We recently flew from San Francisco to Patagonia for a five-day trek and carried onto the plane everything we needed except trekking poles, camp stove, food, and knife! Those four remaining items we checked.
How we made this happen
No carrying-on trekking poles
3 essential items
Know your airlines carry-on policy
Wear your first day’s clothes on the plane
You'll be checking your poles
If you have trekking poles, get the idea of carrying-on all of your gear out of your mind right now.
No airline will let you carry-on your trekking poles whether you are in America or abroad. To get your trekking poles, knives, and dehydrated meals to your final destination, check them in an Osprey Travel Duffel.
3 small packs you must have
Stuff your sleeping bag into a Sea to Summit Compression Dry Sack and cinch it as small as it will go. It’s amazing how compact you can get a down sleeping bag.
Next, put your sleeping bag at the bottom of your day pack and then put your down jacket and as many clothes as possible on top until full. This will free up space in your larger pack which you can cinch down to meet the size requirements, or at least get close enough to the airlines maximum allowable dimensions.
Airline weight/dimension Policy
Take advantage of the airlines carry-on and personal item policy. Use your day pack as your personal item and your backpacking pack as your carry-on.
Weigh everything and distribute your gear weight across your personal item and larger carry-on to meet the airlines weight requirement. Airlines are more lenient on size but are sticklers for weight. Any extra weight you’ll have to check in the duffel and take the risk of it getting lost.
Wear your 1st days clothes on the plane
If you’re backpacking I am going to assume you are going to be physically exerting yourself at some point on your trip. You’re going to end up smelling so don’t worry about having a brand new pair of clothes on the first day of your hike.
