I agree with all of the above, with one exception. We have found some decent cheap backpacks at Walmart. We don't use them as our primary packs, but we've used them twice in Peru, where we weren't carrying our food, and needed something smaller. And we also didn't want to worry about the packs getting stolen. You can see one here, as my daughter makes the last climb up to Warniwarniska pass at about 15,000 feet.



They're about 30L packs, five years ago they cost about $30, and they weigh less than three pounds.

Do I think that newbies should go and buy all their equipment at Walmart? nope. I think they should do that at a thrift shop, over a few months, with the help of someone who knows what to look for.

But I also think it's perfectly possible to have a great time backpacking with crummy equipment. My first real pack was a cheapo external frame pack in the 1960s in flame orange, which matched by DacronII flame orange sleeping bag, and my flame orange $3 tube tent. My pad was 2 inches of foam rubber.

And yeah, we had a great time, and did trips up to about ten days with that gear. It is still possible.


Edited by balzaccom (04/04/16 08:07 PM)
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