10 Lightweight Essentials for Your Next Fly Fishing Camping Trip

A new year is upon us and 2022 will hopefully bring lots of camping trips and outdoor adventures for us all. 

Below is a list of our top ten lightweight essentials for your next camping trip this year. 

1. Inflatable Pillow

A good night rest is imperative to replenish energy for the next day on the trails, and nothing helps more than a pillow. A great lightweight addition to your kit is an inflatable pillow. It packs small, adds plenty of comfort, and sure beats resting your head on a makeshift pillow made from your spare clothes.

Our choice: Portable Inflatable Pillow

2. Collapsible Bowl

If you want to save some space in your backpack, a lightweight collapsible bowl is a great addition to your camping kit.

Our choice: Silicone Collapsible Bowl

3. Inflatable Sleeping Pad

A sleeping pad not only adds comfort, but more importantly, also serves the important function of insulating you from the ground, and as a result, keeps you less cold at night. 

Our choice: ECOTEK Outdoors Ultralight Sleeping Pad

4. Microfiber Towel

A medium-sized microfiber towel is a great alternative to a regular towel. It’s lightweight, packs small, dries quick, and still has terrific absorbent properties to get you dry after that brisk morning dip in the backcountry lake.  

Our choice: BOGI Microfiber Towel

5. Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter

Obtaining clean water to drink is a must on any trip, and the Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter provides you with just that. The water filter can be screwed on to any size-compatible water flask or bladder (see no.6 below) and provides clean, drinkable water in no time.

Our choice: Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter

6. Water Storage Bladder

Use to collect and store water when you find it on the trail or at the campsite. Works great in combination with a water filter such as the Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter. Durable, lightweight, and packs very small when not filled with water. 

Our choice: CNOC Outdoors VECTO 2L Water Container

7. Portable Camping Chair

A camping chair could certainly be considered a “luxury” item, especially when weight needs to be kept to a minimum for long hiking trips or a canoe adventure with many portages. Nevertheless, it should have a well-deserved place in every camper’s kit if the trip allows for it. A good quality camping chair adds tremendous amount of comfort, especially for a sore back, and many lightweight alternatives are available. 

Our choice: Sportneer Portable Camping Chair

8. Camping Stove

There are two options for a camping stove i.e., gas or wood. A gas stove is convenient and very efficient and quickly boils water. Meanwhile a wood burning stove can be used for both boiling water and provide some warmth if needed, and of course provides ambience. Both have their time and place, and you can find our favourite options below.

Gas Stove: MSR Pocket Rocket 2

Wood Stove: Lixada Lightweight Folding Wood Burning Stove

9. Kitchen Sponge/Pot Scrubber

This might be one of the most overlooked items that campers don’t pack for a trip. A standard pot scrubber weighs less to nothing and is incredibly useful to efficiently clean your cookware and bowls even without any detergent available. This camping essential can be bought at any grocery store. 

10. Collapsible Bucket

A collapsible bucket might not be a true camping essential but can be an incredibly useful lightweight item depending on what you do on your camping trips in the backcountry. For example, having a bucket filled with water close to your campfire is great for safety and also makes it easier to douse the campfire at the end of the day or when breaking camp. It is also very useful for collecting items in the outdoors. 

Our choice: 12L Collapsible Bucket

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