Video summary
The video provides a comprehensive overview of the essential gear packed for the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, presented live from the narrator's tent during their hike. The narrator begins by detailing their daily backpack, an REI 40-liter bag that serves as their primary carrier for day hikes. Key items include a rain cover to protect against sudden downpours, a 3-liter Osprey water bladder which they typically fill only halfway to maintain a lightweight load, and a separate water bottle with electrolytes. They emphasize the importance of carrying a personal first aid kit containing essentials like emergency blankets, headlamps for early evening descents, wet wipes, stomach medication such as Tums, pain relievers like Advil, and sunscreen, noting that UV protection is necessary even on cloudy days.
Clothing layers are presented as another critical component of the packing strategy, designed to handle variable weather conditions ranging from intense rain to cold nights at camp. The narrator carries multiple base layers made of merino wool for warmth and comfort, along with fleece jackets and a puffy jacket for insulation around the campsite. To combat heavy rainfall, they bring both a high-quality rain jacket and disposable plastic ponchos that cover the entire backpack and body, allowing hikers to keep their hands free. Additionally, three pairs of hiking pants are packed to ensure dryness when one pair gets soaked, alongside dedicated rain pants for extreme weather scenarios. The narrator also includes extra socks and underwear for daily changes, as well as a hat for warmth during dinner or at night.
Beyond the day pack, the video explores the contents of the duffel bag carried by porters, which holds items not needed during active hiking but essential for comfort and hygiene at camp. This includes sleeping systems like merino wool base layers and socks, additional clothing layers such as a fleece from Columbia and a lightweight city jacket, and three pairs of hiking pants to manage wet conditions. The duffel bag also contains a microfiber towel for use in hot showers provided by the trekking company, body wipes for days without showers, hand warmers, and various medications including antibiotics, altitude sickness remedies like Diamox or herbal supplements, and electrolytes. The narrator highlights the utility of separating dirty and clean clothes using specific pouches and mentions packing feminine hygiene products, insect repellent, and a wide array of personal care items to ensure a comfortable experience throughout the multi-day journey.
Finally, the narrator addresses the logistical aspects of reaching Machu Picchu and managing gear weight limits imposed by porters. They explain that upon arriving at the final campsite before Machu Picchu, hikers often take a side hike to the ruins, making it impractical to drag a large backpack; thus, a compact 20-liter bag is used for this specific leg of the journey. This smaller bag holds water, snacks, and necessary electronics like portable chargers, extra batteries for cameras and GoPros, SD cards, and cables. The video concludes by reinforcing that while some items like insect repellent or specific altitude medicines might not be strictly mandatory depending on the season or personal health, packing a well-organized system with redundancies for clothing and water is vital for safety and enjoyment on this challenging trek.
Read the full video transcript
uh this video is live from my tent while
I'm hiking the classic inel toat picture
I have some downtime and I thought I'd
share with you everything that I packed
for the ink this is the classic ink drat
picture this is my third time doing it
um I'm going to start first of all with
my day pack this is the backpack I would
carry with me on day hikes every single
day this one is a an REI bag 40 L
okay uh I think between 30 to 40 L is
ideal so that you have extra space so I
would hike in this every single day this
backpack come with a rain cover which is
actually right
here all right this is a little bit
dirty but comes with its own rain cover
which usually fits in this pocket right
here if you don't have a backpack that
comes with a rain cover then you would
want to make sure that you have a rain
cover to keep your bag protected very
important second thing every day on the
ink Trail I would fill my water bladder
which is an opray 3 lit water
bladder with the way we organize our
trkking adventures you would have access
to water at each uh stop so for lunch
for example we don't have to pack water
for the whole day just half day and then
refill at lunch and the same thing
dinner and in the morning for breakfast
and refill again at lunch so usually
this is 3 l in the past I would I used
to fill it fully but that makes my
backpack so heavy so I would stick to
around no more than 2 L in this one and
then I would also uh bring a water
bottle that I can use if I want water
with some electrolytes this is the one
that I brought with me and in the past
when I hi the ink first time second time
I would fill it all the way to the brim
I don't do that anymore just like half
here so that my backpack stays
lightweight so I have that in my
backpack all the time time I also have
an Emer first aid kit all the time every
single day even though the guys have
their own and you can get support from
your team but it's important to have
yours I'm going to link to this one it
has a lot of Essentials you know just
Basic Essentials on the
trail uh in this uh inner pocket and
this is literally what I packed today I
have an emergency blanket very important
it actually saved me once on the in it
rained so much and I started feeling
really cold my second track on the inat
shell and I use this emergency blanket
just to hold the my body's temperature
need
help and here I have like some hair
ties EXT
lights
mus I don't know why I have a floss but
I have it anyway these things are not
very important I'm going to get here
headlamp you have to have a headlamp cuz
you just don't know what can what time
you will get to Camp it get get dark
especially like right now the sunset's
pretty early so I have a headlamp and
make sure you have extra batteries too
uh today I knew that I was going to be
pretty cold so I had this
um a head cover I haven't really used it
today I have wet
wipes in this little pouch just a bunch
of uh medicine so I have some Tums and I
have Advil I do have stomach issues
usually when I'm hiking because we start
early in the morning so my stomach is
upset early in the morning so I have TS
with me Advil for headaches and pressure
from high altitude hand
sanitizer and sunscreen that was in the
pouch as well very important to have
your sunscreen because you'll have to
apply and reapply even if it's uh not
sunny outside you have to apply like
today for example it was like foggy and
rainy and then I got to dead women's
Pals and I can feel like my face is
burned even though I applied sunscreen
but I forgot to
reapply uh there are some spots on the
in trail by the way like on your way up
to De women's P where you can buy some
snacks so earlier today I got myself
Pringles so this is what I usually have
in my backpack said water first aid kit
headlamp super important and then I have
an extra layer I always have an extra
layer that's uh in case like you know my
layer get wet if it's a lot of rain or
if I'm feeling cold and then depends on
what day of the inkel so for example
today the second day I had this extra
layer and I packed this fleece that I'm
wearing cuz I knew it would get uh cold
in some sections and then underneath
this one I was wearing an omni heat
layer I'm going to link it if you guys
are interested in that so I packed this
one and I wore my highing pants so in my
bag I basically had this layer and then
I had a
fleece and I also had my rain jacket I
don't want to put it inside the sweat
but I had my rain jacket in my back pack
you have to have rain prot protection
very important and in addition to my
rain jacket because I learned in the
that if there is a lot of rain the rain
jacket is not going to be super helpful
so I pack a plastic Pono this is
something that we give to our Travelers
who are hiking the Inc Trail it's very
basic plastic Pono but it covers
everything and it works perfect so it
covers your head and then it covers also
your backpack because it's pretty wide
so I would wear my backpack and the
backpack has a rain cover and then on
top of all of that I have the Pono cover
in all of me and then I tie it in the
side so that I can use my hands super
super helpful especially for rainy days
like today so I would have that in my
backpack and then I would have things
like uh you know just if you stop stop
for bathroom break you have some toilet
paper or wet wipes and you have hand
sanitizer so I ped I showed you earlier
hand sanitizer um and I will have my
camera as well as a portable charger I
do take a lot of videos for content and
things like that on the trail so it's
important for me to have a portable
charger this is the anchor 20,000
milliamp I've used it in many
Expeditions before I used it in kjaro
for almost 8 days it worked perfectly
fine so I would have that in my
backpack and we talked about water I
think this
covers yeah so I would have extra
batteries as well like for cameras and
GoPro and things like that but for the
most part that covers everything that I
usually pack with me for day hikes U or
at least what I packed with me for today
now I'm going to show you what I'm
bringing with me on the Inc Trail on my
duffel bag because there is a duffel bag
that we would give to the porters and
they would carry it throughout the day
and when we get to Camp around the
towards the end of the day they would
give us our duffel bag and the duffel
bag will basically have everything that
you don't need throughout your day hikes
if that makes sense so I'm going to show
you what's in my duffel bag I forgot to
mention Chopstick very important when
you are hiking at high elevation or your
lips are going to get so dry so it's
good to pick a good one this is one that
I grabbed from the US honestly it's not
the best but our guides gave us gifts
earlier in the
trip but I removed the tag but anyway so
this is a local brand it worked really
really well but point is make sure you
have Chapstick and apply it and reapply
it this is my LEL
bag okay so first of all I'm using the
packing cubes even on my daff boag
because it keeps things
organized um most most important things
for me is to have my sleeping system
this is what I would wear every night at
Camp so I have uh base layers Marin wool
it's pretty warm I have this one right
here a top and then a bottom they both
are super comfortable super warm so I
would sleep in this every single day on
the incat trail and then I would also
have a pair of socks this one that I'm
wearing right here this is just for Camp
just for going to bed I will wear the
same uh pair of socks box uh because it
gets pretty warm and then um here I
packed the layers that I brought on the
ink tril so um just to give you an idea
I have this layer I'm wearing right
here I have a second layer pretty
similar this is Omni heat layers by
Colombia I've had this one for a long
time and this one I bought from Cusco
because I felt like I didn't have enough
layers they do have uh two stores I have
a pagonia store and a Columbia store in
the main plaza in cus so I bought this
one from there and then I bought a
t-shirt just in case it gets a little
bit
warmer so that's three layers right
three layers and I'm going to cover the
tops I brought this
fleece super warm from Koto poxy got it
from Ari on sale it's amazing I'm so
happy with it and then I also brought a
puffy jacket just going over the tops
this is a puffy jacket I would wear it
it's also around camp this is this
fleece I wore today on the hike but then
this one I would wear it around Camp so
this like if I'm having dinner with the
team this is what I would wear things
I'm sleeping in and then my uh puffy
jacket okay another top I packed the a
more lightweight uh jacket this is a
jacket that I usually wear just around
the city in San Francisco but I really
like it so when we started day one I had
a T-shirt and I had this one it's pretty
comfortable super lightweight it's not
really warm so it's more for like day
one one
second
graas the guys from our team just
stopped by my tent to bring me some warm
water this is some something that we do
for people traveling with us just have a
ofir so that you can wash your face and
a little towel which is really nice okay
so uh this covers everything that I
packed for the tops I believe for the
bottoms for hiking pants I packed three
I packed this one right here this is a
hiking pants from Prana I've had it for
so many years I love it so much I loved
it so much that I got another one blue
um not too long ago just specifically
for this trp so I have two Prana hiking
pants they are a little bit thick so
even you know they can take could beat
and they're super comfortable too and uh
I got another
one that's a bit more
lightweight yeah so three uh hiking
pants you really need three not really
because people sometimes just wear the
same pair of pants for two days but I'm
so happy that I have three on this trip
in particular
because um you know it rained so like
this one I know it's getting wet I'm not
going to be able to rewear it's not
going to dry quick that's the problem
when it R you're not going to be able to
dry your clothes real quick and in
addition to these three pants I also
brought rain pants which I haven't used
yet uh but I remember last year when I H
the ink Trail I had a super crazy rainy
day where I was wearing my rain jacket
it got soaked my pants got soaked
everything got soaked thank God I had an
emergency blanket uh to keep me warm and
protected and covered from the rain uh
but since then I decided I'm going to
always bring rain pants for rainy
days um I found another layer the
T-shirt uh this is another Marino wool
t-shirt that I brought with me and I
bought it on day one I wore it on day
one as well okay
so I think that covers pretty much
everything I got two I packed the two
sports bra I'm not really wearing a
clean one every single day it's not
necessary and then I have this hat that
I bought from Cusco in 2018 keeps me
warm at night or for dinner
and then I obviously packed a bunch of
uh underwear and socks for underwear
just clean peirs every single day and
then pairs to sleep in every night and
then for socks same thing I want to make
sure that I have clean socks every
single day so that's that and clean
socks for every single day and then one
pair of socks to sleep in that's how I
uh usually do it okay in my duffel bag
also I have a microfiber towel goes in
this pouch actually packs really nice um
in case I need it uh there are actually
some campsites in uh on the ink tra
where you can take a shower but it's
cold um for our teams uh we travel with
tracking Pals we provide hot shower so
that's super nice um hence why I have
the
towel I have uh wet wipes and I usually
like if there are no showers um cuz when
I did the ink first time there were no
showers and second time there wer no
showers I would pack Body wipes so that
I can use them to clean myself at the
end of every uh Day hike I have some uh
hand warmers haven't used them didn't
really need them some plastic bags and
then I have this pouch from SE to Summit
and I basically just use it to separate
dirty clothes from clean clothes so
everything that's dirty socks underwear
everything goes in there this is a a b
pack 20 L from SE to
Summit um it's very Compact and I
usually take it so that when we get to
the size of mat pctu we drop our bags
and we go go for TS in the matchu piku
uh City they don't want you to take big
bulky backpacks so I would take this one
and throw in some water and whatever it
is that I need and also on day three of
the ink Trail uh we usually get to camp
and then we take a side hike and that
side hike is probably like 40 minutes
from Camp so when that happens I don't
want to drag my big backpacks I would
just take this one I love this this is
one of my favorite pieces of gear in my
duffel
bag I also have some uh painkillers
electrolytes I also packed some
antibiotics just in case I get sick um
and I have some Tums and really all the
medication that you would need
throughout your adventure if you are uh
thinking about taking diog to help you
with high altitude sickness that's
something that you probably consider
packing as
well I have
sunglasses I love these Jewel bows but I
honestly I don't think I'm going to wear
them probably wear them towards the end
of the track just for photos I used my
vision I use my vision glasses as my
sunglasses and that works pretty well
unless until it rains when it rains oh
my gosh I can't see very well with my
sunglasses it's a little bit annoying I
have a hat a sun hat in case it's sunny
this is another pouch with just a bunch
of medication electrolytes by the way if
you don't bring electrolytes with you
from the US or wherever you're traveling
from you can buy electrolytes from uh
pharmacies in Cusco this is a brand that
I was recommended and I really like it
this this is what it looks like when you
go buy them from Cusco uh they sell it
like this you tell them how many of
these uh saet do you want and it's
pretty salty but it's really good and I
also have some herbal uh altitude
medicine that you can also buy from the
pharmacy it's not diox it's not aide
it's uh more like um nutritional
supplements that you can take and it
helps with they say it helps with high
altitude sickness I didn't take it Des
sign but I took it before and um
I also have this brand sent me these uh
uh bio strips they're supposed to have a
lot of uh uh supplements also so it
works like this I should probably take
one right now they sent them to me to
try them and share my feedback and I
think I've been liking them I've been
taking them throughout my
travels just like this on your tongue
and that's
that they're supposed to have clean
ingredients and things like that so
that's what I have my Ziploc bag I also
recommend that you pack some Ziploc bags
with you just to keep things organized
or if you have like wet clothes or stuff
like that I didn't do it this time but
uh that's
recommended and then also what do I have
here I have some feminine hygiene
products and things like that but I also
have um insect repellant this is a
lotion because you might come across the
mosquitoes on the ink
Trail um it wasn't a that big of a
problem this trip
honestly every time I had the ink Trail
it happened in November I never had
problem with mosquitoes but I pack it
with me just in case cuz that's the last
annoyance that you want while you are
hiking um on this pouch I have just like
all of my cables extra batteries for
GoPros another portable charger my good
portable charger 20 20,000 milliamp this
is just 6,000 milliamps in case I need
it batteries SD card holder all type of
cable
and all of these things go into my uh
duffel bag and I have my toiletry bag so
toothbrush uh toothpaste I pack
deodorant I can't do without I have hand
sanitizer I have flaws I have
hairbrush
mhm Q-tips as
well you don't really need all of these
things but I'm trying to make the trip a
bit more comfortable for me so I pack
things that you know are just
comfortable this whole pouch is not
necessary but here I have some mascara
and I have moisturizer and I have
lipstick and a
sharpener there is actually a weight
limit on how much you can uh have your
Porters carry as in