Take the guess work out of figuring out what to buy for the outdoor lover in your life. Our personally curated list of stocking stuffers for hikers include some of our favorite items to take on backpacking trips, along with stocking fillers we love to give and receive. Each of these recommendations actually fits inside a stocking; no extra stuffing required! Whether you’re shopping for an inexperienced backpacker still finding their footing or for an experienced outdoor adventurer who “already has everything,” there’s something for everyone in the gift ideas below.
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Best Stocking Stuffers for Hikers
Electrolyte Drink Mixes
Electrolyte drink mixes are an mainstay of every long distance hiker’s snack bag. They quickly replenish sodium, chloride, magnesium and potassium lost through sweating and encourage hydration. The best electrolyte mixes have great taste, aren’t packed full of extra sugar and are easy to use on the go.
LMNT, Nuun and Skratch are three of the most recommended brands for high intensity activities, and with good reason. LMNT is the most popular amongst thru-hikers, with the highest concentration of electrolytes. My husband’s go to is Nuun, which has a lower sodium content than LMNT and comes is tablet form, rather than powder. As someone sensitive to stevia and other non-nutritive sweeteners, I personally prefer Skratch Labs. With no sugar alcohols, no artificial sweeteners and no alternative sweeteners, like stevia or monk fruit, it’s the only electrolyte mix that doesn’t leave me with an unpleasant aftertaste. With so many different brands and flavors to choose from, these make excellent stocking stuffers for hikers: gift your recipient their favorite flavor or give them a few new flavors to try! Most hikers love to sample new products.
Long Handle Titanium Spoon
Freeze-dried camping meals, whether purchased from major retailers or made using our own homemade backpacking meals recipes, offer up an ultralight weight hot and tasty meal on the trail. The bags are also notoriously difficult to eat out of with a regular sized spork. Say goodbye to the days of getting your knuckles covered in random sticky sauce trying to dig out the last delicious bite from the corner of the mylar bag (iykyk) with a long handled titanium spoon. This is the type of luxury that many hikers and backpackers won’t think to purchase for themselves, yet can’t imagine living without once they’ve acquired one.
Trigger Point Massage Ball
Self myofascial release (SMR) has been proven to alleviate the aches, pain, and inflammation associated with long mileage days. The Rawlogy Cork Massage Ball is light enough to throw into the pack for a portable massage on the go, used to release the fascia of the feet preventing plantar fasciitis and other foot injuries before they happen. I’ve noticed significant reduction in foot and joint pain since using a massage ball periodically to target my heels, arches and IT band.
Larger or heavier massage balls, like TriggerPoint Foam Ball, can be used for deep tissue daily recovery at home. To every hiker and backpacker who isn’t already incorporating self myofascial into their recovery routine, we cannot recommend it highly enough!
Bougie Hiking Snacks
Sure hiking takes you some of the most beautiful places on the planet, but you know what’s also great about hiking? The snacks. Hiking can be hard, and sometimes you need a little indulgent treat to reset yourself mentally. Trail mix only goes so far. An assortment of gourmet snacks are always welcome stocking stuffers for hikers. We first purchased Cheesecake Culture Freeze Dried Cheesecake Bites on a whim from a point-of-sale display at the cafe in Springdale while backpacking Zion National Park. These are hands down one of the best light weight, no-prep backpacking desserts out there, and come in two flavors: Cookies and Cream (personal favorite) and White Chocolate Raspberry.
When we’re in the mood for a savory snack, nothing hits the spot quite like the landjaeger from Bavarian Meats. We used to purchased these links by the pound in little brown paper bags from their storefront in Seattle’s Pike Place Market before every trip to Mt Rainier. Now these are available online, individually wrapped and in bulk.
For chocolate lovers, try Honey Mama’s Cocoa Truffle Bars in flavors like Lavender Rose, Peanut Butter Cup and Coffee Nib Crunch. These are sweetened with raw honey – a great source of energy on the trail – and are naturally dairy, gluten and soy free.
Travel Pouches
Take only the amount of personal care products you need with these mini lay flat travel pouches. Decant your favorite multi-purpose soap, like Dr. Bronner’s, sunscreen, bug repellent, or facial moisturizer into these space saving containers.
Hiking Pole Tripod
This lightweight adaptor coverts three hiking poles into a tripod, perfect for the aspiring backcountry photographer. At 2.3 oz, this adaptor significantly ups the photography game allowing long exposure shots of the night sky, waterfalls, or staged shots at a mere fraction of the weight of even the lightest professional tripods. Most hikers will also want a clamp to quickly affix their camera to the pole, either a cell photo clamp for those who primarily use their smartphones or a quick release base plate for a DSLR.
Note: the Arca Swiss Clamp is compatible with the Peak Design Capture Clip baseplate (another great gift for the photography minded hiker) and allows for completely seamless transitions of the camera from backpack strap to tripod! This is the setup we use for every hike.
Trail Gaiters
Every hiker needs at least one pair of gaiters, though it never hurts to have multiple pairs in different colors. These ankle gaiters are optimal for day hikes or overnight hikes on forest or desert trails made of dirt, sand or rock. By slipping over the top of the shoe – whether a hiking boot or trail runner – they keep rocks, sticks, gravel, dirt and any number of other pokey, itchy, annoying things out of the shoe.
Nalgene Easy Sipper Accessory
I love my Nalgene. Love. Water bottle trends come and go by this, but I’ve been using the same wide mouth 32oz Nalgene for over 20 years. This durability also means that most outdoor enthusiasts don’t need more (despite how tempting the new colorways and prints are!). Not everyone likes to drink out of the wide mouth bottle, despite the fact that they are easier to clean, easier to fill, and easier to fit to a water filter. Enter the Nalgene Easy Sipper. This insert quickly converts the versatility of wide mouth to the convenience of a narrower mouth.
Ultralight Ditty Bags and Stuff Sacs
Hikers and backpackers can never have too many ultralight weight stuff sacs and ditty bags. These small, colorful bags keep your pack organized by providing a ‘home’ for otherwise loose miscellaneous items without adding extra weight. The Granite Gear Air Zipsak are made of 30D Cordura Sil-Nylon, a lightweight, water resistant material. The single sizes come as a set of two.
The Deuce of Spaces DirtSaw Trowel
Every responsible hiker and backpacker ought to be carrying a trowel, and the Deuce of Spades is one of the best ultralight trowels on the market for, well, ‘taking a deuce’ in the backcountry. Though not a topic often discussed in polite company, hikers and backpackers have no qualms discussing the realities of the outdoor recreation. Digging a cathole is a tenant of Leave No Trace and a requirement in countless wilderness areas. The recently updated DirtSaw is designed to make this necessity as quick and easy as possible.