Auf der Suche nach einem unabhängigen Nutzungsbericht über den Benpacker Wanderanhänger bin ich vor etwa 2 Jahren auf keinerlei nützliche Informationen gestoßen, ausser die, die der Hersteller (Ben von der Firma Benpacker) selbst veröffentlicht hat. Diese Lücke möchte ich mit diesem unabhängigen Testbericht des Benpacker Wanderanhängers(nachfolgend lediglich Benpacker genannt) füllen um zukünftigen Interessenten eine weitere Meinung zur Verfügung stellen zu können.
I didn’t know Sarah Marquis before I went off to hike the deserts of Bolivia, Chile and Argentina – shame on me, I should have come across her book “Deserts d’Altitude” and the other amazing desert hikes she already did during my research and preparation for the trip. Most probably this was caused by the fact that the book is only available in French and honestly my French is a little bit rusty. Sidetracked has a great interview with her in English here.
Below I want to tell you the story about the present I received in the desert – the book “Deserts d’Altitude” – given to me by a stranger I met on a dirt road close to the border of Bolivia / Chile. Since I don’t get presents quite often while walking in the desert, I thought this is worth a posting.
After returning from the desert in South America, I received the same question from several people : “How do you plan and prepare yourself for such a trip?”. In this 2-post series I intend to provide some answers to this question.
Part #1Planning @ Home considers the planning and preparation tasks I executed before I went on the desert hike. I will primarily discuss the different tools that are available – mostly web based.
Part #2Navigation @ Tour focuses on some technical aspects in order to use the outcome of Part #1 during the trip.
“If you’re doing multi-sport things it’s helpful to be super proficient in at least one of those activities that you’re doing. And that should be the bulk of your first trips. Make the other sports a smaller part. You need to be confident that you’re going to get the most out of your trip.”
Steve Fassbinder
There it was – the mixed feeling of fascination, motivation, respect, excitement, joy and fear. It was August 2016 and I stood in the middle of a dirt road close to the town of Peine, approximately 100 km south of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Food for roughly 2 weeks and 22 liters of water were stowed on my hiking trailer.
In July/August 2016 I crossed the Altiplano / Puna region along the Ruta de las Joyas Altoandinas between the Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia) and San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) by foot and solo over a distance of approx. 600 Km. This is a very popular 4×4 vehicle trip nowadays amongst South America backpackers since it follows dusty routes through the beautiful national park “Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa” along amazing remote lagoons where visitors can view the earth basically living. I brought a hiking trailer with me in order to carry most of the equipment and water/food supplies.
