Every once in a while, there are new trends that arise in the athletic world. Some of them seem insane to some people while others are up to rising to the challenge. In the world of hiking and backpacking, such a popular craze is the ultralight hiking.
You might be wondering what’s so special about that? If you are a beginner backpacker or haven’t heard of this before, don’t feel too bad. It is fairly new, and it isn’t for everyone. Some people find this to be an exciting challenge while others think it is a waste of time.
The important thing to remember here is that everyone is entitled to their opinions and preferences. This can be a lot of fun for the right audience, so we thought that we would break down what you need to know about this thrilling new way to take on the mountain.
Table of Contents
A Simple Definition For All
Ultralight hiking or backpacking is a new form of hiking that is also kind of an old form of hiking. In some ways, it is being treated like an exciting sport that will help people to challenge themselves. On the other hand, some people are more focused on this idea that the trend itself is more of a call back to the roots of traditional backpacking or hiking experiences.
The process involves focusing on limiting what you take in your quest to conquer nature, but outside of that it is largely open to interpretation.
The reason that some people claim that this trend isn’t new is because the expanse of hiking equipment available is not only fairly recent, but a new standard as a whole. Back before the popularity of hiking, people hiked and backpacked with the bear minimum amount of equipment.
This idea of ultralight packing is built around the concept of bringing less, which just used to be the norm for hikers back in the day. If anything, the fact that we now consider ultralight hiking to be such a challenge speaks volumes about how dependent we have become on all of the amazing products created by popular outdoors companies.
How Do I Go Ultralight Hiking?
Because ultralight hiking is more of a vague notion than anything, you might be a little confused about how you would approach this. The good news is that there is no wrong way to go about this approach. The bad news is that you will probably never feel like you are doing it quite right. Fortunately, you can easily adapt the process as needed to suit your interests.
The reality is that no one is going to walk up and look at your backpack and decide that you have transition from ultralight hiking to regular hiking because you packed a second sandwich in your bag. However, you still want to be realistic about what you are bringing on your journey if you decide to try this out. The main idea is that you should only pack the bare minimum.
The confusing and freeing truth behind this process is that there is not an actual gauge for what constitutes as the bare minimum. This is great because it allows you to fully customize your process.
Instead of focusing on reaching a specific minimum, it is helpful to just think about how you can minimize what you take. Think about all of the things that you don’t need and decide how you can cut them. An effective way to do this is also to use workarounds like water bottles with purification tablets or straws that effectively filter the dangerous elements out of natural water. You can do this in any way that you see fit as long as you focus on relying on only the essentials.
Focus On Safety
As you are slimming down your hiking tool collection, you will likely spend time trying to decide what is and is not worth keeping. While you might be wondering whether or not various elements of your packing are important, it is important to remember that a big rule of ultralight hiking is that safety must always come first. It is necessary to recall that there are plenty of non-essentials to get rid of, but anything about your general sense of safety should never be on the list.
You will always want to ensure that when you go hiking you take important things like a first aid kit or other emergency supplies. It will never be an accomplishment to go light on packing if you don’t have the important things. Be smart in your decisions and focus on getting rid of the extra stuff that isn’t imperative to your hiking process instead.
Why Should I Try Ultralight Hiking?
Ultralight hiking might be the trendy new thing to do, but is that enough of a reason to do it? The truth is that there is a method behind the madness with ultralight hiking.
While you can certainly focus on the fact that it is a trendy thing to do, this is only one reason to give it a try. You might be looking for an opportunity to jump on this bandwagon because you want to be able to post your experience online, or you just might be curious about the trend. Don’t worry, if that is your reasoning, no one will judge you. This process is largely experimental, which means there is no right or wrong reason to do it. It is completely fine if you are just chasing down a quick thrill.
Beyond doing it for your social media followers, ultralight hiking does have a tangible set of reasoning behind it. The general idea here is that you will focus on bringing the most to your hiking experience using this method. Ultralight hiking limits how much weight your carrying. The logic behind why it is a good thing to do depends heavily on this idea. It makes it possible for you to move more quickly and comfortably cover more ground.
This is specifically supposed to be beneficial when you are trying to complete trails in a specific amount of time. However, it can be really helpful when it comes to backpacking because you will be able to cover greater distances without becoming nearly as fatigued. Slimming down your load can make you travel a little more closely to nature, but remember, you never want to slim it down too much or you might run into trouble.
One other benefit to attempting ultralight hiking is that it gives you a unique perspective on your carbon footprint. You will be amazed to realize just how many things that you carry on you that are just downright wasteful. Realizing just how many resources and waste go into making us feel comfortable on a hike can be eye-opening. Most lovers of the great outdoors know that we need to preserve the planet.
This experiment will force you to critically evaluate just how much time and money you spend on things about your outdoor processes. This is a great way to focus on how you interact with material objects. It can be very eye opening to realize just how much stuff we use that we don’t need.
Ultralight Backpacking
Traditional hiking in an ultralight fashion is a lot easier because shorter distances demand less resources. Realistically, some hikes only require a little bit of water and nothing else to comfortably accomplish. Though you will of course always need emergency tools, the requirements for hiking aren’t that much. The entire narrative changes when it comes to backpacking.
Since you will be covering long distances, you must pack more supplies. This might seem counterintuitive when it comes to chasing down the ultralight experience, but ultralight backpacking is actually where the majority of people are focused.
The reality is that there is no real victory by packing light if you are only going to be hiking for a few miles. Since your requirements are low, packing is incredibly simple. Backpacking on the other hand brings an entirely new experience.
The reality is that there is no real victory by packing light if you are only going to be hiking for a few miles. Since your requirements are low, packing is incredibly simple. Backpacking on the other hand brings an entirely new experience.
To backpack effectively, you will need to make sure that you have everything that you need to survive. If your instinct is to think that it means that you will be taking a lot, you are not completely wrong. However, it is possible to slim down what you need to take if you think about it.
One thing that people tend to forget is the fact that so many of our hiking and backpacking tools are built around comfort rather than actual functionality. It isn’t a bad thing that we have all of these amazing supplies that make it easy for us to enjoy ourselves. If anything, it is a great thing the majority of the time.
However, at some point, we have to admit that we all take things out that simply do not need to be taken. In many instances, you will find that you need a lot less than you think that you do. The reality is that core assets are a much shorter list than we are used to. Think critically about what you need to survive and try to limit yourself to those essentials if at all possible.
Conclusion
Ultralight hiking is an exciting way to pass time that is well worth the try. The good news is that this is one new variation on an old sport that makes it easy for you to do. Since the idea is built around minimizing what you bring with you, it is a relatively inexpensive process. This makes it easy for just about anybody to do.
If you’re curious about whether or not it is a good idea, you can always just remember that it never hurts to try. You can always practice with regular hikes before transitioning to backpacking or other hikes. If you do give it a go, try to find a way to learn from the experience. The reality is that we could all carry a lot less everywhere we go. It is a lesson in how many non-essentials we believe are essential.