Airweight Camping

Here in the Far North, my ’94 BMW R100GS is resting comfortably in the garage, plugged into its charger, while near-freezing temperatures and rain intimidate all but the most rugged from taking to the roads. (Actually I live in Virginia, but this is still true.) Perhaps this is the time to re-strategize and gear up for the 2012 camping season.

I quit motorcycle camping because it had gotten too difficult for me to get on and off the GS when it had a large duffle bag, tent, sleeping bag, and cot strapped across the seat. (Nothing to do with my age, of course.) The point was made the last time I stopped for gas with all of that gear and the bike fell on top of me. I crawled out from underneath, looked around and yelled, “Who did that?” People ran over to help.

Old gear on seat, front to back: duffle bag, sleeping bag (on top), and cot.

While nursing my bruised ego, I discovered ultralight backpacking. Ultralight hikers are people who weigh everything they carry to the closest 100th of an ounce (or tenth of a gram, if you prefer), including their underwear and shoes. They carry baking soda to brush their teeth because it is lighter than toothpaste. They carry just enough little packets of salt to season the exact number of meals they have planned. They drill holes and shorten their plastic spoons and toothbrush handles to lighten them. They carry LED keychain squeezelights because they weigh sooo much less and are sooo much more compact than even a small flashlight.

This was entertaining stuff. These people were truly obsessed. They were bragging about under 1-pound tents and 1-pound sleeping bags; about hiking for a week carrying a 15-pound pack; about having a compass or knife weighing less than half an ounce.

It sank in: There was no reason for me not to pull together a set of equipment which would fit completely into my hard cases and provide comfortable, and perhaps even luxurious, weekend camping. After all, my BMW hard cases had a lot more room than an ultralight backpack; I calculated I had approximately 3,456 cubic inches inside the hard cases, whereas ultralight backpacks often hold only 2,500 cubic inches.

It turns out that ultralight backpacking gear is all over the Internet, from traditional suppliers like REI and Campmor, to newer Internet vendors like Hikelight.com. In fact, the variety of ultralight tents, sleeping bags, foam pads, etc., is overwhelming, and there are dozens of articles and chats concerning ultralight equipment.

I looked at everything I was carrying. The biggest items were the duffle bag, sleeping bag, canvas-aluminum cot, and tent.

The tent is a 2-person backpacking tent which isn’t ultralight, but which I like. However, when packed with its 22-inch poles it was too long for my hard cases. Re-rolling the tent without poles yielded a nice, compact, 6 x 12 inch package which fit into my right hard case with much room to spare. The lightweight poles could be bungied above the hard case, next to the seat, so they were not a problem.
Next, the sleeping bag: I discovered I could not roll, squeeze, or stuff my fiber-filled sleeping bag smaller than about 12 x 16 inches. With a good deal of effort, I could barely squeeze it into the right hard case, leaving no room for anything else… sigh.

The ultralight solution was to buy a quality 40-degree Fahrenheit rated down sleeping bag. Why down? Because it squeezes into a small stuff sack -- small enough to fit into my right hard case, along with the tent, with much room to spare. Why 40 degrees? Because that’s all I need. How often in your Spring / Summer / Fall motorcycle camping does it get colder that 40 degrees? In my case, almost never. And one can wear an extra shirt or jacket and pants to bed and be comfortable in a 40-degree bag on a cooler night. Weight? 1 lb., 10 oz.. Size? A 6 x 12 inch stuff sack. Downside? (Pun intended.) A quality down bag is pricey.

My duffle bag was filled with bulky extra sweatshirt, jeans, shirts, socks, underwear, a towel, shoes, and toiletries. The ultralighters take “one of everything”: one pair of long pants, one pair of shorts, one long-sleeved shirt, one lightweight t-shirt, and a small camping towel all made from lightweight, fast-drying fabrics like Supplex, microfiber nylon, or polyester. Just rinse them and they dry very quickly. This saves size, weight, makes clothes sooo easy to clean, and eliminates the need for a laundromat interlude on a long trip.

Ultralighters take a small comb and toothbrush, and sample-sized (or even smaller) amounts of toothpaste, shampoo, etc. Did I really need more than that for a weekend? No. All spare clothing and toiletries now fit into my left hard case with room to spare.

New gear in right hard case, top to bottom: tent poles above hard case; sleeping bag, tent, ultralight cot; and at right, Alite chair.

My cookset was a Jetboil with a Boy Scout mess kit. I like the Jetboil -- but was there something smaller which would work as well and be even more compact?

Food is a dangerous subject on which to voice an opinion, but it is a lot easier to eat at the many fine roadside dining establishments than to fix a multi-course meal on a Jetboil. My vision of preparing a heaping stack o’ pancakes and bacon was a bit unrealistic to start with, and I have actually never done that on a motorcycle camping trip. Why carry the extra gear?

There is the White Box Alcohol Stove. For Mountain House meals, dried soups, noodles, and hot drinks for one or two it is the cat’s meow. It burns inexpensive denatured alcohol and stores inside a lightweight 2 1⁄2 -cup kettle. No more heavy, bulky, expensive propane canisters. No more mess kit.

Jetboil versus alcohol stove which fits inside lightweight kettle. Plastic bottle holds alcohol for stove.

Next, my canvas and aluminum cot had to go. It was light in comparison to a military bunk bed, but way too long to fit into a hard case. The alternatives were: foam pad, air mattress, Thermarest combination, or LuxuryLite UltraLite cot.

The foam pad and standard Thermarest don’t provide enough cushioning for me. (Again, nothing to do with my age.) Air mattresses are too hard, too soft, slippery, puncture-prone, and cold when placed on cold ground. (I grant you that there are some new, warm, rugged, easy to inflate, lightweight, compact air mattresses made by Exped and others.)

The LuxuryLite fit with room to spare inside the right hard case along with everything already mentioned. Downside: the LuxuryLite is cool in cool weather. Fix: an extremely lightweight, 2mm thick Exped pad which rolls down to 5 x 13 inches -- small enough to fit inside the right hard case, which, finally, was getting full.

Too-long items can often be re-rolled to be shorter, a bit bigger around, and packable. It is surprising that a 4 x 20 inch cylindrical item can repack to 5 x 13 inch; seven inches shorter but only one inch larger in diameter. Using (pi) (r-squared) (length), the cylindrical volumes are 251 and 255 cubic inches, respectively. The much-shorter cylinder has more volume because volume increases as the square of the radius.

It’s been a good change. I’ve discovered camping can be comfortable without having to carry around a lot of heavy stuff. I’ve discovered comfortable lightweight clothing which is very easy to keep clean. I’ve discovered a tiny alcohol stove which entertains me with its beautiful blue flames. I even have a new luxury -- an Alite chair. It is so light and compact that it fits inside the hard case. I’ve also re-thought other gear that I used to carry, for instance, binoculars. A tiny, light, less expensive monocular does the same trick.

My transgression: I don’t want to get soaked and freeze on a cool rainy day. So, I carry a synthetic -- not down -- jacket liner to wear by itself while camping or underneath my riding gear. Synthetic insulation does not compress like down, but it is warm when wet. By being mostly faithful to the ultralight creed, I have room inside my hard case for it, too.

Criticism: I am anticipating some. Since any motorcycle can easily haul an extra hundred pounds of camping gear strapped across the back seat, why not? Because gear strapped to the outside generally can’t be locked, and because it makes the motorcycle top-heavy, harder to handle (in my case, unsafe), less fun to ride, and packing and strapping and bungying all of that stuff is a hassle. However, if you must put your George Foreman stainless steel backyard grill on your bike, I admire your hubris. All I ask is a bratwurst.

By paying attention to the “packed size” specifications, I think anyone can find compact camping gear which will work well and fit inside almost any set of hard cases. Check out the ultralight backpacking information on the ‘net, and use what works for you.