I am not a backpacking expert. I am not even an amateur backpacker, but I have been learning a lot about buying backpacking gear recently. I have been researching backpacking gear a lot because I am going to Nepal in February. I am actually going with my church as a short term mission trip. (If you are curious how backpacking and how a church mission trip are related, send me an email and I will explain it all.) Buying backpacking gear reminds me a lot of another hobby I had growing up, Golf.

I played golf competitively in high school and 1 year in college. I eventually stopped playing in tournaments in order to focus on engineering school. There are about 5 years of my life that I played golf at least 5 days a week. It was a pretty serious obsession.

This might seem like a bit of a stretch, but I think purchasing golf equipment and backpacking equipment have a lot of similarities.

• Both require a lot of very specific equipment and much of it is quite expensive.
• Both have large numbers of people participating that have a wide range of skills and abilities.
• People who are serious in both have very strong opinions on equipment.
• People who are interested but never swung a club or climbed a mountain in their life will go spend a lot of money on gear before ever trying it.
• Lastly, there are a lot of options for gear and equipment, maybe too many options.

So, what have I learned from researching backpacking gear and from playing golf? 

There are very good reasons why equipment and gear can be expensive, but beginners should start out buying used or more moderately priced equipment.

While searching for a backpack to take to Nepal, I came across the website GearTrade.com. It is kind like of the ebay for outdoor gear, except way nicer. All the equipment is used and sold by private sellers or even large companies that are selling returned used gear. I shared on Instagram the backpack I found that was 60% off retail price. It so happens that the seller was a really popular outdoor gear retailer called Backcountry. You may have seen their unique logo of goat before.

My experiences have shown that we all want gear that will last a lifetime, but when buying gear for a new hobby, it is always best to buy used or moderately priced equipment. You can always upgrade later.