Backpacking? Not even a hatchet, the head is generally too heavy and the handle too short. Hatchets are a lot more like hammers, and often have a hammer head on them. They are a construction tool, the wood splitting is almost secondary to the hammer head.
What a backpacker used in the day of living "in" the land - with woodsmanship a primary skill set - was a lot more like a tomahawk. Hawks have even lighter heads than hatchets because they must be carried, all the time. They are part of the total load borne daily, an "edc" item part of a poke, dried trail food, clasp knife, flint and striker, etc. The longer handle is what gives it more power - the head has a longer sweep and is levered from the hand further than a hatchet, delivering more impact force than one used with a hatchet length handle. It makes up for the lighter head, to provide as much work. Without overworking the one who has to carry it.
What can't be expected is to cut down trees or split wood with it - but that isn't camp work, it's clearing ground or putting up firewood for the winter. The chores get confused because we don't actually hike for weeks in the wilderness. Camping on foot is something much different. Deadwood is gathered, and dry is preferred, not wet fresh cut. Time is of the essence, too - stopping an hour before nightfall is almost too late, and you can't be pressured to bring down a tree and split it up. Camp was chosen for it's supply of water, and what firewood already dry and available is right there.
Given that task list, the use of a hawk fits the requirements - if you have to carry it in, and where you can use it with the existing deadwood. More than that becomes an expeditionary situation with pack animals, and if those are handy, an axe and hatchet to build with preferred.
That's why we saw our North American pioneers take to the hawk as an individual tool, reserving the axe and hatchet for larger groups or bigger projects. It's not that some don't use them today, what has happened is the use of the hawk as a weapon has overshadowed it's more functional tool abilities and we have cast it aside for sociological reasons.
We are doing the exact same thing with the folding pocket knife - what was commonly carried by children and men just 50 years ago is now taboo in our schools, offices, and most jobs. It's being demonized by those who no longer understand responsibility.
Any way, off the soap box, you might consider a hawk instead of hatchet, in either regard, if you camp or hike outdoors, it's better to have one when you need it, than need one and don't have it.
