The Tao of the Backpack Or "Gadgets R Us" Part 1

As I am going to be carrying everything I need on my back, the time has come to separate that which I want to have with me from that which I need to have with me; as the two are definitely not the same.  Since the day I decided that I might actually lace up hiking boots and begin this undertaking I have been doing a lot of research from many sources, both online and books:  many, many books.  Thus, you can say, I have learned several things:  The less you can get away with, the better, so the back pack I have is a 40L and the target weight I have is 14lbs or about 6kg for the metrically inclined:  less than that if I can get away with it.  But this experiment in "minimalist living certainly puts me in touch with the detritus of everyday living.

Now, granted, I am not walking the Appalachian or the Pacific Coast Trails so, there are a lot of things that I will not need.  As I will be skipping jauntily from alburgue to alburgue I will not need:

a tent
cooking utensils
dishes and eating utensils (though I will be taking a spork, and a utility knife)
sleeping pad
and probably several

Now this does away with a lot of the weight right there when you think of it however one never actually realizes how much stuff weighs: one man stole his wife's  kitchen scales to weigh his underwear; others, for reasons I don't understand, have taken to sawing the handles off their tooth brushes to save weight.  There are tables outside the alburgue in Roncealles (sp) loaded with gear free for the taking, all brought by people who thought it was a good idea at the time.

Then there are priorities: mine are not the same as yours, and that's ok.  However there are some the beggar belief, such as The couple who walked the Camino with the complete paperback collection of the  Game of Thrones and the young woman  who said she had to have her 2 kg (close to 5 lbs) of makeup.  I leave this to your imagination along with the young man who drilled holes in his toothbrush handle to save weight.

The good thing about having a backpack on the smaller end is that I am limited what I can actually get into it.    Now, I have a sleeping bag, the lightest I could find at my Local Canadian Tire that said it weighed 1 lb.  Today, as I placed it on (Yes!) my kitchen scales weighs 1 lb, 15.75 oz!  They lied to me!  That's almost a full kilogram!  I feel betrayed.  Ha!  Amazon.ca and it will be here by Friday and less than 800 grams.