My gear

A list of my gear. Some are old, some are new. Living in Scandinavia calls for thicker, heavier gear, which is contrasting with my tropical travel life. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. None of the items mentioned in this post are sponsored items. All products were purchased by myself.

Clothes for adventurous times

  • Hard shell jacket
  • Water and windproof winter jacket
  • ‘Field pants’ / trousers (lightweight and zip-off is a plus in the summertime!)
  • Buff (merino wool)
  • Wool t-shirts
  • Wool socks (Smartwool is what I use)
  • Hiking socks (hiking socks from Falke are my favorite!)
  • Icelandic sweater (essential item when living in Scandinavia, especially if you love the outdoors and if you have a degree in Biology if you ask me 😉 )

Falke has some really great hiking socks that are ideal for summer use. They are called TK 2 Cool and are thick on the toes and heel, but thin on the upper foot and ankle.

For winter I use my merino Smartwool socks. They are great for my offshore work where I am wearing heavy safety boots and also for birding and hiking in the winter time.

In general, wool is the best material I have befriended. I recently changed my polyester sports clothes that I usually wore on hikes with merino wool t-shirts and sweater and wow… just wow. You can wear it for days before you need to wash it 🙂

Black is kind of camouflage, don’t you think?

My boots

‘Heavy duty boots’ from Lowa Mauria GTX

My first pair of hiking boots were from Salomon, and they followed me everywhere to Kenya, Thailand and Geogria. I have had a thing for choosing boots by color, and not by function. When my favorite pairs of brown Salomon hiking boots had to be retired, I was torn between trying leather boots and continue with synthetic Salomon boots with GoreTex. I bought these boots from Lowa and so far they have been overkill for the types of hikes I have been on. On the other side, they worked well as winter boots when I was in Sweden winter wonderland in January 2022 and it was minus 5-15 degrees Celcius.

I am excited to again have Salomon GTX boots, but they were tough to break into. Once they are ‘softened’ by use, I can use them carefree and they don’t require any major maintenance work like leather boots do.

My backpacks

Backpacks are like family. They stay with you all the time, and they can drive you nuts on vacations.

Honestly, I have one too many packs. Despite saying that, they all have a purpose. None of them were mistakes, I swear!

In the photo below we were leaving Vienna to go hiking in Slovakia for a week. The large backpack was never with me on the hike, only the little backpack from Jack Wolfskin (similar to this product from Jack Wolfskin).

Double back-packing is very convenient for inter rail trips! Photo from Vienna->Slovakia

My large backpack from Vaude was used in South Africa (2012), Thailand (2015), Kenya (2016), Slovakia (2018), Central America (2018) and probably more places :). The large pack is 70 liters, my smallest is 25 liters. For day tripping’ I use the one below for hikes or a smaller 35 liter pack for my birding gear, water, snacks etc.

My take is that all the backpack companies make new models all the time, to optimize weight and other features. I recommend buying an older model (few years), they are just as good quality. I also think you should try out a backpack in a real store, to see if it fits your body and if it is comfortable for you.

My newest addition to the ‘flock’ is a Deuter backpack model Futura Vario 45+10 SL. I needed something between a day pack and a large backpack that I could bring for short hikes. I recently used it on a two-day hike here in Denmark, and the size of the pack was perfect for a small hiking trip.

My poles

I swear to hiking poles on mountain hikes. I will never go without again! Hiking in high elevation is extremely hard on my body, and all the stress you put into my feet, knee etc. is now relieved with the poles. I am currently using these from Manfrotto (see photo). They seem to also get more and more sophisticated, but less will do. If you like birding and photography, it may be difficult too if you have hiking poles.

Manfrotto

Miscellaneous items

  • Packing cubes: Eagle Creek, 3 sizes
  • Travel towels (different brands)
  • Lock (easily locking stuff away in hostels)
  • Head Lamp (essential for camping and hiking trips. I use Petzl, they have an emergency whistle in the headband and red flashing lights function!)
  • PacSafe pouch for valuables (slash-proof, metal wire, used for hostels, camping)
  • Money belt from Eagle Creek (hidden under clothes and included RFID blocker to protect credit cards)
  • Toiletry bag for camping, offshore.. Mine is from Eagle Creek (they seem to not be produced anymore!)
  • Powerbank (we have been testing out a solar driven power bank but very unsuccessful. They seem to be my nemesis, or maybe I have been really unlucky with the two types I’ve tried)
  • Hydration pack 3 liter OR Nalgene water bottle 1 liter

// Rie

Tiny warbler from wetlands outside Hopkins, Belize