OK this Is the last thing I have to say about packing (I said that with my fingers crossed, but you couldn't see that, could you?)
Just needed to get some thoughts out the way, so here is the final part of this series, then I can get on to my Wales trip late in 2009
The Internet is great, it gives us access to a phenomenal amount of information, and most of time it is true. But on the path nothing beats the good old Ordinance Survey maps my dad used to use. The Internet of course makes it easy to get hold of them too. In fact even with postage it’s cheaper to buy them in advance and have them mailed to my home in the US, than to purchase them at full price at the destination.
I prefer the paper maps to the coated maps, it’s a fraction lighter, but more importantly you can write on them. I generally like to hike a route with a map one time, so I consider maps to be consumable items.
By the time I get to the start of the hike my map will be marked with:
• Location of YHA/Campground/potential camping sites, including phone numbers/Name/any other relevant information (red)
• Exact minute of sunset for the day I will be arriving at each destination (red)
• Every pub (PH) on or near the route is circled (Blue)
• Every grocery store close to my route (Tesco, Costcutter, Coop, Asda, Sainsburys, Spar, Morrisons, Waitrose, Sommerfields) has been Googled and precisely located - I love Google, I am a total Google maps freak...(Blue)
• Coffee shops (Blue) (Thanks again Google)
• Locations of Bus stops, ferrys, train stations complete with the bus number and anticipated times (Red)
In effect the map becomes a “Just-in-Time” repository for all the information on your route. Where you need it, when you need it.
The internet is the place to research the information; the Map is the place to store it.
Then at the end of each day, or in a coffee shop, or pub, I will carefully trace, in black ink, my route so far. Sometimes I get a couple of days behind, but defiantly do it while its fresh in my mind.
In addition to making the journey easier it saves me from carrying numerous other pieces of paper on my trip.
So thats it, Happy hiking
Showing posts with label Packing Light. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Packing Light. Show all posts
My Personal Burden
Everyone has their own needs when they pack, it’s a very personal thing, and really it takes a few times to get it right.
One thing you should do when you complete a hike is take a hint from Demming: Plan, Do, CHECK, Act, You planned your trip, you did your trip, and now is the time to CHECK; what did I carry with me that I didn’t use, emergency equipment aside. Act on that learning experience and do better next time.
For my packing I use lot of Ziplocks. For a recent 9 day hike I set up ziplocks with fresh clothing, each bag contained: 1 pr Socks, 1 pr underpants, 1 tee shirt. Suck out all the surplus air. I had 3 of these so whenever I got to an appropriate place to take a shower I took a clean bag and then reused the bag for my dirties (I don’t seal it, or I may as well have throw it away).
One zip-lock for morning stuff, Daily tablets and vitamins, toothbrush, toothpaste, Microfiber towel, coffee bags. Talking of toothpaste, I allow two inches per day, so a nine day hike needs 18 inches of toothpaste, I think that’s about 2 ounces. Whatever you do, don’t take a new toothpaste tube on a hike, buy a small tube a month before you go and when you think you are down to what you need bag it!.Take just what you need to get you to the end.
One zip-lock for critical papers, both passports (US and Euro), national health card, insurance card. Kept it all in one place, kept it safe, that was the only thing I could not afford to lose. If I ever have to abandon my bag in an emergency it’s the one thing I must take
One zip-lock for First aid kit, sharp knife, Corkscrew, flashlights, spare batteries, plastic raincoat, bivvy, padlock. Ok so now you are thinking is this man insane? A padlock. Just to add some perspective it took me a long time to find a suitable padlock, but when I found it, or them, they came in a pack of 3 at the dollar store. Most hostels have lockers, and I always believe that locks are designed to keep honest people off your stuff. Dishonest people will do whatever they want, and a big padlock is an advertisement. My padlock does not register on my kitchen scales, so it’s worth its weight.
I gave up the Swiss army knife a long time ago and replaced it with the components I really used. A real Knife, and a functional corkscrew
1 Pair of trousers to wear, 1 to carry, wrap the spare pair in an appropriately sized plastic bag
Two zip-locks for maps, one contains today’s map and notes, compass, magnifying glass, the second contains everything else.
So now I have everything in bags, but there’s a bit of a compromise, heaviest items at the bottom, or least used items at the bottom. Well I sucked the air out of your spare clothing, so now its quite dense, so all but 1 of those goes at the very bottom, then sleeping bag. Emergency bag goes in a side pocket, today’s food in the other side, important papers go in the roof of the bag, and tent gets tied to the bottom. Actually when you pack you might have room got both the tent and the sleeping bag inside the backpack sincelike me, you are packing light, but remember, if it’s raining when you pitch your tent you don’t want all your gear strewn about on the wet grass looking like a yard sale while you rummage through the bottom of your bag searching for your tent!
And with all those bags, it keeps my gear organized and DRY. Since I know what is in each bag, and where each bag is placed I can find things quickly and easily.
One thing you should do when you complete a hike is take a hint from Demming: Plan, Do, CHECK, Act, You planned your trip, you did your trip, and now is the time to CHECK; what did I carry with me that I didn’t use, emergency equipment aside. Act on that learning experience and do better next time.
For my packing I use lot of Ziplocks. For a recent 9 day hike I set up ziplocks with fresh clothing, each bag contained: 1 pr Socks, 1 pr underpants, 1 tee shirt. Suck out all the surplus air. I had 3 of these so whenever I got to an appropriate place to take a shower I took a clean bag and then reused the bag for my dirties (I don’t seal it, or I may as well have throw it away).
One zip-lock for morning stuff, Daily tablets and vitamins, toothbrush, toothpaste, Microfiber towel, coffee bags. Talking of toothpaste, I allow two inches per day, so a nine day hike needs 18 inches of toothpaste, I think that’s about 2 ounces. Whatever you do, don’t take a new toothpaste tube on a hike, buy a small tube a month before you go and when you think you are down to what you need bag it!.Take just what you need to get you to the end.
One zip-lock for critical papers, both passports (US and Euro), national health card, insurance card. Kept it all in one place, kept it safe, that was the only thing I could not afford to lose. If I ever have to abandon my bag in an emergency it’s the one thing I must take
One zip-lock for First aid kit, sharp knife, Corkscrew, flashlights, spare batteries, plastic raincoat, bivvy, padlock. Ok so now you are thinking is this man insane? A padlock. Just to add some perspective it took me a long time to find a suitable padlock, but when I found it, or them, they came in a pack of 3 at the dollar store. Most hostels have lockers, and I always believe that locks are designed to keep honest people off your stuff. Dishonest people will do whatever they want, and a big padlock is an advertisement. My padlock does not register on my kitchen scales, so it’s worth its weight.
I gave up the Swiss army knife a long time ago and replaced it with the components I really used. A real Knife, and a functional corkscrew
1 Pair of trousers to wear, 1 to carry, wrap the spare pair in an appropriately sized plastic bag
Two zip-locks for maps, one contains today’s map and notes, compass, magnifying glass, the second contains everything else.
So now I have everything in bags, but there’s a bit of a compromise, heaviest items at the bottom, or least used items at the bottom. Well I sucked the air out of your spare clothing, so now its quite dense, so all but 1 of those goes at the very bottom, then sleeping bag. Emergency bag goes in a side pocket, today’s food in the other side, important papers go in the roof of the bag, and tent gets tied to the bottom. Actually when you pack you might have room got both the tent and the sleeping bag inside the backpack sincelike me, you are packing light, but remember, if it’s raining when you pitch your tent you don’t want all your gear strewn about on the wet grass looking like a yard sale while you rummage through the bottom of your bag searching for your tent!
And with all those bags, it keeps my gear organized and DRY. Since I know what is in each bag, and where each bag is placed I can find things quickly and easily.
Trimming down the Burden
When I talk about trimming my burden I mean that more literally than you might expect:
Tent, my latest tent (well its my sons tent, but I borrow it freely) was a bargain from Ross our local fashion liquidator, it cost $10. Gone are the days when you had to pay more to get a smaller tent. This tent is CHEAP, there nothing to it, it’s missing all the bells and whistles. The tent is just 6 feet by 4 feet, I’m a few hairs over 6 feet, but I can sleep in it diagonally. It has two carbon rods in an “X” which stretch it into shape, so it really doesn’t need tent pegs. So in preparation for my trip, I pitch the tent in my living room and look to see what I don’t need. OK the carbon rods I need those, but they come in a separate bag. Throw away the bag. Inside the tent, an instruction label, I didn’t find the instructions until after I had put the tent up. Snip snip gone! Tent pegs in a neat little bag, history. Little pouch that hangs from the ceiling to store your bits in, you guessed in, there on the scrap pile. So there it is, I took an ultra cheap tent and threw 10% of it away. What’s left weighs about 3 pounds.
First aid kit, nice, comes in a handy Ziploc plastic bag, wrapped inside an orange nylon bag that says First Aid. I know what it is; I throw away the nylon bag.
Flashlight, actually I have 3 lights, a headband with a variety of bright LEDs, a red flashing rear bicycle LED lamp stripped down to the minimum, a small single AAA LED flashlight, it’s as big as your little finger. The headband is for hands free night hiking, the modified red bicycle lamp fits on the back of the headband for road hiking, and also as an emergency locator, and the third is handy to have in the tent at night.
I also have an old 2 megapixel camera, which will take 400 photos before these new high tech batteries run down, still leaving room for an additional 200 more pictures on the 0.5Gb card
Figure out the MINIMUM set of batteries to cover any single event, wrap them all together in a hair-band, and dispense with all other battery packaging
Emergency raincoat, good to have, it usually comes in a plastic bag with a cardboard insert. What do you do with the bag and the insert? Yes you’re getting the picture, it’s now on the pile. Actually, if you have anything whatsoever in your pack made of cardboard you are probably overpacking
A handy to tool to have while packing is a kitchen scale. You can see how much you are winning as your scrap pile grows, and you can do quick comparisons like which is lightest, my 1 titanium spork, or 1 plastic fork plus 1 plastic spoon. Hmmm, now there’s food for thought.
Tent, my latest tent (well its my sons tent, but I borrow it freely) was a bargain from Ross our local fashion liquidator, it cost $10. Gone are the days when you had to pay more to get a smaller tent. This tent is CHEAP, there nothing to it, it’s missing all the bells and whistles. The tent is just 6 feet by 4 feet, I’m a few hairs over 6 feet, but I can sleep in it diagonally. It has two carbon rods in an “X” which stretch it into shape, so it really doesn’t need tent pegs. So in preparation for my trip, I pitch the tent in my living room and look to see what I don’t need. OK the carbon rods I need those, but they come in a separate bag. Throw away the bag. Inside the tent, an instruction label, I didn’t find the instructions until after I had put the tent up. Snip snip gone! Tent pegs in a neat little bag, history. Little pouch that hangs from the ceiling to store your bits in, you guessed in, there on the scrap pile. So there it is, I took an ultra cheap tent and threw 10% of it away. What’s left weighs about 3 pounds.
First aid kit, nice, comes in a handy Ziploc plastic bag, wrapped inside an orange nylon bag that says First Aid. I know what it is; I throw away the nylon bag.
Flashlight, actually I have 3 lights, a headband with a variety of bright LEDs, a red flashing rear bicycle LED lamp stripped down to the minimum, a small single AAA LED flashlight, it’s as big as your little finger. The headband is for hands free night hiking, the modified red bicycle lamp fits on the back of the headband for road hiking, and also as an emergency locator, and the third is handy to have in the tent at night.
I also have an old 2 megapixel camera, which will take 400 photos before these new high tech batteries run down, still leaving room for an additional 200 more pictures on the 0.5Gb card
Figure out the MINIMUM set of batteries to cover any single event, wrap them all together in a hair-band, and dispense with all other battery packaging
Emergency raincoat, good to have, it usually comes in a plastic bag with a cardboard insert. What do you do with the bag and the insert? Yes you’re getting the picture, it’s now on the pile. Actually, if you have anything whatsoever in your pack made of cardboard you are probably overpacking
A handy to tool to have while packing is a kitchen scale. You can see how much you are winning as your scrap pile grows, and you can do quick comparisons like which is lightest, my 1 titanium spork, or 1 plastic fork plus 1 plastic spoon. Hmmm, now there’s food for thought.
Its your burden
Everyone has something to say about packing, but I have to say I got to where I am today the hard way. Thirty something years ago I was an aspiring hitch hiker. I was heading to Europe to spend 3 months on the road without a car.
So I did a trial run; I hitchhiked from my home in Sussex to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Loch Long and back. It was a 7 day trip, and I was staying in Youth Hostels, so no tent, no sleeping bag, no cooking equipment. I would need all of those in Europe, but not for this trip.
So 7 days packing:
• 7 Shirts
• 7 pairs underpants
• 7 Pairs of socks
• 2 warm sweaters
• 4 pairs of trousers
• Bath towel
• Hand towel
• New tube of toothpaste
• New bottle of shampoo
• ½ pound bar of soap
• Etc.
You get the picture, 7 days with a 45 pound pack. Well it was a trial run and I learned that I carried a lot of stuff I didn’t need. The good news was that I already had everything I needed for my Europe trip, and more.
This time I packed for 3 months. I had a “Boy scout” 2 person tent, it was the lightest I could afford back then, a well used coffin shaped down bag, 3 pots, aluminum Knife fork and spoon, Camping gaz stove with a spare cylinder. And less clothing for 3 months than I previously packed for 1 week. I was down to 40 pounds.
Well long story short, I actually carried that burden for 5 months, through Amsterdam, Berlin (the wall was still up then), Czechoslovakia, Italy, Spain, Oktoberfest, and when I got home I was still carrying every pound, although I had lost a few pounds of body fat.
One year later, 1978, I walked the Pennine way, 272 miles, 16 days, 6 pound bag. Yes that’s not a typo, six pounds.
I can’t tell you what you need and what you don’t need, it’s your choice and your burden, but in the next couple of weeks I will give you my version of packing light.
Happy Hiking
Ratdog
So I did a trial run; I hitchhiked from my home in Sussex to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Loch Long and back. It was a 7 day trip, and I was staying in Youth Hostels, so no tent, no sleeping bag, no cooking equipment. I would need all of those in Europe, but not for this trip.
So 7 days packing:
• 7 Shirts
• 7 pairs underpants
• 7 Pairs of socks
• 2 warm sweaters
• 4 pairs of trousers
• Bath towel
• Hand towel
• New tube of toothpaste
• New bottle of shampoo
• ½ pound bar of soap
• Etc.
You get the picture, 7 days with a 45 pound pack. Well it was a trial run and I learned that I carried a lot of stuff I didn’t need. The good news was that I already had everything I needed for my Europe trip, and more.
This time I packed for 3 months. I had a “Boy scout” 2 person tent, it was the lightest I could afford back then, a well used coffin shaped down bag, 3 pots, aluminum Knife fork and spoon, Camping gaz stove with a spare cylinder. And less clothing for 3 months than I previously packed for 1 week. I was down to 40 pounds.
Well long story short, I actually carried that burden for 5 months, through Amsterdam, Berlin (the wall was still up then), Czechoslovakia, Italy, Spain, Oktoberfest, and when I got home I was still carrying every pound, although I had lost a few pounds of body fat.
One year later, 1978, I walked the Pennine way, 272 miles, 16 days, 6 pound bag. Yes that’s not a typo, six pounds.
I can’t tell you what you need and what you don’t need, it’s your choice and your burden, but in the next couple of weeks I will give you my version of packing light.
Happy Hiking
Ratdog
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