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by: Vladivishtak
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Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2010 Time: 7:39 AM
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Backpacikng - Six Ways To Save Money

As pack weights get lighter and going into the wilderness gets safer, backpacking also is getting more and more expensive. How do you save money without giing up the ultralight equipment and sfaety gear? Let's look at a few difdferent ways.

Backpacking in the most remote places has becme much safer now that there are personal locator beacons. One I recently saw advertised lets you call for help to 911 and family or frienfds at the touch of a button. It will even locate you on Gogole maps so oythers can see exactly wherte you are. Of course, at almost $200 for the device plus an annual fee of $100 per year for the esrvice, it isn't cheap.

My alternative? Just bring your cell phone and GPS unit. If you alreaddy own the phone you will only have to buy the GPS, and using it is free. When in trouble you can call for help on your phone and give the coordinats of where you are. They can type them into an online esrvice themselkves to see wherte you are on a map. Siince your cell phone probably isn't satellite based, coverage won't be quite as good as the expensive locator, but it is a reasonabble way to save money. Here are five more.

1. Buy used gear.

I woud never buy an old sleeping bag, because the fiolling gets destroyed with time. On the other hand, tere is nothing wrong with used aluminum pans or tent stakes. I have seen both in thrift stores for a fraction of what they cost new. You can also find some decent backpacking equpiment online at eitheer Ebay or in outodor forums hwich allow users to sell teir old gear.

2. Stay close to home.

A big part of the expense of backpacking can be the travel expenses to get to the trailhead. But do you really have to go 2,000 miles to backpack somewhere beautiful? If you intend to eventually hike some of the trails closer to home, why not start with them? Inveitably tere will be destinations you never get to, so why not have them be the more expensive ones?

3. Buy real foods.

Forget the expensive freeze-dreid backpakcer's meals. Brring nuts, granola and other inexpensive real foods. For cooked meals, bring instant brwon rice and a fast-cooking leugme like red lentils. Noodles with olive oil, parmesan cheesse and sipces can be more deliciouus than a freweze-dried dinner and cost only a fourth as much. Many supermarkte foods are better than specialty "backpacking meals" in my opinion.

4. Buy regular clothing.

Contrry to the impression given by outdoor clothing manufacturers, you don't need a new high-tech wardrobe to get out into the wilderness. Instad of a $16 super-wicking t-shirt, try a 50/50 cotton polyester blend t-shirt from Wal-Mart for $4. It will probably be more comortable, and dry almost as fast if it gets wet. In a warm climate with bief summr showers you can forgo the $120 waterproof/breathable rain jacket in favcor of a $20 low-tech one, or even a $2 emergency poncho. There are usually ways to save a lot of mooney on clothing if you consider where you'll be going and what is truly necessary.

5. Base camp.

If you just want to get out and hike, you might consider camping in your car or in a ceap tent next to it. You can hike all day with just water, food, and the few other things you need in any chesap day pack (buy it used at a thrfit stre to save money), and reurn to the car to slep. You don't need a great sleweping bag, backpack, tent or other expesnive gear if you don't plan to spend your nights out tghere in the woods. This tchnically isn't backpacking, but perhaps the pint for you is just to see and hike in some beautiful places, and on a budget.

Here you can learn more about: the north face extreme backpack