This is what I pack for a 2 day kayak trip in Oregon during the times of year rivers are fed by rain. That is usually long enough for me with damp camping gear. For a 3 day trip like the Illinois River, just bring one more dinner and breakfast.
Click on the image to expand, then save as. I have this on here so I can print it off before each trip to use as a checklist.
If you would like to nerd out a bit, I have more info down below. While the above check list is for a single person, the following includes how I prep when Priscilla and I are on the same trip, since we share a tent, food, and other gear to reduce weight in each of our boats.
Also check out Darin Mcquoid's overnight kayaking page, that was the foundation that I started with when creating my own overnight kit.
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Sleep set up
Either a tent shaped tarp (1.75 lbs), or a tent (1.8 lbs). We would never have splurged for the tents we have, but we are lucky that Priscilla wrote for an online company that paid her in gear, and the tent is something we got out of that deal. The tent is lighter than 2 bivy sacs, and far more comfortable so for 2 people makes all the sense in the world. The tent shaped tarp is about the same weight, but packs down smaller and we don't have to worry about breaking poles. If Priscilla isn't with me, Iv'e just brought a hammock that has a bug net and rain fly I had handed down to me when I graduated high school. If I do the hammock, I leave the sleeping pad at home. Though I do wrap my drysuit around the bottom of my hammock in such a way that it helps provide some insulation.
We use painters tarp (~3 ounces) for a ground mat, it is thin so we replace it every once in awhile (it's cheap, super light, and packs down to a negligible size).
Sleeping Bags. We have both been using Big Agnes Boot Jack 25 degree bags (ours weigh 2.5 lbs, they are made lighter now). We have been happy with these but are both looking into new bags. Me, because I want something that packs down super small, so I have even more space in my dry bag, and Priscilla because she wants something warmer and lighter.
We each have a cheap sleeping pad similar to this we bought off Amazon (12 ounces). They were about $40 each, and pack down very small. We also had success the one time we needed to warranty one of them.
On my own weight: 5.1 lbs Shared with Priscilla weight: 4.2 lbs per/person
* If it's a summer trip and we bring a 40 degree bag, and leave the rainfly in the car, the weight drops to 3.4 lbs each.
Camp Clothes
A warm pair of socks, and a fresh pair of underwear. I want to put on completely dry, clean gear at camp. Then I wear these under my drysuit the next day. (5 ounces)
I have a thin, highly compressible puffy jacket I bought from Costco for $20 that has done well for me over the years. (14.3 ounces)
I also have a Patagonia long sleeve shirt I got from Goodwill that is warm for it's weight. (7.5 ounces)
A beanie. (1.8 ounces)
Camp pants: (12.8 ounces)
I often bring a thicker onesie (1 lb) to wear at camp and to bed, that I usually wear under my drysuit on the second day.
If I think it will rain enough to warrant it, I bring a light and compressible rain jacket (10 ounces) and will replace camp pants with rain pants (11 ounces).
Camp Clothing
Total weight: 3.6 lbs Total weight with rain jacket/pants: 4 lbs
Food/Water
One of us will bring a LifeStraw . We boil water at camp, or sometimes drink straight from a creek (careful with that). (2 ounces)
It's hard to start a fire in Oregon in the Winter, so between the two of us we bring 1 JetBoil/fuel. (~1 lb)
Oatmeal and peanut butter packets for breakfast. (~5 ounces [10 ounces for 2 people])
Enough crackers and cheese or summer sausage for lunch on both days. (~1 lb [2 lbs for 2 people])
A mountain house each for dinner (4 ounces [8 ounces]).
And a bagged salad to share if we are on top of things (12 ounces).
We also usually throw in a couple instant coffees, electrolyte powder, chocolate bar, and a couple power bars. (~5 ounces)
For eating we each have a small plastic bowl, plastic spoon, and use either the bowls or the jet boil container as a cup. (3 ounces)
Food/Water
Total Weight: 3.4 lbs Divided by 2 since this is for 2 people: 1.7 lbs
Personal stuff
Lighter (< 1 ounce)
Headlamp (2 ounces)
Toothbrush/toothpaste (1 ounce)
Toilet paper. (1 ounce)
Total Weight: 3.3 lbs
Split amongst the group stuff (miscellaneous)
Duct tape and/or bituthene (2 ounces)
Multi-tool ((it's nice if it has an awl, so you can heat it and put holes in a boat to stop a crack from spreading before applying duct tape/bituthene) (7 ounces)
A torch-lighter for melting plastic/bituthene (2 ounces)
Fire starting material (wax paper is light, or collect sap) (< 1 ounce)
Gatorade bottle with whiskey (~16 ounces)
Total Weight: ~ 2 lbs give or take the products, reduced based on how it gets divided up.
Split amongst the group stuff (Safety)
Pin kit: tibloc, mini pulley, extra carabiners, figure 8 repel device (6 ounces)
GEN3 SPOT device (4 ounces)
Phone with maps stored and paper map. (5 ounces)
Mini first aid kit (we have one Priscilla created that fits in a nalgene). (20.7 ounces)
Spare paddles (2.5 lbs)
Total weight (varies depending on group number): 4.7 lbs
* Drybags: Watershed is the way to go if you want to keep things dry. I use one Futa bag (1.5 lbs), and one Ocoee bag (1.5 lbs) on overnight trips. I put stuff I don't need except at camp in the Futa (clothes, sleeping bag, tent, dinner), and things I want to access during the day in the Ocoee.
Weight Considerations
Does everyone in the group need to bring a spare paddle?
Does everyone need a jet boil?
Is the weight of my safety kit likely to contribute to me needing it? As in will I be more tired after a long day, and less interested in walking a rapid if my boat weighs 5-10 extra lbs, and therefore more likely to make mistakes?
Does everyone in the group need both a pin kit, and a safety kit?
Do I have 2-3 pairs of long underwear that when combined are warmer/lighter/more packable than my 1 puffy coat?
I found a 75' throw bag that I like, that isn't bulky or heavy.
For Priscilla warmth is important, so gets a larger sleeping bag, but I sleep warm so have a sleeping bag that packs down 7 times as small. Yet they both weigh about the same.
Do you really need a full block of cheese, or might you be able to break it in half or quarter? That said, I'd hate to be too calorie deficient on an overnight trip, error on the side of more than you need until you dial it in.
Some people like to make sure they have what they need so they don't need to rely on others, some like to share the load as much as possible. Trusting others is always a risk to reward analysis.
Are you comfortable hand paddling the river you are doing? They weigh less, and require less space than a spare paddle.
Some people like to have everything they could ever need on every trip to the point they struggle to lug their kayak up the boat ramp at the end of a roadside day run. Others finish a high water, hike-in overnight trip flowing out of the Sierra's in a day naked because their swim trunks were the best tool available to plug a leak in their boat. You have to decide what comfort to weight threshold works best for you.
Group Considerations
I am fortunate that I get to do many trips with my wife, so we are able to spread the loads in our kayaks for things that we share.
Typically she takes the tent, dinners, breakfast, jetboil/fuel and toiletries.
I carry the spare paddle, safety kit, pin kit, phone/maps, and lunch.
If we are boating with a third person we know well, maybe they take the spare paddle, and use our jetboil, safety kit, and maps.
If it is going to rain, sometimes we will bring another tarp for people to sit under. Or if you have a hammock, maybe you can bring a larger tarp than normal and people can sit under there.
So here is how it breaks down with total weight.
If I am going by myself, bring everything on the list in preparation for a wintery night, and not sharing the load with anyone, I will have an additional 22.5 lbs in my boat on an overnight trip.
However, I have never actually done that, I always split some of the necessities among the group.
So if Priscilla and I are going somewhere just the two of us, and split things up we each end up with about 16 pounds in our boats.
If we are going with a group, split things up generously, and the weather will be damp but not raining heavily we can get that down to around 12 lbs if we need to by switching out camp pants for long underwear, staying in our dry suits until we go to bed (so we don't need rain gear), leaving the salad, coffee, and chocolate bar behind, etc.
If we really want to push it we have done things like use the jet boil container as our only bowl/cup, use sticks as utensils, not take any toiletries, eat candy bars for lunch, eat cold food (no stove) for dinner (a subway sandwich works), not bring an extra onesie etc. This is if we have to hike in, and it's about the mission and not the camping comfort. If we also leave any kind of shelter behind (summertime trips without bugs), we are now under 10 lbs.
For a happy medium with a group of ~4 people who are up for sharing, I will typically bring about ~15 lbs worth of overnight gear in my boat.
Boat + throw bag = 45-52 lbs
So with a large boat loaded for an overnighter in wet weather my boat might weigh up to 75 lbs, but with a medium sized boat in moderate weather with a sharing group, Priscilla's can weigh as little as 55 lbs. And if we are really skimping, her loaded boat weighs about as much as my empty one.
On average, I'd say my boat weighs about 67 lbs on a typical overnight trip, and Priscilla's weighs a bit over 60 lbs (camera included).
Then obviously as days start getting added on, the food weight goes up. I like to bring stuff that can last for multiple days in that scenario (A 6 pack of hot dogs, or family sized crackers, dehydrated potatoes i.e.).
Stories to help us learn
- We had a friend come along on an exploratory overnight trip who had just come off of a multiday rafting trip down the Rogue. He packed like he was on a rafting trip, complete with a full block of cheese, enough food that the rest of us probably could have not brought anything to eat and there would have been enough for all, extra clothes etc, and he was getting pinned in class II riffles because he was just floating so low. On one of the portages I ended up carrying his boat up a cliffside and wasn't sure I was going to be able to do it. We woke up in the morning and he was boiling all his bacon and eggs to pass around so he wouldn't have as much weight on the second day. We happily helped him out with that.
- I was doing a long hike in, and had a few pounds of gorp (basically trail mix with dried meat and whatever else you want thrown in) to eat while I walked. We camped along the trail, and I hadn't eaten nearly as much gorp as I thought I would. Rather than spend the next 2 days of the trip with a couple pounds of gorp I wasn't going to eat taking up space in the back of my boat, I buried it. Not the recommended practice, but it is certainly either eaten by animals or decomposed by now. I feel a bit of shame for doing that, but it was the right (selfish) choice for me. I am more careful about how much food I pack now.
- There have been people who have done big missions with multiple days of food and extra gear (climbing rope?) whose boats weigh in the vicinity of 100 lbs. It is also possible to achieve that weight by not having compact gear or a good system dialed in, full of redundancies and un-needed bulk.
- My first overnight kayaking trip was the Illinois River in SW Oregon, and I did not have my overnight system dialed in yet. My mummy bag took up an entire rear compartment in my boat on it's own. It was too large for a dry bag, so I wrapped it in a garbage bag, put it inside the sleeping bag case to protect the garbage bag, and brought duct-tape along to repair the holes that appeared when I pulled the bag out from behind my boat at night. My sleeping pad was a yoga mat that I dried out at camp (it didn't fit in a dry bag either). When my friend Nate asked what I brought for food, I pulled out a zip loc bag with some nature bars and a can of soup. I was young and had a great time, my lack of camp comfort didn't take away a thing from that trip, and I stuck to this system for my next few overnighters. I wouldn't tell that younger me to do anything different. But now, years of kayaking and overnights behind me, my interest in these trips has shifted from just the whitewater, to enjoying my time at camp as much if not more than the paddling -- add that new mentality to financial stability, some industry deals, a middle-aged back, and a softer mind -- These days I really value a good overnight set-up.
