A Backpacker's Guide to Making Every Ounce Count: Tips and Tricks for Every Hike

by Steven Lowe

A Backpacker's Guide to Making Every Ounce Count was written by an avid outdoorsman, for the beginner backpacker and hiker. Also, for those interested in knowing what a Gram Weenie is and how we think. If you are interested in lightening your pack a few ounces at a time, this book covers that very subject. Steven discusses how he used to pack for a trip and how he soon realized that there had to be a lighter way to backpack.

A Backpacker's Guide to Making Every Ounce Count offers tips that may allow you to approach your pack from a different point of view, like cutting the tags from your clothes and cutting your toothbrush in half--all in the name of shaving a few ounces of weight.

When planning a trip, you need to look at your gear and ask questions like, "How many ounces can I shave from this item?" This book offers some ideas on how to lighten a few ounces from any pack, reduce the weight on your Big Three, and help you define just what type of backpacker you are--a lightweight or an ultra-lightweight backpacker.

Remember this, there are sixteen ounces in a pound. If you can shave four ounces from four areas in your pack, you just shaved one pound from your pack. Every ounce truly does count.

Genres: Outdoors, Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 2015

Reviews

[Cassandra Cridland · Rating 3 out of 5]

On one hand, I found this book to be a bit simplistic and overwritten. On the other hand, I found a couple of worthwhile tips and information for a website that will be useful. I don't regret reading this book.

[Gwen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very general; I believe some inaccurate information; most info could be found online.

[Patrick Pilz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not really a book, more like a booklet. For me though, interesting enough.

A friend of mine and his wife are going backpacking for 3 nights including 40 miles of hiking along with about 3,000 feet in elevation change. This prompted some curiosity to investigate what it takes for us to join. I have been tent camping since I was a young adult, starting with open air festivals. From there I migrated to family tent camping and RV-Glamping by now. Anyway, this is a good primer and considerations on the gear you need to carry for that 40 miles backpacking trip. It promises what the title suggests. At times a little repetitive and not really a great piece of poetry, but it does what I wanted it to do and you can easily finish this in 2-3 hours.

[Lori Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

conversational

I enjoyed this book. It reads kind of like someone wrote down what your uncle told you over dinner about his backpacking experiences. I appreciated hearing the real perspective. It was a quick read and I picked up a few new tips. Some of what it says isn’t considered accurate by most other sources (for example, the author says you’ll be warmer if you wear less clothes in your sleeping bag, which everything else I read calls a myth), but it’s still this guy’s experience, and it was a refreshing read after a bunch of more sterile how-to guides I read.

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very general and not a lot of tips on how to cut down weight. Not much about good food to eat on the trail.

[Mark James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lowe is an expert camper, not an expert writer, which is why the gram weenie-ism he refers to is applied to his camping bags rather than his book.

Still, I picked up lots of useful information and his tone seems affable, just the kind of person who'd be nice to encounter on a trail.

Thanks for the tips, Steven.

[Ian Lindstrom · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is so casually written that it read like an email between friends (to me this came off as sloppy). It tends to ramble and be repetitive. I'm no expert on the subject but by the end of the book I felt I didn't gain much.

[Alyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decided to pick this up one up again to research hammocks.