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Outdoor Life: Ultralight Backpacking Hacks You Can Find at a Gas Station

Tips for some of the best gear for ultralight backpacking might already be in your home.

Outdoor Life: Ultralight Backpacking Hacks You Can Find at a Gas Station

Last updated:
January 20, 2025
|  5 min read
A photo of a Smart water bottle and a blue water bottle on the ground.

Outdoor Life: Ultralight Backpacking Hacks You Can Find at a Gas Station

Outdoor Life: Ultralight Backpacking Hacks You Can Find at a Gas Station

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Tips for some of the best gear for ultralight backpacking might already be in your home.

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Outdoor Life: Ultralight Backpacking Hacks You Can Find at a Gas Station

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Ultralight Backpacking Hacks You Can Find at a Gas Station

Sure, it’s expensive to achieve that elusive sub-10 pound base weight. But trimming a few pounds off your kit is shockingly affordable. You can spend less than $20 at your local gas station and trim more weight off your backpack than spending hundreds of dollars on a Dyneema ultralight tent. Here are the top ultralight backpacking hacks for saving weight while saving your wallet.

Smartwater Bottle
For years, there was an obvious tell for the likes of ultralight thru-hikers versus traditional weekend warriors. One group was carrying a trusty Nalgene (or two) in their backpack’s side pockets. The other had bedraggled smartwater bottles. Occasionally, it’d be a Vitamin water or Gatorade, but the slim profile — often with a Sawyer mini sticking out the top — of the Smartwater bottle was the most ubiquitous.

Continue reading to learn more, written by Laura Lancaster.

Outdoor Life: Ultralight Backpacking Hacks You Can Find at a Gas Station

Ultralight Backpacking Hacks You Can Find at a Gas Station

Sure, it’s expensive to achieve that elusive sub-10 pound base weight. But trimming a few pounds off your kit is shockingly affordable. You can spend less than $20 at your local gas station and trim more weight off your backpack than spending hundreds of dollars on a Dyneema ultralight tent. Here are the top ultralight backpacking hacks for saving weight while saving your wallet.

Smartwater Bottle
For years, there was an obvious tell for the likes of ultralight thru-hikers versus traditional weekend warriors. One group was carrying a trusty Nalgene (or two) in their backpack’s side pockets. The other had bedraggled smartwater bottles. Occasionally, it’d be a Vitamin water or Gatorade, but the slim profile — often with a Sawyer mini sticking out the top — of the Smartwater bottle was the most ubiquitous.

Continue reading to learn more, written by Laura Lancaster.

사진 썸네일 블로그 작성자
Writer and Editor
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Hi, I‘m Laura. I’ve been editing and writing for nearly twenty years, covering everything from developing a seismologist’s first book to telling the story of my first deer hunt.
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Outdoor Life: Ultralight Backpacking Hacks You Can Find at a Gas Station

Ultralight Backpacking Hacks You Can Find at a Gas Station

Sure, it’s expensive to achieve that elusive sub-10 pound base weight. But trimming a few pounds off your kit is shockingly affordable. You can spend less than $20 at your local gas station and trim more weight off your backpack than spending hundreds of dollars on a Dyneema ultralight tent. Here are the top ultralight backpacking hacks for saving weight while saving your wallet.

Smartwater Bottle
For years, there was an obvious tell for the likes of ultralight thru-hikers versus traditional weekend warriors. One group was carrying a trusty Nalgene (or two) in their backpack’s side pockets. The other had bedraggled smartwater bottles. Occasionally, it’d be a Vitamin water or Gatorade, but the slim profile — often with a Sawyer mini sticking out the top — of the Smartwater bottle was the most ubiquitous.

Continue reading to learn more, written by Laura Lancaster.

사진 썸네일 블로그 작성자
Writer and Editor
로라 랭커스터
Hi, I‘m Laura. I’ve been editing and writing for nearly twenty years, covering everything from developing a seismologist’s first book to telling the story of my first deer hunt.
미디어 언급
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43.2% of hikers used the Sawyer Squeeze, the most common hollow membrane squeeze filter (and the most common water treatment overall).

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미디어 언급

Randy Patton’s late father, Biff Patton, launched the water filter program in 2010.

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The most significant being its positive impact on our health after using it, its capacity to reduce our expenses on water treatment and access to safe water, and the time it saves by eliminating the need for boiling or treating water.

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