James MacKenzie
Somewhere in the fourth hour of a long Highland day, the pack stops being a number and becomes a conversation between your shoulders and your hips. Whether you're linking bothies across the northwest, walking the length of the Cairngorms or stringing together a week of distant Munros, the weight on your back decides how much you notice — the ptarmigan on the skyline, the weather moving across a corrie, the way the ground softens as you drop towards the glen. Lighten the load, and the landscape gets richer.
Start With the Kitchen Scales
Guesswork is the enemy of a light pack. Weigh every single item on a digital kitchen scale and write it down, then split the total into base weight (everything except food, water and fuel), consumables and worn weight. Most people are astonished by what the little things add up to.
- Rucksack, shelter and sleeping system: the big three, and where the largest savings hide. A bag rated for the conditions you'll actually meet, rather than the worst night imaginable, can save half a kilogramme.
- Shelter: a one-person tent or tarp around 1–1.5 kg is perfectly achievable without spending silly money.
- Cooking: a small gas stove, a pot you can also eat from, and a long-handled spoon. Leave the bowl and the mug at home.
- Wash kit: decant everything into 30 ml bottles.
A realistic summer base weight for a Highland trail sits between 7 and 10 kg. If you're above that, weigh the items you're least sure about first — that's usually where the easy wins are hiding.
Make Every Layer Work Harder
In the Highlands you can meet sunburn and horizontal rain in the same afternoon, so clothing has to multitask. Take two sets: one to walk in, one dry set for camp. That's it.
- Walking trousers in a light, quick-drying fabric. No spare pair; they will dry on your legs.
- Thin layers rather than one thick one — a base layer plus a light fleece or synthetic top that you add and remove through the day.
- Waterproof shell that doubles as a windproof and a bothy layer.
- Buff: hat, neck warmer, ear cover at night, eye mask in a bright bothy.
- Spare socks that can become mittens if your hands seize up in the cold.
- A midge headnet, which weighs almost nothing and saves entire evenings.
Look for garments that do at least two jobs. A down or synthetic jacket earns its place in camp, not on the move, so leave it behind unless you feel the cold or the forecast is genuinely grim.
Share the Load, and Agree It in Advance
Walking with others is the easiest way to cut weight, but only if you plan it properly. Before you set off, lay out the shared kit and divide it deliberately rather than hoping it works out.
- Tent: one person carries the poles and inner, another the fly and pegs.
- Stove, fuel and pots: one set between two or three walkers.
- First aid kit, repair kit and a single water filter or purification tablets.
- One map between two, though everyone should carry their own compass and know how to use it.
- Power bank and charging cables: one between two.
Weigh the shared pile, then divide by the number of walkers. Ten kilogrammes of group kit between four people is 2.5 kg each — but only if nobody quietly carries the whole tent "just in case". Recheck the split at every resupply point, when packs are emptied anyway.
The "Just in Case" Trap
The hardest part of packing light is subtraction, not purchase. Ask three questions of anything you're unsure about:
- Have I used this on my last three trips?
- Could I borrow, improvise or buy it if I truly needed it?
- Does it have a second job?
Photographers find this hardest of all. Take one camera and one lens, carried in a dry bag and wrapped in a spare fleece, and brace it against a rucksack or a stone for low-light shots. Unless you have a specific image in mind that demands one, a tripod is dead weight on a long day.
Water, Food and the Last Few Hundred Grammes
Water is the heaviest thing you'll carry, at a kilogramme per litre. Fortunately the Highlands are generous: streams and burns run off most hillsides, so carry 500 ml to a litre and refill often, treating with tablets or a filter where you're uncertain.
Food is next. Strip outer packaging at home and repack into a single bag — cardboard and foil add up to a surprising amount. Aim for 700–900 g of dry food per day, roughly 2,500–3,000 kcal, and choose calorie-dense items: oatcakes, cheese, nuts, dried fruit, instant noodles, and a small bottle of olive oil to lift any meal. Eat your heaviest food first, while your pack is still full.
Practise Before the Long One
Load the pack and walk a local hill — fifteen kilometres with some ascent will do. You'll find the strap that rubs, the layer you never wore, the snack you'd have killed for. Adjust, reweigh, repeat. A lighter pack isn't about doing without; it's about carrying only what earns its place, so that the walking — and the looking — is what you remember.
