Trekking Tips: What To Bring

Almost every climb, especially majors, I am faced with the same struggle – what do I bring? I’ve made a lot of checklists but unfortunately being “me” got burried with all the other lists in my notes. Haha!

This dawn as I was packing and making sure I don’t miss anything, I listed them all.😀 I really do hope I don’t forget anything though. Please if you notice anything missing, ping me rightaway.

1-4. Clothes: Trekking/Swimming, Sleeping, Going Home, Undies
5. Slippers
6. For Wet Plastic
7. Sleeping Bag
8. Assault Bag
9. Storage Bags
10. Pillow
11. Eye Mask
12. Ear Pads
13. Head lights
14. Glasses
15. Contact Solutions
16. Rain Coat
17. Umbrella
18. Fan
19. Lunch Box
20. Water Bottle
21. Cup

Personal Stuffs:
22. Headlace
23. Pony tail
24. Lipstick
25. Comb
26. Puller
27. Mirror
28. Shampoo
29. Wet Wipes
30. Tissue

Depends on the trail, Tres Marias has plenty of water so I’m only bringing this much plus a 1L Nalgene full of water too.
31. 1 L Water
32. .5 Gatorade
33. Belt Bag:
34. Camera
35. Candies
36. Tickets
37. IDs
38. Wallet
39. Ballpen
40. Chair
41. Group Food (by assignment):
Oil
Pinakurat
Salt
Garlic
Onions
Tomatoes
Magic Sarap
Buwad
Bread
42. Burner
43. Cookset (Kovea Hard 23)
44. .5 kg rice inside cookset

Thanks @JumzChino for the reminder:
NCR Trekker’s Stuffs
45. Attendance & Waiver
46. LNT Sign
47. LNT Sign Rope
48. Club Tarp
49. Event Tarp
50. Participant’s ID

To follow up:
51. Med Kit
52. Rope

@Migo:
Tent
Spoon/Fork
Tooth Brushes
Trekking Pole

My first day attire:
Trekking Pants
Souvenir Shirt
Sarong
Cap
Gloves
Arm Sleeves
Trekking Shoes
Comfy Socks

The biggest lesson I learned thus far when it comes to weight was when we climbed Pulag back in 2013. I was at 15 kg. Going up Akiki with such load was harsh. I was literally sick on the first night. But it wasn’t because I brought too much personal stuff. We carried 4L of water and our food were mostly canned. It took most of the weight.

After Pulag I was more mindful of the weight I’m carrying. I made some adjustments on how much clothes to bring too. Before I always had an everyday change of clothes until the husband commented on it. I was still stubborn saying I need to change clothes everyday for the pictures. Haha! But after Canlaon, I started implementing the clothes set. The husband suggested to only have a set of trekking which can be used for swimming too or you can bring a set for bath, a set for sleeping which will be used throughout how many days you will be sleeping and the last set will be for going home. To save some more space, you could also use the sleeping as going home set.

15 kg was my limit in 2013, I wonder if it changes now. I weighted my back last night at our scale and it shows 15 kg. Huhu! I wonder what makes it heavy waaaa!

The best weight I had was in Apo. I had 8 kg or less with just my personal stuffs.  We were 15 and was divided into 3 food groups. Each group has their own porter guide. It was very efficient but the only drawback was it made us divided. We didn’t cook and eat together.

Going forward, in every climb to follow, I will try to implement weight management. By September, we will have our 2nd major climb for the year at Nangtud. Reading blogs about it terrifies me. It will surely be one of my toughest climb yet. Pinoy Mountaineer rated Nangtud as an 8/9. Huhu! Anyhoo, I still have some months to spare till then. For now, I have Tres Marias.

Wish us luck and blessing tomorrow. Pray that we may be away from harm and the snakes will be friendly. Huhubells.

Here’s an unrelated addition about our trek tomorrow.😀

There will be 20 of us divided into 3 food groups. No porters. Head group is led by our NCR Trekker VP, Analyn. Me at Mid-group. Cods at Tail Group. That’s the line up of our trek too.

Cod’s group will likely be the fastest so they are at the Tail. My group has the medkit and the documentation so it’s easier to check in between groups. Analyn’s have Ryan to shoo the snake. One guide will be at the head and a other at the tail.

My excited face :))