How to Minimize Your Prep for Short Trips

Excellent article. I too suffered from this, taking hours to plan a three day trip, it was ridiculous.

It all stemmed from too much gear, most of which was specialized to a certain area and or climate. This 10% niche helped create 90% of my gear and “what if” gear selections. I took this to a whole other level over two years ago and sold our three bedroom two bath house on 2.5 acres and bought and now live in a small fifth wheel.

If it’s simplicity that you want, a smaller dwelling (think tiny) is what forces you to get rid of extraneous things that tie you down in life. You simply don’t have those large spaces to fill, but the lack of space gives you an immense sense of freedom.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” -Leonardo Da Vinci

I was reading a hook&bullet magazine at the barber shop and a writer used the expression, “Beware the man with one gun.” – the concept being that he’d be really practiced and skilled with that one tool versus the guy who rotates between multiple firearms.

I think that has some application for us backpackers – I get better at pitching a particular tent, and using a particular stove the more I do it.  I watch Manfred boil water on his alcohol/cone set up and it’s obvious he’s really practiced at it and gaining little efficiencies with placement, alcohol volume, etc being just right.

Even tiny details like the way a particular HX pot meshes with the pot supports of a certain stove – consistently using the same combination of gear has advantages.  (Dump one pot of noodles on the ground, and you’ve lost all the weight savings that a minor gear changeout might have represented).

“Oh, I’ll switch from my SAK Classic to a little Vicky paring knife this time cause maybe I’ll catch a fish big enough to fillet”. But then I have to remember that I don’t have scissors, nail file or tweezers unless I bring separate ones.  Etc.

After purging old gear, I reorganized what was left into one closet with items sorted into bins based on type or level of usage: gear that goes on every backpacking trip, gear to check for possible inclusion according to circumstances, basic clothing options, extra layering options, and so on, down to a couple bins with spare parts, DIY materials, or ideas for future experiments that need not be considered for most trips. For me this has worked WAY better than my old system, for example, I previously had all my cooking gear in one bin — including the cook kit that goes on every trip, extra pots, three wind screens I’ve been meaning to comparison test on my porch, etc.; so I had to sort through every bit of cooking gear before every trip — very inefficient.  Organizing by level or type of usage has made packing for trips easier, faster, and more fun.