Quite a bit.
Both trips involve a bush plane drop-off and pickup in the wilderness, but the similarity ends there. On a basecamp trip, we set up our camp right where the plane lands. Maybe a few hundred yards or 1/2 mile at most. This allows for a more elaborate kitchen and bulkier gear, because we don’t have to move it. We’re a lot less mobile.
On a basepacking trip, the landing strip is just the starting point. We shoulder our backpacks and hike several miles away from the strip to establish a camp in a more remote area. You have to be able to haul your gear, tent, and food to reach these spots. It takes more work than a standard basecamp, but it gets us into locations that are a little removed from the landing strip or lake (if land on floats). Once we’ve established our base, we spend our time on day hikes to explore the surrounding peaks and glaciers before eventually moving to a second location, or backpacking back out to the plane.
A basepacking trip requires more physical effort than a standard basecamp and different equipment. We can basecamp with a duffel bag. Even, possibly, a cooler. But basepacking we need to be mobile. Once the camp is established, the focus of both trips is the same: day hikes to explore the surrounding peaks, ridges, and glaciers.
