Categories: Life

International Travel: Backpacking Gear and U.S. Customs

If you are planning to travel to the United States to go backpacking, you might be wondering what items you can bring with you. We’ll cover what backpacking gear is permitted in your carry-on and checked luggage so you can quickly get through U.S. customs without a problem.

Backpacking Food & U.S. Customs

Generally, the U.S. allows all food that is processed so that it is shelf-stable and free of pests. This includes dehydrated, freeze-dried, roasted, baked, cured, and candied food. All food must be commercially labeled (with an ingredient statement in English) and unopened in its original packaging. Meat and animal by-products, such as dried egg and jerky, are restricted depending on the country of origin. To simplify your travel, we recommend you not bring meat products and animal by-products, such as backpacking meals made with beef or chicken broth.

If you decide to bring trail food to the United States, be sure to declare all food items on the customs form provided on your plane. Failure to report food can result in fines and penalties. If you bring and declare a banned food, do not worry. Customs authorities will discard it upon entry. On the other hand, if you do not declare a banned food, it will be considered smuggled, and you will face a fine or charges.

Foods Permitted when Traveling to the United States

Dry Snacks, such as crackers, granola bars, and cookies.
Dry Cereal, such as oats, wheat, and corn.
Condiment packets, such as olive oil, nut butter, honey, vegemite, and marmite are permitted if they do not contain meat or egg products.
Cured cheese and hard cheese.
Noodles and dried soups that do not contain meat or egg ingredients, including in the spice packet.
Dried fruits and vegetables are generally permitted. Packing an exotic food, or not sure? You can check the general admissibility of plant foods by consulting USDA International Travel APHIS database and then select the country of origin in the “Country/Region” field.
Spices; no citrus leaves, including lemongrass.
Seafood, such as dried, foil packed, or smoked fish, is permitted if it is in the original packaging and is labeled.
Nuts if they have been boiled, cooked, powdered, dried, pureed, roasted, or steamed.
Powdered drinks, roasted coffee, and tea.
Rice, if it is cooked and dried.

Foods Not Permitted or Restricted when Traveling to the United States

Meat Products and Animal By-Products: jerky, powdered animal milk, powdered eggs, including products made with these materials, such as dried soup mix, spice packets, or bouillon, are prohibited from entering the United States if there is a known animal disease from the country of origin. Dried meat from Canada is generally permissible. For more information, use the Veterinary Services (VS) Permitting Assistant to understand entry requirements for animal products.
Fresh fruit and vegetables are prohibited.
Citrus leaves, including herbal tea leaves, such as orange, lemon, lime, lemongrass, and seed is restricted.

Instead of traveling with backpacking food, consider purchasing your food after you arrive in the States. With Outdoor Herbivore, you can order online in advance and have the trail food shipped and held for pick-up at your hotel or mailed to the city’s central United States Post Office in your name using the ‘General Delivery’ service. Let us know your expected pick-up date in the order comments checkout so we know when to dispatch the mail. For General Delivery, we will handwrite “Hold for hiker” with your ETA on your mail piece so it gets held by the post office.

If shipping a package/order to a business (hostel, motel, outfitter, shop, etc.), always confirm that the merchant is willing to accept and hold boxes. There may be a small fee associated with this service, and some rural businesses can only receive deliveries from specific carriers, such as UPS or FedEx.
If shipping a package/order to a U.S. Post Office General Delivery, multiple post offices may exist within the city. Ensure you send it to a U.S. Post Office that accepts General Delivery mail and is addressed correctly. See General Delivery mail. The Post Office will hold hiker mail (in popular trail towns) that is addressed General Delivery for 30 days IF the sender of the mail piece handwrites “HOLD FOR HIKER” with the expected date of pick-up. Without this information, it may only be held for 10 days and then returned to the sender.
If you are located outside the USA and would like to mail food to someone hiking while in the U.S., we highly recommend ordering from a US-based backpacking/hiking retailer who likely understands the hiker mail delivery process. It is not common knowledge outside of the hiking/travel industry.

Backpacking Gear & U.S. Travel Restrictions

Backpacking Stoves: Empty stoves are permitted in your carry-on luggage or checked bag. Make sure they are entirely empty of any fuel.

Stove Fuel, Fuel Canisters & Fire Starter: These are prohibited from both carry-on and checked baggage. Empty propane or gas cylinders are allowed in checked or carry-on bags as long as you can view that it is empty. Purchase stove fuel in the United States. For help searching where to find stove fuel by country, here is a chart of international fuel names.

Lighters & Matches: Lighters without fuel are permitted in carry-on or checked baggage. Lighters with fuel are allowed in checked baggage if properly enclosed in a DOT approved case. One book of safety (non-strike anywhere) matches are permitted as carry-on items, but all matches are prohibited in checked baggage.

Trekking & Hiking Poles: These can only be packed in checked baggage.

Knife: These are permitted in your checked baggage, but not in your carry-on.

Backpack: Permitted as carry-on (depending on size) or checked bag. We recommend checking in your backpack and covering it with a duffel bag cover or heavy plastic garbage bag to prevent the straps from getting caught on the conveyor belts. If you want to carry on your backpack, contact the airline in advance for size restrictions. Each airline is different.

Bear Spray: It is not necessary to bring bear spray while hiking in the U.S. unless you are going to be traveling in a problem area or traveling alone in regions with grizzly bears. If you must take bear spray, it is best to purchase it once you are in the U.S. and leave it behind before leaving. Bear spray is only permitted in a checked bag if the volume is less than four ounces and contains less than 2% active ingredient of either CS or CN. Most bear repellents exceed these limitations.

Medication: You can travel with your medicine in both carry-on and checked baggage.

Batteries: Spare batteries are generally OK in carry-on baggage.

Enjoy your travels!

Sources:
Overview of permitted foods traveling to U.S.
Permitted processed foods U.S travel
TSA tips for outdoorsmen
TSA tips for packing batteries

Outdoor Herbivore