This Is Why You Should Try Ultralight Backpacking (2025)
CommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyAll products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. Learn more.I first encountered the ideas of ultralight backpacking in 1994, in an article in now-defunct (and much-missed) Backpacker magazine. It was titled “Less is More,” by Mark Jenkins. (I still have a PDF copy I scanned years ago.) Jenkins wrote about a long trip across Europe and Africa. By the end, he and his traveling partner shed all the gear they thought they needed, save what they were wearing, their down jackets, and some spoons.While I had no desire to have all my gear stolen as Jenkins does as at one point in Africa,…
