You aren’t a packing mule, and your backpacking gear shouldn’t make you feel like one — especially if you’re only hiking for a few days. This lightweight backpacking gear is designed to lighten your load during your next adventure.
Ultralight Hammock
Sea to Summit’s new ultralight hammock hits the market in March, 2017. Billed as the world’s lightest hammock, it weighs in at only 4.9 ounces. What makes this hammock amazing though isn’t it’s weight. It’s that such an ultralight fabric (it’s made using Nylon 66 monofilament fabric) can hold up to 300 pounds. The hammock expands to 8.5’ by 4’, but the highly compressible fabric shrinks it down to approximately the size of a soda can — making it easy to fit in your backpack. The best part is,
Lifepack Backpack
Weighing less than three pounds empty, the Lifepack Backpack is perfect for short backpacking trips — and it’s chock full of features that with features you need for everyday use when you’re not hiking. It comes with a solarpack that’s both a charger and a bluetooth speaker, so you can listen to your favorite songs while relaxing in your hammock and keep your phone charged in case of emergency. With two hidden trap pockets and two hidden back pockets, the Lifepack Backpack is ideal for travelers, and it features a built-in protective cover to keep it dry when it rains.
Sub-1 Chair
Leki’s Sub-1 chair weighs approximately two pounds, making it the lightest collapsible chair on the market. It folds down to 13” by 5” by 5”, so you can easily store it in your backpack. The best part is, the chair is comfortable enough to use at sporting events, family gatherings, and any other recreational event that requires you to bring a chair — it even has a built-in cup holder.
Titanium Mini Solo Cook Set
Snow Peak’s Mini Solo cook set is a great addition to anyone’s lightweight backpacking gear. The cookset weighs only five ounces, and includes a cookpot and cups with measurements inside. When you aren’t using it, the cookpot nests inside the cup for easy storage. You can also store a 110g fuel canister and a GigaPower stove inside the cookpot and slide a titanium fork between the cup and pot to keep everything you need for your meals in one place.
Clip Flashlight Tent
Sierra Design’s revamped its Clipped Flashlight tent for 2017 to give it more gear storage space, more useable interior space, and a higher pitch height, and the company did it without increasing the weight of the tent at all. Weighing slightly over three pounds, this tent is ideal for backpacking adventures — both long and short. The two-person tent features a simple, two-pole setup and an all-mesh body that’s ideal for stargazing. It comes with a removable rain fly and awning to protect you from outside elements when needed.
Even short backpacking trips require you to carry quite a bit of equipment, so purchasing lightweight backpacking gear is imperative. Your muscles will thank you for it later!
