To Pack Or Not To Pack (and can I drink the water there?)
How do you know what to carry for a place you’ve never been, situations you are unfamiliar with, potential problems that you’re hoping to avoid but still must be prepared for? Scroll through any Camino site on Facebook, and you’ll see the question posed over and over, debated, sometimes argued over, but never definitively answered. Here’s hoping I can provide you with a bit of guidance from my own experiences, both good and bad.
I have a packing list that I’ve built for myself from other lists I’ve perused on the internet and in books. In the end though, whether you’re walking from La Puy to Santiago or from Sarria to Finisterre, your basic needs are the same; a change of washable clothing, some sort of sleep sack, a few toiletries, something to dry yourself with after a shower, a pair of lightweight shoes or sandals to change into at the end of the day, something to hold water, some trekking poles, and a pack to put it all in. Add to that the extras - a phone charger (yes, you can walk the camino without a phone but it’s nice to have in case of an emergency), S hooks, Buff®, razor, etc., as weight allows.
To begin, print off whatever list you decide to work from, circle what you want to bring, gather it all up, load it into your pack minus one set of clothing and with a full water container, and weigh yourself with and without the pack to find your pack weight. It’s heavier than you expected, isn’t it? The standard pack weight suggestion you’ll see over and over is 10% of your body weight. That can be a challenging number to achieve, but the goal is to have a lighter pack for less stress on your knees, back and hips. Trekking poles help transfer a bit of that weight, but it’s still on your back, held up by your legs. You may not get it down to 10%, but please consider how thankful your body will be for the attempt.
After going through the list and packing what I think seems reasonable, I am usually somewhere around 18 lbs, about 6 lbs more than I’d like to be. Time to remove those two extra shirts I didn’t think would add all that much, the fourth pair of socks, the full roll of K-Tape. Time to decide between the light insulated vest and the micro fleece zip jacket. Do I need both the long sleeve sun shirt and the micro fleece zip jacket? Do I even need the micro fleece if I have my rain jacket? What about a poncho? Do I need Imodium, a needle and thread, and Compeed? Do I really, really need that tube of mascara? I don’t go so far as to cut the handle off my toothbrush, but experience has certainly taught me that when I stray too far from the 10% rule, the days are indeed longer and less enjoyable. I don’t want to be constantly thinking about how great it’s going to be to finally sit down in another hour and get this @#$&! pack off my back.
My final list looks something like this (print version): One pair of Kuhl women’s Renegade zip-off pants (no longer available so I’m always on the lookout for them on eBay) and my Patagonia hiking skirt, two quick dry short sleeve shirts or one short sleeve shirt and the long sleeve sun shirt (depending on the time of year), my Fjallraven micro fleece jacket, three pair of Wrightsocks, 2 sports bras, 3 underwear, a pair of yoga shorts or pants, and my Patagonia rain jacket. I bring a small container of shampoo/conditioner (difficult to find conditioner in Spain), a small bar of soap for laundry in a soap sac, sunscreen, lip balm, a Cocoon sleep sack, quick-dry towel, lightweight tote, phone charger, small ziplock bag of hiker’s wool, a USB charged headlamp, rubber sandals, a baseball cap, three elastic hair bands, and a Buff® to tuck my hair up with. I don’t bring any medications other than warfarin and a small kit to self-test my INR, and two strips of K-Tape (a note here - I can’t take ibuprofen because of being on warfarin. If I could take it, you can be sure I’d be bringing a few), a small kit of a few bandaids and a small packet of Neosporin. If I’m walking in summer or early fall, I carry a very lightweight cotton dress to wear in the evenings. If I were walking in early spring or in winter, I’d include my thin merino wool layer, as well. Once in Spain, I buy a 1.5 liter water bottle from a supermarket, and refill it at the various fountains along the way - it’s easier to get in and out from the side of my pack than a Nalgene bottle, and I know from experience that I don’t drink as much when I’m using a water bladder. Add to that some safety pins for attaching anything to my pack that didn’t dry the day before, and a couple of small carabiner clips just because I think they look cool and they may come in handy some day.
The word I hope you caught back there is “experience.” I brought a bit of every medication on a suggested list the first time and didn’t use any. I bought a water bladder for my pack and ditched it at Roncesvalles after realizing I wasn’t using it enough, mostly because I didn’t like drinking through the straw. I carried a vest my fifth camino and didn’t wear it once. I didn’t bring my cotton dress when I walked my second Frances, and I missed it every night. I brought Crocs on the Primitivo instead of rubber sandals and got mad every time I had to stuff them into my pack. On the positive side, I also tried out compression packing cubes and liked how they aided me in keeping my pack organized. I carried a MEC sleeping bag my second camino and hated it - it crinkled when I moved and I’m a light sleeper. My worst night on that camino was spent in an albergue with three Canadians using the same style bag - none of us got a wink of sleep because our bags were so loud! I brought 3 types of Compeed my first camino, and then learned they are available everywhere, and also that I don’t even like Compeed. I’ve learned as I’ve walked what I like and don’t like - no ponchos, no rain pants, no Compeed, no ankle-high hiking boots. Yes to rain jackets, pants that dry quickly, hiker’s wool and Hokas (and mascara). Walking will teach you what your own personal “yes and no’s” are, and you adjust from there.
Regardless of what pack you choose, the clothing you take, the decision between a dry shampoo bar or liquid, the thing I would stress the most is this - walk with a full pack, including water, as often as you are able, before you leave. The greatest mistake I have made, up until now at least, is walking the San Salvador, Primitivo and Muxia/Finisterre with an untested backpack. I walked my first and second Frances in an Osprey Stratos 36L and loved it, except for one thing. It’s a men’s pack, and a bit too wide across the shoulders. I have no idea why I ended up with a men’s pack rather than a women’s. Looking back at that point in time, I probably chose it for the color, which is similar to dating someone because they look good, even though they’re not that smart (something which I have also done). I decided to correct my error and get the same pack, only in a women’s cut. That particular pack now has a different support system on the frame, which only allows for 5 adjustment points, versus the previous rendition which could be moved an infinite amount of positions. My dog became ill a month before I left, and I was too distracted to walk with the new Osprey. So off I went with an untested pack, which I quickly discovered fit me best exactly in the middle of two adjustment points. Four hundred miles of an uncomfortable reminder to do the easy things first - test your full pack before you leave. I’m walking again in May with a women’s Osprey Kyte I found that still has the old support system - you can be sure I’ll be trying it out before I leave this time!
For those who have already walked a Camino, you may disagree with me on any or all points above. But here’s the one thing we can hopefully agree on - if you pack too much, or too little, it’s not the end of the world. You’re not going to be sucked into an abyss somewhere on the Pyrenees for having too heavy of a pack (although you may wish for it). You’re not going to have albergue doors slammed in your face if you’re wearing a poncho instead of a rain jacket (they may ask you to leave both the poncho and the jacket in the entryway to dry off, though). You’ll be able to discard, or find, anything along the way. Someone else may need what you’re wanting to leave, and you can purchase or find someone who is discarding something you wish you’d brought. The thing you’ll most likely discover over all else as you walk, is that you require much less than what you think you do, and that you can accomplish much more than you thought possible.
