what size pack for 2 weeks wild camping

[Nuitari]

hey guys,

I am planning a 2 week hike/wild camp in Scotland this coming August and due to the no fires rule i will be carrying all of my food and all of my kit on my back. I don't have to worry too much about carrying lots of water as i will be taking a water filter and water purifiers (i will be in an area with easy access to an abundance of natural springs and running water) so a camel hydration bladder and/or a 1L water bottle should suffice. Do you think i can realistically get away with carrying less than a 60L pack? I'm using all ultralight gear but need to buy a new pack as the pack i normally use is only 35L and i definitely wont get everything in there for 2 weeks. Has anyone tried anything similar to this for 2 weeks? Do you think i can get away with a 50L?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Bushcraftsman]

Hi Nuitari,

What is your base weight before water and food?

it depends how "bulky" all your other gear is, really. I'd personally go for 60ltr for such a long trip. I'm guessing you'll be passing places to re-stock your food? Meaning you don't actually need to carry 2 full weeks worth of food on your back?

I did a week hiking Hadrians wall, stocking up on food on day 2 just as we left Carlisle (nowhere to restock on "the wall!"). I was using a 65ltr rucksack and I just about managed that. And I have very small/light gear. Small sleeping bag and using only a tarp as a tent. The food just takes up so much room, and I'd dehydrated a lot of it to save weight/bulk.

So if you can re-stock every few days minimising the amount you have to carry at one time then yes it should be doable, if you have to carry more than that I'd maybe look at getting a bigger bag!

 

[Janne]

50 l pack should be big enough, but it depends on what you plan to carry.

 

[IC_Rafe]

Look at what you're planning to bring, buy a little bigger. Hypothetically i could suggest to you a 36L pack, which would work for me, in my condition, with my gear, with my location, but which would be useless for you because your sleeping bag is already 20L. A pack needs to be chosen for the gear it must carry. Since we don't know your gear, no real answer is possible. Best bet would be to take your gear to the store with you, if they allow that, and try out packs till you find one which fits you well and carries it well .

 

[Bishop]

Hi Nuitari,

As is often the case with questions such as yours... It Depends

Paul Kirtley did an excellent article about food that may be useful to you. link
For a one week supply of food using 'off-the-shelf' items from a supermarket then you are looking at a bare minimum of about 5kg that takes up 15L of pack space. Of course using freeze dried Mountain House meals rather than Magi noodles will save some bulk and weight but it's a hideously expensive option.

So if your regular load-out is 35L then 60+ litres is the kind of capacity you are probably looking for. Being utterly ruthless with gear selection that could perhaps be brought down further but you are entering the realm of dangerous compromises.

 

[Old Bones]

Realistically, a 65L for two weeks isn't unreasonable. I'd have to ask the question as to why your deciding to carry all your food with you, since Scotland does have shops, even if they may be often far apart.

And although its August, its Scotland. Two years ago, we went up to the Lochinver area in late July with the kids. Weather conditions when we arrived looked like November, and we had to go to the local Millets for hats and gloves. Within one day we had driving rain, gales and then wonderful sunshine. And it got cold enough on the drive back to Inverness for heavy mist/fog in the valleys.

So while you might get away with a couple of T-shirts and a 1 season sleeping bag, you equally might need a 3-4 season bag and a lot of thermal layers. Even going with the smallest down bag, lightest mat and thermal layers/waterproofs, your going to be possibly hardpressed to get everything a 50L pack, if you want any flexibility. Of course if your going ultralight, thats going to help (what kit?), but why struggle?

If you take a 65L pack, you can always pack less. If you have a 50L pack, you can't really pack any more, but its doable, especially if you take perhaps 4 days food with you at a time.

Perhaps a 58L from something like Osprey?

 

[Janne]

If you buy a large bag (say 70l +) you just have extra space. Better to have that then having to compress stuff, also easier to load.

 

[mousey]

One thing that always gets me is the differences in packing when at home compared with when out and about. I can easily get everything in a small pack when at home where I have time / no wind / rain and a cup of tea to hand, however getting stuff packed up [perhaps quickly] in heavy wind and rain with cold fingers leaves me with items much larger than originally packed and thus harder to get back into my pack. I have learnt not to compress stuff too much and to always have a little room in your pack so if necessary you can get away with sloppy packing when out.

Most of my trips have been with approx. 40-60L bags including multiple week long trips with food for 3-4 days resupplying on route, using Light weight stuff [not stupidly UL stuff - I haven't got that much money - but not unnecessarily bulky / heavy stuff either]

 

[Nuitari]

hi guys,
Thank you so much for all the responses and advice. :You_Rock_
Now im thinking maybe i should just buy a 50L and a 60L take both home and return whichever one i don't need (taking all my kit to the shop would be difficult without the pack to carry it in as i don't drive).
My main reason for wanting to carry all my food with me is trying to avoid human civilisation. Just for 2 weeks. So if i can avoid going to a shop that will be great, It is nice to know they are there in case of emergency but if i can do it alone i will be happier, Also i will be going to some remote areas and may not see any shops for several days or more.
Thanks Bishop for the link to Paul kirtey's video, that was very helpful. He goes into such detail, what a helpful guy. I will be using mostly dehydrated food not necessarily the specialist stuff but whatever i can find that is flat packable and light + some dried meats, dried fruit and nuts. I may be able to pack slightly lighter than Paul kirtey as i am half his size and while i will need more food than i usually eat i don't think i will need as much as someone that size per week.

To answer Old Bones question about kit i will be using the berghaus 3.1 pro ultralight tent taken out of its bag it packs extremely flat in the bottom of my 35L, then i have the vango 3 season ultralight synthetic sleeping bag (didn't want to risk down in case it gets wet even though i will be using dry bags you never know what might happen) the sleeping bag also gets taken out of its origional bag and stuffed into a small exped dry bag (its much smaller this way) the jetboil minimo ultralight stove with one spare fuel, the Katadyn pocket water filter (sadly its not so light but at least it is small) + One set of light waterproof over trousers and jacket, 2 pairs socks, 1 small gloves and hat, 1 compression packed thermal base layer (top and bottom), 1 compression packed shorts and t-shirt. Any other clothes i will be wearing so wont need to pack them. 2 x 1L aluminium water bottle. Then the rest is various small items like first aid items and map + compass, other small bits like hygiene products, water purifier tablets ect.
Usually i can fit all of this kit into my 35L pack with the exception of one of the water bottles and the water filter.

The reason i am trying to get my pack size down is because who wants to carry a giant pack while walking 25 - 30 km per day for 2 weeks? not me

so now i guess i will need to do some bag testing and maybe plan a stop at a shop at least once on my journey, maybe at the end of the first week so i can carry only one weeks worth of food at a time.

Thank you everyone

 

[Old Bones]

My main reason for wanting to carry all my food with me is trying to avoid human civilisation. Just for 2 weeks. So if i can avoid going to a shop that will be great, It is nice to know they are there in case of emergency but if i can do it alone i will be happier, Also i will be going to some remote areas and may not see any shops for several days or more.

You might avoid human contact, but not a hernia, if your carrying food for two weeks. Yes, water will be the biggest weight, but unless your eating nothing but dried noodles for a fortnight, its going to be heavy and bulky. Think 3 meals a day, for 14 days. Thats a lot. And your walking a lot carrying a big bag, so they are going to have to be filling.

A week, possibly, but even then, why struggle? Take what you can, but top up while you go. Even for a week, if you look at the advice on the OM forums, 58-65L seems an average size.

The two big enemies are weight and bulk.

To answer Old Bones question about kit i will be using the berghaus 3.1 pro ultralight tent taken out of its bag it packs extremely flat in the bottom of my 35L, then i have the vango 3 season ultralight synthetic sleeping bag (didn't want to risk down in case it gets wet even though i will be using dry bags you never know what might happen) the sleeping bag also gets taken out of its origional bag and stuffed into a small exped dry bag

The Berghuas is fine, although I notice that its about the same weight for a 1 man tent as my Zephyros 2 is. But your sleeping bag is 315g heavier (so over 30%) than my ME Classic 500 (which sleeps slight warmer and will of course compact down better). As for the dampness - just take care and use a decent dry bag (as you are). But your making life hard for yourself by going with a lot of food, but wanting a relatively small pack for a long trip.

The reason i am trying to get my pack size down is because who wants to carry a giant pack while walking 25 - 30 km per day for 2 weeks? not me

Exactly. But firstly, the size of the bag is the size of the bag. You dont have to fill it. Yes, you will save a bit on weight, but the different between a 50L Osprey sack and a 65L Osprey sack is about 250-300g. Thats the extra weight of your synthetic over a down bag alone.

The biggest weight (and space taken up in the bag) is the stuff inside it. And if your taking so much food, then that will fill it. Take less food, and you might get down to 50L. But if I was buying a new pack, the extra 15L might be handy, and its not going to make much difference in terms of price or weight, especially for a long trip.

Yes, you can put stuff outside, but I've never understood people who are proud of the tiny bag they take, but have stuff stuck all over it - your still carrying the same stuff, but now it can get wet and it swings about as you walk.

Do some testing, but make your life easy - places like Cotswolds are pretty helpful, and they can suggest the right size for you. Weigh the stuff you intend to take, and make a note of it - they can at least put the same weight into a bag to try out.

 

[SGL70]

Freezedried food is roughly 800 grams per day and with one day worth of reserves that is 12 kg starting weight. Weight might not be an issue, but perhaps pack size?

I'd go for a bigger ruck than 60l, but each to his own...

I will use a 110l bag for my 14 day hike, but that's just because it is what I have at hand (it is originally dimensioned for winter outings), not that I think I will need all that space. Super-easy to fill it with nice-to-have items, leaving me with a rather heavy bag, though....

Greger

 

[IC_Rafe]

Freezedried food is roughly 800 grams per day and with one day worth of reserves that is 12 kg starting weight. Weight might not be an issue, but perhaps pack size?

I'd go for a bigger ruck than 60l, but each to his own...

I will use a 110l bag for my 14 day hike, but that's just because it is what I have at hand (it is originally dimensioned for winter outings), not that I think I will need all that space. Super-easy to fill it with nice-to-have items, leaving me with a rather heavy bag, though....

Greger

^ Exactly the reason i use the smallest bag my stuff can fit in. I tend to overfill too unless i do that .

 

[Brynglas]

I've just completed a two week trip up to Cape Wrath, I'm hoping to do a report on it soon, it's been flat out since I got back.

I used a 54L Aiguile Alpine sack with two side pockets giving an additional 17L The side pockets were more for ease of organisation as for much od the trip I'd have managed with just the sack.

Depending upon resupply options, I was carrying 6 days food in the first part of the trip as my options were limited. ( Check Chris Townsends articles on backpacking food for ideas on saving weight and cost).

Sent from my SM-T819 using Tapatalk

 

[Brynglas]

Weight was around 12Kg to 15Kg depending on quantity of food and water at the time.