going along with being able to pack your pack, you have to be able to know what you consider to be the most important things while out on the trail. everyone is different and it dictates what makes the final cut in your pack and what you'll be willing to spend the money on. for me there's 3 major must-haves while I'm out there: sleeping comfortably, food prep quick and having clean water for drinking and cooking.
sleeping comfortably is a big thing for me out there. think of it this way, you've been walking all day with weight on your back up and down mountains and when you finally make it to camp you have to sleep on rocks, hard packed dirt or a wood plank if you're lucky enough to get in a shelter. so personally I would rather carry a bit more weight and spend a bit more money to get a good warm sleeping bag and self-inflating pad to go underneath. personally I like the Big Agnes bags and the Thermarest pads. the sleeping bags are majorly warm and fairly reasonably priced. also they have female specific bags that generate more heat in certain areas that women need it most. a drawback to these bags though is that most of them have a slot on the bottom of the bag to put a sleeping pad into, which sounds great but they also don't have insulation on the bottom either. so with out getting a pad you're going to be pretty cold lying on the ground especially if it's like 20 degrees outside. the Thermarest pads have been around for a while and are great for backpacking. they are usually self-inflating pads and they come in all different sizes. they making sleeping on hard floors much more bearable.
being able to prepare my food quickly is also kind of an essential for me. its not necessarily what I'm eating but more how quickly I can get it ready to eat. while out there most backpackers use freeze-dried foods that needs to be rehydrated. there's nothing worse than being starving and having to wait for 8 minutes to get your water to boil, which could take longer depending on how cold it is outside or what kind of stove you have. I have seen a lot of different stoves in use out on the trail and the one that struck me as a good match for me was a Jetboil. it can boil 2 cups of water, which is the normal amount going into freeze-dried food packets, in just about 2 minutes. it's a little expensive, running at around $100 or more, but in my eyes it's totally worth it.
having clean water I think is a must for anyone going out on the trail so it's no surprise that it would be on my list too. there's lots of ways you can purify your water on the trail. I use a charcoal pump filter that basically pumps the water up one tube, through a filter and into my water bottles. I must say that the fresh filtered water actually tastes a lot better than the bottled water I get at home. some other ways to filter your water is to use a UV light that will kill any bacteria and germs floating around in it and there's some other types of filters that do the same thing as my filter but they use a different type of filter or they're an automatic pump. the UV lights seem to be the most popular I think mostly because they are so light and small to carry. I've seen a lot of people using them and I'm sure they work but I'm more of a visual person and being able to see the water traveling through the filter is kind of reassuring to me. my filter may be a bit heavier but I'm willing to carry the few extra ounces to keep my piece of mind.
so as you go out and explore the woods you kind of figure out what's really important for well being and piece of mind. everyone has different priorities and you can decide for yourself what your willing to spend some extra money on or what's important enough to carry a little extra weight. so once you decide that it makes purchasing and packing a bit more manageable.
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