Ultralight Backpackin' Tips: 153 Amazing & Inexpensive Tips For Extremely Lightweight Camping

Easy to read. Makes us laugh. Some great ideas we've never considered before.This was referred to us and we've given it to others. Good find

This little book immediately appealed to me because I had discovered for myself a number of the tips Mike, the author, offers. But there are more tips, lots more tips. Some of them seem a bit much, like removing labels from clothing. However, the rationale makes sense: You don't do it for the weight so much as for the disciplined ultralight mindset it encourages. Since I pride myself on being undisciplined, I'm leaving all my labels to live out their lives in peace.I must speak to the knife issue. Many reviewers cannot believe that any sane person would venture into the wilderness without a knife. What is it with this knife fetish? Let's take a nice selection of firearms too! At minimum, a pistol, a small shotgun, and a sniper rifle will come in handy. Those who object to noisy guns can try to get along with a machete.Ok, back to business. The discussion on food is brilliant. This is an area of great importance, and one where I hesitate to buy ready-made backpacking meals. Mike eats well, and we all can too, without buying expensive meals-in-foil-pouches. Do it yourself! Not hard!I liked especially Mike's discussion on trail hygiene. Basically, he's right, and the suggestions are practical. They may not sound so on first reading, but they are.And last and perhaps most importantly, the author convincingly motivates ultralight backpacking by its contribution to the reason we go out in the first place: to enjoy being out in the natural world.

This book is very funny, and takes a light hearted approach. You will find yourself laughing throughout the book.Some tips I want to draw your attention to.#4An aluminum cat food can pulled out of the the trash makes an efficient lightweight stove.Excuse me? The Super Cat (yes I have made those) is light weight but would not call it efficient especially on fuel. A standard Super cat will burn 1/4 cup of alcohol in 12 minutes. There are much more fuel efficient stoves for sale, and DIY vids on You Tube. In great conditions my MAHALO stove can boil two cups water with 12.5-15 ml of alcohol 1/4th the amount needed for a Super Cat. If you like to DIY there are two vids on You Tube giving the dimensions of the MAHALO 1.4, and 1.5 so you can build your own stove#8He recommends a single edge razor blade as a cutting tool instead of taking a knife.It's true that a razor blade can replace some of the cutting needs; but a Razor blade can NEVER replace a knife. A knife can baton wood for a camp fire, make furze sticks for tinder, and use to defend yourself. There is a huge difference between going light, and going stupid light. I will never leave my Mora with fire steel in the handle at home. My pack before adding consumables is only 11 pounds, and almost 1 pound is in my combination survival/first aid kit.#30 he revisited making a stove from a cat food can. He also said you can carry fuel for the stove in a soda bottle, and make a windscreen from aluminum foil.If you carry alcohol in a plastic bottle either put some food color in the alcohol, or put a warning on the bottle. You would not want someone drinking the alcohol believing it to be water.Making a windscreen from aluminum foil. Start with about 1.5 feet of aluminum foil. Keeping the width of the aluminum fold in half, and fold again. You will have a strip of aluminum as long as the roll, and 4 inches wide. It makes a decent windscreen.The article "Going SUL" by Ryan Jordan was a treat. SUL means Super UltraLight (pack weight of 5 pounds or less).#54 making your own toothpaste dots (dehydrating toothpaste, and cutting them in 1/2 inch segments so you can brush your teeth on the trail is a WONDERFUL idea instead of carrying a small tube of toothpaste.I am not going to leave toilet paper at home, and wipe with rock's leaves, or snow as the author suggests. As long as I get my pack down to less than 20 pounds with the food and fuel; that is as light as I need to go.

Buy this book before you go out and spend a wad on "light" gear.During a 3-day, 30-mile trek carrying a 50 lb backpack (I'm almost 60) and suffering a sprung knee, I was amazed to meet other hikers carrying only 20 pounds, and going 100 miles. When I got home I rushed to the local outdoor stores to stock up on all the amazing new light gear. Several thousand dollars later I piled my new gear on the scale. WHAT THE HECK?!?! A 32 lb pack.I failed to do my research. This book is a perfect guide for newbies and experienced hikers alike who want to seriously trim pounds, ounces, and grams off their pack weight for a more pleasurable and safe outdoor experience.The book's premise is "how much and what exactly do you need to pack for a 10 day trip to remain well fed, well hydrated, warm, dry, and safe?" The method of instruction features one amusingly illustrated tip after another to bring that 10 day base pack below 10 lbs. Add 10 days of food and a starting supply of water, and you set out with a 20 lb pack that will diminsh in size and weight each day out.I devoured this book in 24 hours - it is an entertaining read - then loaned it to a friend. I'm going to read it again. It is so full of useful info and principles of outdoor and long distance trekking that it is hard to absorb it all with the first read. I am eager to return to the author's list of "all you will every need to carry" where each item has a goal weight. The back of the book has many recipes too.All in all this is a great little book.

este libro lo encontré como recomendación dentro del libro COOL TOOLS de Kevin Kelly, es super divertido, lenguaje informal y muchas caricaturas que ilustran muchos tips útiles para acampar y caminar ligero, hay cosas muy ocurrentes y frescas. algo hippie y divertido.

I greatly enjoyed this book on the first read and just as much on the second (just completed) read. The 153 tips are concise, eclectic and amusingly delivered in a way which makes me want to go backpacking with the author. I’ve applied many of them to my backpacking trips over the last couple of years, and my pack is now several kilos lighter than it ever was before.

Arrived quickly but not exactly what I looking for

Un libro que hará las delicias de todo excursionista que guste de echarse al monte con el mínimo peso posible. Divertido, original y útil. Los dibujos de Mike Clelland, una auténtica gozada, harán innecesario hablar la lengua de Shakespeare!

This is probably my 4th book on backpacking, but first one on UL. I am not UL by any means but was looking to learn simple ideas I could use for my hiking trips. Very simple structure, well written, and by means overly descriptive. It's very well organised, and illustrated and covers a whole lot of different topics. You can choose to remember what you want and skip the rest.