25 Backpacking Hacks To Make Your Next Trip Simpler

Upon returning home from a backpacking trip, I’m often asked if I had fun. Maybe you’ve been asked a similar question and found it similarly difficult to answer: is backpacking ever fun?

Satisfying? Sure. Fulfilling in a deep, soul-cleansing way? Absolutely. But fun? Nothing that causes this many blisters should ever be called fun.

My point is, backpacking is hard work, and even those of us who love it to our very core will freely admit that most of the time, it’s no picnic. That’s why, when you offer a backpacker any trick or tip to make their trek simpler, easier, or less arduous, they’ll almost certainly take it.

The backpacking hacks listed below are intended to do just that. If you have a lot of experience on the trail, then you may have heard some of these before. Others may surprise you.

In any case, I hope that some of these tricks make your hike simpler and – even just a little bit – more fun. Check out the tricks written by Richard Corrigan here.