Welcome

There's a ton of lightweight, ultralight hiking/camping blogs out there, but most of these concentrate on solo hiking/backpacking. The truth is that there are a lot of good reasons to go backpacking with another person, even if they aren't necessarily your boyfriend/girlfriend.

• Mountain climbers know that cuddling is a great way to generate heat. This is more appealing when you camp with your regular sleeping partner, of course!
• Biggest benefit is shared weight. You can carry a two-man tent that weighs less than twice a one-man tent. Or, if you're really lightweight, a slightly larger tarp that only weighs another five ounces.
• A solo backpacker might bring a small alcohol stove to simply boil water for simple meals. With two campers, it makes less sense to each bring one stove that use 3oz/alcohol fuel per day. For a weekend trip, a typical canister system weight is about 9 ounces, and that's with a new canister. You can get about 15 meals from a new canister, and they weigh less every time. Plus, with most canisters, you can simmer, which enlarges the base of recipes.
• Sometimes the other person isn't even into lightweight backpacking, so they have a lot more stuff that they will share with you.
• Sometimes the person is a lot more experienced than you, so you can see different cool stuff they've brought, and how to use it.
• And finally, if one person is stronger than the other, they can carry more stuff!

Mostly I'll be talking about camping with your boyfriend/girlfriend/sleeping partner here, since that's what I do, though. We backpack and car camp, at about a 60-40 ratio. And I'm focusing on lightweight or ultralight techniques, since that's the only way I can do it. I think a lot more people would like backpacking if they knew they could do it safely and comfortably carrying under 30lbs.

So I'm going to start with talking about what works for me and my boyfriend.

(picture is from our very first backpacking trip to Ingalls Creek)