Backpacking and Hiking #4

-Gear:  Sleeping-

On backpacking trips you will carry gear focused on sleeping.  The more you trips you go on the more you will adjust what you want to carry.

I'll give you 3 different types of living quarters:

1)  Temporary Shelters/Survival Shelters:  These are great skills to know and should be practiced before heading into he wilderness.  A great benefit to these is that they can be made naturally (environmentally friendly), and can be easily modified for the environment.  A drawback, they take time to build, if you are going to arrive at a site late, it might not be worthwhile to spend a lot of time hunting out building supplies and then building and finally getting to sleep

A windbreak shelter that a friend and I built

2)  Hammock Camping:  Hammocks are great items to carry and use.  There are two types of hammocks and both have benefits and drawbacks.  Wool/heavy material hammocks are nice because they add more cushion for you and help to keep the nightly chill out.  Nylon/light material hammocks are nice because they are light-weight and are easy to pack small.  Wool versions may be heavy and require more materials (rope) to set-up, and Nylon materials are thin and do not do so well for cold weather on their own.

My hammock on a cold weather camping trip

One more note, I have used both wool and nylon, I personally prefer the nylon, and I use a hammock made by "Eno."  Along with the hammock you can get great straps to put up your hammock as well as:  Rain Fly, Bug Net, Warm Pad, Gear Net, and more.

3)  Tents:  Tents are great if you are going backpacking with a partner and the weather is going to get cold and windy.  Tents are easy enough to divide up the gear/weight among the group to make it easier to carry (one take the poles and stakes another takes the tent and fly, etc).  Today there are also backpacking tents which are great for longer trips because they are made well and will better protect you from adverse weather conditions.  

Other Gear:  As you backpack you will find that you want to carry other items.  This may include a sleeping bag (go light and small, otherwise it becomes a hassle to carry), a blanket (often times a light weight blanket that you can wrap all the way around yourself does wonders, especially in a hammock), a pillow (this is personal preference, I don't use one, instead I use a jacket, or other piece of my gear to lift my head).

The key is to remember weight, and ability to carry.  Tomorrow I will talk about some of the other pieces of gear you will want to carry

Venture On!