With a whole new wilderness walking adventure on the horizon I’m looking into really simple ultra-lightweight backpacking solutions. With a relatively petite build and the need to carry my own sleeping bag, mat and possibly a tent, with food for 5 days as well as the usual gear, its essential to pack the absolute essentials and to try to find items that are not only light but have multi uses.

I already have a huge sweet spot for useful gadgets and gear that morph into something else I need, and I will be bringing a Light My Fire Spork, but the Powerpac 2000 System takes first prize! Such an incredible invention. It’s a pack that uses your ground pad and sleeping bag and converts onto a shelter. I am SO blown away…

This link shows pictures of everything you can pack into it and how it looks with your shelter erected, but perhaps the best way to understand how it works is to check out this link which is the more stripped down gearskin version.

Make camp or break camp in a minute. Your gear is bundled together — no separate stuffing, rolling, or bagging your camp. Eliminates empty spots in pack and condenses your gear making it easier to carry.

Best of all, the whole system can weigh in at as little as 5lb if you opt for ultra-light bivy, closed-cell foam pad, and an ultra-light sleeping bag. Using standard backpacking gear, you’d probably be looking at 3lb for a pack, 5lb for a tent, 2lb for a sleeping bag, and 1lb for a pad — a whopping 11 pounds for those four items alone.