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Part two of "Backpacking Gear Ideas." A few more inventions or ideas for backpacking inventions.
Those of us with frame-less backpacks often put folded sleeping pads in the pack, against our backs. This provides some cushioning and some support for the load. This could be also be done by having the part of the pack that rests against the user's back inflate. Using the same technology as the lightweight self-inflating sleeping bag pads, it would only add about six ounces, and the backpack could then double as a foot-bag/pad for sleeping.
I usually use a plastic soda bottle to carry water when backpacking, but when I need to carry more water I have used the plastic bladders from boxed wine. They are very strong, and I inflate the bag with air to use as a pillow too. To market this as a dual-purpose water container/pillow, it just needs a soft covering of some sort.
The idea here is to sell backpacking food in wax-paper packaging instead of plastic. This doubles as emergency fire-starters. Wax paper will usually burn even when wet.
Print a jacket or one side of a backpack with a chess/checkers board, and you have a carry-along game that weighs nothing extra. Great for when you have to spend hours in the tent waiting out the rain. If you don't carry pieces, little stones or pine cones could work as checkers.
This is a frame less backpack with a jacket that is a part of the pack. It can be folded back out of the way, and the pack would have normal shoulder straps. When wearing the jacket, though, it would stabilize the pack, and make it easy to push through heavy brush, because it wouldn't catch on things as easily. It would be something like wearing a large jacket over a backpack, but with the weight-savings and stability that come from combining them.
Watch for more backpacking innovations.