Coming back home after my 3 months US experience I now spend 3 weeks in Austria.
Besides enjoying to sleep in my own bed again, I started to prepare for my next adventure: The Bibbulmun Track, one of the world’s great long distance walk trails, stretching 1000km from Kalamunda in the Perth Hills, to Albany on the south coast, winding through the heart of the scenic South West of Western Australia.
On 6. November I will leave Vienna towards Kuala Lumpur, where I will stay for one night. On 8. November a ridiculous cheap Air Asia flight takes me to Perth, where I will stay for two nights before I start hiking 1000km through the Australian bush on 10. November.
This will be my first real long distance hike after several hikes ranging inbetween 200-230km and my first one in absolutely unknown conditions. Heat, drought, poisonous wildlife and much more awaits me. To challenge those circumstances I have to rely on my physical and mental abilities and on my gear.
Bibbulmun Track Overview (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibbulmun_Track)
With a bit of experience out of the last few years and lots of miles hiked during this years spring and summer, my mind and body feels prepared (even though those aspects can’t be planed 100%).
What can be planed in advance, is the gear I am going to carry. As light as possible is always a good choice. Since length and conditions vary from my so far experiences I adjusted some pieces but mainly sticked to proofed equipment.
The major change was in my sleeping system: a Cumulus Quilt 250. Since I am a cold sleeper I usually carry a warmer and thus heavier Quilt. For the Bibbulmun Track I wanted something lighter which still fits the expected minimum temperatures. With my size of 186cm I ordered a longer version of the Quilt 250. Communication with Cumulus was fast and nice and they even agreed to my inquiry about supporting me for this hike. A detailed review will follow after I put it through the wringer. So far I can say that the quality and craftmanship of the quilt is fabulous.
I love losing myself into writing too much, that’s why: long story short, here is what I am going to wear on my hike
What I wear on the Bibbulmun Track
And that’s what I am going to carry in my backpack:
What goes into my backpack while hiking the Bibbulmun Track
For the gear freaks out there, here’s the gearlist with weights:
Worn (in gram) – Total 2042 g
| Shirt Longsleeve Odlo Synthetic | 195 |
| Boxershorts Odlo Synthetic | 56 |
| Trekkingshorts ZipOff Montura Stretch | 280 |
| Socks Darn Tough No Show Endurance | 52 |
| Trailrunning Shoes Brooks Cascadia 10 | 910 |
| Dirty Girl Gaiters | 37 |
| Running Visor Salomon | 44 |
| Bandana Cotton | 28 |
| Trekkingpoles Fizan Compact | 375 |
| Watch Suunto Core | 65 |
Baseweight (in gram) – Total 5647 g
| Backpack | |
| Gossamer Gear Mariposa | 900 |
| Gossamer Gear Liner | 40 |
| Clothing | |
| Frogg Toggs Dri Duck – Rainjacket | 150 |
| Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer – Isojacket | 209 |
| Montane Featherlite Trail – Windjacket | 110 |
| T-Shirt Patagonia Merino | 108 |
| Boxershorts Icebreaker Merino | 57 |
| Running Shorts New Balance | 130 |
| Socks Darn Tough 1/4 Vertex | 49 |
| Sleeping Socks Darn Tough Running | 35 |
| Sunglasses (optical) | 70 |
| Sleeping | |
| Cumulus Quilt 250 long | 521 |
| Exped SIM Hyperlite Short Pad | 349 |
| Thermarest UL Pillow | 50 |
| Petzl E+Lite Headlight (inc. batteries) | 26 |
| Rab Silk Inlet | 129 |
| Shelter | |
| Gossamer Gear SpinnTwin Tarp (incl. stuffsack 9g) | 305 |
| Trekkertent Net Tent 1 | 230 |
| 6 x MSR Mini Groundhog Stake 15cm á 8g | 48 |
| 4 x MSR Groundhog Stake 19cm á 16g | 64 |
| 4 x Titanium Short Stake | 25 |
| Polycryo Groundsheet | 43 |
| Dynema cords + elastic cord + Tankas (to hang moskitonet in shelters) | 50 |
| Cooking / Water purification | |
| Stove BSR3000 (gas) | 28 |
| Windscreen Titan | 15 |
| Fire (matches Blister + 2 Minibic lighters) | 27 |
| Esbit Titan Pot | 102 |
| Freezer Bag Cozy MYOG | 18 |
| Sea To Summit Light Alloy Spork | 9 |
| Filter Sawyer Squeeze (+MYOG Flushingdevice) | 70 |
| 1L Playtpus | 25 |
| Hygiene | |
| Mini Towel | 16 |
| Hygiene (Toothbrush, Sunprotection, etc.) | 238 |
| First Aid, Meds, Repairkit | 228 |
| Orientation | |
| Bibbulmun Track Guide Book | 183 |
| Garmin Etrex 20 Navi + Batteries | 128 |
| Smartphone + charger | 190 |
| Misc | |
| Euroschirm Swinglite Flex (Sunprotection) | 229 |
| Sony WX500 + 2 SD Cards + 2. Battery | 270 |
| MP3 Player AGBTEK 8GB + Earphones | 41 |
| Paper | 32 |
| Pen | 6 |
| Wallet UL | 5 |
| ID | 39 |
| Travel Documents | 50 |
5,6 kg is more than I wanted to carry and there is a huge potential to cut weight down. First of all the backpack itself is too big (and heavy!) for this hike, but since I travel in Australia and/or Southeast Asia after finishing the Bibbulmun Track I want to have additional space for spare cloths etc. and hey, at least my quilt has a lot of room to loft and what is more important: the Gossamer Gear Mariposa is fabulous to carry and I don’t have to think about where to put food for multiple days.
Running shorts and a T-Shirt besides my zip-off trousers and longsleeved hiking shirt is luxury but I will use them to sleep in, or wear it when flies and attacking insects allow me to hike in them (I really prefer light running shorts over zipped off trousers! A slight breeze in the crack pushes me fast forward…).
And now I really stop to complain about my gear being to heavy:
- First of all it is my fault because I packed it, even I know better (Don’t pack your fears!)
- Second: if I keep complaining, I will end up throwing it out my pack and I will loose the comfort I think I need…. (shit, „I think I need“ is a hint that I pack my fears… STOP THINKING NOW!)
Anyways, stay tuned for updates!