What’s better than climbing munros? Wild camping on them too!
When you’re lugging it up potentially thousands of meters of elevation and over tens of kilometers of distance, what you’ve got on your back really makes a difference! Through trial – and probably error – you learn what works for you, what you can live without and what you absolutely can’t. Below is my summit camp kit list, ordered for the way I pack my bag:
First up – the bag itself! I used the Vango Sherpa 65l bag which fit everything in really well. The bag has the self-adjust carry system (SA) which was fab for helping me tailor the shape to be comfortable. The wrong backpack can put a real dampener on your hike so take your time choosing something that fits you well and is adjustable!
Sleep stuff
No matter the conditions, I’ll tend to use a sleeping bag liner and so that’s the next thing to go into my bag. The one I use is the Oex furnace liner and its been great.
Next into the bag is my sleep mat and its another Oex item – the Traverse IMX this packs away incredibly small (just bigger than a toilet roll!) and is quick and easy to blow up. The final bit of sleep-stuff I pack is the boys’ sleeping bag. To save space I just packed the larger one and fully unzipped it so that they could use it more like a bed. It is from Non-Stop Dog Wear and packs away super small!
Clothing
On top of that I’ll pack items that I know I wont need until after I’ve set up camp, this includes:
- A warm coat for myself (I love the Revolution Race Flex Down Jacket) which I also roll up and use as a pillow overnight
- Coats for the boys (They both wear the Glacier 2.0 Jacket from Non-Stop Dog Wear)
- A change of clothes for myself (underwear, a thermal longsleeve, fresh socks and leggings)
Food and cookstuff
- 4x sandwiches (2 per lunch)
- 6x cereal bars (2x snacks on day 1, 2x bfast day 2, 2x snack day 2)
- and a camp dinner (my all-time fave is the Wayfeyrer Chilli & Rice).
- I’ll also take 2x instant coffee sachets – one for each day.
Water
Knowing it was going to be a hot weekend, but not wanting to add too many more kilos to my bag, I packed 3l. I purposefully chose a route that had plenty of water sources as I was using that as the primary water source for the dogs and over the ~26hrs I drank all 3 liters myself as well as stopping on the way back to have about 0.5l from Steall Waterfall.
Dog leads
Right at the top of my bag go the bungee leads for the boys – they are from Non-Stop dog wear and allow me to clip them to my waist if I spot sheep or if there is a dangerous section so its good to keep them handy.
Tent
I recently bought myself a small 1-man Oex tent (couldn’t resist a recent GO Outdoors sale!) which I’m looking forward to trying although I’m apprehensive to see if myself and the 2 dogs will fit in! At just 1.5kg it will shave 1kg off my pack and is small enough for me to put inside my bag.
Every hike essentials
On top of the above, there are a few essentials that I take on a standard (non-camping) hike which I put in the top sections of my bag: head torch, map+compass, small first aid kit, toilet roll and a shovel!
Summary:
Human stuff:
- Tent
- Water (3L)
- Warm Coat
- Change of Clothes
- Food & Cookstuff
- Toothpaste/Toiletries
- Tech bag
- Sleep Mat
- Sleeping Bag
- Liner
- Bungee Leads
- Collapsible bowls
- Sleeping Bag
- Coats
And it all fit in the Vango Sherpa 65l backpack!
Disclosure - some of the items in this blog were kindly gifted to me by GO Outdoors. As always, the items were chosen by me and all words and opinions above are my own :)