How to Pack for an Overnight Hike

by Expert Village

Summary: Learn how to pack for a multi-day hike, including how to maximize your backpack space and what to bring along with you, in this free hiking video series.

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Transcript for: How to Pack for an Overnight Hike

"Hi! I'm Kate and I'm with Zoar Outdoor on behalf of expertvillage to talk to you about hiking and backpacking. Here are some general rules of thumb when you are packing for your multi day trip. I'll explain them briefly. When I pack for my multi day trip, I have my sleeping bag usually in a stuffed sack and that is the first thing to go in the bottom of my backpack. It has a sleeping bag compartment so it will be easily accessible later on. You generally want to have most of the weight now right on top of that sleeping bag so the heaviest things are going to be your food, which I put in a stuffed sack; it's all in one thing so I know where my food is. I put that in next. Then the stove; it's pretty bulky and heavy so I put that in next. I keep things that I am going to need like my toilet paper, toiletry kit on the outside, bug spray on the outside, maps on the outside. Then I have extra stuff like my toiletry kit with my toothpaste and everything. I'm just going to put these in my backpack kind of evenly on either side and I haven't forgotten about my clothes. This I put in last; all the empty spaces, nooks and crannies in my backpack. I don't both with a stuffed sack. This is much easier for space and for accessibility. So when you pack just shove your clothes in the bottom and all the side compartments. If you do like to keep these organized, light weight stuff sacks work well to put your clothes in or whatever else. I like to put my sleeping pad on the bottom of my backpack using my clips and it is easily accessible. I'm not really worried about it. It is hard to pack as it is. So this stays in the bottom of my bag and I put my rain fly for my backpack right over it. Lastly, you have your water on the outside. You should probably keep your fuel on the outside of your pack. If it should leak, you don't want it to get all over your stuff. So find an outside compartment for the fuel, you should be good to go."

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