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This is the first in a series of posts to put the beginner on the road to becoming an ultralight or lightweight backpacker.

The experienced backpacker who wants to abandon their big, heavy pack and embrace the hike-light philosophy might also benefit.

I'll share my mistakes and experience to help you achieve the goal of being as light as possible on the trail to maximize your enjoyment. If the pack is too heavy, the pack becomes the one — the only one you can think about. By contrast, if you are unburdened by heavy gear, then you become one with the pack, gliding effortless through the wilderness, enjoying the sights, sounds and smells with no thought of the weight on your back.

 In this series, I'll discuss how to choose your gear and where to find it, along with tips for narrowing the choices.

I will try to be honest about what things weigh and point out important nuances in pack weight management that some ultralighters tend to gloss over. For example, hiking poles can be beneficial in many ways, but I don't particularly care for them and don't carry poles. If you buy a tarp shelter, you'll probably need one or more hiking poles to support the roof, which when added to the tarp weight, gives you a different shelter weight than if you only count the weight of the tarp. Really, when you're counting ounces and fractions of an ounce, you'll need to know all of the tricks of the trade, as they say.

A Big Mistake
My biggest mistake in outfitting myself for backpacking was letting the so-called experts influence me too much. I did plenty of homework: a couple of hundred hours checking out equipment and talking to sales people at REI and local outdoor stores.

Ultimately, I accepted all of the recommendations of a sales person at a local shop who spent many hours talking to me and showing me products without any pressure to buy. The result was not pretty: $1,500 lighter in the wallet, I carried 38 pounds before water on my first backpack. Three years later, I figured out what I really needed and reduced my load to about 15 pounds before water, shedding 23 pounds!

A Personal Activity
It’s natural to ask for advice when you’re a novice. But backpacking is a very personal activity. When a sales person recommends gear, his or her recommendation will be based on what works for them and/or what is available in the store.

My suggestion:

If you’re a woman, talk to another woman with backpacking experience. Find out if she is a hardcore winter mountain climber or someone who likes strolling in fair weather through meadows. Ask her about food, shelter, utensils, clothes, and why she made her choices.

Same advice for guys.

Then make your decisions based on what gear you think best fits your personality and the kind of trips you expect to take (a couple of days, a week, months). Don’t worry about what others think. You have to live with your choices. You have to carry the weight.

A Final Thought
Finally, keep the total weight of your backpack, sleeping bag, tent or shelter and sleep pad under 10 pounds. We'll explore how to do that in more detail as this lightweight backpacking for beginners series continues.

Be light. Be safe. Be one with the pack.

Other posts in this series:

• Choosing a lightweight backpack
• Choosing a shelter: tent, bivy or tarp?
• Choosing a sleeping bag: How much is enough?
• Sleeping pads: The comfort factor
• Choosing a lightweight backpacking stove

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