Packing for the trail

As the day of my departure approaches I am spending a few moments thanking myself for taking the time to track all of the gear I planned to bring on this trip.

Having used a gear checklist template (courtesy of Andrew Skurka) i was able to keep track of the flurry of new gear I was purchasing. Without it, my planning addled brain would not have been able to keep everything straight and allow me to pack effectively now.

The other benefit of this checklist was a constant tracking of my baseweight of my gear.  Each new package arrival meant a visit to the kitchen scale, which became resident next to my desk for these past few months of planning.

The outcome of this constant tracking has been an easy analysis of my baseweight.  Being able to spot where all the weight in my pack is, and make informed choices on what should be exchanged for a different item to cut weight.

My baseweight (excluding my clothing, food and water) prior to leaving currently sits at 10.2kg (~22.5lbs) according to my luggage scale.

Could it be lighter? Sure. But lightening my pack further would have the same effect on my wallet!  I made choices that helped me strike a reasonable balance between weight and cost.

We will see how well that pans out on the trail!

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For those interested, here is the my gear checklist of what I will be taking with me.