View Full Version : What is your packing order?
heyman62
04-14-2006, 17:38
Just curious what order you all pack all your stuff. I did see one post recently that somebody here did it this way:
Bottom-tent, sleeping bag,pad
Middle-clothing
Top-food
Now my wife and I have bottom compartments to store sleeping bag,pads and tent. After that ...?
My pack has a bottom zippered compartment for the sleeping bag, and the top of this compartment has a draw-string closure that if loosened has the effect of eliminating the compartment and making the pack about 6-7 inches deeper. When my tent is dry I leave the bag in it and just stuff them together in the bottom with this closure flap open. If the tent is damp I close the flap and put the bag in the compartment, and stuff the tent in the bottom of the pack in a stuff sack. Then the clothing (in a stuff sack) goes in. Then the food (in a stuff sack-bear bag) goes in. Heavier stuff higher in the pack works best for me. My pack has an expandable top lid with a zipper opening, I put all my kitchen stuff in there. There is a pocket on each side of the pack, all the little odds and ends go in these pockets, toiletries mostly in the right pocket, other things in the left. There are mesh pockets on the belt for water bottles. I lash the tent poles and sleeping pad to the outside of the pack.
I put my bag in a trash bag in the bottom along with my pillow (my happy item and glad I brought it . more people wished they would have brought a full size pillow with them. mine is down so it smooshed up small.) I then put my tent in ontop of the bag and pillow and pushed back so it would be going right up my spine. Held it back with my clothes. Next came my pot , stove, filter and rain bag and last food bag. This is just how I packed it. You do it how you feel comfortable. Its your hike.
Footslogger
04-14-2006, 20:35
First goes the sleeping bag, then my clothes and then my food. Each of those are in a stuff sack laying horizontally. After that comes my cookpot and miscellaneous items. On the very top is a 1.8 Liter Platypus, again laying horizontally.
'Slogger
Dances with Mice
04-14-2006, 20:45
When I leave the trailhead my pack is perfect, with a place for everything and everything in its place. The first morning I carefully pack up in the order I break down camp. After I've gotten my food bag, had breakfast and changed into my hiking clothes I open the trash compactor bag liner in my pack and stuff in my sleeping bag, camp clothes, headlamp and mini-radio. I twist that shut and put in my food bag minus that day's lunch, stove, and cooking pot, etc. On top of that goes my tent or hammock and tarp. Last thing in is that day's lunch, the day's snacks, and raingear on those rare occasions when I'm not wearing it already. Compass, map, journal, pen, first aid kit, water treatment, TP & hand santiizer, various stuff like that all goes in a little ditty bag stashed in the top pocket.
When I get to camp that evening everything's in the order I need them: First the tent or hammock/tarp comes out, then the foodbag and cooking stuff, then the sleeping bag and camp clothes. My system is perfect!
Doesn't that sound nice? It should, since it's total fantasy. Here's what really happens:
I wake up and start stuffing things in my pack in the order I lay my hands on them. The things packed last, on top, are the last things I find as I get ready to leave the campsite. During the day I'll stop to dump out everything in my pack and spread it everywhere looking for some item that I'll eventually find in one of my pants pockets. That sometimes happens a couple of times a day, usually after I accuse my hiking partner(s) of taking that item, or convince myself and everyone around me that I must have left that item back at the last campsite. Then when I get to camp (in the rain) I have to unload everything to get to the bottom of my pack to find the tarp that started the day on top of my pack.
Repeat daily.
fiddlehead
04-14-2006, 20:47
very bottom, tent.
middle: sleeping bag and clothes bag with my cookit near the back (not my back, but the pack's back) so it's pretty easy to get to but not rubbing my back
top: food bag.
outside mesh pocket ( i have a go-lite breeze) goes my small ditty bag with all the extra stuff like duct tape, spoon, tootbrush and paste, dental floss, photon lite, etc. also, the other mesh pocket gets my 24 oz. pepsi bottle and the large mesh pocket on the back gets the pack cover and anything that is wet and i'm trying to dry out. sometimes my fleece jacket goes in there, sometimes it goes on top of the food bag as it seems i need it when i stop only. so, food and fleece top right on top, tent and sleeping bag and clothes near the bottom as i don't need them till i get to camp. easy.
most importantly: do it exactly the same every time and then you won't have trouble finding anything, even in the dark.
really most importanly: have fun!
It depends on the circumstances, but normally sleeping bag, shelter, kitchen, clothes, food, gadget bag, snacks. Always easily accessible are fleece, hat, maps, guides, rain gear and pack cover.
sleeping bag
clothes
kitchen
tent/hammock
food
Mountain Mike
04-14-2006, 21:32
I pack my bag while I tear down so it's the same way when I set up at the end of the day. Sleepimg bag & spare clothes go in first. Tent after that. Last to go is cooking gear. That way when I get to my next campsite I can set my stove up & dyart dinner while I set up my tent. I'm often enjoying dinner while others are putting up their tents.
themooseisloose
04-14-2006, 22:28
Try googling it. I've seen dozens of pictures w/ those diagrams that give you suggestions.
I just googled "pack backpack" and got several pages of it. Here's one from REI:
http://www.rei.com/online/store/LearnShareDetailArticlesList?categoryId=Camping&url=rei/learn/camp/packing2f.jsp
In general, it's best for the weight to be a bit higher and near your back, and it's best to put food above fuel so that if the fuel leaks, your food doesn't get tainted.
Hana_Hanger
04-15-2006, 00:06
Still Laughing....and here I was writing all of this down that Dancing with Mice said...and taking all this end...I loved it!!
Thanks for asking this question heyman62
I needed ideas and suggestions as well
I also end up like the end of Dancing with Mice's pack :D
hikerjohnd
04-15-2006, 08:22
With a top loader, from the bottom up - Sleeping bag, clothes, kitchen, camp bag (rope, firstaid, stuff I need when I set up camp), sleeping pad, tent, food. Water bladder in inside pocket, extra water bottle where it will fit. I try to load in the order I will need stuff when I stop, and I try to take the time to reload the pack the same way every time, so I know where everything is.
I pack almost exactly as DWM do.
First day is perfect, heavy stuff towards the bottom etc.
Then, chaos from day 2 on. Great fun! :rolleyes:
Doctari.
Dances with Mice
04-15-2006, 10:25
I also end up like the end of Dancing with Mice's pack Maybe some real-life examples would help:
Day 2 and I've come to a place where I need to dig out my map and compass. The map is easy to locate but my compass isn't in my ditty bag. So I tear through my pack and it's still hiding. I empty every pocket and it's still nowhere to be found. I survive without it but spend all day walking thinking "Damn! I liked that compass, I've had it for years. I must have dropped it along the Trail. I hope someone finds it but it'll never get back to me. I should scratch my telephone number on all my stuff or something. Damn! I liked that compass." I think about it all day.
Sometime later I need my chapstick but it's not in my ditty bag. Maybe in my food bag? That's now on the bottom of my pack since I repacked mid-Trail. After digging out everything, I find it in my pocket.
Then that night as I'm unrolling my sleeping bag, guess what drops out? My compass! Oh, right. I'd used it the night before when setting up my hammock, to make sure I was oriented with respect to the prevailing wind direction in case of a storm. I must have put it in my pocket and it fell out during the night. Great! I found my compass!"
The next day I decide to cook soup for lunch. I can't find my lighter, it's not in my cooking pot with my stove. But wait! I used it last night, I must have stuck it in my pocket. It probably fell out into my sleeping bag, just like my compass did. (This is all perfectly logical to me, if my wife was online she'd be writing "Welcome to my world.") I dig everything out of my pack to get to my sleeping bag and shake it out. No lighter. I eat a cold lunch and walk on, thinking "Damn! Now how am I going to light my stove for supper? I have some emergency matches, but not very many. Maybe there's someway to make a spark. Is there a road crossing nearby where I can get to a store to buy another? I should carry two. Maybe I'll find someone to camp with who'll let me borrow theirs...Damn!" I think about it all day.
That night as I'm putting on my fleece jacket, I put my hand into the pocket and guess what I find? Oh, right, I must have put it in there last night after I lit my stove. Great! I found my lighter!
The next day I need my pocketknife for some reason. It's not in my ditty bag. It's not with my stove. It's not in my sleeping bag or fleece jacket, which I have to unpack everything to check. "Damn! I liked that pocketknife. And so did Almost There, come to think of it. I showed it to him last night. Did he give it back? I don't think so...that sonnofabitch! He's probably got it. Probably using it right now...Damn!" I think about it all day.
That night as I'm hanging my food bag, guess what I find in the bottom? Oh, right, I used it the night before to trim off some of the bag line to make a dummy cord for my compass. Great! I found my knife!
The next day I get to my van and look for my car keys....
i have a golite gust. one pocket on the back, and i added two side mesh pockets for water/fuel bottles...
-liner is a garbage bag. it goes in first.
-sleeping bag goes in next. underquilt for hammock goes next to it.
-extra clothing that i think i probably won't need that day goes in the spaces between those bags and the sides of the pack. (socks, gloves, hat, longjohns, whatever).
-food bag goes in next (minus snacks and lunch for that day).
-hammock, cookpot and clothing that i thought i might need (same as before...socks, gloves, hat, etc.) go next.
-trash bag is now twisted and the neck bent over.
-tarp in it's own stuff sack and raingear on top of that. lunch and snacks and book go on top of that, or if it's raining, are on top of my cookpot/clothing layer just before i close up the trash bag. this way, when i get to my campsite, i can hang my tarp immediately, creating a sheltered place in which to cook, change clothes, and hang my hammock.
everything else fits in that small outside pocket. most of it's not damaged by being wet so i don't bother doing anything special for it other than keeping some things in a zip lock bag (like the TP)... i also carry a 1.5l platypus bladder. if it's empty, it goes between the outside of my garbage bag and the pack, close to the top where i can get to it. if it's full, it goes on top of the seal garbage bag, but under all the other stuff (tarp, raingear, lunch, snacks).
every trip is different, the weather has a huge impact on water and clothing, and this in turn effects what goes where. but that's the theory anyway, and how i usually pack most times...
Hana_Hanger
04-15-2006, 20:17
LOL looking forward to the next adventure with Dancing with Mice and his backpack saga
Which has now prompted me to search for my hubby's
self improvement Memory tapes, which my husband cannot remember where he placed them so he would NOT forget them....NOW I have to go find them as always LOL... :D
So any suggestions of how I pack my backpack in answer to this thread to help others well...
from reading all of this...heck I am just going to shove it in anyway I can get it to fit... and then dump it out each time I need something!
RadioFreq
04-16-2006, 02:41
Sounds to me like it just makes sense to have your tarp on top with food
right underneath. If the weather is nice just pull out the tarp, set it aside and eat. If the weather is nasty put the tarp up first and then you can sort to your heart's content. :-?
sparky2000
04-16-2006, 07:41
It works best if one has their tough teenage children carry everything.
I suggest we put DWM's posts in the humor category! I have laughed out loud (literally, startled the dog!) but the words are so true!
Doesn't that sound nice? It should, since it's total fantasy. Here's what really happens:
.....That sometimes happens a couple of times a day, usually after I accuse my hiking partner(s) of taking that item, or convince myself and everyone around me that I must have left that item back at the last campsite. Then when I get to camp (in the rain) I have to unload everything to get to the bottom of my pack to find the tarp that started the day on top of my pack.
Repeat daily.
hahaha... too funny! Laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. Thanks for helping me not feel so completely incompetent, and I haven't even backpacked an overnighter yet! Luckily, I'm reading and learning as I go.
Just read DWM's Day 2 post... now I"m crying laughing so hard. DWM needs to write a trail guide, humor inspired of course! It probably would be much more realistic than the books/magazines I've been buying! LOL
Just Jeff
04-16-2006, 21:38
I have a top-loader (GoLite Speed). Here's my order:
- Garbage bag liner.
- Hammock/underquilt in snakeskins on the bottom. If I need to get to that, I'll be in camp and completely unpacked. It makes a "U" in the bottom of the pack.
- Top quilt goes inside the U.
- Clothes and food next, depending on what I have and how it fits.
- Close the liner, put raingear on top.
- Tarp goes in outer mesh pocket so I can set it up first without unpacking anything. That day's snacks go in mesh pockets, too.
My "camp bag" is the removable top panel of my pack. I like to put it inside the liner if I have room, but I attach it to the top if my pack is full. If I have a pad, I put it in first, let it unroll and stuff my gear inside it...like most folks with frameless packs.
And I pack it that way every morning!
I think Dances prolly speaks for most of us - just much better than most of us!
I generally pack the following in my GGVT:
bottom 'layer' - HH and sleeping bag
if camping below 40 deg w/ a TR, I'll pack my chair kit, stuffed inside the pack alongside the HH
next - sil clothing bag, down pullover in it's own sil stuff sack, silk bag liner
next - food bag, cook pot in pot cozy, w/ stove inside
next - ditty bag with cooking gear, lexan cup and bowl
I put these in the pockets on the outside of my VT:
1st aid kit ditty bag
toilet ditty bag (trowel and tp)
1L nalgene with good scotch :rolleyes:
stogies, in aluminum tubes
pack cover, in stuff sack,
50 ft rope, in stuff sack, with 3 tent stakes
Alkyhol fuel bottle
TR and/or CCF pads go in straps on outside of pack
2L Big zip platy in bladder pocket
While I really enjoy the advantages of a 3 season pack that's usually under 20 lbs for a weekend, I frequently find myself holding the pack upside down and shaking it in an attempt to get something out of it! If I could, I'd put the HH on top so that i could easily get to it for lunch / breaks w/o emptying the entire pack, but it seems to exactly fit in the bottom of the pack alongside my sleeping bag - an issue in colder weather when i'm loading up the VT to its max capacity. My solution has been to fit everything into a stuff sack (lighter, for ex, is always in the cooking gear ditty bag; knife is always in the 1st aid ditty bag, aqua mira is always in the 1st aid ditty bag, etc....well, that's the way I begin my trip, anyway - see Dances prior posts!)
saimyoji
04-23-2006, 13:06
Packing your food/kitchen bag INSIDE your pack .... doesn't this
impart smells to the rest of your gear that might be attractive to bears, raccoons, porkies, mice, etc?
I always keep my food in my pack but have wondered about this. I've never had problems, but then I've not overnighted a place that this was a problem.
Any ideas?
Packing your food/kitchen bag INSIDE your pack .... doesn't this
impart smells to the rest of your gear that might be attractive to bears, raccoons, porkies, mice, etc?
I always keep my food in my pack but have wondered about this. I've never had problems, but then I've not overnighted a place that this was a problem.
Any ideas?
I've picked up a lot of good ideas from these threads. I store my food in a plastic jar with a screw on lid. It's 6" square by 9" tall. About the size of my HH stuffbag before I got snakeskins. Holds an incredible amount of goodies. It's a recycled Nonni's Biscotti container(from Sam's Club), tough, flexible,dry,and any spills stay in the container. Smells can't get out either. Gotten a few laughs from it, but it has worked for me. Haven't run into any bears, but the raccoons haven't bogarted my stash yet.
As far as my pack is concerned, I have a GG Latitude Vapor. It has full length dual zippers with a stretch panel, rated for 3800 cu.in., so the pack size makes me think about what's really needed. I do like the total access as opposed to my old toploader. Throw in some color coded stuff bags, and I have a system!
SGT Rock
04-24-2006, 02:32
I use a Gearskin as a pack, so it is more like a side loader. The way I load it makes about everything accessible as I hike if I need to get at it without getting into the rest of my load.
Strapped to the top is my HH without the tarp wrapped up in snake skins.
In a trash compactor liner:
Middle Top - miscellaneous gear bag with stuff like TP, first aid, water treatment, etc.
Middle center - Clothing stuff sack
Middle bottom - quilt stuff sack
*Note the bag openings are all to my right including the trash compactor bag opening.
On the very bottom of the pack goes my kitchen bag which has my food, stove, fuel, mess kit, etc.
Outside of the pack in the mesh pocket goes my stake bag, tarp, rain gear, trash bag, and other small items.
On the waist belt where it is handy goes my watter bottle clipped on with a small snap link.
Ramble~On
04-25-2006, 05:21
Open pack....stuff stuff into pack......
hand pack to trusty Sherpa.
as stated by DWM it doesn't matter cause whatever I'm looking for is gonna be hiding.
Actuallllly....
How I pack each day depends on a number of things.
Weather is one....if things are wet is another....how far I'm going is yet another... My pack is always pretty organized though...I know where what is... I can always get to my P36 Space Modulator in a flash...and I always like to have my TP, headlamp, raingear and tarp easy to get to.
Just Jeff
04-25-2006, 10:28
...I can always get to my P36 Space Modulator in a flash...
OMG - that's genius! I have the Illudium Q36 Explosive Space Modulator, but I never thought to hike with it! Might not work as well in the woods as your model, but I bet it'll come in handy when starting fires in the rain.
I think I'll have to make a DIY Modulator holster. Maybe even make its own little Modulator hammock.
//End Geekery//
Ramble~On
04-25-2006, 15:40
:-? Found out long ago that all those neat little organizers and stuff sacks add up.....so now the pack pretty much tries to stay as empty as possible and as light as possible. Course if I went without the space modulator I could save 200 pounds but I would dearly miss the earth shattering KaBoom.
http://www.gregorypacks.com/pack.html