Posts Tagged ‘backpack’

Ready to Travel

I have been meaning to write this post ever since I hit publish on part one.  When we were preparing for our trip I found this kind of information so helpful and was anxious to document what I’m carrying with me.  So this is long overdue.  On the other hand, now that we’ve been on the road for four months I’m in a much better position to comment on what has been needed and used and what hasn’t.  So here it is, what I have with me now. (more…)

Camp

Check out Part 1 here!

Having awakened in camp fully rested, we had a nice breakfast of (you guessed it) oatmeal. However, we had a stroke of genius – prepare it using some of the apple flavored drink powder that’s left over from our water bottles! It was surprisingly good , given that we were just throwing apple sugar on top. Being equipped with our apple juices, we set off for the magnificent Valle Frances, the middle leg of the “W”. This is a day hike of about 3 hours each way, up from the valley floor to a mirador in the center of a circle of mountains.

You might think that a two-day horse expedition was enough. We might have been ambitious to think otherwise, but in fact we began our next adventure on the same day that we had our second horse ride. We decided to trek in the Torres del Paine national park, a very famous place in Chile with some spectacular alpine and glacial scenery. However, one does not simply hike for a few hours in Torres del Paine! The park itself is a 2-hour drive from the nearest town (Puerto Natales) and is too large and varied to see even a fraction in a few hours. So we decided to do a 5 day trek instead!

El Mapa - The "W"

Before we departed for horseback riding, we made some preparations. Our backpacks are a perfect size for us, but our stuff is more appropriate for sleeping in hostels than for camping. We rented some of the equipment that we needed at “The Erratic Rock”, a hostel run by some Canadian ex-pats that runs an informational talk (in English) and rental shop.

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Packing for this trip has been a daunting task.  Not only is it difficult to predict what kinds of weather conditions you’ll run into all over the world for a whole year, but we made the decision to travel light.  This does not come naturally to me.  By nature I’m a worrier and I can think of 800 situations in which I will need more stuff.  So one of the smartest moves we made was to start out by buying the backpack first – thereby providing a clear limit to the amount of stuff I’m capable of packing.

In case you’re curious, here’s a video showing off my backpack, the Deuter Futura ZeroSL

I’ve been extremely happy with this pack so far and it holds a surprising amount of gear.

Most of the space in the backpack will be taken up by clothing.  Here is what I’ve ultimately decided to take with me.

1 – 2 long-sleeved shirts (gray with hood and blue)

2 – 1 short-sleeved shirt (gray)

Trip Clothes

3 – Hat

4 – 3 tank tops (black, brown, and gray)

5 – bathing suit (blue)

6 – cotton shorts (gray)

7 – bandanna treated with insect repellent (yellow)

8 – fleece jacket (black)

9 – rain coat (green)

10 – long cotton skirt (black with pretty pattern)

11 – 2 pairs hiking trousers (black and olive green)

12 – 4 sports bras

Trip Shoes

13 – little black (sun)dress

14 – hiking sneakers

15 – hiking sandals

Not pictured – 4 pairs socks, 4 undies

I’m clearly not going to be winning any fashion awards here, but ultimately every item I’ve packed is functional, easy to wash, easy to dry, and able to be layered to keep me warm.  This can last me a year, right?  Right!?