BackpackingLight.com Forums

GEAR talk. Everything GEAR. All about GEAR. Ultralight backpacking gear. Lightweight backpacking gear. Hiking gear. Anything GEAR. Gear that sucks, gear that works, gear that's cheap, gear that's cool, gear that's overrated by lying manufacturers, gear that's only available from a side street Spanish market, gear that breaks, gear that's multi-use, gear that can be Googled, GEAR GEAR GEAR GEAR GEAR. Now go. Talk 'some gear.

Post your gear list here, get some feedback, debate the choices. Trying to cut down from 35 pounds? 6 pounds? It doesn't matter where you're at with your ultralight journey... we're here to help!

"Multiple Use" as applied to a piece of gear is a foundation principle of lightweight backpacking. This forum deals with the topic in greater depth.

Do-it-yourself tips and tricks, material sources, patterns, techniques, and discussions of how to HACK UP off the market products to make them lighter (and sometimes, better).

Announcements of online & local sales, coupons, etc. Commercial posts OK, but ONLY if you are announcing a sale or coupon.

New and used gear to buy, sell, or trade.

Membership Required to Create New Threads: Offers to buy and sell used gear is a privilege of Backpackinglight.com Membership. Please support our forums and SUBSCRIBE today.

• Items posted for sale here cannot be listed for sale elsewhere. We'll cheerfully remove such cross-posting information.
• Begin your post with FS (For Sale) or WTB (Want To Buy) for clarity.
• Once your item has sold, please edit your first post to reflect that fact.

General discussion of lightweight hiking/backpacking and other backcountry activities.

Discussion of SUL hiking/backpacking and ways to trim even MORE weight from your pack.

Discussions about the ethereal philosophy of going light, balanced (maybe) by both rational and (very likely) irrational discussions of "best practices", techniques, etc.

All is well if you have an eight pound base (dry) pack weight, but you have to add food and water sooner or later. Use this forum to discuss the acquisition, packaging, and preparation of backcountry ingestibles. Post your favorite trail recipes too.

Short tips and tricks to help you go just a leeeeetle bit lighter next time.

A place to share experiences, stories, techniques, and gear ideas for backpacking light with Scouts.

A place for the discussion of gear, techniques, and strategies for High Adventure at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.

Packrafting is the use of a backpackable, inflatable boat for wilderness travel and sport. Discuss gear, techniques, trips, and the latest in packrafting trends here.

Discussion of ultralight techniques, gear, and philosophy as they directly relate to more vertical pursuits above the treeline.

If your mission is vertical, check out the "Mountaineering and Alpinism" forum. All other winter hikers, this is your gig. Techniques and gear for dealing with SNOW and COLD.

Canoeing lite, river running lite, packrafting lite, sailing lite, etc.

Fly fishing, spin fishing, lightweight gear and techniques for the backcountry.

Camera gear, techniques, strategies for going light, etc.

Other activities not specifically related to hiking or camping, or the other Off-Piste forum topics.

A place to discuss ultralight bicycle touring also referred to as ultralight bikepacking.

Specifically for those lightweight hangers in our midst.

Discussions related to specific articles published at BPL.com, as well as open letters to the editor.

Ask questions, post your plans, gather feedback.

Need a partner? Need a shuttle? Find them here.

Post trip reports, backyard gear testing fiascos, etc.

Post your surf slop here - personal websites or other Web resources that will be informative to lightweight backpackers.

Unrelated to any of the forums above. No rules regarding the topic. Opinions, politics, the benefits of heavy gear, you name it. Please, no commercial posts, and NO SPAM. Courtesy is monitored in the other forums. In this one, you may need some thick skin to play with the big dogs.

A place to post photos - we're just testing this feature for now to see how it goes.

A four-part series on the best, brightest, and - mostly - LIGHTEST from the August 2011 show.

Daily dispatches from the floor of the Salt Palace

Solicitations for editorial content for authors, photographers, podcasters, and video producers.

Forum policy and use issues.

A place where BackpackingLight.com customers can ask specific questions from the forum community and staff about maximizing the performance of products sold through the BackpackingLight.com Gear Shop. Generally, product support requests related to product performance will be referred here, as we recognize that the collective experience of the BackpackingLight.com user community is far greater than the collective experience of our customer support staff.

What's happenin' at BPL (read only).

Information and exchange related to Backpacking Light's Wilderness Trekking School. For more information, visit backpackinglight.com/school.

For testing the forum interface. A place where newbies can post test messages without getting flamed. Nothing informative here, total trash.