I think mandolins are too heavy for backpacking, and too bulky. That's why I bought a McNally Strumstick ukulele and replaced the first string with one I could tune lower. I tune it CGDA or a DAEB or thereabouts. It weighs only a pound and it's pretty indestructible. It's close enough to a mandolin for me. Probably the best backpacking instrument is a harmonica or a penny whistle. Somewhere in the Wind River range in Wyoming is an Eb penny whistle I lost.