Low waste hiking sewing and gear

You may have heard the term 'tread lightly', and it's certainly one of my favoured quotes when it comes to hiking. Or any hobby activity out in nature!
Essentially 'tread lightly' reminds us to enjoy nature, take care of it, and leave as little trace of ourselves passing through as possible. There's a lot of technical gear in outdoor hobbies and it can be a bit overwhelming when trying to care about the environment and do your hobby with as little impact on nature as possible. I have a variety of methods for how I approach low waste hiking, and you bet my hobby of sewing is one of them!

Let's get into it.

There are certain items that you don’t want to skimp on when it comes to hiking. Your boots, your pack, your sleeping system - you need to be able to trust these items will get you where you’re going and back home safely.
I’ve tried to buy as much of my gear second hand as I could but it’s tough when you’re looking for something quite specific and it might not be around when you’re planning a trip!

Of the infallible items listed above, I only managed to get my pack second hand. There’s now a great local FB group for hiking items I wish was in place when I was getting a lot of these things. From the items I've seen listed over time, I could have gotten boots and possibly a tent and mat there. But not to worry, I watch the group closely for any future hiking gear needs!
Of all the other essential items, I tried to buy from reputable brands with high quality gear so I would only need to purchase once. 

My hiking gear right now looks like this:

• Second hand items
  • Pack (Kathmandu)
  • Poles
  • Waterproof jacket (Mountain Designs)
• New items
  • Boots (Kathmandu)
  • Sleeping bag (Kathmandu)
  • Sleeping mat (Exped)
  • Tent (Marmot)
• Reused or made items
  • Hat (sewn)
  • Hip bag (old item I was given)
  • Rain cover (sewing this right now!)

I’ve been so happy with my hiking gear, and now I've got most of what I need I can focus on hacking a system to my pack so all my amazing items are secure.

The pack I bought was a 28L women’s day pack. That’s fine for a weekend but any longer and space is an issue. This pack fits the length of my back and in the true spirit of not buying another bigger pack, I have been rigging up attachments to carry my bulky items on the outside of the pack. Other than the trouble of finding another pack that’s as good and secondhand, with more space you’ll always be tempted to carry more weight. That's something I want to avoid!

I've rigged attachments for my tent, sleeping mat, and sleeping bag. That's all I need and honestly I don't have anymore space for external hacks anyway! I've used secondhand notions of webbing, cotton tapes, carabiners, toggles, velcro, and clips. It's amazing what you can find when you're keeping an eye out for useful bits and bobs! 

The rain cover I'm currently sewing to go over all this gear is made from an old gazebo that my mum gave me. The cord and toggles I'll use are secondhand too. I've got heaps of gazebo fabric left so I'm going to try my hand at sewing a pair of waterproof pants, and a couple of pairs of gaiters to keep the wet and bugs out of boots. I should probably also make a smaller rain cover for just my pack when it doesn't have all the extra attachments!

It's been really fun to figure out how to get good hiking gear so I'm comfortable and safe when adventuring, and doing it in a way that's as low waste and environmentally friendly as I can manage.
My next challenge for my hiking hobby will be approaching food with less waste. Whatever trash you carry in you have to carry out, which is extra weight. You also have to make sure you've got enough food for the time and energy expenditure, plus a bit extra in case of emergencies.

Balancing these needs with reducing waste and packaging will be just as challenging and fun as finding low waste gear, I'm sure!