Lightweight pack lists and sources (was: College Student seeks Camino Mentor)

[Frank Metcalf and Mary Doherty]

Please note: This is a long post. If responding, please don't hit "reply"
for the whole thing!

I discussed my equipment and pack list in two postings, dated 18 and 19
April 2002, before walking the camino. The subject heading for both was
"Trying the Golite breeze backpack in May-June." I also made reference
there to the influential posts of Karen Swanson, MD, headed "Traveling
ultralight" and "re: Shoes / refugios / just returned, " dated 18 April and
31 May 2001. I encourage anyone who is interested in lightening their load
to study these four posts in the archives, along with the opposing
responses which deserve their fair hearing too, like the ones following my
recent posts.

Karen and I both posted what amounted to hypotheses, and later (last week
in my case) after testing on the camino, the results. There were many
differences between us and our choices. In common were a prior background
of prolonged wilderness travel, and a love of the camino after walking it.
In view of that shared experience--and having a marathoning medical wife as
well--these words of hers rang true then and now:

.....(and I'm using) all terrain running shoes (adidas). (Remember, 1 lb
on your feet is equal to 6 lbs on your back!!)  I hiked the A.T. without
ankle support and it is one big rockpile--if you have strong ankles you do not
need ankle boots. This is not a wilderness hike!
That's it!!! Spartan but adequate. Remember you are not going into the
wilderness or the "third world"--you can buy anything you decide you wish you
had. Better to be comfortable while walking and save the wear and tear on
your bod. (I'm a medical doctor so I see these worn out joints from too
much abuse!)
Go Light!

In my posted pack list, archived under "Trying the Golite breeze backpack,"
I mistakenly called my MEC one-sided sleeping bag (1.5 lb, about $50 Cdn,
www.mec.ca, other good stuff there too like microcheck tops and
WrightSocks) by the wrong name: it's actually the MEC "Equatorial" sleeping
bag. The Equinox product was the Terrapin poncho (7 oz, about $50 US, a
strong classy item, don't need the backpack extension model for the Breeze
pack, perfect for the camino re weight vs use, search under "poncho" at
www.backcountrygear.com, and see www.litebackpacker.com).

The Breeze pack was wonderful!!! To our surprise, our full loads for 7
weeks (camino & after) stayed right with us on all four flights, and were
even OK in our laps on the Spanish buses if we wanted them handy. The
design is amazing. Stripped, but perfectly thought out, it truly works.The
huge mesh pocket covering the back is a wonder, carrying paper stuff,
camera, wallet, food, sunglasses, etc. safely even in downpours (if in
ziplocs). The simple closure strap carries to-hand clothing like a jacket
across the top with ease. The cost: $69 US, at www.backcountrygear.com
(also see www.golite.com). They look and feel great, both the black and the
gem-like green models. I can't recall a better value for the price--and
they weigh less than one pound.

Let's see: $69 for the pack, $50 for the poncho, about $50 Cdn for the bag
. . . see a pattern here? Verses the cost of mainstream (heavy) equipment,
such as Goretex? So you pay much less for the big-ticket items, but at a
total weight of 3 pounds for the lot, you feel much better. Not a bad deal!

I did pay about $125 US for my Patagonia jacket (I think the latest version
is the Zephur, 13.5 oz, at www.patagonia.com), but I use it all the time
and, as they say, it's ideal for hiking. As is my Nike coolmesh running
cap, which I wear all winter (with runners and fleece) in the Vancouver
rain, sans hood or umbrella, with the swoosh logo covered by a CSJ shell
badge. I also like the "Landlubber" XL size GoLite stow sack ($24 US),
which is a soft, quiet, lightweight waterproof liner for the Breeze, useful
for dead-quiet 5:30 AM risings, used with MEC netbags to sort out loads. On
a cheaper note, my water containers were two Aquarius sports drink bottles
from a dispenser at the Bilbao bus station. Perfect, simple, and all you
need.

Finally, Jim asked about Ray Jardine's "Beyond Backpacking"
(www.adventurelore.com). In my opinion, anyone interested in lightening up
should check out this site, and at least read the book's intro which can be
found there. I have many problems with Jardine, but even if all 512 pages
aren't useful, the general concept, and lots of the advice, is almost
essential reading. The story of Grandma Gatewood instantly puts the lie to
the "must" school of received conservative gear. As if Ray and his wife's
15,000 miles on mountainous trails did not do that job anyway. The
marketing analysis of heavy, expensive gear is also enlightening. (As an OT
aside, the website's photo / story of their Kazan River canoe trip, as
bumbling and bug-complaining as it may be, gives a fair glimpse into the
Barrenland traveling I did for so long--skip to pages 4 and 5, love the
fish, bug, and muskox shots!)

But I must end by saying that whatever gear one uses on the camino, it's
not about equipment, and one's kit doesn't really matter in an ultimate
sense. You can embrace the apostol in Cossack boots or bare feet. Unlike a
dangerous wilderness trip, you will survive no matter what you bring or do,
so long as your heart stays healthy and you watch out for traffic. The
glory of the camino lies in what true wilderness cannot offer. It is
drenched in human life.

Frank Metcalf


>What does your base load consist of?  I did the Camino with 25 + ibs and
>medium weight books but I don't think I'll do that again as I could have
>easily thrown out some items. I have since (the Camino) read 'Beyond
>Backpacking' by Ray Jardine.  How does his recommended load translate to
>the Camino.
>
>Jim

>Frank,
>I'd sure like to see the list of stuff you had in your pack.  It'd be an
>inspiration to me to cut down to what is really required, as I never got
>much below 9 kg.
>Thanks,
>Jack


>I guess we live in alternate universes that share the same camino!  I
>reported primary experience--mine and my two companions'--rather than
>that of "those guys . . . many of these guys" etc., which leaves a lot
>of leeway for innocently fudging the examples. Funny thing, I was there
>the same general time (O Cebreiro on June 7 2002) in a front-page storm,
>and we had no trouble with any of these dire problems relating to
>running shoes . . . worn by others. The only person we saw in sandals
>then was a tough French woman named Francine, who finally did don socks
>in the cold, and strode on to Santiago. We saw very few people in
>runners besides ourselves at the start, but the numbers grew somewhat as
>boots were abandoned after the meseta. The suffering "many" in running
>shoes must have cleverly avoided us. We thought the ankle-deep mud was
>funny, not miserable, and we enjoyed the hills too instead of huffing
>and clumping laboriously up them.
>
>There's a beneficial cascade brought on by light loads (our base was 6
>kg, max 7): shoes can be much lighter than they "should" be, thus even
>less energy is spent, the hills flatten out, nimbleness on steep or
>difficult ground increases, mood elevates, and so on. If we were to
>recast our discussion away from "footgear" and toward "the cascading
>benefits of ultralight travelling," we'd probably all be on the same
>page. Except that few of us seem to have experienced it directly.
>
>Besides our loads, we felt that conditioning made a cascading type of
>difference, as did, psychologically, a long history of life and
>wilderness travel in Canada's Far North (where I was a tundra
>archaeological surveyor by canoe). Life history can't be remade, but
>loading and training are, in the end, personal choices. I speak with
>converted zeal about this because I'm a hopeless packer, and the
>camino--my fear of it--set me right. The benefits were outstanding, and,
>having been helped by an ultralight pilgrim predecessor, I want to
>encourage others in turn.
>
>Frank Metcalf, Vancouver BC