Trekking (Mongolia) 101

As have time on my hands (there you have it for loooong arse layovers! And Seoul airport for being magical for speedy wi-fi), thought would do a little blog about my own experience, to be used for my reference, for future trekking trips.

When I was preparing for this trip, I think I was a bit too detailed with my reading of my Kilimanjaro CLIMB, not trek, and brought too many things.  So needless to say, grrrr, over-packed with unnecessary things for say mountain climbing and not trekking. Ugh! 

As any trekker or hiker or climber will tell you, every experience is different. Weather, the environment, the season, conditions, there are so many factors that can vary. With this trip, we were told to be prepared for "mountain weather," which really is 4-seasons. True dat.

This trip was about 8 full days in western mountains of Mongolia in late July, early August. We literally did have 35 deg C days and then nights down to 0 to -5 deg C. And as mentioned in previous blog, pelting rain for a short period when trekking. Just once though. Granted we were lucky with not so much rain during our hike compared to some previous trips they have had. Phew! Rained at night a few times but we were well protected by our tents. 

So here is what I found useful for if backpack and then daypack...

Backpack (in no particular order!):

(On a side note, have a 70L super awesome Gregory backpack which has a great feature of opening up in the middle and not all top down. Also on a side note because they are so bulky, wore my super dooper Salomon trekking shoes, best shoes EVER!!!)

• Hiking poles! A must for trekking! 

• 3 pairs of hiking socks (good hiking socks. Accidentally had a pair that was too short hiking socks and bam, onset of a blister)
• 1-2 pairs of normal socks to wear during off time and/or at night for chilly nights.
• 1 pair of gym shoes and 1 fit flop/flip flops (both for post hiking cool downs, depending on the weather)
• 4 t-shirts, either cool-max or my new fave, icebreaker/merino wool
• 2 pairs of travel pants that have the shorts to zipper off and also can be made capri's
• 1 Capri exercise pants, good for post trek relaxing and also to sleep in
• 1 base layer -Merino wool long sleeve short and pants. Actually used this for sleeping in cold nights. Amazing!
• 2 sportsbra's and 5 underwear (had also liners).
• 2 long-sleeve shirts: cool-max and merino wool. 
• 1 thicker zip down long-sleeve fleece
• RAINJACKET and rain pants, a MUST! 
• (Brought a thicker ski jacket and because I had it, wore it a couple of chilly mornings but still deciding if I really needed it?). 
• A down vest - super handy and probably my fave article of clothing. Am a big fan of vests for travel like this. Also used the vest as a bit of cushiony pillow when sleeping. 
• Extra long neck gators, both thick and thin. Also a must, the gators were used as hats, neck gators and also a head covering for my greasy non-showered hair. It was great!!! Besides the vest, the next best thing I had with me. 

• (Also brought a hat and ear covering thing which I never used).
• A few protein bars came in handy( no more than 3).. We had ample food, but sometimes the lunches were a bit carby, and it was good to have some protein. I also brought some Chomps, like electrolyte candy things, but didn't really need it or use it. 
• TOILET paper!!! I oversupplied here, but to be safe 4 rolls was more than handy. 
• Baby cleansing wipes!! A must! One 150 wipe pack was enough for "showering." I of course brought extra (but not needed).
• As far as toiletries, brought face cleansing wipes, toothpaste and brush, hair brush, of course deodorant, floss. That's about all I needed and used! Of course had unnecessary extra things. Had soup (for washing clothes or myself) but didn't end up doing that. 
• An extra 1L water bottle. Super handy for teeth brushing and also refilling with natural stream water and then dumping I to camelback
• Sleep: had sleeper sheet which came in handy, my own pillow case, and an inflatable pillow. Prob could have brought another one (one of those "should I or shouldn't I bring..."). Also used a travel towel as a pillow, never used the travel towel so I guess it came in handy that way! And of course melatonin, eye mask (especially for those bright nights), and ear plugs. 
• Small tissue packets always come in handy but TP is just as handy
• Meds/1st aide- a must is Compeed, this brilliant blister/ mega thick bandaide thing, it's amazing and does not come off easily and seemingly stays on forever! Also bandaides came in handy and alcohol wipes. Initially used Ercefuryl ( a new travel must for me), this French anti- stomach bacteria tablet that I was almost using as prevention, then just realized didn't really need it, had no stomach issues. That's pretty much all I used and needed! What I had with me was everything from anti-biotic, Panadol, Imodium, TUMS (did use that once), some other random stomach things to other random things. I guess better safe than sorry! 
• (Also had a "steripen," this brilliant water filter thing that purifies water with a strobe electromagnetic light. Too bad never needed to use it because the stream water was sooooo fresh and awesomw. D'oh!).
• As mentioned, EMS awesome sleeping bag to 0 deg C (which was awesomely warm. The couple had a 5 deg C and they said the were freezing). And a thermarest sleeping mat, which I had better luck inflating this time around than last year. Also borrowed from the company this other extra pad thing, made the ground a wee bit softer.
• Medium weight gloves (not super thin liners, not ski gloves)
• Random: extra sunscreen, mosquito repellent (but we were too high in altitude for that! There were some though lower down!). 

Hmmm... I think that's it! I listed the thins I found useful and important. I unfortunately brought more than that!!

Daypack - camelback that holds 1.5L of water, super useful!! 

• Sunglasses! Must! Must!! 
• 50 sph sunscreen, a small tube kept in my pants pocket and another one in my bag.
• CHAPSTICK with sph! MUST! Learned the hard way at Kilimanjaro. Also saw how the guide and the herdsmen had blistered lips, ouch! Was grateful remembered and even had an extra one I donated. Actually had it in my pocket along with this a small sunscreen tube.
• Toilet paper!!!! 
• Anti- bac, tissues
• 1-2 protein bars, a small Baggie of nuts
• Rainpants and rainjacket- important to have handy and accessible. 
• Mini 1st aide baggie: panadol, (very tiny TUMS packet), Compeed (the blister thing), Ercefuryl (stomach bacteria), alcohol wipes, bandaides, panadol.
• Medium weight gloves
• Both thin and thick (fleece) long "neck" gators, which I pretty much used as a hat and changed once was too hot or cold. 
• A scarf. Good for that in between weather or just to wrap around when we would stop for a break and it got a bit chilly.

• A small Baggie with travel dettol wipes and cleansing wipes ("wash" hands before eating, etc).
• 1 LWater bottle which I kept empty because camelback enough, but was handy for filling it with natural mountain spring water to put in the camel back. Had it in one side pocket.
• CAMERA (with spare battery). Had this in other side pocket, readily accessible!
• A couple of small extra ziplock baggies. Again, can come in handy for protecting something against rain or in our case, when the ger lady gave us some curd to take with us. :-) 

Usually started with a lot of layers and as we walked, de-layered and had to have room to store all the layers!

Hmmm.... I think that's it! In the grand scheme of things, backpacking or camping or even traveling should have one lesson and one lesson for all, less is more. One can always manage with what they have. I am so annoyed (again) that I overpacked and overstocked on things. Layering is key with these kind of trips and one can always make do with what they have. 

Hopefully my lesson will be learned next time around!!!