What is Backpacking?

[SAR-EMT40]

I have a definition of hiking in my head and I have a definition of what camping is. I want to know what the word backpacking means to you. To me I think it means the same as camping, I think. What does it mean to you?

Obviously there are no wrong answers here. Unless you disagree with me.

And I don't want a dictionary definition. I want your definition.

Keith

 

[sapblatt]

to me backpacking implies at least one night out in the country - carrying your food and gear - I would still call it backpacking if I was going to a shelter, but would probably qualify it...
"Hiking" to me is just going out for the day - backpacking is going out for the night (s)

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

To me, camping simply means staying in a tent, which includes roadside camping. Backpacking implies carrying your stuff into the woods.

 

[poison ivy]

I usually say this to my non-hiking friends:

Camping = sleeping outdoors
Hiking = Heading out for a walk in the woods
Backpacking = Hiking with everying you need on your back for a night (or more) of camping.

- Ivy

 

[trailbiscuit]

Backpacking is humping a heavy pack a long way, eating crappy food and sleeping uncomfortably, so you can get up and do it again the next day.

And I mean that in the best possible way.

 

[Chip]

I usually say this to my non-hiking friends:

Camping = sleeping outdoors
Hiking = Heading out for a walk in the woods
Backpacking = Hiking with everying you need on your back for a night (or more) of camping.

- Ivy

I'll second that but would like to add; Backpacking = Hiking with everying you need on your back to be warm, dry and well-fed for a night (or more) of camping.

Just because that's how it is for me. I enjoy going lighter, but not uncomfortably so.

 

[Neil]

Backpacking is humping a heavy pack a long way, eating crappy food and sleeping uncomfortably, so you can get up and do it again the next day.

And I mean that in the best possible way.

LOL!

Why not call it badbacking?

I like backpacking but hardly ever get to do it because life happens to me when I make badpacking plans.

On summer overnights I can get my pack weight down to 3 1/2 lbs, excluding water, food, shelter and clothing.

I sleep well on my overnight bushwhacks because I'm so frigging tired by the time we throw everything down and crash.

 

[dvbl]

Backpacking; verb; from the Latin, meaning "intentionally venturing into the woods, desert, canyons, ridges, etc, for a minimum of two days and one night, for the express purpose of becoming as tired, smelly, bug-bitten, and under-nourished as possible, all the while mentally planning the next trip."

 

[onestep]

Backpacking is a series of Day Hikes connected by a night in the woods.

 

[cbcbd]

Regular answer:
Living off of the stuff in your backpack... which you happen to carry

Poetic answer:
Waking up with the sun, going to bed with the moon.

 

[Jay H]

So, what would a hut to hut traverse be, where say you don't need to carry a tent or sleeping bag and it's kind of like a bunch of dayhikes but staying in a hut overnight?

Jay

 

[expat]

What is it?

So is it three days of backpacking if, on the second day you don't move camp, and just take a day hike?

 

[sapblatt]

So is it three days of backpacking if, on the second day you don't move camp, and just take a day hike?

yes - to me it is

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Backpacking = Hiking + Camping(self-sufficient)

Hiking = Heading out for a walk in the woods

At the risk of thread drift (sorry Keith) I ask

What is hiking?
Does it have to been in the woods?
Does it have to include elevation change?
Does it have to include a mountain?
Must you bring a pack?
Is hiking necessary to be backpacking?
Hiking certainly doesn't require bushwhacking, but does bushwhacking include hiking?

If I go for a walk along the river at lunch time, which is wooded, on a path (or trail) am I hiking or walking?

If I'm following the Heritage Trail (Manchester) behind the mills, which is asphalt, is it hiking or walking?

When I ask my kids if they want to go hiking, they will sometimes ask "up a mountain or in the woods?" In their 5 and 7 year old brains, both are hiking.

Signed,
Devil's Advocate

 

[dug]

Interesting take! I would go 'hiking' alot when it was nothing more than a 2-3 hour walk in the woods. I've done 4K's in less time....

 

[onestep]

If a tree falls in the woods but there is no bushwhacker to hear it, does it make a sound?

 

[Jay H]

Backpacking = Hiking + Camping(self-sufficient)

So, I guess a stay at say an RMC or AMC hut in the whites or say JBL in the Adirondacks wouldn't qualify as backpacking. Although if you simply do a Bear Grylls or Les Stroud shelter out of pine boughs and trees, that would count.

What if you share a stove with another person? Therefore, technically not self sufficient in the strictest sense..

Jay

 

[Gris]

"Backpacking" is...

getting dropped off on the auto road by your best bud and then hiking DOWN into the gulf for a few days w/ everything you need on your back. that's the way you do it, get your ride for nothing and your elevation for free (hmm, that could be a Dire Straights tune)...

 

[Steve-o]

I usually say this to my non-hiking friends:

Camping = sleeping outdoors
Hiking = Heading out for a walk in the woods
Backpacking = Hiking with everying you need on your back for a night (or more) of camping.

- Ivy

Simply put. That about sums it up for me too.

 

[RoySwkr]

Is hiking necessary to be backpacking?

To me it is, as is camping away from roads even if you hiked there

The general public defines backpacking as carrying your gear in a pack instead of a suitcase, so somebody who travels around Europe by train and stays in youth hostels may be said to be backpacking if they have a pack frame although I'm not sure what they would say about a duffel bag with straps