I will never forget the feeling of getting home from a four-day backpacking trip in the Olympic Peninsula, dumping my camera bag onto my living room floor, and staring at a pile of six identical rolls of Portra 400. I had no idea which ones were blank, which ones were fully shot, or which one had the crucial light leaks I was testing for. Worse, I had somehow managed to get dirt inside one of the plastic canisters. It was a chaotic mess, and I ended up paying to develop a completely blank roll of film.

Backpacking with an analog camera is incredibly rewarding, but it introduces a whole new level of logistical stress. You are tired, you are sweaty, you are dealing with rain, and your backpack is crammed with sleeping bags and camp stoves. In the middle of an exhausting hike, the last thing you want to do is build an elaborate spreadsheet to track your exposures.

Over the last few years, I have dialed in a really simple, foolproof system for labeling and organizing my film out on the trail. It requires almost zero extra weight, takes seconds to do while you are sitting on a log catching your breath, and guarantees you will know exactly what to tell your lab when you get back to civilization.

Step One: The Pre-Trip Purge

The organization process actually starts before you even reach the trailhead. If you are buying film in those little cardboard boxes, leave them at home. Cardboard is useless in the backcountry. It takes up space, it turns to mush the second it gets damp, and it adds unnecessary weight (every ounce counts when you are carrying it up a mountain, right?).

Take all your 35mm rolls out of the cardboard, but absolutely keep them in their little black or clear plastic canisters. Those plastic tubs are your first line of defense against trail dust, spilled water bottles, and morning dew. If you shoot 120 medium format, you obviously do not have plastic tubs, so you will want to keep the foil wrappers sealed until the exact moment you are ready to load the camera.

The Two-Bag System

Once your film is stripped down to the plastic tubs or foil wrappers, you need a way to store it in your pack. Do not just throw loose rolls into your backpack's brain compartment. They will rattle around, get crushed, or vanish into the void at the bottom of your bag.

I use a very simple Two-Bag System. Get two high-quality, freezer-grade Ziploc bags. Standard sandwich bags are too thin and will tear on your camping gear. Take a permanent marker and write "FRESH" on one bag, and "SHOT" on the other.

All your unexposed film starts the trip in the FRESH bag. The moment a roll comes out of your camera, it goes directly into the SHOT bag. This physical separation is the single best favor you can do for your future self. Even if you mess up every other part of your labeling process, at least you will never accidentally load an already-exposed roll and double-expose your whole trip.

Pro tip: throw a couple of little silica gel packets (the ones that come in shoe boxes or beef jerky) into both Ziploc bags. Tents and backpacks get very humid, and silica packets will absorb ambient moisture before it can warp your film emulsions.

The Tape and Sharpie Method

This is where the actual labeling comes in. Do not write directly on your 35mm metal film cassettes if you can avoid it. The ink rubs off easily on the metal, and some labs use machines that get gunked up by thick sharpie marks. Plus, you can't see the metal cassette once it is sitting inside its plastic tub anyway.

Instead, wrap a small strip of light-colored masking tape or white electrical tape around the outside of each plastic canister. If you shoot 120, you can put the tape right on the paper backing after you lick-and-seal the roll (or use the sticker).

When you finish a roll, pull it out of the camera, put it in its tub, and immediately grab your Sharpie. Keep the labeling short and sweet. I usually just write a sequential number and a quick location cue. It looks something like this:

• Roll 1: PCT Day 1 / Sunny
• Roll 2: HP5 @ 800 / Campfire
• Roll 3: Alpine Lake / PUSH +1

Numbering your rolls chronologically is incredibly helpful when you get your scans back. You can organize your digital files in the exact order of your hike, telling a proper story from the trailhead to the summit and back down.

Managing the Mid-Roll Swap

Sometimes you are halfway through a roll of ISO 100 daylight film, and suddenly the weather rolls in. The sky gets dark, it starts to drizzle, and you really need to switch to an ISO 400 or 800 film. Swapping partially shot rolls is terrifying the first few times you do it in the woods, but it is a great skill to have.

If you have to rewind a 35mm roll early, listen carefully to your camera as you rewind. As soon as you hear the film leader slip off the take-up spool, stop rewinding. This leaves the leader sticking out of the cassette, making it easy to reload later. When you put that half-shot roll back into its plastic tub, use your Sharpie on the tape to write: SHOT TO FRAME 16.

When the sun comes back out the next day, you can put that roll back in your camera. Leave the lens cap on, drop your aperture to its smallest hole, set the shutter speed to its fastest setting, and fire away in the dark until you hit frame 17. Boom—no wasted film.

Taking Field Notes

I know people who try to document every single exposure with aperture and shutter speed data. If that is your thing, more power to you. But when I'm hiking ten miles a day with a heavy pack, I simply do not have the energy to write down 36 rows of data per roll.

Instead, I carry a tiny pocket notebook in my hip belt. I only write down notes for tricky lighting situations or specific developments I need the lab to handle. If I am pushing a roll of black and white film two stops because it got dark under the tree canopy, I write that in the notebook next to the roll number. When the trip is over, the notebook page gets handed straight to my lab tech along with the zip-loc bag.

Getting the Right Gear for the Trail

Of course, having a good systematic approach only matters if you actually enjoy shooting with the camera you brought. Dragging a massive, heavy professional camera up a mountain gets old really fast. If your neck is aching by mile three, you will just leave the camera in your bag.

For backpacking, I highly recommend picking up a lightweight camera that does not feel like a brick around your neck. A quality compact camera or a lightweight 90s SLR with a pancake lens can save you pounds of weight while still delivering stunning images. You can find some incredibly durable, travel-friendly options by checking out a point and shoot camera. And whatever you decide to carry, do not rely on a thin, scratchy default strap that digs into your shoulders for days. Treat yourself to a comfortable, wide camera strap so you can hike all day without feeling it.

Wrapping It Up

Backpacking and film photography are a match made in heaven. There is something deeply satisfying about carrying a mechanical camera into the wilderness and carefully composing your shots while disconnected from the digital world. You just have to set yourself up for success. Ditch the cardboard, use the two-bag Ziploc method, bring a Sharpie, and tape those canisters. Once your system becomes second nature, you stop worrying about your film and start focusing on the incredible views around you.