Welcome to this little series I have decided to call ‘Gearing Up for Shikoku’. In these posts I will write about some of the gear we are testing out in preparation for our trip.
Arguably the most important piece of gear for a long pilgrimage (apart from your shoes maybe) is your backpack. We have been backpacking for 6 months previously in 2015 and as any backpacker will tell you, during that time our packs became like a home to us. As a backpacker, your pack is the one constant in a landscape that changes on a near daily basis, and the pack you bring greatly determines how enjoyable your trip will be. Incidentally the pack I brought on our trip back then is way too big and heavy for a trip like this, so a year ago I started looking out for a new one.
My pack: The Osprey Lumina 45L
I didn’t have to look far. No matter how much I like to think myself beyond the reach of sponsored adds and product placement, it turns out I am just as impressible as your average millennial. After reading this Camino packing list on Lauren’s blog Never Ending Footsteps I immediately knew that the Osprey Lumina 45L pack was the one I wanted to take with me to Shikoku. It’s small enough that you don’t have to check it in on a flight, it is built specifically for a female body frame and most importantly it is incredibly lightweight (<800g).
I love, love, LOVE my little Lumina and it’s been with me on practically every trip I have been on since I got it for my birthday last December. The breathable mesh back panel (which features on most Osprey bags) is a complete game changer and unless it’s very heavily loaded I never feel any discomfort wearing it (and on those occasions it hurts in “the right” places, meaning my shoulders and hips, which should be the primary weight bearing points).
A Quick Side Note on Water Reservoirs
On Lauren’s recommendation I also bought myself a 2.5L Osprey Hydraulics water reservoir, which fits snuggly inside the back panel of the Lumina. This was not as great of a success for me. First of all, the drinking valve broke pretty quickly (though it should be noted that Osprey’s superior costumer service had a new one sent to me as soon as I got in touch with them). It’s just not something you want to happen halfway up a mountain in a deserted Japanese forest.
Most importantly however, I think it’s just a matter of temperament. I loathed having to empty out the bulky sack and concoct a haphazard drying rack in the middle of my kitchen. I disliked not knowing how to properly clean it and getting it in and out of the backpack ultimately just became so much of a hassle that I would end up just bringing my Nalgene instead. Oh well, this is all part of the process and it’s better to find out now than two weeks into the trip.
Jonas’s pack: The Osprey Exos 48L
You know how it goes: the moment one person in a relationship gets a new piece of gear, the other soon follows. I’m not complaining though, since Jonas is normally quite impossible to birthday shop for. This April I was quite happy to just go out and buy him something I already knew he wanted (’cause he told me): The Osprey Exos 48L backpack. So far I’ve heard no complaints.
The Exos model is not quite as “stripped down” as the Lumina, which means it is a little heavier (~1.2kg). On the plus side, the extra weight provides a lot more side pockets, attachment strings and shoulder- and hip padding.
All in all after only 6 months I’ll say we are both hardcore Osprey convicts.
That’s all for now. Let us know in the comments if you have any questions or suggestions for products we should check out!