Iceland: Journal Entry: The Traveling Gnome

Anyone, and by that, I mean everyone: who has attempted to complete a multi-day backpacking trip knows that the weight of your backpack is an intricate ratio that will determine the success of your expedition:

• The weight and size of your backpack will regulate the extent of your sanity during a long hiking excursion. 
  First river crossing on our Landamannalaugar hike. This was our honorary warm-up.

  
  The weight amount is inversely proportional to the speed with which your shoulders/hips will turn in to mush causing discomfort and annoyance.  Note: once the aching starts it will only get worse, breaks and rest will not alleviate the pain.  Through learned personal experience, we recommend to take a moment, collect your self, find a spot somewhere in the mountains [a location where only god and your partner can hear you], take a deep breath and belch out all your frustrations in one agonizing howl [hand gesticulation is encouraged for infused effect].  One will be sufficient.  Please be aware that excessive belching of this kind may lead to cynicism and degradation of spirit.
• Similarly, the weight and size of your backpack will determine the functional-diversity of your gear.  As an example: do you bring a tripod?  A bulky sturdy tripod is perfect when you want to take a glorified selfie together.  And despite some smartphone advertisement campaigns, no self-respecting photographer would be caught dead using a selfie stick in Iceland.  So, do you bring one, and jeopardize the sanctity of your body parts [as is outlined in the previous bullet] or do you leave the tripod behind and rely on your zany imagination [hoping for a relatively stable rock that can be supported by a backpack to offset gale winds that threaten to shatter your expensive camera equipment].  We opted for the stable rock with a backpack during some gnarly patches of furious gusts – the camera survived and we got the shot.
• The cost: anything lightweight will double the price tag of your equipment.  I swear, slapping the phrase ultra lightweight on a piece of backpacking gear escalates the squeeze on your wallet just like the word organic or probiotic would on a grocery store item.

So, what do you do when you want to document your adventure and you need a token that could be used as a touch-point [like a traveling gnome].  I looked it up and turns out an average weight of a Traveling Gnome [depending on the location of your purchase] would roughly be 308.29g.  Should your shoulders and hips be sacrificed for the extra weight? Will you “accidentally” destroy the damn sucker during one of your spirited howls?

I forgot to add this to the earlier post: Iceland: Journal Entry: how did Max talk Iris into this? – leave the damn gnome at home, your girlfriend’s sanity and specifically the sanctity of her hips far outweigh the cliche memorabilia.  Instead, use something you can’t live without, something that will accompany you through all the hardships and challenges.  In our case, we could not live without a fresh/hot cup of coffee, gently mixed with a whisp of delicious chocolate.  Obviously, the basic requirement for a soothing/sweet/refreshing beverage is boiling water, and that leads us to our basic requirement and something we could not live without.

Drumm roll…….. a portable stove cooking set, which, from now on I will refer to as “Our Backpacking Traveling Gnome” or “OBTG”.

We didn’t set out on our adventure knowing the identity of OBTG but rather discovered it midway.  The how will become evident from the below mentioned references:

• Every morning, after a night of semi-restful sleep: groggy, confused, and not in the mood to start the day, we reached for our OBTG in order to create the chocolate/coffee infused ambrosia
• Through rain, through sunshine, through mist and wind, our OBTG kept us warm and nourished, endlessly providing the source of fuel and warmth to cook our meals
• The OBTG was a constant reminder that even in the darkest hour when our best was at an all-time low, we had something warm and comfortable awaiting us

Our OBTG brought us joy, happiness and gave us a sense of gratitude that carried us forward.

Some practical tips:

• A cooking stove requires a propane canister: DO NOT take one with you on a plane, not even in your checked-in baggage.  I have to admit that I was naive enough to believe that the FAA didn’t care about propane canisters [even though they CLEARLY plaster the warnings throughout your boarding process], thankfully Iris and a helpful salesman at our local outdoors shop confirmed my ineptitude; and for that I am grateful
• When you are in Iceland you have 3 options to pick up a portable propane canister:
  • Go to a gas station.  That is the advice that we’ve received before embarking on our journey.  This option works but is quite expensive.
  • One way or another you will find your way to a grocery store called Bonus [the deals are simply amazing].  Some, not all, actually sell propane canisters.  Keeping looking and ignore statements [from the staff]: “we do not sell that, try a gas station”.  Simply go to the next local Bonus shop.
  • Check out a campsite and a free trade bin: often times campers will leave their semi-filled canisters at a designated trading spot in a local campsite. These are free.  People simply have no use for them and leave them in hope that someone else could benefit.
• Bring a lighter/matches
• Be present in the current moment 😉