What does a girl need for three weeks on the trail? This is what I thought I needed, and I was about 90% right:
- 1 sleeping bag (I ❤ compression sacks!)
- 1 sleeping bag liner (hostels can be gross and/or the trail can be cold)
- 1 pair broken in hiking boots and extra laces (Kilimanjaro dirt was ALL OVER my bed after this)
- 1 hat (bright colored means they can spot you on the trail and you can spot yourself in the Facebook pics)
- 1 pair gloves (RIP, lost on the shore of glacier lake in Patagonia… tear)
- 1 set long underwear (sexy)
- 1 down jacket (Patagonia logo = a plus)
- 1 raincoat (Patagonia logo = a plus)
- 2 pairs of trekking pants (one pair = zip off)
- 5 pairs quick dry underwear (or ropas personales… more on this later)
- 1 quick dry t-shirt (wish I’d gone with 2)
- 2 quick dry long sleeve shirts (THUMB HOLES!)
- 1 quick dry tank top (again, should have gone with two)
- 2 sports bras (dark colored so you can’t see how gross you’re becoming)
- 4 pair hiking socks (SmartWool = genius)
- Gaiters (love, love, love!!!)
- Flip flops (need a break from those hiking boots sometimes!)
- Cosmetics and first aid kit (ha! showers? what’s that?)
- Camera batteries, Luma Loop (LOVE! new obsession) and extra memory cards (I’m a functional, light traveling photographer)
- Necessary travel documents, phone, charger, other misc. impertanent items, cash (crisp bills only!)
- Camelbak
- iPod speakers (luxury item, could have done without)
- Osprey Airporter (to avoid broken straps… loved the concept but the design needs some work)
Apparently Katie, my travel companion and the character in most of my upcoming essays, only needed half of this. She’s a rockstar traveler, it’s almost annoying. I was super pumped at how small my pack was with all of this loaded – until I saw Katie’s. We’d go to check our bags for our many, many, many flights and while hers never went north of 10kg, mine continually hovered around 12kg.
Exciting stuff, I know. I promise the next post will be better.
Jenn Winter 
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