The pack is out

[Turga]

On my regular walks, I use a small daypack to hold my rain jacket and some food and water. Now, with 8 weeks to go before next Camino, it is time to start training with the “real” backpack. It has resided in the back of a cupboard for a long time and I got quite excited digging it out into the daylight again. It has a certain feel and smell (not bad!) to it that brings memories up from the deep of the brain. I couldn’t resist immediately starting to fiddle with the straps and buckles, filling it up with sheets and sweaters and trying it on for a walk around the living room. Good feeling!

Last year before my first Camino, I spend hours (days?) packing and repacking it, organizing all the things into different colored nylon bags worrying if I would have easy access to all I needed both during the walk and in the evenings. Now I have a mental map of the right place for everything, and I tell myself that I will be able to pack it in 10 minutes – but we’ll see about that.

Anyway, now it’s out and tomorrow it will be out on the road again. I guess some air and sunshine will do it good after months in the darkness

 

[nycwalking]

Buen camino.

 

[Deleted member 36903]

On my regular walks, I use a small daypack to hold my rain jacket and some food and water. Now, with 8 weeks to go before next Camino, it is time to start training with the “real” backpack. It has resided in the back of a cupboard for a long time and I got quite excited digging it out into the daylight again. It has a certain feel and smell (not bad!) to it that brings memories up from the deep of the brain. I couldn’t resist immediately starting to fiddle with the straps and buckles, filling it up with sheets and sweaters and trying it on for a walk around the living room. Good feeling!

Last year before my first Camino, I spend hours (days?) packing and repacking it, organizing all the things into different colored nylon bags worrying if I would have easy access to all I needed both during the walk and in the evenings. Now I have a mental map of the right place for everything, and I tell myself that I will be able to pack it in 10 minutes – but we’ll see about that.

Anyway, now it’s out and tomorrow it will be out on the road again. I guess some air and sunshine will do it good after months in the darkness

Snap @stgcph! Buen Camino whichever way you have chosen to walk. My backpack is coming out of storage ready to meet up with a peregrina I first met on the CF in 2015. We have remained dear friends & as she is celebrating milestone birthday I am off to join her & family walking in the Welsh hills - the temperature forecast to be in the high twenties so we can easily fake being on a Camino

 

[Turga]

That sounds so great! Have a Buen "Camino" tomorrow.

 

[ksam]

Funny that was me on Saturday morning before our group walk! The sudden realization that I need to be wearing my "real" pack going forward. All of a sudden mid October ain't that far away. Have fun getting reacquainted with your old friend

 

[tomnorth]

I’m nine months out from my Camino and am resisting the temptation to get my pack out and practice packing it.

 

[Micah26]

tomnorth,

If it makes you happy... why not?

 

[chinacat]

Snap @stgcph! Buen Camino whichever way you have chosen to walk. My backpack is coming out of storage ready to meet up with a peregrina I first met on the CF in 2015. We have remained dear friends & as she is celebrating milestone birthday I am off to join her & family walking in the Welsh hills - the temperature forecast to be in the high twenties so we can easily fake being on a Camino

Croeso!

 

[chinacat]

@stgcph

Buen Camino

(I still practice getting all I’d need in my day pack ... haven’t managed it yet ... it’s soooo comfortable and even has a padded hipbelt.)

 

[Turga]

I’m nine months out from my Camino and am resisting the temptation to get my pack out and practice packing it.

tomnorth,

If it makes you happy... why not?

Because sometimes we like to stretch the sweet anticipation...

 

[Albertagirl]

I am leaving in a week for a six day walk in Banff Park and am trying to fit into my 40 litre camino backpack all the gear and clothing and food that I shall need. It is still early season here and promises to be wet. I am using my usual packing method: Sort, measure, bag and try to stuff in everything I expect to need, then leave out extraneous clothing and excess food and hope that I shall be warm enough and have enough to eat. This keeps down the packed weight but is always a challenge. Last summer, I woke up cold most nights, not having a warm enough sleeping bag, so I must take a warmer one this time. This sure makes camino packing look easy.

 

[Deleted member 67185]

I am leaving in a week for a six day walk in Banff Park and am trying to fit into my 40 litre camino backpack all the gear and clothing and food that I shall need. It is still early season here and promises to be wet. I am using my usual packing method: Sort, measure, bag and try to stuff in everything I expect to need, then leave out extraneous clothing and excess food and hope that I shall be warm enough and have enough to eat. This keeps down the packed weight but is always a challenge. Last summer, I woke up cold most nights, not having a warm enough sleeping bag, so I must take a warmer one this time. This sure makes camino packing look easy.

I don't know if this may help or not... heck, you might already employ this with your inventory in mind. I look at my sleeping quilt as another layer of clothing. This helps with decisions about insulative layers like jackets.

I found a long time ago that the only time I really needed a much warmer jacket on the trail was after arriving at my campsite for the evening. During the daytime, it was usually warm enough for lighter weight insulated garments to keep me warm without the need for a full-on big puffy jacket, plus while hiking I was needing less layers and peeled some off.

But at camp, when the sun started going down and I was not longer highly active, the drop in temperature would have me welcome the extra warmth of the heavier jacket. On one week-long trip, I had rushed through my packing list, and forgot my heavier puffy jacket. I wasn't in any danger of hypothermia, but sitting around and enjoying the stars would have been more comfortable with it on. I was looking over at my tent when an epiphany struck, as it has lots of others.

I have a sleeping quilt. Sleeping bag would work, too.

I could just use it as a shawl-wrap. And the velcro straps that can be used to hold the quilt to the air mattress actually acted like buttons to keep it a bit secure while wearing it.

Two birds...one stone. That saves about 14 extra ounces of weight I have to carry

 

[Albertagirl]

I don't know if this may help or not... heck, you might already employ this with your inventory in mind. I look at my sleeping quilt as another layer of clothing. This helps with decisions about insulative layers like jackets.

I found a long time ago that the only time I really needed a much warmer jacket on the trail was after arriving at my campsite for the evening. During the daytime, it was usually warm enough for lighter weight insulated garments to keep me warm without the need for a full-on big puffy jacket, plus while hiking I was needing less layers and peeled some off.

But at camp, when the sun started going down and I was not longer highly active, the drop in temperature would have me welcome the extra warmth of the heavier jacket. On one week-long trip, I had rushed through my packing list, and forgot my heavier puffy jacket. I wasn't in any danger of hypothermia, but sitting around and enjoying the stars would have been more comfortable with it on. I was looking over at my tent when an epiphany struck, as it has lots of others.

I have a sleeping quilt. Sleeping bag would work, too.

I could just use it as a shawl-wrap. And the velcro straps that can be used to hold the quilt to the air mattress actually acted like buttons to keep it a bit secure while wearing it.

Two birds...one stone. That saves about 14 extra ounces of weight I have to carry

@davebugg
Thank you for your reply, which has given me something to think about. My last summer's mountain hike was in very hot weather, but it was still chilly at altitude in the mountains. I found that I preferred the smaller and lighter pack (I have several). This year's walk is two days shorter, so should be less food, but I am struggling to figure out how I can get everything in the pack and be warm enough. I am planning on wearing layered clothing to sleep in with the sleeping bag. The forecast at the moment is for showers, with some nights as cold as 4 degrees celsius in town, easily below freezing with snow at higher altitudes. My down bag is warmer, but both heavy and bulky. My pack has no exterior straps for fastening anything outside the bag. I think I shall just play with all of it for the next few days and decide whether to upgrade to a larger pack and heavier sleeping bag if I must.

 

[chinacat]

@Albertagirl

How about a lightweight down jacket to wear inside your sleeping bag?
Just a thought ...

 

[Albertagirl]

@Albertagirl

How about a lightweight down jacket to wear inside your sleeping bag?
Just a thought ...

@chinacat
My down sleeping bag is often an essential for mountain nights in our cold and short summers, but I otherwise avoid down, as I am quite allergic to it. I plan on taking the 980 g. polyester fill bag that I used on my first camino. My current priority is to avoid buying any more gear or clothing, so I am hoping to make do with my Icebreaker merino wool hooded jacket, for extra warmth. But it is fairly heavy and there just may not be space for it in my 40 l. camino pack. So I may have a fair bit of shuffling to do. A week from now, I shall be sleeping (or lying awake freezing) in the high country. This is not the long walk of a camino in Spain, but all I can manage this year. And I find myself longing for the mountains again.

 

[chinacat]

@Albertagirl
Thank you for replying.
The mountains never, ever let you go, do they?
Being quite allergic to down must make your adventures a bit difficult, though the merino will be cosy ... I won’t go anywhere without my Icebreaker layers!
You couldn’t carry your jacket around your waist?
As I’m sure you know, going hungry will mean not enough internal fuel to keep you warm, no matter how good the insulation.
Living where you do ... and no, I’m not at all envious (crosses fingers behind back) ... you will have far more experience than I do, of coping with your environment. I just didn’t want to think of you waking with the cold, especially when it might well rain, too.
I wish you happy trails and warm and starry nights (both?) in the magnificent mountains! Enjoy

 

[Albertagirl]

@Albertagirl
Thank you for replying.
The mountains never, ever let you go, do they?
Being quite allergic to down must make your adventures a bit difficult, though the merino will be cosy ... I won’t go anywhere without my Icebreaker layers!
You couldn’t carry your jacket around your waist?
As I’m sure you know, going hungry will mean not enough internal fuel to keep you warm, no matter how good the insulation.
Living where you do ... and no, I’m not at all envious (crosses fingers behind back) ... you will have far more experience than I do, of coping with your environment. I just didn’t want to think of you waking with the cold, especially when it might well rain, too.
I wish you happy trails and warm and starry nights (both?) in the magnificent mountains! Enjoy

@chinacat
Thank you. I have been packing all evening and it is almost all in! A few last-minute items will have to be forced in around the edges, but the planned gear (except for a fuel bottle) and clothing and most of the food are packed. There is always the question of how to get it all back into the pack after the first night in camp, but I shall just try to eat as much as possible. At least at present it is the pack that is looking rather pregnant and not myself.
I sleep in a down sleeping bag, when I need one, by taking anti-histamines at night. After a week or so, I am taking two at bedtime and waking up in the night to take more so I can breathe. I hope that several layers of merino wool will keep me warm enough in my polyester sleeping bag. I wish for clear skies but will be content to see mountains through the clouds.

 

[Bob from L.A. !]

Anyway, now it’s out and tomorrow it will be out on the road again. I guess some air and sunshine will do it good after months in the darkness

Great feeling, Isn't it?

 

[josephmcclain]

Ah, deep backpack relations! I found myself one day when in the states going into an REI store and wondering around until I arrived at the area in which backpacks were displayed. I spotted my exact pack from a distance. A rust orange 48 liter Osprey. I went over to the rack and stood there stroking it. That is until I realized I was having a nostalgic worship my backpack memory session! It becomes so much a part of one’s life on the Camino!

 

[Keith H]

Ah, deep backpack relations! I found myself one day when in the states going into an REI store and wondering around until I arrived at the area in which backpacks were displayed. I spotted my exact pack from a distance. A rust orange 48 liter Osprey. I went over to the rack and stood there stroking it. That is until I realized I was having a nostalgic worship my backpack memory session! It becomes so much a part of one’s life on the Camino!

Lol!! I can imagine someone coming up and saying ‘Camino?’ With a bit of tear in their eyes.