Basic adjustable fastpack list: QLD, AU

  •   Category Weight
  • Pack, tent, & sleeping gear
    2.57 kg
  • Cooking, hydration, miscellaneous gear
    0.78 kg
  • Consumables - fluids & food
    2.54 kg
  • Clothing & footwear
    1.4 kg
  • Electronics
    0.57 kg
  • Health & toiletries
    0.3 kg
  • Total 8.15
    kg
    • oz
    • lb
    • g
    • kg
  • Consumable 2.67 kg
  • Worn 1.3 kg
  • Base Weight 4.18 kg

Basic list including warm weather gear plus winter additions / alternatives. All weights are actual and measured per my long-suffering kitchen scales.

I am an ultrarunner and where suitable I run most of the flats and shallow hills, which for me is distance and weight training combined with the fun of camping and swimming in the sea. When through-hiking I run less than on shorter trips, maybe around 20% of the time. In both cases typical mileage is 30-50kms/day, depending upon terrain, gradients, and heat.

My most frequent stomping grounds are offshore islands here, where I run/hike all day and wild camp at night, but even on mainland through hikes here in Australia there are no natural water sources between campground tanks. I therefore can start with as much as 5L of water in hot weather, plus sometimes an additional 3L water drop if on my small island. Yes, I still run (slowly) with this load; yes, you get used to it and the weight kind of feels nice. (You have to hold onto the straps though when running with a framed pack, but other than that it's pretty comfy and at least little weight on shoulders.) When on islands my only option is to buy water, so I don't need to take the filter and this is why it is marked optional with green star.

Trigger warning: I sometimes take a camp chair! Not for through-hiking, but for my shorter run-hike training trips. Since I run much more on short trips I often make camp early, plus I suffer insomnia and don't sleep well. These things mean I spend a lot of time awake in camp, so I value being comfortable after a lot of running rather than sitting awkwardly on the ground or lying on one side. It's nice to sit up reading Kindle on my phone under the stars and awaiting sleepiness. I have two options, heavy or light. If for whatever reason I expect my trail time will be short, i.e. if mostly running, and I have the room, I take the Zero. Both fit in my tent if bugs are bad, and I put the sitpad under the legs to protect the floor.

Yellow = own.

Red = yet to purchase.

Green = unsure if needed, so listed at 0 quantity and altered on demand. Most green stars are winter alternatives, e.g. rain jacket, insulation, winter quilt, framed pack for through-hikes and bigger loads. Obviously where an item type has two options I just mark one option to 0 if switching to the other and vice versa. As I'm in the lower tropics, my default setting for such things is zero, and throughout most of the year I don't need to take a rain jacket at all... not that it doesn't rain; it just isn't cold, so it doesn't much matter if my day clothes are wet since I sweat anyway and have dry thermals for sleep.

The list is for two days & one night so I multiply consumables (food, stove fuel) for the number of days that I'm out there.