couple stuff

[squeezebox]

So what stuff do you bring as a couple, family, or small group, that you don't bring solo? Water bucket for example.
What stuff do you bring only 1 of? Tent, water filter for example.

[Just Tom]

Larger first aid kit, gravity filter with a larger capacity, deck of cards and a dice game, a bit of extra food just in case. This is with youth, anyway. Just going with a friend instead of solo keep the deck of cards, drop the other stuff, add a flask.

[illabelle]

One tent, stove, water filter, map/guide, camera. Sometimes add a card game. No reduction/addition to food, clothes, sleep system. Only need one first aid kid, and other emergency items, but we still both carry a phone and headlamp. I've never backpacked by myself. If I had to carry all of my own equipment, I might consider going without the stove.

[egilbe]

One tent, EE Accomplice quilt that we share, each have our own water filter, each have our own air mattress, share cookset and FAK. We dont bring extra stuff as a couple. We reduce our stuff.

[BillyGr]

Only need one first aid kid, and other emergency items,

Never bad to have someone trained in first aid, but not sure the age of said person matters? ;)

[Mags]

My wife...

[Feral Bill]

A larger cook pot, tent, rather than tarp, whatever else she wants.

[Bronk]

When hiking with a partner we usually bring only one stove and one water filter. But my partner and I don't get separated on the trail either...we are always within sight of each other.

[Ashepabst]

if i'm not solo i might bring a spare tarp for hanging out at camp during crummy weather. i might bring some sort of firestarter.

and of course we'd split obvious things: first aid, stove/cook set, filter, food rope, maybe shelter,

[nsherry61]

For me, it seems, I end up adding about 10 lbs to my kit when I hike with my wife.
- Tent instead of tarp
- bigger stove & cook pots and more fuel
- more fresh, heavier, food
- heavier matching zip-together sleeping bag
- maybe more rain-gear and insulation for more standing around (not depending on movement for warmth)
- more water capacity
- water treatment/purification
- bigger heavier pack to carry extra volume

I honestly don't think there is anything we share that my half of the weight is not more than what I carry when I am on my own. :-(
BUT, we did buy a new lighter tent, and I've talked her into trying a quilt for warm season sleeping, so we're getting lighter.

[soulrebel]

I usually have all the same gear, perhaps a larger pot to heat more water with and a couple coffee cups versus just one large cup/mug. That's about it.

[bigcranky]

We take a two person tent, a mug for coffee or tea to share, maybe a small box of wine. Hmm, not sure what else. We use most of the same gear I take solo, a Sawyer mini, a Jetboil, that sort of thing. If we'll be out a long time, we take two food bags so we can share the food load. Oh, I guess I take an extra couple of Sawyer bags to collect water for treatment. She likes to bring a silnylon shopping bag, which we use in town and also to bring the full water bags back from the spring. She's pretty hard core, it's not like we suddenly go all Ritz Carlton when hiking together.

[jimmyjam]

I only bring one beer, but I have worked my way up to a 24 oz.

[LIhikers]

Almost all of my hiking and backpacking is with my wife. And with my wife comes our dog, a 90 pound shepherd.
So we use a 3 person tent, a Tarptent Rain Shadow. Also we have a good sized pot, the K-Mart grease pot.
But the dog has as much gear as a person, that we bring as the season dictates.. In winter I even carry an old, heavy, feather, sleeping bag for the dog. And to do that caused me to purchase a Gregory Baltoro 75 pack. It's big, and heavy, but it carries a big load very comfortably. Plus there's the dog's food, my wife usually carries most of that.
So, yes, hiking with my wife has certain disadvantages. BUT, hiking with the one I love is a much bigger advantage and I consider myself lucky to be able to share this joy with her :)

[Leo L.]

When hiking with my wife, we stay together the whole time and while everybody is carrying his personal stuff, there are a few items we do not carry double, like stove, pot, repair kit and such. No tent or other Kind of shelter, always cowboy camping in the desert.
Heavy items like water and food we share in a way that the loads equal out our different performance levels.
And, after having it learned the hard way, we always pack our things in a way that each one has the minimum amount of essentials in his pack- just in case.

Things we just carry due to being a couple ... let me think... there was a bottle of wine for the first evening ot, once.
Everything else already nature is providing.

[coat4gun]

Almost all of my hiking and backpacking is with my wife. And with my wife comes our dog, a 90 pound shepherd.
So we use a 3 person tent, a Tarptent Rain Shadow. Also we have a good sized pot, the K-Mart grease pot.
But the dog has as much gear as a person, that we bring as the season dictates.. In winter I even carry an old, heavy, feather, sleeping bag for the dog. And to do that caused me to purchase a Gregory Baltoro 75 pack. It's big, and heavy, but it carries a big load very comfortably. Plus there's the dog's food, my wife usually carries most of that.
So, yes, hiking with my wife has certain disadvantages. BUT, hiking with the one I love is a much bigger advantage and I consider myself lucky to be able to share this joy with her :)

Did you ever consider letting the dog carry its own stuff? They make some awesome pannier style dog packs and I'm thinking a 90lb dog could carry a good bit of weight.

[colorado_rob]

So what stuff do you bring as a couple, family, or small group, that you don't bring solo? Water bucket for example.
What stuff do you bring only 1 of? Tent, water filter for example.We do carry a larger water container when my wife and I backpack together, which is quite often, makes it kind of nice to just go to water source, scoop up a gallon+, bring it back to camp and filter or treat right from the big bag of water.

And of course we only carry one stove, tent and filter. We both have our own little emergency/1st aid kits in the unlikely event we get separated.

But take the case of a single tent. First, who wants to carry two tents for a couple "just in case" ? In the unlikely event we do get separated and cannot find each other, both the tent body, which has a waterproof floor, and the tent fly can be used as an emergency shelter. I carry one of those along with the poles/stakes, she carries the other major piece.

We do try to even up pack weight vs. body weight, so I'll carry the bulk of the group gear, but her pack weight percentage is always higher just because her body weight is 2/3rds of mine (120 vs 180). She doesn't complain! We do, by the way, carry completely separate food, she likes what she likes, as I do. No reason to combine those, though we do share plenty of bites during meals.

[LIhikers]

Did you ever consider letting the dog carry its own stuff? They make some awesome pannier style dog packs and I'm thinking a 90lb dog could carry a good bit of weight.

Yep, the dog has a set of pannier style packs. She only gets stuff that isn't too big or very heavy. As for me and the wife, she carries the TP and hand sanitizer and soap plus a small first aide kit. I carry the kitchen kit and water filter. Beyond that we carry our own stuff.

[MoeTCrow]

When I go with the girlfriend we each pack as if we were going solo. The only thing we share is the tent, but that's split between us. I like a dromlite bag and sawyer set as a gravity filter even solo so we share that in camp. She is new to backpacking so I have her pack her own bag. I seem to have to pull stuff out of my bag for her less and less as her experience grows, and her pack gets lighter as her confidence grows. Oh and she caries the light sleeping bag (rectangle bag unzipped) we put on top of the air mattress and I Cary the top quilt based on the weather. A simple loop of cord holds the air mattress with HORIZONTAL baffles together and a wide EE quit covers us both well.
We could share more, but I started her with a 45L bag and I don't think either of us gets over 25ish lbs total weight even in winter. She enjoys knowing she can do it on her own. I enjoy having a hiking partner who knows what they are doing and isn't looking to me all the time.

[rocketsocks]

Thee old percolator coffee pot.

[rafe]

I'm thinking if I were backpacking as part of a couple or group, a Whisperlite stove would start to make sense, as would a 2 or 3-person tent, instead of individual tents.

[Dogwood]

KY lube and birth control always.

[egilbe]

KY lube and birth control always.

If you need KY... well, you're doing it wrong and hiker funk is the most efective birth control I've found :D