and afraid to do any of those things yet. I
determined to pack only what fit into my little rav-4 car, and take nothing
more with me to College. This plan worked except for my bike. I had a lot less
crap then my roommate, only about 4 pairs of jeans. Some shorts, maybe 12 shirts, tons of crappy
cotton underwear and socks that needed constant replacing. I had a houseplant, which I still like having,
to help with air quality. And A guitar, skateboard, skim- board, all of which I
never used.
By the end of my freshman year I
was moving into DNR housing for a summer job in Wisconsin, and had to take a
little less stuff so that I could pack my co-workers stuff with us. I left my bike in storage at school. I took
less clothes, less pens, less knickknacks, I got rid of my posters. After my
summer job I had a lot of extra spending money. Of course I blew about half of
this on clothes, I bought nail polish in about 10 colors, a studded belt, more
jeans, a leather coat, and tons of Starbucks, a stand up paddle board, a
surfboard, an electric guitar and amp. Most of this stuff I had quickly grown
tired of, and really was just a waste of money.
At school that year I changed a lot. I got very into backpacking and
outdoor sports. I tried surfing but never had the time and it proved to be very
dangerous alone in Northern Michigan. I experimented with drugs and cut my long
hair into a Mohawk, died it black, and stopped showering daily. It was a
strange time in my life.
When I started dating Chaz
we were talking about moving into a tent for the summer and living that was
indefinitely. We packed everything we
owned into my car. We sold our bikes, he sold his motorcycle and his car. We got
rid of anything we didn’t need. I sold my laptop, and so did he and we bought a
small net- book to share. I sold my tent
since we shared one. I bought expensive Patagonia underwear and Smartwool socks
which I still have and work great two years later, they are quick drying so I
can wash them in a sink and hang them
dry. I will never use cotton underwear again. And we departed for our
adventure in Flagstaff AZ. He worked for an environmental firm during the day
and I did various odd jobs to make some money.
At night we slept in a tent in the national forest. By the end of the summer we had saved enough
money to buy our Van. This is by far the best purchase we have ever made together.
It cost us $3,800 and we’ve lived in it, used it to travel, and used to for a
delivery job. We bought a mattress,
built a frame, and moved into the van. If felt like luxury after living in the
tent for two months.
At the end of the summer we went
on a backpacking trip at Sequoia National Park. We ended up taking a lot of
heavy and unnecessary stuff. Chaz brought a knife that weighed about 2 lbs,
which we didn’t even use. My sleeping pad was an ancient Thermarest that
weighed about a pound and leaked. We brought winter sleeping bags which were
too heavy and way too warm. The trip was
a blast but we were very fatigued from hiking with the extra weight.
Our next trip a few weeks later
was in Yellowstone. We had both bought
new lighter-weight packs and sold our old packs. We used bivy sacks this time
with a thin sleeping-bag liner instead of a tent and sleeping bag. It was too
light, definitely a mistake. It was too cold and we froze all night and cut our
trip short. We returned the expensive bivies to REI.
Our next trip was an epic two-month
adventure in Australia and New Zealand. We
did a stellar job packing this time. We had a lighter weight tent. Light packs
and sleeping pads, and sleeping bags for summer weather. We carried on our
packs on the plane and they weighed less than 20 lbs. The clothes I packed were
1 pair of zip-off pants, 3 pairs of underwear, 2 bras, 1 quick dry t-shirt, 1
sun shirt, 1 pair of shoes, 1 pair of ultralight sandals, 3 pairs of socks,
rain pants, rain jacket, a wool long sleeve shirt, and a sunhat and bandanna.
On the trip we carried as much as 3 liters of water each at times while hitch
hiking. The trip was amazing. We also took disk golf disks which we
intended to use as plates or for playing, we gave these away since we found
almost no disk-golf courses in Australia. We also brought a water filter which
we never used, although I liked knowing it was there if we needed it. We also
brought a Jetboil camp stove and mugs for eating out of. I ended up getting rid
of my cup since I never used it. We hardly used the Jetboil because it took us
about half the trip before we found fuel for it. But we did cook a lot of ramen
in it in the last few weeks.
The most recent trip we have
taken we went to Puerto Rico for 18 days. This was our lightest trip yet. We
had a base pack weight of about 9lbs. Our sleeping bags proved to be useless
since it was so hot. And our Jetboil was also useless since you cannot buy fuel
for it anywhere in PR. I can’t say that
PR was our favorite trip but it was very inexpensive. We were able to camp most
nights and met a lot of locals who gave us rides and told us what we should
see.
Packing and living out of a bag
for weeks on end is such a great experience. I love the mobility and self
sufficiency. We are able to just walk and if we get somewhere nice camp there.
I don’t want to go total vagabond and live like that permanently. But I like
taking long trips that way. Our next trip is going to be a cross country
bicycle tour from Michigan to Vancouver this summer. Packing light has taught me to eliminate the
unnecessary in my everyday life as well. I used to have a thick bulky Volcom
Stone wallet that couldn’t fit in my pocket. Now I use a slim wallet. I used to
have decorative key chains, but ultralight hiking has taught me the true cost
and inconvenience of unnecessary weight. I now have only my car key on a small
carabineer. I used to have about ten pairs of pants. Now I use about two. I’m
not saying this is the lifestyle for everyone. But I love it. And by trimming
my unnecessary possessions I am able to go on trips all the time. By living in
a van and not paying rent or utilities I have almost my whole paycheck to spend
on things I want to do. I think collecting experiences is way more valuable
than physical objects. I may not live like this forever. But I think If I
settle down it will be in a small off the grid cabin, not in a white picket
fence suburb. I hope you enjoyed my story.
