For good measure, tip your pack upside down over a bin and shake it to get any bits of trash out. Only when your pack is empty will you have an adequate sense of what it can accommodate. If you’ve organized your pack in the same way for a long while, emptying it out completely can help you imagine new ways to organize it more efficiently. Even if your backpack feels light when you first pack it, it will start to feel heavy after a few hours of hiking. Go through the items you plan on putting into your pack, and find the heaviest ones. Decide whether or not you really need them for the trip.  For instance, if you have a cooking pan you really like but rarely use, it might be a good idea to leave it at home. Consider replacing it with a lighter pan instead. How much your backpack weighs in the end depends on what you can personally carry and endure. Different people can carry different amounts of weight. When organizing an internal frame backpack, the area at the bottom should be reserved for light material, while the medium-weight stuff should be packed on top of it. The heaviest things should be packed in the middle of the forward-most area of the backpack. In other words, the heaviest items should be against the area that actually touches your back. Similar to an internal frame backpack, you want to start with the lightest items first. After that, you want to add the medium-weight items, and finally, the heaviest. Tuck them as tightly as possible against the forward-most area of the pack. The goal in both modes of organization is to center the weight on your hips so that you can more easily maintain balance. Items that you might use or need at any time – insect repellents, snacks, rain ponchos, and so on – should be placed in outer pockets. That way, you can grab and use them easily without having to stop, unpack, find the items, and repack. If your backpack doesn't have many outer pockets, keep the more useful items towards the top. Leave the items you seldom use towards the bottom. Here is where you can think outside the box and get a little creative. Many items, such as cooking pots and bear canisters, take up a lot of space, but they are hallow in the inside. Why let all that hallow space go to waste? You can take advantage of it by filling it with useful items. For example:  You can place shirts or rolled-up socks inside cooking pots. Rolls of duct tape can slide over hiking poles. Bear canisters are perfect for cramming with snacks and other scented items. Many hiking and camping backpacks have special compartments that have been designed for particular purposes.  For instance, many backpacks have space for a water bladder (typically located directly behind and at the top of the pack).  Other packs have slots specifically designed for sleeping bags. Consult your backpack owner’s guide to identify how the manufacturer intended the backpack to be used.
Take everything out of your hiking pack. Be picky when deciding which heavy items to include. Place lighter items towards the bottom if you have an internal frame backpack. Stack items from lightest to heaviest in an external frame backpack. Place useful items in accessible locations. Tuck items inside each other to save space. Use your backpack’s compartments as intended.