The Backpackers Gift Guide –– 50 Best Gifts in 2024
This is your go-to gift list for the backpackers in your life. It’s full of essential gear, fun items, and extra add-ons to make gifts extra personal.
These gift recommendations are not size dependent. Items like hiking boots, sleeping pads and bags, and backpacks are extremely personal. Any of these items would make excellent gifts, but to give them, we’d recommend giving gift cards or going shopping in person with the receiver of your gift to make sure they’re getting what will work well for them.
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Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links with recommended lodging recommendations and hiking gear. We’ll receive a small portion of that sale if you click through and reserve lodging or purchase a product. You won’t be charged more, and we haven’t been paid by any of these retailers to share their information. These are all our genuine preferences.
Gifts under $25
Down booties
These are Meghann’s most recent favorite find. They’ll be going on EVERY backpacking trip from now on. If your backpacker complains of cold feet, these booties are a gift they will rave about.
Quick dry towels
We love bringing a quick dry towel on any backpacking trip with a great water source for swimming. The large towel is more than enough to share between both of us, but the smaller sizes would be more backpack friendly.
Hydro Flask mug
This mug is lightweight and comes with a lid so your backpacker can enjoy a drink that stays warm, even on the coldest mornings!
Guidebooks
Inspire your backpacker to explore new trails with a guidebook. You can find guidebooks for specific trails, like the Pacific Crest Trail, or general regions and states.
If you’re interested in books covering the Pacific Northwest, these books are our favorites for Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
Hiking socks
Backpackers can never have enough hiking socks! We love the Darn Tough brand (men’s/women’s) because they have a lifetime warranty!
Cork Massage Balls
If your backpacker complains of muscle or foot pains, this is the gift for them. These cork balls are lightweight and compact – perfect for on-trail relief.
Body Glide
Body Glide is essential if you’re backpacker regularly experiences chafing or blisters. You can give them this combo pack or gift them individually. These should be applied before hitting the trail to prevent issues. Gift the smallest sizes available to make them backpacker friendly.
Blister fixes
Every backpacker has had a time when they’ve ignored the hot spot in their shoe just to get to their destination faster. These hot spots turn into blisters and feel terrible to hike on in the following days. This is when wuru wool and/or Leukotape can help with the pain and keep blisters from getting worse.
Mosquito head net
Yes, your backpacker may feel a little goofy wearing this, but the hand swatting and bug bites it prevents is completely worth it. No need to worry about vision being obscured, either. We have the black nets and can see through them just fine.
If your backpacker is a real bug magnet, consider getting them the entire bug net suit we mention in the gifts under $50 section here.
Tiny air pump
Imagine huffing and puffing up a mountain only to have to blow up your air mattress before you can fall asleep. It’s our least favorite camp chore, but this tiny air mattress pump eliminates the struggle! Plus, it weighs less than three ounces!
Infinity tool
This gift is for the over packer. Modl’s infinity tool let's you strap on gear to the outside of your bag. There are so many uses for them, they’re sure to be used outside of backpacking too.
Z-Seats
Most campsites have a log or rock you can perch on, but these Z-Seats ensure that you’ll stay dry and offer a bit more cushion.
Thermometer
We think this would be such a fun addition to any pack! This digital thermometer is so small, clips on with a carabiner, and records the high and low temperatures every 24 hours. This gift is practical, too – knowing what’s worked well (or not) at different temperatures will help your backpacker pack better for future adventures.
Scale
This is a fun, but useful tool. We’ve always measured the weight of our bags by stepping on and off our scale at home, but this portable baggage scale allows you to measure the weight from anywhere. It’s perfect for loading up gear at the trailhead or just seeing who packed the most in your group.
Bonus – this scale doubles to measure bags for travelling so you can avoid overweight baggage fees!
Dehydrated meals
Dehydrated meals are great for the busy, low maintenance, or new to backpacking backpackers. We love them because it means you only have to clean up your spork after you’ve eaten – not a pile of dishes!
Our favorite brand is Peak Refuel (trust us, we’ve tried a lot of them!). So far, our favorite breakfast is the Breakfast Skillet Casserole Déjeuner and our favorite dinner is the Chicken Coconut Curry. Consider adding a long spork to this gift to make it easy to eat right out of the bag!
Gloves
Meghann loves these gloves because they’re lightweight, but warm – perfect for chilly summits. Plus, you can use your smartphone while wearing them. No more having to take gloves off to capture a photo.
Basecamp Cards
We always take a deck of cards backpacking with us and this deck offers twice the entertainment. Not only is it a regular deck of cards, but each card has a fun or interesting question on it, making this deck a great way to get to know others.
Gifts under $50
Fuel transfer device
This is one of our favorite gifts on this list! Every backpacker has a collection of partially used propane bottles. This tool allows you to transfer fuel from one canister to another. No more storing or carrying half-empty bottles around! If you’re worried your backpacker may try to overfill a canister, add this digital fuel gauge to their gift.
Snack kit
If there is one thing all hikers love, it’s snacks! Give them a box full of high protein snacks to try or order a few items in bulk. These are all our favorite items to backpack with:
Korean BBQ flavored jerky (gluten free)
Bolt energy chews (gluten free)
Clif Builder Bars (gluten free and plant based)
Luna Bars – the LemonZest + Blueberry mashup flavor is the best! (gluten free)
Bonus – gift bees wrap with this gift for reusable food (and toiletry) storage.
Portable cribbage board
Cribbage is such a great game. There’s a bit of skill involved and a lot of luck. It’s easy to learn, lightweight, and packable. This board has three tracks on it, so it can be played between two to six people.
Northwest Forest Pass
Northwest Forest Passes are required to park and recreate on national forest land in Oregon and Washington. It’s $30 for an annual pass (and here’s a list of the locations it covers).
Note: the America the Beautiful Pass (the annual national park pass) covers national forest land as well, so if your hiker has that, they do not need this pass as well. If you’re interested in purchasing it for $80, we’ve got it linked below.
Headlamp
A headlamp is a great gift for newer backpackers. They’re essential for early and late hikes, but also for use around camp. We love that they’re portable and they keep your hands free.
Trekking poles
If your hiker has complained about knee pain, swollen hands while hiking, or needs help feeling stable, get them trekking poles! They’ll help with all the above and are especially useful when you’re wearing a heavy pack.
REI Membership
If your backpacker isn’t already an REI member, this is a great gift. A lifetime membership is a one-time $30 fee. With it, they’ll earn dividends on purchases, get coupons, and can return eligible unsatisfactory items to the store within a year of purchase.
Ankle gaiters
These are Meghann’s favorite gaiters! They’re shorter and lighter than most gaiters, so you can wear them year-round to keep pine needles, dust, and dry material out of your boots and socks!
Bear spray
Gift peace of mind with bear spray. We love that this one comes with a strap that fits on our hip belts so it’s easily accessible.
Bear spray on Meghann’s hip belt
Bug net suit
This gift is not only thoughtful – no one enjoys a buggy campsite – but it’s also so lightweight that even an ultra-light backpacker wouldn’t mind the additional weight for the comfort of staying bite free. Plus, it’s comfortable enough to wear while hiking!
Packable duffel bag
If your backpacker is flying to reach trails, this packable duffel bag is a must have item. Backpacks are too large to fly with as carry-on luggage but have too many spots on the bag that could get snagged and ripped off to check by themselves. That’s where this bag comes in. It’s lightweight, packs into itself, and is large enough to put a loaded backpack into, keeping the backpack, and its contents, safe and secure!
Smartphone tripod
This credit card-sized tripod stays in Zach’s wallet. We love using it during backpacking trips for setting up sunset time lapses (example below). Plus, it’s universal to all phone sizes so you don’t have to purchase an updated version every time you get a new phone.
Illustrative trail maps
This one is for the thru-hikers. If your backpacker is planning on or has thru hiked a major trail, like the Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail, the Enchantments, or even the Everest Base Camp, Tell Your Trail has an illustrative map for it!
Gifts under $100
America the Beautiful Pass
For $80, you can give the gift of accessing America’s national parks for a year. This pass covers entry and parking within national parks. To backpack in national parks, your backpacker will also need to purchase wilderness permits from recreation.gov as well.
Note: This pass also covers parking fees for national forest land in Washington and Oregon.
Food storage
Bear vaults
Some areas, like the Olympic National Park, require backpackers to use bear vaults to store their food. We have the XL bear vault, and it holds 3-4 days' worth of food and smelly items for the two of us. The large size is great for an overnight trip for two, while the small size would work well for a solo overnight trip.
Food hang bags
Ratsacks are the best food hang bags. Since they’re made of stainless-steel mesh, mice and other critters cannot get to the contents inside. However, we’ve always used a cheaper and more versatile compression bag for hanging food storage and we’ve never had a problem with critters getting into our food.
Compression bags
We love our eight liter compression bags! We have one for hanging food storage and one to store clothing. The clothing bag doubles as a pillow for one of us in the evening.
Base layers
Having good base layers is critical while backpacking. We’ve had some surprisingly cold nights where we sleep in every layer we packed, and your base layers are what keep you the warmest. These Smartwool tops (men’s/women’s) and bottoms (men’s/women’s) are easy to guess sizing for since they’re not meant to fit tightly.
Sleeping bag liners
These have multiple uses. The first is that they’ll help keep your sleeping bag clean. The second is they’ll help keep you warm. Plus, they’re so thin you can roll them up in your sleeping bag so they’re always ready to use.
Camp sandals
Nothing feels better than taking your boots off after a hard day of backpacking. These Xeros Sandals (men’s/women’s) are a great lightweight option, but Chacos (men’s/women’s) offer more support.
Gifts over $100
Garmin inReach Mini 2
Keep your hiker safe with a personal locator beacon. It gives them the ability to set waypoints, text others when there isn’t cell service, and use the S.O.S button in emergencies.
Note: There is a $14.95 monthly subscription fee to use these devices.
Monocular
This is the perfect gift for the wildlife lover. We love that monoculars are smaller, lighter, and more compact than binoculars — perfect for backpacking. The reviews for this model say it can be hard to adjust, but we’ve never had that problem.
Bathroom kit
This gift is as humorous as useful. Gift a trowel for digging cat holes, a kula cloth for wiping, a pee funnel to help women/trans/non-binary folk to pee standing up, and a portable bidet for a complete “going on the go” package. Add a wag bag for areas where cat holes aren’t allowed.
Backpacking stove
A stove is a backpacking essential. We love the Jetboil because it’s compact and boils water quickly. The MSR Pocket Rocket Stove Kit is a great, slightly more affordable option. It does not have a built-in igniter like the Jetboil, so add a lighter to this package as well.
Optional add-ons:
French press for the Jetboil
Gravity filter
Every backpacker needs a water filter. We love this gravity filter by Platypus because it’s effortless and very simple to clean.
Garmin Epix Gen 2 Smartwatch
We’re ogling this watch because it has awesome GPS and elevation tracking, along with downloadable maps available to purchase, like this one of the Pacific Northwest.
Hammock sleep setup
We love sleeping in our hammocks. Packing our hammocks is more convenient that a tent, and if we’re going out solo, it’s lighter, too. This is a big gift and requires the following items:
Lightweight hammock like the Eno SingleNest or DoubleNest (slightly larger than the SingleNest)
Under quilt to stay warm
Backpacking chair
We think of our backpacking chairs as luxury items and only bring them along on easier trips, but wow are they nice to have at camp.
Dehydrator
If your backpacker has expressed interest in putting together their own dehydrated meals, get them a dehydrator. This will allow them to create any combination of meals and snacks imaginable.
Extra dehydrator add-ons:
Dehydrator sheets to make cleanup extra easy
Resealable pouches for meals
Insulated bag to help their meals cook efficiently at camp
Dehydrated backpacking meals recipe book
Sleeping quilt
Although sleeping bags are great for fall to spring backpacking, a sleeping quilt can be great for warmer trips. They’re lighter weight, more versatile, and pack up smaller. We love that this one has a zippered toe box and clips to hold the bag together in colder weather.
Subscriptions
Downloadable maps
Hiking with a map is part of the ten essentials, and it’s easiest with a downloadable map. The Gaia GPS subscription is the best option out there. Their maps are surveyed by professionals, and users say they’re more accurate and extensive than the Alltrails subscription.
Rock climbing gym
If your hiker also has an interest in climbing, set them up at a climbing gym. In Washington, Edgeworks is the most common climbing gym and you can choose between gifting lessons, punch cards, and memberships.
Magazine
Gift the Backcountry Magazine to give a monthly dose of inspiration, safety skills, and latest gear reviews.
Best gift cards
Gas
We spend so much in gas getting to and from trailheads. Sure, hiking is a “free” hobby, but it takes fuel to get to trailheads! Gift cards for gas are always appreciated.
REI
REI is the outdoorsman’s toy store. We can say from experience that there is ALWAYS something that will catch your eye there!
Sierra Trading Post
Sierra Trading Post is an off-price retailer, meaning that you can find some of the same gear at REI and other full-price stores, for much lower prices. Give a Sierra gift card to the thrifty hikers in your life.
