Get Your FREE Backpacking Gear Checklist!

A practical, three-page packing list to help you remember the important stuff, leave behind the stuff you don’t need, and feel more prepared for your next backpacking trip. 

Backpacking can feel like one long list of things you might forget.

Tent. Water filter. Stove. Rain gear. Extra socks. Poop stuff.

The list gets big fast—especially when you’re just getting started and every backpacker on the internet seems to have a different opinion about what you absolutely must carry.

This free checklist organizes your gear into simple systems and puts the most important items first:

• Safety
• Shelter and sleep
• Water
• Food and cooking
• Trail gear
• Clothing and personal items
• Optional comforts and nice-to-haves

It also separates necessary items from optional ones, with extra space to add anything specific to your trip.

What You’ll Get

A printable, three-page PDF you can use while planning, shopping, and packing.

It’s thorough enough to help you avoid forgetting something important, but it doesn’t assume you need every piece of backpacking gear ever invented.

You can print it and check things off with a pen, save it to your phone, or use it to create your own personalized packing list.

A Quick Note From Chase

This is a comprehensive checklist—not a challenge to see how much weight you can cram into a backpack.

You absolutely do not need to carry every item on it.

Start with the essentials for safety and basic comfort. Check the weather, trail conditions, water availability, and local food-storage rules. Then decide which optional items are worth carrying for you.

A chair may be ridiculous to one backpacker and the single greatest invention in human history to another. I tend to fall into the second camp.

Get the Checklist

Enter your information below and I’ll send the checklist directly to your inbox.

Free checklist. No purchase required.

You’ll Also Join The Honey Hole

When you request the checklist, you’ll also be subscribed to The Honey Hole, Outdoor Empire’s email newsletter.

We typically send about one email per week with:

• Tested outdoor gear reviews and comparisons
• Useful camping, hiking, and backpacking tips
• Interesting stories and discoveries from the outdoors
• Handpicked gear deals that are actually worth looking at
• Weekly gear giveaways for subscribers

You can unsubscribe at any time.

Gear up and get outside.

—Chase Fly
Outdoor Empire