Everyone has their own idea of what constitutes the perfect backpacking kit, especially when it comes to adding those extra touches of fun and comfort. Inspired by a Reddit thread asking for the most “unhinged” backpacking kit contents, we compiled a list of unusual and extravagant items that people bring along on their adventures. Here are 20 memorable suggestions from Reddit users who believe in backpacking with flair.
- A telescope; the night sky is beautiful while camping and I’d prefer ideal seeing conditions while I was at it. Aside from that: my full plein air painting kit. — /u/YoungZM
- My dad has an amazing story of their newbie friend struggling with his very heavy backpack on a long hike through the Romanian Carpathians. One day, about week into a trip, they struggled with tent spikes on a hard ground, and suddenly this guy pulls out a huge hammer from the backpack and starts driving the spikes in, to everyone’s disbelief. The hammer rests at that location until today. — /u/weathergraph
- Samwise Gamgee setup with sausages and pans on the outside lol. — /u/keizzer
- Me and a buddy will do a “weirdest thing you actually hiked all the way out here” contest sometimes. Some items: Coconut, a medium lego set that was assembled at night, and was waiting in the shelter when we woke up. 8″ light up plastic pumpkin – Halloween candy for all hikers, Banana suit, Gorilla suit (different trip), Inflatable Rodeo bull rider costume, 5 foot inflatable hotdog, 2 foot tall glass bong, 2 huge rat traps, 10 small mouse traps (different trip), Portable Laser party cube and power supply. — /u/Prize-Can4849
- I always pack a Hawaiian shirt. Not sure why, it always gets a laugh though (mainly from me buy oh well). — /u/Tight_Time_4552
- This is a hilarious idea for an overnight trip. I’ll bring a bottle of wine and (plastic) wine glasses. — /u/Least_Chef_619
- Cast iron skillet! I’m a scout leader. One thing I do every year or two is fill a backpack with nonsense: a six pack of soda, cast iron skillet, a hatchet with no sheath, flip flops, etc. I bring it in before a trip and have a couple of the more experienced kids critique it. It’s a great attention getting, humorous way to talk about what a well thought out approach would be instead of. — /u/BullCityPicker
- I brought all the ingredients to make an Old Fashioned, including a decorative coaster and mixing/muddling spoon on an 8 day backpacking trip to Isle Royale. Made for a perfect nightcap as we laid on the rocks watching the full moon rise over Moskey Basin. — /u/Venasaurasaurus
- Settlers of Catan with the Seafarer’s expansion. Collapsable chairs/table. Rotisserie chicken. Tiki mugs and Mai Tai ingredients. — /u/GiantFloatingBear
- Specifically for backpacking to hotsprings: a really warm robe for the walk back to camp at 3am. — /u/Latter_Inspector_711
- I’m a guide and part of my job is teaching people how to backpack properly but part of it is also making it special and being extra. I’ve packed in a whole cake with icing bag for a birthday. Homemade ramen broth for dinner. Furniture. Full charcuterie boards. Board games. Bottles of champagne or a 6 pack. I basically always have shots for summits, or cans of bubbly with twizzlers for straws. Enough fuzzy socks for everyone for cold nights. A whole watermelon. Inflatables for alpine lake stops. My backpack is essentially first aid, my sleep system, and a bunch of things you don’t need to go backpacking, it’s so fun. — /u/LittleWhiteGirl
- My full home coffee kit. With grinder, kettle, and large battery to power them. I bet I could fit that in there for a one night trip if I really wanted. — /u/Relative_Walk_936
- Foot spa and beer. — /u/all_the_gravy
- I about always carry a bottle of whiskey, as i enjoy my evening drink 🤷🏼♂️. Raises some eyebrows at times. My significant other often times takes a nintendo switch lol, and has this absurd battery pack and solar panel setup that iv seen her take… it all is relatively compact but when its folded out… it looks absolutely ridiculous 🤣. I think the most absurd iv seen is all the folks carrying massive cast iron pans. I see it all the time. Some of them look to weigh as much as my pack lol. Also see a LOT of machetes dangling from packs… gotta ask myself why.. unless its just a “leave me alone” tactic. EDIT: one more to add to the list. I have seen people hiking with telescopes (like big ones, gotta be 30 lb plus), and ham radios… on multiple occasions, maybe the radios are not ham, but have massive antennas on them and large radios lol. — /u/PenguinsRcool2
- My flextail rechargeable “ultralight” shower. — /u/Mdricks11
- Steamdeck loaded with movies. — /u/alphawolf29
- I like to bring a katana for grouse hunting. — /u/Fun-Rice-9438
- On my favorite trail, there’s an amazing site only a mile in. It’s great for taking kids on their first overnight, or doing an out and back without having to actually drive home the same day. I’ve seen a dozen pre-teens running around with game boys. I saw parents carrying Rubbermaid containers down the trail full of car camping stuff and crap to keep the kids entertained. Their setup included a full-sized trash can, pool inflatables (quasi-furniture as you suggest), a clothesline (for use as tarp ridge line for privacy / wind, but had a bunch of wet clothes hanging from it when I walked by), one of those suction cup archery kits, and a card table (I assume the cook station when the Rubbermaid arrived). — /u/ccoakley
- I went to summer camp with my son for Boy Scouts a year or two ago. Two of the boys in his troop came with a footlocker they’d built into a portable gaming system. It was a full on flatscreen TV mounted to the interior of the lid, an Xbox, and a huge number of batteries and an inverter or whatever they’d wired together to make everything function. The adults would sit in chairs, under a small light, and talk at night. The boys would have epic video game battles off the ‘porch’ of their tent. I wish I took pictures. It was really impressively engineered. Not my kit, but definitely unhinged. — /u/Mranlett
- I have a friend who packed in an ice block 10+ miles so they could make old fashioneds with ice cubes in camp. So that, definitely that. — /u/Duougle
- Not really *that* unhinged, but felt a little wild after spending every weekend getting our pack list down to as minimal weight as possible.. our first and only backpacking trip, we really wanted a fantastic meal the first night, so we brought two frozen ribeye steaks in an insulated lunchbox, along with a Kentucky Breakfast Stout and a fifth of bourbon. The weight sucked but we took turns carrying them in, and the meal was well worth it! (Although we had to wait until the second night because we had to go further than originally planned and didn’t arrive at our spot until after dark) still one of my favorite memories. — /u/S0rchaa
- I’ve been bringing a Wacaco Minipresso NS2 and a zip lock full of nespresso pods. Life changing to have real espresso each morning. It weighs about 9oz and works very well. Impressive little unit. Also always bring my Sonicare toothbrush and a S2S 10L shower bag. Got some eye rolls at the start of a few trips but a few days in everyone in the group was asking to use it. So nice to sleep with the important areas clean. A 170 gram Frisbee is always on me as well. — /u/pigpen002
