WhiteBlaze Pages 2024
A Complete Appalachian Trail Guidebook.
AVAILABLE NOW. $4 for interactive PDF(smartphone version)
Read more here WhiteBlaze Pages Store

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 1 2
Results 21 to 38 of 38

Thread: Pre-Trip Chores

  1. #21
    Some days, it's not worth chewing through the restraints.
    Join Date
    12-13-2004
    Location
    Central Vermont
    Age
    68
    Posts
    2,661

    Default

    Funny, I do a lot of the things on Tipi's list after I finish a hike, so it's ready to go on the next trip. I do have a checklist, so I don't go on a hike without fuel or spoon again. Lay everything out, then check each item off as it goes in the pack.

    BTW, I always carry a spare long handled plastic spoon from an MRE, and some extra salt & pepper and sugar packets. Those things can really help someone else's hike when they forgot to bring theirs.

  2. #22

    Default

    Dont forget a towell.

  3. #23
    Registered User
    Join Date
    08-14-2015
    Location
    Rome, Georgia
    Posts
    456

    Default

    A "towel" or a "trowell"? You either added a letter or omitted one.

  4. #24

    Default

    I saw several people in this thread mention check lists. I down loaded Microsoft's "To Do" app a few years ago. You can set up multiple checklists, sleep, shelter, food, etc. Once you check an item off, it goes to the bottom of the list. After the trip you just reset the lists. I've found it handy

  5. #25
    Registered User
    Join Date
    03-10-2013
    Location
    Indiana
    Age
    61
    Posts
    585

    Default

    If traveling to hike far from home or areas you commonly visit, a good Last Minute Chore is to contact your bank and/or credit card company. It is not unheard of for them to deny charges to your card if it appears suddenly in an unusual place, and while that is normally a good thing and could probably be worked out fairly quickly, it could still be a pain if it happens when you need it. (Also why carrying a fair amount of cash is a good idea -- things can go wrong with cards, and some places will only take cash.)
    fortis fortuna adjuvat

  6. #26

    Default

    Dont panic, and bring a towel


    Where is the edit button ?

  7. #27
    Registered User One Half's Avatar
    Join Date
    08-05-2010
    Location
    in a bus
    Age
    53
    Posts
    1,802

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by lonehiker View Post
    Trim toenails a few days before departing.
    great point! I do that as well. I also bring small clippers if I intend to be out a few weeks.
    https://tinyurl.com/MyFDresults

    A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White

  8. #28

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by PennyPincher View Post
    great point! I do that as well. I also bring small clippers if I intend to be out a few weeks.
    I can go a month without nail clippers afterwhich things get weird.

  9. #29
    Registered User One Half's Avatar
    Join Date
    08-05-2010
    Location
    in a bus
    Age
    53
    Posts
    1,802

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by TwoSpirits View Post
    If traveling to hike far from home or areas you commonly visit, a good Last Minute Chore is to contact your bank and/or credit card company. It is not unheard of for them to deny charges to your card if it appears suddenly in an unusual place, and while that is normally a good thing and could probably be worked out fairly quickly, it could still be a pain if it happens when you need it. (Also why carrying a fair amount of cash is a good idea -- things can go wrong with cards, and some places will only take cash.)
    Good point! I often do this with my credit card when I am doing long driving trips. If you have bought a plane ticket, believe it or not, credit card companies will often "know" you are traveling. I have bought plane tickets and then a few months later when at the airport I would make a small purchase with the same card. Land, get a rental car. Maybe pay for a hotel. No problem with charges. I have a few times flown somewhere and then driven home or to another part of the country. On those trips (or straight driving trips) I notified my charge card provider. I failed to do this years ago and was utterly embarrassed when my card got shut down trying to buy groceries when I got to my friend's place in Florida. This was before cell phones so I couldn't get it straightened out until I got someone on the line at the payphone. However, they did approve all the gas purchases all down the east coast from MA - FL.
    https://tinyurl.com/MyFDresults

    A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White

  10. #30

    Default

    I always take a few single dollar bills just in case my cellphone dies and I hitch out to a store that has a payphone so I can get change to make a call. It's alot easily than trying to get change for a $20 or $50. This is an old habit when pay phones used to be everywhere. Nowadays w/o pay phones I ask store clerks if I can borrow their phones. I once asked a camp hostess in Thunder Rock campground on the BMT if I could borrow her phone to check in with my family.

  11. #31
    Registered User One Half's Avatar
    Join Date
    08-05-2010
    Location
    in a bus
    Age
    53
    Posts
    1,802

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Tipi Walter View Post
    I always take a few single dollar bills just in case my cellphone dies and I hitch out to a store that has a payphone so I can get change to make a call. It's alot easily than trying to get change for a $20 or $50. This is an old habit when pay phones used to be everywhere. Nowadays w/o pay phones I ask store clerks if I can borrow their phones. I once asked a camp hostess in Thunder Rock campground on the BMT if I could borrow her phone to check in with my family.
    I can't remember the last time I saw a payphone.
    https://tinyurl.com/MyFDresults

    A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White

  12. #32
    Registered User turtle fast's Avatar
    Join Date
    11-10-2007
    Location
    Caledonia, Wisconsin
    Age
    51
    Posts
    1,035

    Default

    Fingernail clippers is good thing to put into a “bounce box” (a box you send ahead to a post office as general delivery at different intervals)....along with anything else you may periodically need like toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, hard to get foods, etc.

  13. #33
    Registered User
    Join Date
    01-25-2013
    Location
    Upstate NY
    Age
    48
    Posts
    565

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by PennyPincher View Post
    I can't remember the last time I saw a payphone.
    Just depends on where you are. In this area, a fairly large chain of convenience stores always had them in each store (just an extra phone on their store's regular line) - keep forgetting to check if the newer stores they are building still have them. Also saw quite a few out in Letchworth State Park (Western NY) a few years back, likely since I know that people in our group had trouble getting service in parts of the area (and they are served by an independent phone company rather than a large one like Verizon/AT&T etc.).

  14. #34
    Registered User
    Join Date
    12-28-2015
    Location
    Bad Ischl, Austria
    Age
    66
    Posts
    1,588

    Default

    It was kind of hinted here already, but I want to emphasize again:
    One important pre-trip chore is to get clear&ready with each&every mundane everyday civilisation job.

    I just was out on a 3-days winter hike, and the evening before leaving I placed an online order for a set of new computers for my small company.
    Everything looked fine, payment was to be done by credid card - which had worked fine since ever.
    Just when I was hiking up the mountain I checked my mails one last time before leaving the signal range - and got a mail that the credid card payment had failed.
    What followed was an ping-pong game of phone calls, emails and whatsapps between me, my bank and the computer company for the days to come.
    It didn't exactly ruin my hike, but still it was something I would try hard to avoid in the future.

  15. #35
    Registered User NY HIKER 50's Avatar
    Join Date
    08-09-2013
    Location
    Brooklyn, NY
    Posts
    323
    Journal Entries
    1

    Default

    I forgot my spoon once when I was doing a weeklong trip. What saved me was an army surplus store that's no longer there. I tried to by a spoon at a Doller Tree in town but they had none. My last resort would have been carve chopsticks.

  16. #36
    Registered User NY HIKER 50's Avatar
    Join Date
    08-09-2013
    Location
    Brooklyn, NY
    Posts
    323
    Journal Entries
    1

    Default

    Regarding pay phones. They seem to be relegated to the past since most people have cell phones. They won't maintain something that's not used much or remove it completely.

  17. #37

    Default

    Forgot the spoon one trip, made on-the-fly chopsticks out of some twigs which worked surprisingly well

  18. #38

    Default Pre-Trip Chores

    Quote Originally Posted by NY HIKER 50 View Post
    Regarding pay phones. They seem to be relegated to the past since most people have cell phones. They won't maintain something that's not used much or remove it completely.
    This one is at the motel in Wind Gap Pennsylvania. It was quite a novelty when I saw it. Can’t remember the name of the motel.




    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 1 2
++ New Posts ++

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •