Packing to Climb Mount Kilimanjaro

The Tanzania Chronicles #4

Last updated on March 8th, 2021 at 03:49 pm

All the gear that Casey and Sarah are taking on their Kilimanjaro trek
After 3 or 4 trips to Mountain Equipment Co-op and one of the biggest holes ever seen in their wallets, Casey and Sarah have everything they could likely ever need to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro…

As you can see, I wasn’t kidding when I said that the amount of gear we’d gotten for this trip is utterly ridiculous.

But it’s like I was telling a friend while enjoying a walk in the sunshine on Tuesday—you can’t put a price on safety or survival. Being a mountain climbing novice, if an expert tells me that I need something, I am not about to argue!

But part of packing for a trip like this is finding balance. Having a few weeks off from one’s regular life is an opportunity to do things they’ve always wanted to do—relax; write stories; catch up on some reading… you’ll have more free time than you might be used to!

But you’ll also only have so much of your stuff! Especially on a trip like this, I need to make more room for essentials and keep the luxuries to a minimum. (However, please believe that Sakshi and Trevor are going to get their butt handed to them in board games if I have anything to say about it!) It’s good that they already supplied us with packing lists; otherwise, I wouldn’t know what the heck I was doing and you’d hear stories of me on the top of Kilimanjaro suffering from hypothermia or something! Usually, I pack like this:

  • A type of sketch that I usually draw when I'm packing for a trip.
  • A checklist that I'd normally use to pack for a trip.

…but this time there’s been no time for fun cartoons or lengthy lists. No… this time, it’s all about seeing how much I can fit in that bag (making sure that it ends up being under 15 kg) and learning to live with less (one could also learn a thing or two from the process that my friends Trevor and Sakshi used to pack for a six-month trip.

I’m sure there’s a life lesson in here somewhere…

The second logo for Casey Palmer, Canadian Dad

By Casey E. Palmer

Husband. Father. Storyteller.

Calling the Great White North his home, Casey Palmer the Canadian Dad spend his free time in pursuit of the greatest content possible.

Thousand-word blog posts? Snapshots from life? Sketches and podcasts and more—he's more than just a dad blogger; he's working to change what's expected of the parenting creators of the world.

It's about so much more than just our kids.

When Casey's not creating, he's busy parenting, adventuring, trying to be a good husband and making the most of his life!

Casey lives in Toronto, Ontario.

2 replies on “Packing to Climb Mount Kilimanjaro”

I need to do a trip like this (just the necessities) eventually. My sis went to Costa Rica last summer for 3 weeks (a Raw food cleanse vacation, thingy) and loved it.

I don’t even know what kind of trip I’d want to go on next, to be honest — I kind of feel that after a trip like this, going to resorts/cruises and the like won’t feel the same anymore.

I think my wife is turning me into an outdoorsy type :S I didn’t see it coming!

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