Journal Comments

Back from the hike. We only made it 22 miles before an unexpected knee injury sent us home early. Rather than risk further damage we opted to save the rest for another time.
The morning I left, by pack weighed in just under 44 pounds. All those little things really add up. That included 2 liters of water and 1 liter of Gatorade.
We hiked shelter to shelter so my 5 pound tent was sorta expensive insurance. A simple tarp and groundcloth would be a better choice and probably save me four pounds. Water management was an issue. Started out carrying too much, later on ran out too often. Food worked out great and my penny stove and caldera cone worked flawlessly! I need to find a fuel bottle that will slip inside my pringles can with everything else in there.
Things I brought but never used: Rain shell, camp towel, playing cards, tent, emergency blanket.
Things I didn't have enough of: Chemical hand warmers, trail mix, lighters or matches, ibuprophin.
Things that I would find alternatives to: Tent, Mountain House Mac and cheese (not too yummy), Mountain House chicken and rice (blah).
Things that worked out very well: Map, Trekking poles, Mountain House Chili mac, Mountain House Beef Stew, Gas line antifreeze for stove, Chicken of the Sea tuna salad in a pouch (yum!), flour tortillas for sandwiches, big chunk of cheddar cheese (big yum).

More crazy testing. I stood in the shower today to test my gear for it's ability to keep me dry. Columbia shell, dry! Nylon pants, Dry! Gloves, wet. Shoes, wet (I knew they would be. Not waterproof at all). Once again my wife thought I was nuts and posted pictures on Facebook of her crazy husband.

Made a few purchases today to resolve these water related shortcomings. Got a new pair of Merrell Refuge waterproof hikers. I only have a short time to break them in as I leave for Ct in five days.

I packed all my gear in my backpack and it weighed in at 23 pounds with two liters of water and fours days of food. I still have to aquire my tent (I'm told it's just over four pounds) and my penny stove and cook-set with fuel but those can't weigh very much. With fingers crossed I'm predicting my total weight to be less than 35 pounds.

Nice to know I'm not the only crazy one Skeeter.

Too funny..had to comment. This last weekend I got a new lightweight down sleeping bag,A Kelty Cosmic 20 degree. Had to know if it would pass the test, it was pretty cold here ,20's, so I went out on our open front porch and tried to settle in. A while later my 13 yr old daughter opened the front door, trying to find me, she thoght I had actually lost my mind, as did my wife when she told her where I was. My neighbors already think I'm crazy from last year. We had tornado and severe winds warnings, great opportunity to test the durability of your tent right? I rushed to set up my tent and found that it held up quite well(the falling tree limbs were a little scary). My tent is a Big Agnes Copper Spur ul1. Great tent, worth the $ ! I made my own stove last year before I hit the trail but decided this year to go with a Jetboil Flash. Works great, everything packs snug as a bug and it's lightweight. Boils water fast on a relative small amount of fuel usage.