The Ultimate Backpacking Checklist for 2024

Looking for a quality backpacking gear packing list to help you prepare for an upcoming trip. Our backpacking expert editors have put together a comprehensive backpacking checklist with both the most essential items, and some nice-to-haves. If you're starting from scratch, we've taken the time to list all our favorite backpacking gear recommendations in one place to get you started, but this dream list has great options for any type of trail treader. If you've been backpacking since the dawn of time, you likely have your preferred gear setup and are dialed in your packing process, but most gear has a lifespan, and when it's time to retire your favorite backpacking pack, we're up to date on the latest and greatest in the world of outdoor gear and can recommend a replacement.

Some of the items on our list overlap with items our testers have chosen as the best hiking gear, and we have included options for those who love to go fast with the lightest backpacking gear. We also consider the value of each option so you can make the best choice for your budget. Long story short, you've got options, and we're here to help you find the ones that best fit your flavor of adventure.

Continue reading to learn more, written by Ben Applebaum-Bauch, Trish Matheny, Sam Schild, and Elizabeth Paashaus.

Review Editor

Ben Applebaum-Bauch

Ben got his start in the outdoor industry as a guide for backpacking, cycling, and canoeing trips throughout northern New England and maritime Canada. He has led many groups through Maine’s 260 miles of the Appalachian Trail, including the Saddleback and Bigelow mountain ranges, as well as the 100-mile wilderness. He has paddled the Magalloway and Androscoggin rivers and Lake Umbagog, and has led cycling tours, logging thousands of miles through Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Nova Scotia on extended self-supported adventures.

His personal adventures include thru-hikes of the Long, Pacific Crest, Oregon Coast, and Colorado trails, as well as innumerable weekend trips in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Both his personal passion for and professional pursuits in the outdoors and have required countless hours of gear research and field use. He is endlessly grateful for his experiences in the natural world and considers them to be some of the most formative and transformative experiences of his life.

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Sawyer’s spray offers an impressive 12 hours of protection against mosquitoes and ticks, and a little less (eight hours) against flies, gnats, and chiggers.

Korin Miller

Health, Lifestyle and Commerce Writer

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Sawyer’s Permethrin spray has also worked as promised.

Mark Melotik

Freelance Writer

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Sawyer, for example, checks to ensure that no pore size exceeds 0.01 microns, stating that “the filters are then checked four more times at crucial points of assembly for filter integrity before they make their way onto the shelf.”