This post was written by our friend, Timmy Carlson over at Hike The Planet! He is a Hiker, Rock Climber, and Blogger living in beautiful Flagstaff, Arizona. He loves Wilderness Medicine, Photography, and Black Coffee. Previously, Timmy worked as a wilderness guide, leading backpacking and river trips throughout the American Southwest. These days, he runs the blog Hike The Planet!, where he writes Trail Reports, Gear Reviews, Technical Tips, and the occasional humor piece. In the future, he hopes to pursue a career in travel nursing, where he can be allowed to climb and hike wherever the road takes him.

Blurring the lines between having fun, and pretending to be homeless, is the sport of backpacking. Backpacking is an activity that teaches self sufficiency, resourcefulness, and perseverance. In my opinion, these three qualities are hallmarks of minimalism. Just as more and more are pursuing a minimalist lifestyle, it is often stressed to find purpose and meaning in the way one chooses to go about their life. To many, backpacking is a lifestyle in itself-one that forces a minimalist bent when eating, sleeping, hiking, and even using the bathroom.

Photo credit: Timmy Carlson at Hike The Planet!

I believe that backpacking is the ultimate minimalist sport. I can give you many reasons why, but to me, backpacking acts a sort of incubation chamber for minimalist ideals and practices. After all, it takes place in the great outdoors. Whether it be the mountains, the desert, the jungle, or the arctic, the outdoors are a place that cultivates an incredibly complicated ecosystem, yet uses no more resources than it needs to. In unspoiled wilderness, everything hangs in a perfect balance. It is the ideal training ground to try out minimalism.

Personally, my own backpacking adventures are what started me down a path towards a minimalist lifestyle. In this article, I will explain why I believe backpacking to be a great sport for minimalists, and why it can help people to learn how to do more with less stuff. I will also share a few tips on how to begin backpacking. Please note that this article will focus on wilderness style backpacking. My experience and expertise falls into this realm. If you would like to learn more about urban travel backpacking, then that is a subject for another blogger. Regardless, I hope that this post will be informative and interesting. Enjoy!

Photo credit: Timmy Carlson at Hike The Planet!

What is Backpacking?

At its core, wilderness backpacking is just hiking. It is a simple activity, where the only prerequisite is being able to walk down a trail. It can take place in all sorts of outdoor environments. People backpack in the desert, the mountains, the woods, the tropics, the beach, across glaciers, and through rivers. You can hike anywhere your feet will take you. Where backpacking distinguishes itself, is that the hiker will carry everything they need to be able to survive in the wilderness for a few days and nights.

The name itself is pretty self explanatory. The hiker will carry a backpack on their adventures. More than just a day pack, a backpacking pack will be able to carry a sleep system, clothing, water, shelter, cookware, and enough food to last them the duration, among a few other pieces of essential gear. This kit can vary depending on weather, environment, and the backpacker’s personal preferences. Some like to trim down their gear and weight to the absolute minimum (a niche known as Ultralight Backpacking) while others don’t mind packing a few luxuries at the expense of a heavier pack (I really like to bring along a bottle of hot sauce).

Photo credit: Timmy Carlson at Hike The Planet!

In general, though, the prevailing philosophy among modern day backpackers is to reduce your pack weight. A lighter pack will make your journeys on the trails a little more pleasant. The question that many ask is “How Much?”. There is no true answer, as it is always subjective. You can hike with whatever and however much gear you like, as long as you are having a good time. Just remember to hike your own hike, and to not worry about how others are choosing to hike their trails.

Yet, no matter how much gear, comforts, and luxuries you decide to pack into the wilderness, there is an upper limit. You cannot carry your entire house on your back. Instead, the inherent limitations in backpacking gear demands that its user be resourceful, using every piece of gear to its fullest. Utility is maximized, while wastefulness is minimized. This is a shared tenant, found at the core of both backpacking and minimalism. These are complementary pursuits, where one strengthens the other.

Why is Backpacking the Ultimate Minimalist Sport?

A good case can be made for the inherent minimalist qualities of many outdoor sports. Bouldering, trail running, and good ol’ day hiking are all arguably more minimalist than backpacking. It is true that the backpacker will use more pieces of gear than any of these other activities. Personally, I feel that backpacking is a better teacher. Backpacking bestows the values and philosophies of a minimalist lifestyle better than any other outdoor sport.

In many ways, the average daily routine of a backpacker is not too far flung from that of a person going about their daily life in a big city. Backpackers need to sleep, eat, go to the bathroom, and get from point A to Point B, just as anyone else would. The difference is that the backpacker will do so with much less amenities, and fewer opportunities for convenience. In a sense, a weekend spent backpacking serves as a microcosmic mirror of our lives in society.

Photo credit: Timmy Carlson at Hike The Planet!

A wilderness “bed” often consists of no more than a thin foam pad, and a sleeping bag. The “house” is reduced to a tent. A shiny clean bathroom is traded in for a hole in the ground. By comparison, all of the modern tools and luxuries of home seem like absolute splendor. After a few days of living a minimalist life in the woods, you get used to it. Most begin to prefer this wilderness lifestyle. It will begin to make you realize that most of the material things we use in our daily lives are unnecessary, unneeded, and wasteful. To a backpacker, even the most bare bones “front country” minimalist life will seem to be perfectly adequate and comfortable. If you can make it in the wilderness, you can make it anywhere.

How Backpacking Led Me to Minimalism

My own path towards minimalism had its start in the outdoors. It was during my thru hike of the John Muir Trail in the summer of 2017 when I began to realize the merits of minimalism. I was not new to backpacking, but I was a noobie thru hiker. A Thru Hike is roughly defined as a trail that starts at point A, and ends at Point B, unlike a loop trail, in which the hiker ends up where they started. Many thru hikes span hundreds, if not thousands of miles, and can take months to complete.

When you’re hiking in the wilderness for three weeks, you begin to realize the folly of packing too much gear. On the JMT, I definitely packed too many unnecessary items. All of it only served to culminate in clutter, back pain, and an overall less pleasant wilderness experience. Though I enjoyed the heck out of my hike, I realized that I did not need much to live comfortably in the mountains for three weeks. Somewhat counterintuitively, the more creature comforts I brought, the less comfortable I felt.

It was not a stretch for me to realize that the same principles of minimalist packing could be extended to my daily life. The same problems that plagued me during my JMT thru hike were also common in my household setting. All my extra gear was time consuming, cluttering, and annoying, just like all the extra stuff I had sitting around my bedroom. Upon my return to society, my slow march towards minimalism began.

Nowadays, I have minimized the majority of my life. Most of my possessions have either been sold off, or given away. I take a careful look before I purchase a new luxury item, remembering the pain that excess had caused on the trail. I still keep around the important things (read: my backpacking and rock climbing gear), but I know that my life would not have been improved by minimalism had I not learned hard lessons in the wilderness. These days, my life is lived more deliberately, both on and off the trail.

How Can the Minimalist Begin Backpacking?

Of all outdoor sports, I think that backpacking is the one most accessible to the widest variety of demographics. Almost anyone can do it. As I mentioned, it’s a simple activity. Backpacking is just walking, and most of us do that on a day to day basis. Whether you are a seasoned hiker, or dyed-in-the-wool city person, backpacking is an activity that all should try. Not only will it teach you minimalist values and self sufficiency, but it will give you a good workout, and make you happier. If you even have an inkling of curiosity for hiking and backpacking, then I highly encourage you to start out on a trail, and see where it takes you.

Right now, minimalism alarms may be going off in your head. Maybe you’re asking “Why should I take up another hobby? Why should I go out and purchase more stuff, just so I can go out into the woods and try to have fun?”. First off, I’ll throw out a disclaimer, and remind you that the outdoors is not for everyone. Some don’t take to it as well as others, but that won’t get me to not try and convince you.

Photo credit: Timmy Carlson at Hike The Planet!

If you’re hesitant to purchase more stuff for an activity that you’re not yet sure about, then you have plenty of alternatives. Many stores will rent out gear for a small fee. Tents, sleeping bags, and sleeping pads are the most common items that can be rented.

If you have friends or family that are already backpackers, ask to borrow their gear. Usually, the outdoorsy types will be stoked that you are trying out one of their favorite hobbies. If they don’t jump at the chance to join you on your trek, then they will at least provide some helpful tips.

Consider finding used gear on Ebay, Craigslist, Offerup, or yard sales. If you find that you don’t like backpacking, then the resale value will likely make up the price that you bought it for. Be sure to clean up any used gear before use. You never know what kind of grimy adventures it was dragged through.

If you do decide that backpacking is a hobby worth pursuing full time, then I have some tips to minimize your hike.

Choose gear that provides the most utility, with least penalty for space and weight

Of all my gear, one of my preferred examples is the Melanzana Microgrid Fleece Hoodie. As far as fleeces go, it is affordable (gear manufacturers love to gouge prices), packs small, lightweight, and its simple design allows plenty of versatility in all sorts of weather conditions. For a more in depth look at this sweater, you can check out my review here. The Melanzana is only one example, but the point stands: do more with less.

Careful Food Planning

Finding adequate nutrition on the trail is hugely important. Hiking burns up a ton of calories, doubly so when you add a pack full of gear, water, and supplies. Just as with equipment, try to maximize calories, while minimizing space. Backpackers like to eat a lot of freeze dried meals, but the cuisine options on the trail are numerous. Calorie heavy foods like quinoa and peanut butter are cheap, and chock full of nutritional value.

Personally, I like to carry around a small bottle of olive oil on my treks. Olive oil is incredibly calorie dense, and I like to add it to my meals as a calorie supplement. Don’t worry about packing in unhealthy foods. As you are burning up so many calories, what may be an unhealthy indulgence in the front country magically transforms into a guilt free energy boost in the wilderness. My favorite trail snack: Snickers Bars dipped in Nutella.

Photo credit: Timmy Carlson at Hike The Planet!

Change Your Perspective on Comfort

A backpacking trip requires that the hiker make some necessary sacrifices. One such sacrifice is comfort. Your feet will get tired, your body odors will grow powerful, and a sleeping bag is never as comfortable as a soft, warm bed. If unprepared, these may catch a new hiker off guard. Don’t let these ruin the experience, though. Instead, consider them as boot camp drills for minimalism. Once you get used to different standards of comfort, backpacking will unlock a whole new perspective on minimalism.

I hope that this has been an interesting and enjoyable article. Backpacking is an incredibly rewarding activity, one which has added innumerable value to my own life. Through my experiences, I have learned to be a better person, a thoughtful consumer, and a better minimalist. The great outdoors, I have found, are a great classroom for teaching these valuable lessons.

If you have never stepped foot outdoors, backpacking may seem intimidating. Just remember to take baby steps. Start out with short day hikes, and don’t immediately commit to purchasing expensive gear. With patience, time, and a little push on the boundaries of your comfort zone, the outdoors will become your teacher.

If you are already an experienced backpacker, then drop me a message. Maybe we can go on a hike together! Otherwise, check out my blog Hike The Planet! for more gear reviews, technical tips, and hiking humor.

Photo credit: Timmy Carlson at Hike The Planet!

Make sure you check out Timmy's blog over at Hike the Planet! as he has some great outdoor stuff over there. All the pictures in this article are property of the author.