Every year friends and I gather for a reunion, this summer in Texas - a great opportunity to refine my packing list before spending four months in South America. I plan to bring a new 14 liter Gregory drift, originally designed for mountain biking, which apparently means it has features I LOVE for international travel. It comes with a three liter water bladder/reservoir to help keep me hydrated, and it collapses, which was great when I needed extra space in the pack for snacks on short hikes. It will be my smallest international travel pack yet!
Texas was 100 degrees all four days, making it the ideal environment to test the upper temperature range of my gear. Merino wool in three digit temps - why not?
The 4 day trip included 12 hours exploring Houston on foot and 3 days in state parks surrounding Austin. I was a little more strategic about packing for this trip - what did I bring?
For starters, here is a photo of me walking from downtown Houston to the "gayborhood." Check out my pack fully loaded on top of the explore sign!
Conditions
Boston (point of departure): 85 degrees and sunny
Houston & Austin (destination): 99-101 degrees and sunny
Clothing worn (see selfie above)
Running Shoes
Merino wool socks
Cotton T-Shirt
Carry Gear
Gregory 3 liter H2O reservoir (included with Drift 14)
Gregory 2 zipper tool pouch (included with Drift 14)
Extra Clothing
Torrid Apex jacket (Charcoal)
Synthetic boxers
Synthetic shorts
Cotton t-shirt
Extra sock pair
Lightheart Gear rain jacket (orange)
Toiletries
Nail clipper (Free giveaway)
Chapstick (Free giveaway)
4 strands dental floss wound around plastic tag from bread bag
Deodorant (in plastic bag with case removed)
Retainer and case
Electronics and Personal Items
Moto turbo charging block
Headphones
Kindle charging cord
Mini USB to USB-C adapter (white) to charge phone with Kindle cord
Wallet in homemade money band
Front door keys
Even with all of these items my pack had plenty of space for snacks (a granola bar, peanut butter pretzels, fruit leather, and beef jerky) and room to spare!
You may notice some significant changes from my trip to Georgia. I swapped the Patagonia R1 hoody to the Torrid APEX jacket from Enlightened Equipment, purchased for my upcoming South America trip (jacket review pending). So far I love it - it's warmer and packs smaller than the Patagonia R1. Although I didn't need it much in Texas, I did use it on the cold airplane and wanted to pack as much of my South America gear as possible.
The new backpack is 3 liters larger than the pack I brought to Georgia, but the included water reservoir tripled my water capacity compared to my old thermos. I reduced smaller items, like my deodorant, by removing the plastic container, and freed up space by changing from paper books to a new e-reader. I also left unnecessary keys at home and trimmed down my wallet. Overall these changes gave me more flexibility for day-long hikes and fit everything in the pack that I hope to use in South America!
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