The Ultimate Backpacker - A Card Game

Why We Made The Ultimate Backpacker

The Ultimate Backpacker really came from two different worlds coming together.

My father-in-law is an avid hiker and backpacker who knows more about trails, gear, and planning than almost anyone I know. I’m an entrepreneur who loves taking ideas and figuring out how to turn them into something real.

Over the years, our family hikes have created plenty of stories — especially because he has been known to slightly underestimate how long a hike is actually going to be. When a “quick hike” turns into several more miles than expected, you learn pretty fast that what you packed matters.

That became part of the inspiration for the game.

We wanted to create something that felt authentic to the backpacking community: the obsession with gear, the planning, the unexpected obstacles, the Trail Angels who help you along the way, and the humor that comes from things rarely going exactly as planned.

We also wanted to make a game that gets people to put their phones down, sit around a table, laugh, compete, and spend time together.

Backpackers are an incredibly unique community. They pay attention to every ounce in their pack, plan trips down to the smallest detail, and are also some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet on a trail. Yet there aren’t many games made specifically for them.

We thought they deserved one.

After countless hours of designing, testing, revising, and refining more than 200 cards, The Ultimate Backpacker is ready for the trail.

This Kickstarter will fund our first professional production run — printing the cards, packaging the game, manufacturing, freight, and getting it into the hands of the people who helped make it possible.

Our goal is simple:

Make a game that backpackers recognize, families love, and everyone can laugh about together.

Just remember: if someone says it’s only a few miles…

pack accordingly.

If you've made it this far, I'll tell you a recent story of my first 14er backpacking trip. 

A friend of mine said he wanted to hike a Colorado State 14er called Mount of the Holy Cross. I've been losing weight and felt physically like I was ready to take on a mountain. So a few of us went up, camped at the trailhead, and at 4 in the morning took of up the first portion of the trail. You start going up 1100 feet, down 1100 feet, cross a river, and then start the 3000 foot climb up to the top of Holy Cross. "This isn't so bad", I thought as I went up the mountain. That quickly changed after 12,500ft. It turned into 100 steps, stop, 100 steps, stop and so on until we finally summited the peak! 

I was exhausted on the top of the mountain and we took a quick rest. Ate some top of the mountain granola with strawberries (highly recommend). And the obligatory pictures. It was awesome to have made it! 

Then came the downhill climb...3000 feet downhill is grueling. It hurts. Trekking poles and all, my knees were killing me when we got to the bottom and made it to the river crossing. We then had 1100 feet up and 1100 feet down before we were done. I was running out of water, hadn't eaten enough, and was beat! But on we went. 

As we came to the final summit of the hike I had no water. Dehydrated and faint I had to sit down. Luckily, my hiking buddies had done this before and had enough extra water to spare for me so I could continue on. One of them also had an apple. It wasn't big but it was the best apple of my life. Those two buddies were real Trail Angels on my hike and the reason I made it back safely to the trailhead. 

I conquered the mountain. I received some much needed sustenance through Trail Angels. And I'll never do Holy Cross again...

I learned some valuable lessons I'll take with me on the next 14er. While you don't always have to be the first to complete the trail, Pack Smart and Hike Hard are things I'll continue with throughout my life. AND BRING EXTRA WATER!