Here are my Top 5 Backpacking Gear Hacks for lightening your pack and making your life a little easier when you are on the trail.

1. Photon II Clip Light

Time to throw away your head lamp. That bulky old thing was never that useful anyway. If it wasn't blinding others around the campfire it was taking up more space than it needed. Don't be fooled by knock-offs claiming they are a Photon, I recommend purchasing from their site. They are rugged and extremely bright. Some available accessories are a rope and hat clip for hands free lighting. 

 http://www.photonlight.com/led-flashlights/photon-micro-light-ii-led-keychain-flashlight/

2. Hydration Pack Quick Connect

I wish I could take credit for this hack because it is one of my favorite upgrades, but I have to give the credit to my buddy Joe.  One of the great things about having other gear junkies as friends is that they often give you ideas that you overlooked.  I was complaining to Joe about not using my Platypus Hydration Pack on the trail anymore, because when I stop to resupply on water I can never get the bag stuffed back in my pack.  He told me about this genius little idea that he saw.  He took 2 male quick connect fittings and attached one to a little piece of tube and placed it on his water filter and the other male fitting and inserted it in the tube to his mouth piece.  Then he connected the female fitting to the supply tube to the bag in his backpack, so that when he stopped, he just disconnects his mouth piece, connects the filter fitting to the supply line and pumps filtered water back into his Platypus.  Genius.

3. Soft Shackles  

What is a Soft Shackle?  I asked myself that same question.  Soft Shackles are made from 17/64 Amsteel and have a holding capacity of 1000 lbs.  I use them in place of carabiners to hang my hammock.  The Amsteel is fed back through itself to create a self tensioning loop, which is fixed around a knot at the other end creating a very strong, extremely light weight rope carabiner.

4. Trekking Pole Hammock Spreader Bar Tips

I did a separate blog post on these before, but they are worth mentioning twice.  If you carry a bridge style hammock in your pack, then these are a must have.  The tips allow you to ditch the spreader bars and use your trekking poles instead.  I use the MountainSmith Monopod Trekking Poles, because the top screws off to expose a mounting screw.  The tips come from Warbonnet Outdoors.

5. Dutch Wasp

My final item in this list, the Dutch Wasp, is an item I will finally be testing this weekend. For those of you who are avid hammock campers I am sure you are very much aware of these but for those that aren't let me explain.  When hammock camping you have to set a rain fly over the hammock, using some sort of ridgeline wrapped around trees at either end.  Making adjustments and tying them off firmly while allowing for quick set up and take down can be a real pain sometimes, especially in poor weather. The Dutch Wasp is simple to use and allows for infinite adjustment within your ridgeline. I used to use the Dutch Flyz and they worked very well, but what I found was that often times I needed to make some adjustments to the placement on my ridgeline and it was a little bit of a pain with the Flyz.

So that is my Top 5, please feel free to comment below or share some of your Top 5 gear with me.  I love to talk about what others use.  Happy Trails.