We are about a
month away from striking out onto the Camino De Santiago, along the Camino
Frances route. Central to this, and the
part we have most struggled with, is packing our bags. What to take? We hope to take our packs for the entire
length of the trail, and realistically we are only able to carry so much comfortably. While this seems easy, the desire to stay
comfortable hiking while also being prepared for a range of temperatures and
weather types, makes it a little bit of a challenge.
Given the range of
choices we faced, we thought we would share what is in our backpacks, perhaps
serving as something useful for what others might carry. Two things to remember here are: First, our bags differ according to our own interests
and needs. Second, pleaseremember that
not all that is listed went into our bags, one set of clothes and either our
hiking shoes or sandals will be worn by us at any given time.
** Post
Camino Addition: I would also point out that en route we disposed of a great
deal of our supplies and lowered the weight of our bags regularly.
Sonya's Bag
- 1 merino wool shirt
- 2 HH running shirts
- 2 pairs of merino wool leggings
- 2 hiking skirts
- 1 pair lole black pants
- 1 swimsuit
- 1 fleece sweater
- 1 sun hat
- 1 hiking scarf
- 1 pair of mittens
- 3 pairs of hiking socks
- 3 pairs of merino wool underwear
- North Face Rain Jacket and Rain Pants
- 1 backpack rain jacket / cover
- hiking boots
- hiking sandals
** I decided to sleep in my
running shirt and leggings - so no night clothes were brought **
- camp towel
- clothes pegs
- headlamp
- travel sewing kit
- 1 large bottle of camp soap - body wash and laundry soap for both of
us
- first aid kit - Band-Aids, moleskin, Tylenol, Advil
- light weight summer sleeping bag
- thermarest mattress (ultimately carried but
never used, would not bring again)
- SIGG water bottle - 1 litre
- 1 pair of hiking polls
- overnight bag including deodorant, razor, hair brush, tooth
brush, travel tampons, nail clippers,
lip balm, and sun screen
- 2 pilgrim passports
- Brierley guide book
- 1 Canadian passport
- 2 Camino Credential passports
- Scallop Shell
- small day bag
- phone
- tablet and keyboard
- journal and pen
- empty stuff sack to put daily treats in to eat along the route
** Post
Camino update - no thermarest, no HH running shirts (too plasticy, too hot, and
too smelly), instead I bought and used another two Icebreaker Merino wool shirts,
no physical journal I would type a digital journal **
Sean's Bag
- 1 MEC Merino wool shirt, short sleeve
- 2 HH running shirts
- 1 pair hiking shorts
- 1 pair of hiking pants
- 1 pair lightweight shorts
- 3 pairs of hiking socks
- 3 pairs of hiking liner socks
- 3 pair of underwear
- 1 fleece sweater
- 1 swimsuit
- 1 North Face Rain Jacket
- 1 backpack rain jacket / cover
- 1 pair of Keen hiking sandals
- 1 pair of Keen hiking shoes
- camp towel
- 1 baseball cap
- 1 sunglasses
- 1 Merino wool hiking scarf
- overnight bag, including tooth brush, toothpaste, camp soap,
tweezers, lip balm, deodorant, razor
- summer sleeping bag
- 1 SIGG water bottle
- 2 Camino Credential passports
- Scallop Shell
- journal and pen
- Camera bag (Day bag)
- Nikon D5300 with (Nikon 10-24 lens, Sigma 18-35 lens, Sigma 8-16
lens)
- 3 camera batteries
- Lens cleaning kit
- Camera Battery recharging device, phone recharging device
- European plug adapter
- 1 Canadian passport
- wallet, bank card, cash (enough for 2-5 days, often 500 Euros split
between two of us)
We also each carried 3 large Ziplocs to put our clothes, electronics,
and journals into while in our bags to keep them separate and dry.
