sounds like everybody has covered most of the essentials. I usually do a 5-8 days backpack trip every year and its amazing how every year I find things I could have left at home and things I should have brought. Since most of the bases have already been covered I'll just chime in a little.
I always carry an extensive first aid kit and we use iodine tablets to purify our water. They weigh less than a purifier and we usually pack some powder gatorade in a ziplock to cover the taste. We eat a lot of mountain house meals but for dinner only. breakfast is usually instant oatmeal or a breakfast bar. We also pack in folger's singles for coffee.
If the weather is cold we will pack our jetboil with us on our hunts and will eat a cup of noodle and then use the empty cup to make coffee to warm back up. I love backpacking but expect your pack to weigh more than some people have mentioned. Once you add your sleeping bag/pad, tent, clothes, gear, and food it doesn't take long to add up the weight. Remember in the high country the temp can change drastically so you'll need plenty of clothes/layers to cover a wide range of temps.
You will burn more calories than you ever dreamed of so pack plenty of food (especially snack type items: snickers, crackers, cookies, trailmix). You should also expect to make a couple of trips packing the meat out. Another helpful tip is not to pack in all of packaging in relation to the food. Take the granola bars out of the box and ditch the box. Remember ounces make pounds and save where you can. We use quite a few ziplock bags and our lunches we usually pack in a 1 gallon zip lock which might include trail mix, jerky, granola bars, candy bars and crackers. You can use the same ziplock every day and just throw everything in it. When hunting the backcountry whenever you get a chance to stop and rest make sure you eat something, no matter how small, to help refuel the body. This will help more than you can imagine. We don't eat big lunches but instead choose to graze all day.
In saying all of this I must tell you that we usually set a camp and then just do long day hunts from there. If need be we will move camp but we do not put our camp on our backs everyday.
I hope you have fun and I cannot explain the joy I get every year loading up the backpack and heading out into the backcountry (no phones, computers, traffic) Have fun and good luck!!!!!!!
Oh yeah last but not least we never hit the backcountry without a little flask of some kind of adult beverage. This can be to toast to a successful hunt, warm the spirits, or can even be medicinal when it comes to aches and pains. A lot of times you'll find yourself sitting on top of a mountain with a majestic view and a sip of the good stuff is a nice reward for getting there.
Topic: 8 day elk hunt..What to pack? (Read 1014 times)
