There鈥檚 no way around it: quality backpacking gear is expensive. Learning how to care for it is the best way to make the most of your investment. Here are听four easy things you need to do as soon as you get home from any backpacking trip to make your gear last. I guarantee they鈥檒l make your next adventure听even better.
Dry It
Whether it鈥檚 rain, dew, perspiration, or condensation, your tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and clothing are probably going to come home with some moisture in them. Even if your trip was a dry one, you need to thoroughly air out your gear as soon as you can. Failing to do so risks allowing mold and mildew to develop, potentially ruining all your expensive stuff.
I like to do this by basically setting up camp on my back porch. If you live in an apartment, you can do the same in your living room. I鈥檝e even seen particularly space-strapped people do this in their parking space in their building鈥檚 garage. I avoid my yard, just in case it鈥檚 hanging onto moisture from the night before鈥攐r dog poop.
Erect your tent. It can be hard to find ways to fully spread out a rain fly, particularly in a manner that doesn鈥檛 allow it to blow away. Fortunately, your tent鈥檚 body is designed for that exact purpose. Both tent and rain fly are capable of fully drying out when attached to each other.
Spread out your sleeping bag and pad inside the tent, and zip the doors closed so your dogs stay out. One thing you shouldn鈥檛 do is inflate your pad. Moisture from your breath听gets inside every time you blow it up, and听what you鈥檙e trying to do here is dry out the inside of the pad. Spread it out on the tent floor听and open all its valves.
Don鈥檛 forget stuff like your backpack, clothing, and water filter. Open all valves or caps on the latter, cycle its pump until any remaining water is gone, then leave it in the sun until any signs of condensation are no longer visible.
Clean It
Dirt, sweat, and other debris you pick up outdoors can slowly degrade the performance of stuff like waterproof membranes and down insulation, abrade or penetrate fabrics, and generally make your gear gross.
All your gear is designed to be cleaned in some way. But听only clean it when truly necessary, since saturation, heat, agitation, and tumbling will eventually degrade most materials. Fortunately, most of the dirt your gear came home with can simply be brushed off once you鈥檝e allowed it to dry. Start there, then move on to wiping stuff down with a damp cloth if it鈥檚 still dirty (and letting it dry thoroughly again). Beyond that, consult the item鈥檚 care instructions.
Clothing and sleeping bags made from down will benefit from semi-regular听washing鈥攐nce a year, or as needed鈥攂ecause your sweat and body oils will slowly compromise their ability to loft听and, therefore, provide insulation.
Synthetic soft- and hard-shell pants and jackets also benefit from seasonal care. Their durable water repellant (DWR) coatings wear down, causing face fabrics to wet out. Body oils and sweat slowly clog the pores that allow these fabrics to breathe. If your water-repellant or waterproof items start to hold onto water听or look dirty or greasy, wash them.
All of the above items will include care labels听with instructions on water and dryer temperatures. Follow those, but note that, generally speaking,听front-loading washing machines will be gentler on your stuff than top-loaders. You鈥檒l also need to use special detergents designed for the unique needs of the different materials used across technical gear. makes a variety of cleaners and treatments designed for anything you might own. Follow that brand鈥檚 instructions, and you鈥檒l be rewarded with gear that works as good as new for years longer than you expected.听Some performance-enhancing treatments, like ,听can make your gear perform听even better than new.
One final tip for down bags and clothing: running them through a tumble dryer is crucial for restoring loft. I add a dozen tennis balls in a large mesh bag to the dryer to help beat out the clumps that the down forms in the wash. It is totally worth spending a couple hours in a laundromat to do this if you don鈥檛 have front-loading machines at home.
Store It
All outdoor听gear should be stored in a dark, dry place. UV exposure and moisture听are kryptonite for your expensive camping gear. I dedicate the insulated, sealed crawl space that contains my home鈥檚 furnace to camping gear storage. The furnace pulls moisture out of the air, resulting in a totally dry space.
If you purchased a quality sleeping bag, it may have come with a cotton or mesh storage bag听that allows you to contain it without compressing it. If you don鈥檛 have one, . Storing your down gear compressed in a stuffsack will destroy its loft in short order.
Sleeping pads should also be stored loosely. Folding them into a tight package can cause seams and creases to fail over time. Remember to leave their valves open听so residual moisture can escape. Normal clothes hangers work great, or you can simply roll your pads loosely and store them听without any weight on top. Make sure to keep repair kits in the stuffsacks, and loop听those around the hanger鈥檚 hook so you don鈥檛 lose anything.
Tent materials can be stored rolled up in their stuffsacks without concern. Take care to make sure poles, guylines, and stakes remain with the appropriate tent.
Learn from It
Keep a notebook or note-taking app handy as you go through the drying, cleaning, and storage process. Jot down any missing or broken components, like tent stakes.听Order new ones immediately, and store them with their corresponding items. The idea is to address potential problems while they鈥檙e fresh in your mind鈥攏ot wait till a year from now, when you鈥檙e setting up camp in a thunderstorm.
Similarly, take note of any issues you had听or improvements that might help. There鈥檚 something about hours and hours of trudging along a trail that tends to both highlight shortcomings听and inspire creative solutions. My wife鈥檚 new backpack, for instance, includes slits that enable you to load water bottles into the bag鈥檚 sleeves horizontally. But she carries a bladder听and uses the sleeves for small essentials like hand sanitizer. We plan to sew up those slits to lessen the odds of losing the sanitizer. Noting that now, when it鈥檚 fresh, allows us to plan better for our next trip.
Keep track of consumables, like stove fuel. How many meals and听for how many campers听did an entire canister enable you to make? If you used only a portion of the canister, how much? It is possible to measure how much fuel is remaining in one, but it鈥檚 way easier to track use听and know not just how much fuel is remaining, but also how many days of use that fuel will last you. I鈥檓 doing this right now since I鈥檝e just switched from the smaller 听to the larger,听more efficient . Learning exactly how many cups of and how many dinners a canister of isobutane will get me through will enable me to carry less fuel听more confidently in the future. Do the same for flashlight batteries.
Also take note of things you didn鈥檛 use听or that would have been nice to have. The most effective way to cut pack weight听and better enjoy backpacking is to take less stuff. Learning what you do and don鈥檛 need is a process that will result in a different conclusion for every camper.听Just make sure you鈥檙e actively advancing the process with each trip.