My friends joke that I live half my life out of a backpack, and in the summer, it sometimes feels true. I remember my first backpacking trip on the shores of Lake Michigan with my parents when I was 8. I sat down on the side of the trail after less than a mile and deemed backpacking a terrible hobby, and vowed never to do it again. 

Oops. 

When my husband and I were dating, we backpacked Europe together. I wish I could say this was one of those cute “we galavanted across Europe staying in hostels, sipping wine, and dancing on under the moonlight of Greece” trips. Instead, it was more like a “we slept in ditches and did laundry twice the whole summer in a river and emerged from random patches of woods with sticks in our hair.” Our backpacks were $25 off eBay, we had Walmart sleeping bags, our budget was $20/day per person, and we didn’t even have sleeping pads. We slept under a bridge in Spain, set up our tent on an abandoned roadside mattress in Slovakia, and slept in a rocky ditch in Croatia. We looked more like homeless degenerate locals than American backpackers.

The truth was we couldn’t afford a luxurious backpacking trip through Europe—hell, we couldn’t even afford a budget backpacking trip through Europe. I grew up poor, and traveling to Europe after college was the only thing I had my sights set on. I worked three jobs to save up $10,000 throughout my five years of college and was determined to make that last a year. 

I love this packable layer from REI.

Alas, that was eight years ago, and I’ve come a long way since then (thank god). I now have a cushy down sleeping bag and a fancy lightweight sleeping pad. My filtration water bottle was $100. I can pack for an overnight backpacking trip in less than an hour. 

It’s taken years of long trips, short trips, overnight trips, and day trips to perfect my packing. And trust me, I’ve made almost every mistake along the way. Did I pack too heavy? YEP. Did I use the wrong gear? All the time. Did I pack useless items? Check, check, check. 

But after years of doing all the WRONG things, I’ve finally got packing down. Trust me, you wouldn’t have wanted me to write this guide five years ago. 

What to Pack for an Overnight Backpacking Trip

Clothing: First things first, leave most of your clothes at home. Overpack socks, pack a clean pair of underwear for each day, and the rest can suffer. Here’s the thing: you will be emerging from the backcountry disgusting, sweaty, and smelly no matter what. Overpacking clothes is the #1 mistake made while backpacking. If I am going out for a couple of days, I remain in the same outfit the entire time. Gross? Yep. Are you going to smell at the end either way? Yep. Ensure you have enough layers (jacket, thermal layers) and the rest can stay at home. 

Meals: Clif Bars, trail mix, and backpacking meals? Fuck em’. No really, they suck. You know what’s the only thing worse than starving to death in the wilderness? Looking into your pack on day two to trail mix and healthy snacks. You need calories and salt when backpacking, and I use them as an excuse to eat all the things I feel guilty eating in my day-to-day life. M&Ms, chips, ritz crackers, Twix bars. I also have a personal vendetta against backpacking meals. They are SO expensive and barely feed one hungry hiker. I’d rather throw in some .75 ramen and call it a day. 

Okay, all of that might have been a bit aggressive. I do pack backpacking meals sometimes, but many times, I prefer to prep my only meals. Do you know what the only thing better than garlic bread is? Garlic bread in the backcountry. I typically make it the morning before we leave, wrap it in some tin foil, and reheat it next to the fire at camp. It doesn’t weigh a ton, is filled with needed carbs, and tastes SO good at camp. 

And when it comes to snacks, pack your favorites & a big variety. Fruit snacks, granola bars, chips, crackers, chocolate, jerky, candy, Oreos, etc. I really like bringing chips on overnight backpacking trips because they weigh almost nothing and are salty. 

Water: How much water you pack should depend on the length and intensity of your hike, and you should never go backpacking without a water filter. My favorite water bottles are the 1L collapsable bottles you can find like this. I love them because when you’re packing out and don’t need as much water, they easily collapse and make more room in your pack. 

Complete Packing List For an Overnight Backpacking Trip

Here is my complete list of everything I pack for an overnight backpacking trip, with links to the exact items I own: 

• Headlamp
• First aid kit 
• Mini Garmin beacon 
• Nemo insulated sleeping pad 
• Kelty down sleeping bag 
• Backcountry stove (Fire Maple is the same thing as the Jetboil just ½ the price) 
• 3L water 
• Grayl water filter OR Larq bottle (I prefer the Larq) 
• Down jacket
• Hat
• Gloves 
• Rain jacket 
• Long sleeve or lightweight sweater 
• Wool socks 
• Sweatpants or second pair of pants 
• Basic toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, contact solution & case, eye drops, brush, hair ties) 
• Wet wipes 
• Ibuprofen 
• Snacks (chips, granola bars, fruit snacks, M$Ms, cheese, crackers, pistachios, energy chews) 
• One meal for every night you’re out (Ramen, mashed potatoes, pasta, burritos, backcountry meals) 
• Coffee (iykyk) 
• Mug 
• Reusable spoon/fork 
• Toilet paper 
• Packable daypack
• Backpacking tent

With everything above packed, my backpack typically weighs around 20 lbs, which is considered pretty light. I love to backpack, but I am also a bit lazy and I hate carrying extra weight. The only things I bring extras of are 1. snacks and 2. socks.

I typically always wear my Topo Design quick dry pants as my main bottom layer with a tank top or sun-protection long-sleeve.