I Trekked 50 Miles Through the Lower Himalayas & This Is the Gear I Packed

I hiked below the low red ball sun, illuminating the terraces that unfurled down the hillsides like uneven steps for a giant. Vibrant colored prayer flags blowing in the high mountain air flanked the steep dirt trails I followed from valley to mountain tops. For those who love traveling by trail, the Himalayas hold a special place in a hiker’s heart. Offering majestic peaks and spicy foods, this region is home to some of the largest and most magnificent mountains on the planet.

The Himalayas are an expansive range that spans 230,000 miles and crosses six different Asian countries. Though the range is most famous for its massive peaks that reach 26,000 feet in elevation, including Mount Everest, the highest mountain on the planet, the Himalayas is more than just an expert technical alpine zone. The area is also home to ecosystems that range in climate from subtropical to semidesert.

Over the past few years, I've spent nearly a month trekking through lower mountains and valleys known as the “Gateway to the Himalayas,” exploring the less iconic (but plenty stunning) terraces and small villages spread along the border of India and Nepal. Recently, I spent a week hiking around 50 miles in the West Bengal region. The experience was not as taxing as thru-hiking portions of the Colorado Trail or Continental Divide Trail, both of which I have done, but it presented some unique challenges—and required some specific gear.

For this most recent trip I was thankful to be hiking with a trusted pal, who shared my tent and gear load, as well as working with cooks and a camp team who handled meal prep. Still, I had to be prepared to cover a decent deal of distance and handle a wide range of weather conditions. I'm also pretty tall, which definitely affected how I packed for this particular trip. Luckily, it's also something I've had to deal with my entire life, so I had plenty of experience to draw from when making my choices.

Read on for a closer look into the specific gear I chose to haul through the Himalayas on my most recent 50 mile hike.

10 Pieces of Gear for Trekking in the Lower Himalayas

Traditional Backpack: Osprey Aether 55 Pack

Though I have considered going bigger, 55-liters is probably the ideal pack size for a week on the trail, especially since the cooks and camp team on our trip was packing most of the food and cooking equipment on our behalf. The Osprey Aether 55 Backpack ($195) easily carried all the below items, plus the mirrorless camera and lenses I brought with me to take images of them. The most important element of a pack is fit, and the Osprey Fit-on-the-Fly shoulder straps and hipbelt made it super easy for me to get the back seated properly. I also liked that the large zip front panel made it easy to access the stuff I had packed, whether we were at camp or on trail.

Classic Freestanding Tent: MSR Hubbba Hubba Backpacking Tent

I've used the MSR Hubbba Hubba ($580) on trips all over Asia and the U.S., so I was confident it would work great on this particular trip to the Himalayas. The tent has a relatively small footprint, which helped in the many instances we were camping in tigh quarters with other people on small terraces. The two-person tent also weights only 2 lbs. 14 oz., including the rainfly. That's so light that I felt totally fine carrying it myself, leaving my tent-mate free to cart around other stuff they needed to be comfortable. Impressively given the weight and small footprint, the tent is still large enough to fit my six-foot tall body, a friend, and some of our gear and clothes. Even better, the Hubba Hubba is easy to assemble in a matter of minutes. After a long day of trekking, the faster you can have a place to crash for the night, the better.

Breathable Backpacking Quilt: Outdoor Vitals StormLoft Down Topquilt

Typically I think of the Himalayas as a cold region, but we experienced plenty of warm days on our trip. On previous trips, this made my trusty Big Agnes Sidewinder sleeping bag feel like overkill. This trip, I traded it out for the new 800-fill power duck Outdoor Vitals StormLoft Down Topquilt ($375). The light backpacking quilt is built to breathe, thanks to a high-performance ExpeDry fabric that includes gold nanoparticles that aid with evaporation. The quilt is designed so that you can peel it off if you get too warm, but it's also large enough to cocoon yourself in when it gets to cool. I found it plenty comfortable enough on the few cool nights we experienced when temperatures dropped below 40 degrees.

Lightweight Air Pad: Thermarest Neoair Xlite NXT

In the Himalayas, is there is no such thing as a truly flat campsite. We were almost always sleeping on rocky ridges, hills, and terraces. Each evening I would inflate my Thermarest Neoair Xlite NXT ($200) sleeping pad as the base of my sleep system. The 4.5 R-Value of the 3-inch pad provided more than enough warmth and comfort for the hard terrain. It's 30D rip HT Nylon material also resisted puncture against the often sharp surfaces we often encountered—in the event of catastrophe, the pad comes with a handy field repair kit. I went with the large version, which was long enough for my six-foot frame, but still only just over a pound in weight.

Unbending Bracers: LEKI Ultralight Skytera Trekking Poles

Trekking poles can come in really handy in the Himalayas. While most of our journey was walking on conventional trails, there were plenty of times when we were hiking up and down steep uneven terraces that were full of ankle-twisting holes. Having the LEKI Ultralight Skytera Trekking Poles ($210) at my side for the entire trip was really helpful. At just 6 ounces per pole, these poles have LEKI’s new Verticon foam grip that is low profile and easy to hold. They also fold up into three 16-inch long sections that you can more easily pack. They are strong and durable, helping keep my large frame steady on the trail. I even used one to fend off a snake that was trying to get into my tent.

Futuristic Water Filter: Grayl 24 oz GeoPress Purifier

As soon as I stepped foot into an airport, I only drank out of my Grayl GeoPress Ti Purifier($100) bottle. The Grayl filters 99.9 percent of viruses, bacteria, and protozoa by pressing the filter down into the bottle. The bottle is also electrolyte compatible, so I could add a drink mix straight to the filtered water. It only holds 24 ounces, so I paired this with the HydraPak Contour 3L bladder to filter large amounts of water at once to carry as I hiked. One caveat: the Grayl is a bit heavier than the trusty Sawyer Squeeze, which I use in the U.S. or the LifeStraw Peak Solo. But the extra weight was more than worth it, since I never got sick.

Burly Boots: La Sportiva Ultra Raptor II Gore-Tex Mid Hiking Boot

I have a wider foot and these boots have a nice wide comfort fit with a 12 mm drop. After testing and training in dozens of trail shoes and hiking boots at home before my trip, I settled on the La Sportiva Ultra Raptor II Mid Boot ($138). The boots are lightweight at 2 pounds for the pair, and their FriXion AT 2.0 outsole helped provide traction on loose scree and slick surfaces in the mountains. The upper with a TPU Transkinetic EVO Heel Stabilizer and comfort collar offered stability with comfort. The best pitch for them I can give: I wore them the entire trip, including during all my flights, and didn’t get a single blister.

Durable Down: Helly Hansen RECCO Odin Everdown

For most of the trip, I wore the Helly Hansen RECCO Odin Everdown ($338) with RECCO technology built into it. The jacket is designed with alpine hiking and mountaineering professionals in mind. At 350 grams, less than a pound, the warmth-to-weight ratio is the best I could find. It packs into a small carrying bag the size of a softball and fits seamlessly into my pack. The jacket’s hood has a lightweight and flexible RECCO reflector integrated in case of an emergency. My only gripe: none of the pockets feature zipper or other types of closure system, so there's always a risk of stowed items falling out.

A Versatile Piece of Headgear: Buff

From keeping dust and dirt out of my face while trekking to helping keep the sun off my face and neck, a Buff ($17-$32) was a key for my trip. There can be a lot of pollution and burning trash in the cities surrounding the remote mountain trails, and having a face covering to keep the smells and smoke at bay was nice. The versatile Buff can double as a small towel to soak up water with. Dunking the buff in a stream and then draping it across my neck was always a nice way to cool off on my journey through the hot mountainous terrain.

Hearty Hiking Pants: Prana Stretch Zion II

I wore my trusty Prana Stretch Zion II ($95) hiking pants for the majority of the trip. While I’ll wear shorts for hikes in the States, in this part of the world, shorts are pretty much reserved for children. And anyway, pants offer some helpful additional leg coverage and protection on the trail. The material is UPF 50+ protection, which stands up well to the high elevation sun rays. And there are plenty of pockets in the Zion II’s to stash maps, protein bars, and a cell phone. I pretty much lived in these hiking pants the entire time I was trekking both on and off trail, and they stood up to the terrain with no signs of wear or tear when I got back home.