​Sharing packing lists

[Guest]

I work off spreadsheets. An Ozark river trip requires more stuff as it's gravel bar camping
Boreal camping has another spreadsheet as weight is paramount with portages
Yukon rivers are another spreadsheet . Boots appear here
Everglades is another spreadsheet
Desert rivers are another.
Ocean paddle trips are another

I pack using a list as well. Two lists, one for day paddling or hunting, one for tripping. But the tripping list is all inclusive; two columns that cover every possible season, venue and length of trip.

At the risk of over-sharing it would be interesting to see what is on different folks packing lists.

I’ll go. My master list is arranged largely by gear type, need and storage location, so I’m not wandering back and forth from the basement to the upstairs closets between each item.

And no you smartass, everything doesn’t come in the boat on every trip, but if I’m on a shoulder season multi-week cross country trek from mountains to desert a surprising amount of it does find its way into the tripping truck.

OK, yeah, a lot of it does find its way into the canoe at times.

And yeah, I couldn’t pack without using a list. Folks who can pack from memory are a different breed. I bring copies of the list on long road trips so I can pack appropriately for the time and place before each launch venue.

My too-much-information list:

TRIPPING, CAMPING & TRAVEL
Tent and ground cloth
Tarp & poles
Sand stakes
Rope bag
Sleeping bag
Pillow case/Sheet
Thermarest
Pillow
Boots
Light weight shoes
Clothing
Hat(s)
Gloves
Spare clothing in car
Bandannas
Wind Breaker
Rain parka
Rain pants
Rain mittens
Gaiters
Foodstuffs/Spices
Stove
Lantern
Fuel
Large cookware set
Barrels
Trench Grill
Pie Irons
Scrub brush
Paper towels
Large water container/dromedaries
Dr Bronners/Camp Suds/Bleach
Coffee cup
Plastic cup/Poly mug
Canteens
Beer/Booze
Cooler chest/Mylar cover
Tabletop/Roll-a-table
Wash bucket
Water filter/Iodine solution
Day pack
Flashlights
Spare bulb/Batteries
Compass/Temp gauge/Whistle
Weather Radio
1st aid kit(s)
Matches & lighters
Spares & Repairs kit
Toiletries
Glasses/Sun glasses
Small ground cloth
Plastic bags
Maps & trail guides/Permits
Field guides
Pen/Steno pad
Pipe & tobacco
Swiss army knife
Sheath knife
Multi-tool pliers
Pack towel
Duct tape
Binoculars/Monocular
Groover bucket/Seat/Scat spade/TP /Wag bags
Camera gear
Fishing gear/Net
Duckhead flag/coffee flag
Shock cords
Hammock
Axe/Saw
Fire starter
Wind chair/headrest/foam pads
Canoe(s)
Single blade paddles
Double blade paddles
Deck compass
Push pole
Cushions/kneeling pads
PFDs
Rope
Car-top racks
Water shoes/Mulkuks
Water proof bag(s)
Extra lines
Sails
Spray covers/Storage covers
Pelican box
Sponge/bailer/bilge pump
Back Bands
Navigation light
Suntan lotion/Bug spray
Can coolers/stabilizers
Hip waders
Backpack
Pack cover
Cookware & gripper
Bear bells
Reading material
Gun & ammo
Playing cards
Campground atlas & guides
Truck cassette tapes/CDs
Thermos
Spotting scope & tripod
Tools
Kite & string
Fire in a Can/Firewood
Bocci/Toys
Come along
Snow mobile suit

There are only a few of items on that list that have not been used in the last couple of years - bear bells, kite & string, snow mobile suit, gaiters – and those still have their occasional applications and backstories.



Dare to share your list?

 

[frozentripper]

Every trip can be different and a new list is written out each time in general categories.... clothes, sleeping, eating, shelter, canoeing, side trips and anything else being planned on. After it's all been packed away, a last look at Lightjay's twelve-pound canoe pack to make sure I'll at least be able to survive being subjected to whatever horrors are waiting out there.


-------------------------------

Pack MEC Genie, 35 litres (seam sealed) w/liner 16oz
Bag MEC Beothuk, down, rated +5C w/OR sack 19oz
Mat Thermarest Ultralite ¾ 15 oz
Tent Walrus Microswift, 5 pegs 47 oz
Sub-total 6lbs 1oz

Clothes: rain jacket and pants, poly LS top, socks, bug net 30oz
Stove & fuel: Primus Alpine Micro & butane canister, lighter 13oz
Cook Pot: coated aluminum, 1litre, fry pan lid, holder, spoon 10oz
Survival Kit: first aid kit (latex gloves, assorted bandages, topical sutures, surgical tape, safety pins, antibiotic, flushing syringe, swabs, tincture of benzoin, Second Skin, anti-inflammatory and painkiller); Swiss Army Knife w/ 3” lockable blade & saw, mirror compass, matches in H2O-proof case, butane lighter, flagging tape, duct tape, cable ties, LED headlamp, iodine tablets, carabiner/ whistle 17oz
Personal Kit: toothbrush and paste, floss (repairs), TP, glasses and spare contact lens, lens solution, sun block, Photon LED light, Swiss Army Knife (1oz) 9oz
Camera: Olympus Stylus Epic 35mm (double zip locks) 6oz
Rope: 50’ Spectra floating heaving line 4oz
H2O: Platypus with inline filter 2oz
Purifier: Pristine 3oz
Map in zip lock 1oz
Total 12lbs

 

[Adirondacktroutstalker]

I usually try to pack light due to I like to do one trip portages. I sleep in a Hennessey Hammock which is very comfortable! I cook with a Solo Stove that burns twigs and cook Mtn. House freezedried food or whatever I dehydrate myself!I carry one change of clothes for a 1 to 2 week trip and wear Cloumbia performance clothes that dry very fast. I have a tarp for a shelter to cook and lounge under during inclement weather! I find it unnecesary to carry an axe or saw!I also carry UNO CARDS as my brother and I have a contest on every trip!

 

[stripperguy]

Hmmm,
My lists are extensive:

Canoe stuff
Sleeping stuff
Food stuff
Map, compass, camera

 

[Jim Dodd]

Boy Mike that is one thorough list ! You can get all of that in a canoe ?

​ It would be nice if you could make that list printable, with check boxes on the left of each item.

​ One thing about items, is check to be sure they work, BEFORE the trip ! Or at least have someone you can BORROW from ! Lighters, flashlights, and anything inflatable, come to mind.

Jim

 

[BWCA66]

Hmmm,
My lists are extensive:

Canoe stuff
Sleeping stuff
Food stuff
Map, compass, camera

This would be my list too except I add Fishing stuff. I've often thought a detailed list would be good but I would need different lists based on how long a trip, how many ports, am I base camping, who is going with if anyone, is it hunting season, so I'll stick with the "bullet point" list. Now if I was taking a Allen type trip for 30+ days I would have to reconsider.

 

[Grandpa Paddler]

Hmmm,
My lists are extensive:

Canoe stuff
Sleeping stuff
Food stuff
Map, compass, camera

Pretty similar to my list 'cept I don't always take a map & compass. When you're doing river trips, just keep going downstream.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I'm still rolling around. That first list.
It's a moving list!
Yah. Rain gloves!

 

[Canotrouge]

Hmmm,
My lists are extensive:

Canoe stuff
Sleeping stuff
Food stuff
Map, compass, camera

Yup my list too... Swap fishing for hunting back to fishing depending on the season!! If the food is ready, in less than 2 hrs I'm on the road!!

 

[Alan Gage]

dang, Mike. I want to trip in your vicinity! I wouldn't want to share camp with you as I'm afraid of the heckles and jeers from the lightweight crowd when they passed by but just knowing you're in the area would be a comfort. Kind of like having a floating camping store where I could pick up any supplies that I lost or forgot.

Life would be a lot easier if I had a master list but I'm not that organized. I start a new list for every trip and scribble it down on a couple pieces of paper. By the time the next trip rolls around I can never find it again so I start over. For my big trips I try to start it a month it advance. I start by writing down everything I can think of at the moment, which is all the obvious stuff. In my head I try to run through every scenario I can think of and what gear I'll need; even down the most mundane things like getting into the canoe. "Time to shove off for the day. First I'll put on my PFD and grab my paddle. Make sure the bailer and spare paddle are stowed and that Sadie's sit pads are in place. Attach the thwart bag and make sure the right map is in the map case. Looks sunny so I better put on my sunglasses. But maybe it will rain later so keep the waterproof hat and rain gear close by." And on and on for all the little things I'll do over the course of the trip. I write down every item as I think of it.

Starting the list a month in advance gives me time to think of everything as well as time to buy/make items I don't have or that are no longer functioning. I start a separate list for those things.

It work for me and I haven't forgotten anything important yet. I'm always paranoid about forgetting something but when I look at my list I realize all the important things are on there and that anything I've forgotten will be minor. If I have forgotten something it was so insignificant that I can't remember it. More often I simply can't remember where I packed it and think I forgot it until later in the trip when I stumble upon it.

My food lists I do try to keep better track of. They're scribbled on pieces of paper too but I mostly know where to go looking for them. But since I eat simple meals even without the lists it wouldn't take long to figure out how much food to bring. Mostly I just want to know the weight of each portion (2 ounces of grain, 2 ounces of veggies, and an ounce or so of beans makes a good sized dinner) and that makes it easy to multiply by the number of meals and just weigh out the ingredients into baggies.

I keep journals while tripping and always mean to do a summary of how food and gear worked out after I get home but invariably once I'm off the trail I never write in the notebook again. On my last trip I had plenty of down time in the tent at the end of the trip due to weather so I started writing it all down then. How much was left of each food item, what foods I ran out of, what foods worked well (Quinoa) and what didn't work so well (pasta, farro, powdered eggs), what food portions I liked, how clothing performed, how shelter performed, how were the maps, that I need to add some sort of traction to me seat because it's too slippery, that my seat was canted just a little too far, etc...

I managed to fill multiple pages with this sort of thing and I believe that looking back I'll find those the most valuable, and interesting, lists of all.

Alan

 

[sweeper]

I don't make lists, or more correctly, I gave up on lists. Check the 10 day forecast, look at the trip plan and take each aspect of the trip, Sleeping, Clothes, Cooking... and pull the gear. Cooking is the hardest one. I have just about all the common cooking gear for the group I paddle with, it's ends up as coordination with the individuals to make sure we have the right cookware, which cuts down on everyone bringing cookware for their meal.

It's not rocket science.

 

[Odyssey]

Lists. I hate 'em. I need 'em. I hardly ever use 'em. And when I'm in the grocery store I forget the 1 thing I went in for. And when I get to work I forget the 3 things I needed to take that day.
Our tripping lists are casual affairs. More carelessly jotting down stuff, rather than diligently committing details to memory. But the weird thing is, we rarely forget stuff. Maybe because we have so little to forget. All the gear is stored on the same few shelves, and there's precious little of that. Even toilet paper and compasses, rope and sleeping bags, duct tape and pfds are all faithfully organized in it's place in the "canoe stuff" storage area. The only things missing are the maps, food and clothing. I'm not likely to forget those things. Well, I did forget my clothing once. You only have to wear your wife's ugly pink sweater for warmth once before never forgetting your extra clothing ever again.
Lists become a nagging necessity when discussing food plans. I harass my wife "Well what do you want to cook this time?" She asks "Well what do you want to eat this time?" We don't have a great recipe repertoire so food is soon figured out, but a daily meal list is very handy to try to avoid monotony of the same dinners day after day.
We usually only trip from July to September, so there are no big changes in gear. Hot/cold, wet/dry. Light weight vs luxury. There are some decisions and compromises to be made, but they're usually made way back in the dark days of winter, along with routes and destinations, long before the gear is pulled out of hibernation and spread across the family room floor.
And then the lists are scribbled and the excitement begins.

 

[Guest]

Boy Mike that is one thorough list ! You can get all of that in a canoe ?

​ It would be nice if you could make that list printable, with check boxes on the left of each item.

​ One thing about items, is check to be sure they work, BEFORE the trip ! Or at least have someone you can BORROW from ! Lighters, flashlights, and anything inflatable, come to mind.

Well, like I said, that list covers everything from a summer overnighter to a week long shoulder season trip or cross country travel. And I prefer a big canoe.

I have been revising that list for 25 years, since it had “Diapers” on it when the kids were little. I am aging, but haven’t needed to add them back yet. One list to rule them all.

The list is printable, two columns on a single piece of 8 ½ x 11 paper. Instead of check boxes I just cross each item off once it is packed in a dry bag or waiting on the ready table and make notes in the margins. Lighters, battery op stuff and first aid kit don’t get crossed off until they has been inspected or refilled.

If I had to make a new list from scratch each time I would overlook something obvious like the tent, or worse, end up packing randomly, wandering inefficiently from room to room for this item and that.

Having the list arranged grouped (mostly) by where things are grouped/stored cuts my packing time, or at least my wandering back and forth not packing time. I already have enough trouble walking into rooms wondering what I was looking for.

Using that comprehensive list I can pack for any trip, any season, anywhere in a couple hours time. It helps that the major gear storage room always has a four foot by eight foot table available for staging.

It could be worse. A lot of the small tripping item essentials stay pre-packed in their respective dry box or bag. And that list doesn’t include the tripping truck stuff that lives in the Tacoma.

It could be much, much worse; I have seen other folk’s lists which included a half page just for naming each item of clothing (Socks, three pair, wool, OD green”, and another page listing every possible foodstuff; mine simply lists “Clothing” and “Foodstuffs/Spices”.

I can somehow magically pack food and clothes without a list and still come out just right.

Without a list, or even a plan. The day prior to a three week trip on the Green I wandered the isles of a Moab grocery grabbing things more or less at random. Twenty two days later, waiting for the jetboat, I had the dregs of a single day’s food remaining. I had run one short on drink mix packets and shared the last of my hot chocolate, but I still had one beer left.

 

[Guest]

Lists. I hate 'em. I need 'em. I hardly ever use 'em. And when I'm in the grocery store I forget the 1 thing I went in for.

There are two kinds of people in the world. . . .

I always have lists. If I don’t have a pen and sheet or paper or index card in my pocket I feel naked. One phobia on trips is my pen running out of ink, so I bring multiples, and a couple of pencils as back up.

I am not bad in the grocery store sans list, but I write down the infrequent oddball items. Mostly so I can spend 10 minutes searching for which isle they are shelved in before giving up.

But “shopping” trips in my rural, gotta-drive-a-ways area means multiple stops; hardware store, the other hardware store, grocery, big box. . . . . NAPA or Advance Auto. . . . library . . . . Case and Keg. What did I forget?

Dammit, where’s my list, with stops numbered in sequential order of store openings and easy of merges, travel and one way transit.

So, this morning I had an early getaway. A dawn diner breakfast with a friend passing en route and I was at the hardware and lumber when they opened, ready to stock up on shop supplies, make some post-Thanksgiving shop shelving during the reorganization, insulation for some shop doors and windows, make some trash can lids (don’t ask). Stops at several of those other retailers as well.

Walking into my first stop, the hardware store, I pull out my pre-dawn bleery eyed grabbed index card list. . . . . and it is the index card of Christmas gift ideas for family and friends.

You would think some of them wanted things from the Tru-Value. Work gloves for everyone!

I guess I’m heading into town again on Monday.

 

[tear_knee]

No Title

My food lists are much more detailed and change every trip, but my main packing lists stay the same pretty much every year. Don't always bring everything for every trip. Still manage to forget something almost every time.

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

No Title

Here is our packing list for summer BW/Quetico trips.

 

[Guest]

Here is our packing list for summer BW/Quetico trips.

Yay, someone else who brings a pillow case. I don’t mind using wadded up clothes as a pillow but I refuse to stuff them inside a tee shirt where they fall out in the middle of the night leaving bereft of head cushion.

And yay, another inne/outee footprint packer.

Little German what?

 

[Seeker]

I have a long Excel checklist that contains just about every item I own, along with its weight, and functions/macros that causes the weight to be added to the total if an X is placed in the first column... It also includes a food calculator based on my average usage rates and number of days out. A simple "1.5lbs of food per day" is probably as accurate. I do tend to plan a rather disciplined menu though, especially on hard trips, rationing pretty exact quantities and carrying little "extra" outside 1 full meal per 5 days out (meaning I carry 1 or 2 spare vacuum packed Mountain House beef stews in case I'm out a day longer, or run into someone in trouble. They occupy little space and don't weigh much, considering.)

I use it more to prove a concept or load plan for a given trip, allowing me to pack without actually packing, so to speak, than to actually make a list from, and it gives me a rough idea what certain gear will cost me in weight. Most useful for planning backpacking or hard-portage trips, when I want to keep the pack weight down under 15 lbs before food, water, and toys. Since I tend to pack the same every time, everything has a place, and I seldom forget things, even without a list.

The only "must have" items are food, a pot, a tarp, a sleeping bag, knife, compass, matches/lighter, and a pack. I can pretty much improvise the rest.

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

No Title

Little German what?

The 'Little German' is a cut out figure that we take for photo ops. (One of those stupid traditions people have. )