efficient packing

[+@^^]

? is there a recognised way of packing your kit

i want :
.rain gear immediately available
.water easy to reach
.weight well distributed
.night stuff tucked out of the way
.tomorrows clothes together
.etc etc
? do you use colour coded waterproof bags for each group of stuff
.
i saw a pilgrim demo "how to pack" where he looked like a vagrant digging in a waste-bin - an absolute hoot
.
what advice please

 

[Rebekah Scott]

It varies according to the weather and season. I roll things up and stuff them in together: sleeping bag in its seperate compartment, notebooks etc. if it´s a nice day the rain gear & towel stay at the bottom and rolled-up pants or shirts go on top that. Toiletries on top that (I need to keep medicine in easy reach); any food I carry goes at the very top. Water bottles stay at my sides. If the sky is threatening I take the poncho out and slip it through the webbing outside the pack.

Even though I strive to carry the absolute minimum, I know I also resemble a vagrant rifling a dumpster sometimes.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

I plan for organization, but in the morning, stuff goes in pretty randomly, the plan ignored! Stuff sacks (I use mesh so I can see inside) organized by type of items keeps the chaos to a minimum. Regardless of how I pack, the item I want is on the bottom. Murphy's Law. The Aarn pack did allow me to put the items I might need on the trail in two places. Of course, I never remembered which front pouch an item was in, so I rummaged through both, always finding the item in the last place I looked. I tried looking for the item after I found it, so it wouldn't be in the last place, but it was an obvious waste of effort.

 

[Kitsambler]

The other factor to note is that weight should be closer to your spine, although the pilgrim loads are so much lighter than regular backpackers I suspect this is not a major issue.

Water is heavy; a pint's a pound the whole world round, as they say. And for my money, paper is the heaviest substance known to man (as anyone who has moved a house with many books can attest). So be careful where you stash your guidebooks and journal.

 

[sillydoll]

I use mesh laundry bags for clothing and ziplock bags for toiletries, medicines and laundry stuff.
I usually pack a day's outfit in one mesh bag, longs and long sleeve top in another, fleece top and jacket in another.
If your sleeping bag is bulky, don't bother trying to compress it into its bag - it will just drive you crazy! Squash it in at the top of the bag and down the back - it is the first thing you will need to take out when you arrive at an albergue so that you can 'mark' your bed.
Keep sandals and anything else hard away from your back so that you don't have them digging into your spine or hips!
My pack has an outiside mesh compartment and that is where I keep the rainponcho.

 

[pat.holland]

An idea I picked up from an American guide to walking and back packing is to allocate functions to different parts of the rucksac according as to your house/apartment and then pack accordingly

so, to clarify, in my mind I call the inside pocket under the top fold back part of the rucksac the office and put all my paperwork in there, I call the bottom pocket the bedroom and put the sleeping bag and bag of clean clothes in there, I have a stuff sack with all the bathroom stuff, and so on. It might sound a bit obsessive (no never !!!) but it has a logic and most things in the rucksack fall simply into it.

IT works for me anyway.

Pat

 

[johnBCCanada]

My memory is that it was a relatively small pack and nothing was ever too far away. Most important was being able to access snacks and water easily during the day. Efficient packing, for me, was not leaving anything behind and that did happen.

John

 

[Portia1]

I put my silk sleeping liner, ear plugs, eye shades into a small (quart) ziploc bag--that always went on the top under the lid because I pulled it out first--and put it in last. By putting these things together, I always knew I had them--I could do this even in the dark! I put out the shorts/pants/socks/sports bra I was going to walk in the next day (usually hung over the end of the bed) and wore my tee and panties to bed. Everything was packed up the night before except for sleeping gear--your fellow pilgrims will adore you for this. I ended up putting my toothbrush, paste and comb in the lid pocket so it was a quick grab in the morning and easily replaced. It also meant I could get at it during the day. I could get up and out in less than 15 minutes. I used a hydration system that slipped in an interior pocket of my pack against my back. Behind the hydration system, I put a ziploc bag with copies of my passport, airline tickets/reservations/ and an extra copy of my calendar with id information. At the bottom of my pack I kept my fleece blanket--just in case it was too cold (used it four times--one night I ended up putting the blanket, my fleece and poncho over me because it was so cold). Then my clothing (in a silnylon bag), my hygiene kit (in a plastic bag), sandals were slipped in on each side to balance their weight, misc--with heavier toward the center of my back and my fleece was laid in between the lid and the top of the pack because I usually needed it the first hour. My poncho was in an outer pocket for a quick grab if needed. I walked with a small belly pack with my camera, snacks, wallet, kleenex, guidebook & pilgrim credential, a few bandaids (I never needed one but I was able to assist others) and small packet of antibiotic cream.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Aarn backpack illustration for standard backpack and the Aarn system:

 

[gittiharre]

It depends on your pack, whether it has a frame or not and if you have an Aarn pack you pack quite differently anyway. I tend to group things together though and I like a pack with a range of pockets, so I put toileteries in one, first aid in another, socks and undies in another and sandals sleeping bag and other clothes into the main compartment, whilst keeping balancing of the weight in mind, as well as accessibility. I tended to have a Platypus waterbottle in a pouch thing hanging off my waestbelt, now I have bought an Aarn Pack and will have the water in two 500 ml bottles in the mesh part of the chest pouches. If you have a pack without a frame you need to pack it in a way that it retains its shape and does not bend into a weird shape. Best to experiment a bit. Gitti

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Chaos works well. Since you repack every day, it is not terribly important where items are placed except for keeping heavy weight near the torso and toward the top.

 

[Tia Valeria]

Chaos works well. Since you repack every day, it is not terribly important where items are placed except for keeping heavy weight near the torso and toward the top.

The opposite was true for me, partly due to my particular rucksack. Things fit into it best in a given order and with the heavier things low down. If I put weight at the top it pulls backwards on my shoulders rather than the weight going on my hips.
Like the type of sack and actual weight carried I guess it is a more personal thing and it is best to see how your packing suits you and your sack.
Buen Camino
Tia Valeria

 

[+@^^]

in discussion with a hardcore mountain type recently
he suggested i try "sector packing"
every group or sector of gear gets its own waterproof stuff-sac and is colour coded (currently i'm thinking of using Sea to Summit's eVac compression dry sacs with those rubber wrist bands - Lance Armstrong-, in different colours
so
sleep is black and in goes bag, liner, tee and boxer shorts, earplugs
heating is red, and contains fleecy, windbreaker, beanie, buff
green is for change, and contains tomorrows change of clothing, tech longs, underwear, tech shirt, UV arms and sox
meds is white etc
in this way, i'll have max 6 sub-bags, each fully waterproofed
? any ideas for experienced Camino walkers
thanks
tam

 

[ksam]

in discussion with a hardcore mountain type recently
he suggested i try "sector packing"
,in different colours
so
sleep is black and in goes bag, liner, tee and boxer shorts, earplugs
heating is red, and contains fleecy, windbreaker, beanie, buff
green is for change, and contains tomorrows change of clothing, tech longs, underwear, tech shirt, UV arms and sox
meds is white etc
in this way, i'll have max 6 sub-bags, each fully waterproofed

I think this sounds pretty good! And the type of bags your talking about are quieter than the plastic I used to line my pack the last time. Fortunately the refugios were not too crowded..and the only people I woke up were my own hubby and friends...and they needed the extra noise to get up in the morning! :roll: But I do realize the next time, the sound of plastic rustling at 5:30 or so is going to be a tad less popular. However...the waterproof aspect must be taken into account, esp. as in '08 we got rained on heavily nearly every day! The plastic did keep everything dry.

Guess I'll start collecting and carefully sizing my drysacks!! Thanks for the idea,
Karin