When I feel like bringing a luxury item, it’s my Helinox Chair Zero. Every pound counts, but at my age being able to sit for a few hours without my back hurting too much helps a lot.

An elastic band and a racquetball for stretching and myofascial release. 10-20 minutes effort in the evening helps me sleep better and get moving faster in the morning.

How about posting your pack list when you get done and folks can make suggestions? In the meantime, I have a bunch of little trinkets I take with me, but as far as “heavy” or bulking nonessentials I consider worth their weight:

• backpacking chair for sure
• pocket chainsaw
• Jetboil zip: compact, affordable, great for quick boiling to make coffee, tea, oatmeal, noodles, or freeze-dried food (especially so you can stay in the tent longer on cold mornings)
• shemagh- lots of uses as a scarf, towel, bag, etc
• Sawyer filter
• frogg toggs rain suit - cause getting drenched stinks

Here’s some small stuff you might not think of that’s great to have

• Paracord
• sawdust compressed fire starter
• gorilla tape and zip ties
• head lamp
• Moleskin for blisters and hot spots
• a small towel (if no shemagh-)
• plastic bags

Happy Trails!!!

I love to take a small carabiner or two, clipped onto the outside of my pack. They’ve been surprisingly helpful. I also often bring some ziplock bags in different sizes. They’re mostly useful on longer hikes.

Small lightweight collapsible chair with good lower back support… Even if you bring a hammock, after a couple of days you’ll appreciate sitting up straight… Lightweight waterfilter like the sawyer squeeze… Eliminating carrying liquids is gold

It’s gotta be my Helinox Chair Zero. Sure, I’ve got to turn in my Ultralight credentials by bringing it, but damn, it sure feels great to sit comfortably, enjoy a nice cup of coffee in the morning relaxing and reclining in comfort, or chatting by a fire over dinner while sitting in pure comfort.

I don’t always bring it backpacking, but when I do, I never regret it.

Cheers.

A real pillow, like the thermarest compressible foam pillow. Not an air filled pillow. I need a proper pillow for a good sleep.

Paracord always comes in handy.
I don’t think I’ve ever made a camping trip where I wasn’t glad I brought a bunch of Paracord along.
It’s pretty much “essential” to me at this point.

Other stuff that I find essential, but not everyone might have on their list.

• Headlamp is probably something everyone has, but just in case.
• Dry bag and compression sack. Fit more into your pack and keep your stuff dry. A spare dry bag for the dirty laundry stuff.
• Stormproof matches, they have more in common with road flares than traditional matches. Lighters fail, wind blows them, etc. The huge storm matches never let me down. Overkill? Sure. I like to overkill my firestarting.
• If I’m going car camping where space and weight isn’t as limited: a bag of charcoal and a chimney starter. I’ve started roaring fires in heavy rain. Many a friend were made on camping sites this way.
• As we rely more on technology, my next buy is probably a portable solar charger.

A tiny air pump by FLEXTAILGEAR. So nice for the mattress and pillow, and doubles as a hanging tent light.

I’m still working on getting started in backpacking myself. So far mostly just doing car camping with the whole family, but looking forward to being able to go out with one of the kids on shorter trips to get started.

I am also bringing a chair, I got a Nemo Moonlite. It has been wonderful being able to go from the default reclined position to a more upright position. I added some straps to the chair bag to help keep it attached to the frame and be able to use it as a water bottle holder.

I also got a Nemo Fillo Elite pillow and that has helped in sleeping quite a bit. I seem to wake up less often sleeping with it, and have found I turn over due to soreness/stiffness in neck/shoulder a bit less often when sleeping with it. Granted, this is only over two trips with it so far. I was using absolutely nothing previously though.

My current goal is to flesh out stuff to be able to go with one of the kids for a short trip, just 1-2 nights. So I’m reusing some of the car camping stuff as gear for now. So we’ve a big double sized Exped Synthmat Duo and a sheet for it to cut down on noise. Then a quilt for me and a sleeping bag for the child. A crua outdoors two person tent, even though it is probably a bit on the heavy side at about 6 pounds.

We bought several Gear Aid Ni Glo Gear Markers on sale to try out for a “nightlight” inside the tent and to mark out guy lines overnight, but haven’t had a chance to actually try them out yet. I’m hopeful they’ll be good enough though. They’re supposed to recharge just by being out in the sun, and then are supposed to be able to last several hours. So I’m hoping I can just hang them on the outside of the bag while we’re hiking and then have them usable overnight.

I just got a Soto Windmaster stove and a titanium cup and spoon to test out. We just got in one of the Flex Tail Gear pumps to inflate all the airmats and that we can use for brighter light inside the tent when needed as well.

I also just got a 45L shadowlight backpack that I’m hoping will be big enough for my part of a 1-2 night trip at least. I’ll still need to review clothes for the kiddo before we go, and get them some manner of backpack to bring along as well. But hopefully I’m on the way to getting started at least. Due to either age or physical therapy, I’ve got probably a couple years before any of the kids can do any decent number of miles in one trip, but multiple of them are interested in trying!