Footpath through the Gers, Via Podiensis, France, 2009.

A Longwalking Packing List

My 2011 Pro Forma 30-Day List – Gear, Clothing, Supplies

Creating a gear and clothing list is one of the principal ways of planning a long-distance, and crucial if you want to start off with everything essential, no extra payload, and with the minimum possible weight for your needs.

This is a detailed list of everything – all clothing, gear, equipment, and supplies – that I’m planning to use for a walk across France in 2011. Although it continues to evolve, this is the current, latest, up-to-date list. It’s grouped by what I will have, which is not necessarily how I will carry it. It includes clothing to be worn.

This is an updated list of what I used during a 12-week walk across France, the Pyrenées, and Spain, from late April to early July, 2009. For my experience and purposes, this is adequate to walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, for example. (No camping gear was used, or is included.)

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South from Bergerac, chemin de Vézelay, France, 2005.

Getting Ready ~ Pre-Walk Checklist

One year timeline to the trail

If you’ve decided to leave your footprints on the sentiers de grande randonnée in France, make your own camino in Spain, or trek somewhere else, here’s a one-year timeline to keep your planning on track and your getaway gone. If you have less time before departure, do what it takes to catch up on the earlier checkpoints.

It’s time to start getting ready. There are a lot of tasks to accomplish and decisions to make in order to realize a fantastic, engaging, life-changing, healthy, robust journey over the land on foot.

Checklist ~ 12 Months

Commit. Tell your family and friends. Expressing a dream with words is the first step to making it come true. (more…)

The Best Trail Walking Shoes

Tips on choosing the one best for you?

Shoes are a special class of walking paraphernalia. They serve as part of the wardrobe, but also have the technical functions of gear. Selecting proper footwear for any purpose is always important. For long-distance walking, it’s critical. It’s not often an easy task because everybody’s feet are different, and often the right is quite different from the left. What’s essential is finding the right shoe for you, which involves balancing a number of important factors. Very few hikers I’ve met claim to have slipped into a pair of shoes and walked away effortlessly. I know I’m not one of them.

Hiking boots, walking shoes, trail runners, sandals – whatever you prefer, you’ll live with your choice day after day after week after month. The right choice makes walking fun; a wrong choice can lead to tortuous, even dangerous days on the trail. (more…)

Clothing ~ Waterproof Rain Pants

GoLite™ Reed Ultralight Rain Pants – 168 grams

I became a big fan of the GoLite Reed pants during my 1,200 mile walk across France and Spain in 2009. At only 168 grams (5.9 ounces) these were an effortless pleasure to carry under blue skies, and were a great windproof, waterproof outer layer when the weather got rough. After months on the trail, they’re still in ready to go condition.

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Bizarro, by Dan Piraro, 24 March 2010.

Cargo Creep

Pick your pockets well…

Where did I put my compass this time? And my pen? And my map? And my wallet? And my …?

Memo to my amused friends and family: Dan Piraro, creative mastermind of Bizarro, makes my case. There are too many pockets in the world. Yes, they are everywhere. Ubiquitous. And they all weigh something. (more…)

Clothing ~ Waterproof Rain Jacket

Mountain Hardwear™ Stimulus™ Jacket – 199 grams

I wore the Mountain Hardwear™ Stimulus™ Jacket throughout my 2009 walk across France and Spain. This jacket is one of the reasons I love my “ultralight hobby” because I first read about it in an airline in-flight magazine. (Never stop looking for solutions.)

It’s a true “minimalist” jacket that still has everything I really need. Totally waterproof! MH really pushed the envelope here, with innovative design, materials, and construction. It doesn’t have every popular feature available (but heavier) on other jackets, like underarm vents, but I didn’t miss them. Another means of saving weight is the absence of a hood. I always where my Tilley Air-flow hat, rain or shine, and I don’t like the way hoods restrict your view, so this is a real plus for me. The Stim does have an extended tail that really helps keep the water out. (more…)

Even St. Nick uses a light load whenever possible. On the trail from Lyon to Le-Puy, France 2009.

Making Light ~ Clothing

Take only as much as you need

It may seem obvious that if you want to minimize your pack weight, you shouldn’t carry any more of anything than you’re likely to need. (Congratulations – if you’ve read this far, maybe you’re hooked on the idea.) But how much is that?

Here are some tips to help you answer that question when it comes to clothing.

Study the climate, weather, terrain (especially elevation) of the route and season of your walk. Consider how you plan to deal with inclement weather. (more…)

Tools of the trade…

Modifying Gear

Trimming the fat

Here’s an example of taking an off-the-shelf piece of clothing and making it more suitable for its intended use. I like wearing a vest on the trail to distribute the weight of my gear and to keep certain things at hand, like my camera, trail guide, compass, etc. It’s nice to have a few pockets for organization, but too many just complicates things — “hmmn… where did I put the lip balm this time?

Here’s a snapshot of a vest I found on sale at an Army Surplus store. It has 14 pockets, inside and out, including one in the back that’s not much use when I’m carrying a pack. It has all sorts of zippers, flaps, velcro closures, snaps, epaulets – everything! Beside just adding weight, the extra layers of fabric make this vest hotter to wear. In size Large, it weighs 432 grams (over 15 oz.) off the rack. But after a pleasant half hour in the garden with my trusty scissors and single-edge razor blade, the new, streamlined vest weighs only 277 grams (less than 10 oz.)! That’s a weight reduction of 5.5 ounces (155 grams) from a single piece of clothing that now better fits my needs and is more comfortable to wear.

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