You obviously need to bring things when you are hiking. Depending on the landscape, terrain, weather, and your needs, the purpose of the trip, etc, the stuff you want bring will differ wildly. The featured image (above) is from Keswick, in the Lake District in England, and what I needed to bring when hiking there was very different from what I’ll need on this trip. Sunscreen for instance. 😀

I’ll bring these things on my journey along the Nakasendō.

What’s in the bags?

Because I’ll check in the backpack when flying to Japan, the Red bag contains stuff I’ll need on the flight, such as cables for charging, a power bank, ear buds, a notebook, a fountain pen (Kaweco Frosted Sport: Blush Pitaya…), an extra t-shirt, and a handkerchief. When I arrive and start hiking, I’ll do some slight rearranging, and then I’ll use this bag for food stuffs out on the road, when needed.

The Yellow-green bag is used for underwear, ie socks and pants.

The Blue bag is where I have my raincoat.

The Orange bag is for my electronics, such as charging cables, a 65W Japanese plug for charging my phone and my laptop, a tiny USB-C/USB-A converter and possibly more.

The Black bag is for three extra t-shirts. One with long sleeves and two without. So really, actually only two t-shirts, and one other shirt…

In the Dark green bag are hygiene products, such as toothbrush, toothpaste, razors, salves, nail clippers, foot file and more.

And finally, in the Grey bag is health stuff, such as sunscreen, tick repellant, inhalator, allergy eye drops and spray, Compede blister plasters, pain killers, normal band aids etc.

The computer doesn’t go in a separate bag, and neither do the two water bottles, nor my passport or my wallet. I pack the hiking poles in the backpack which I’ll check in on my flight, but they’ll mostly be in my hands during the days I hike.

The coloured packing bags are really pretty great for being able to find stuff in the backpack during the days when I’m hiking. There is absolutely no need to panic-search for something small, digging through all the stuff in the bag. You just look for the colour you need, and fish that one out. Also, if I know what each bag is supposed to contain, it’s a lot easier for me to check if I’ve happened to miss packing something every morning before I leave.

Not featured in the picture is a small bottle of alcogel that I keep in the front hip pocket of the backpack, my sunhat, and the clothes I’ll be wearing, as well as my phone. You might also note that I’m not bringing anything for sleeping in the wild, such as a tent/wind protection, sleeping gear, or camp stove and so on. I’ll spend all nights in various ryokan, minshuku, hotels, and bed & breakfasts so those kinds of things won’t be necessary. People hiking the Nakasendō during the Edo period didn’t sleep in the rough either if they could avoid it – that’s what the the post stations were there for. This hike is not a venture into a rugged wilderness.

The total weight of everything that will be in the backpack during hiking is about 8.5 kilos, including the bag itself.