This Is It

Never would I have thought that I’d spend my whole last week busy from the time I woke up until I went to bed. I haven’t had to rush to do anything but the list of little things to do was so long that I needed a second piece of paper. You know, the kind of things that aren’t a huge deal if they don’t get done and are insignificant enough that you’ll forget if you don’t write them down. Yet those are tasks that are the difference between leaving the house, and Kristin, in the best (easiest, and most stress free) shape possible and just leaving.

For instance, last night we found the stopper to our main bathroom sink broken. The lever that moves it up and down broke off so the stopper would no longer stay open. I can’t remember the last time we filled that sink up with water so I could have left it broken while I’m gone. Though, that would mean removing the stopper from the sink entirely so the water can drain.  It also means you have to view the nasty inside of the pipe and the water makes a strange belch/beer tap pour sound when you run it. Would Kristin be just fine like that? Sure. But I’m fixing it, just because I can, because I know she would prefer not to have the sink belch at her for the next five months and it’s the sink we use every day to brush our teeth, etc.

Most of the time intensive tasks have been knocked out. Cut a path through the corn on our 18 acres so Kristin can get to the top of the hill and have a camp fire if she wants? Check. Buy all my hiking food and get accurate calorie counts? Check. I’m coming down the home stretch at this point, though I still need to clean the car out and wash it so that it’s ready to sit at mom’s house for five months. From where I’m sitting now, I’m very glad that I decided not to work a week after our Jamaica vacation. That would have meant squeezing everything I’ve done in the last two weeks into one. Some things inevitably would have been missed, and I would have been rushed, and pissed because I was rushed, the entire time. Hmm, missed and pissed. Sounds like a rock song or something.

8 days of sustenance.

Here are my food choices for my journey through the 100 mile wilderness. All things considered I think I have a fairly healthy mix. The Carnation Instant Breakfast, brownie mix, oats, and coffee are going to be mixed together. Just add water and you have a chocolatey breakfast slurry you can enjoy while you’re breaking camp and getting started for the day. I also have ingredients for trail mix. Oh! I just realized the cheese isn’t in the picture. Hard cheeses hold up very well without being refrigerated. So I have peanut butter and crackers, cheese and crackers, pepperoni/salami and crackers, and tuna and crackers combinations I can munch on. The beef jerky adds some protein to either the ramen or the honey buns and oatmeal cream pies so that the meal isn’t so lop sided.

In all, you’re looking at 24,000 calories. I planned for 3,000 calories a day for 8 days. I strongly believe I’ll be in Monson by the end of day 7 so this gives me an extra day at full rations. If I’m slower I can stretch what’s here to a ninth day or even half of a tenth day. If I’m not in Monson by the end of the 10th day we have a serious problem, like I’m injured. I also plan to start the first morning off with an MRE, courtesy of a buddy of mine, so that gives me another 1,000 calorie buffer.

Sadly, the Samsung Galaxy S5 that I bought to take better pictures didn’t work out. It was an AT&T phone and I don’t think it was unlocked so even though Cricket is owned by AT&T and uses their network I was having intermittent network problems. In the two days that I had the phone I also became reacquainted with how giant all these new phones are. It was so big it wouldn’t have fit in my hip belt pocket so every time I did want to take a picture I would have had to take my pack off since I’m not walking with a phone in my shorts pocket. Lame. So I resold it. At least I didn’t have to feel bad about dropping $100 on a phone and then having it sit at home. My Moto E takes decent pictures as long as there is adequate sunlight. I’m considering it a positive. In the age where super sharp pictures are a dime a dozen, most of my pictures will be less than perfect, like they were in the old days. Back then pictures weren’t snapped every time our heart beat so they feel more special when you look at them. Maybe I’ll one day view the photos of my thru-hike that way.

Hair cut? Check. Clothes sprayed with an insecticide designed by the military to kill them on contact? Check. The list is almost finished. One more day of preparation and then I’m off to chase this Dream I’ve been thinking about for so long. I’ll post an update once I reach civilization after the 100 mile wilderness. With any luck that will be July 10th.

Happy Independence Day everyone!

What’s in my Pack?

 

Now that all my gear shenanigans are over I can tell everyone what is in my pack. My decision to change over to a tent and a framed pack have added 1.7 pounds to my base weight, which is the weight of everything on my back, pack included, minus food and water. My setup with the hammock would have weighed 12.7 pounds, and my setup now weighs 14.4 pounds. This is still a pretty light weight as base weights go and I’m taking a couple things that some might consider unnecessary.

The weight of my food and water will change as I eat and drink and will resemble something like a roller coaster ride. Leaving town it will start as high as it can be, max food and water. Water weight will oscillate up and down during the day and food weight will slowly decrease as I approach the next town. I’m carrying a half gallon of water so that’s 4 pounds and food will weigh about 2 pounds per day. With the exception of the very beginning of my hike I won’t have to carry more than 5 days of food so that’s a max food and water weight of 14 pounds, though most of the time it will probably be in the 10-12 pound range coming out of town since many places you only need to carry 2-4 days of food before you hit the next resupply point.

Altogether, I’ll be carrying a maximum of about 28.5 pounds on my back. If I calculate food consumption correctly, my total weight ought to be down to 16-18 pounds as I’m going into towns for a resupply.

The lightness of my pack is also assisted by the fact that I’m making a Southbound trek. A Southbounder starts in the middle of summer, and I hope to finish before winter weather arrives in the South, so I haven’t packed heavy layers for sustained temperatures below 45-50 degrees. If my hike runs long, I may have to buy some additional clothing that is more suitable for colder weather. A Northbounder typically starts their journey in March or early April, and the weather in the Smoky Mountains can still be plenty cold. Heavy snow is still a possibility so those hikers have to pack a little differently than I am.

My “Big Four” – Total weight of 7 pounds, 3 ounces.

Pack – Osprey Exos 58, size medium. 2 pounds, 6 ounces.
I decided to use a framed pack after all. The no sweaty back aspect of not having a pack resting directly on my back really is awesome. The change from my Golite pack to this Osprey pack alone represents a pound of extra weight. Everyone says it’s worth it though because a framed pack does a better job of transferring the weight to your hips.

Tent – Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL2. 2 pounds, 5 ounces.
I considered getting the one man version of this tent but if Kristin wants to come hiking with me at some point this will allow us to fit in one tent, but barely! The extra room when I’m alone means I have room to put the pack in the tent with me, facilitating easier access to stuff throughout the night if I need it. The two man version is also large enough that I won’t go insane if I’m stuck in it for half a day during a torrential downpour.

Sleeping Pad – Exped Synmat Hyperlite, size medium wide. 15 ounces.
This sleeping pad is pretty awesome. It’s a blow up pad and the material feels pretty durable. It’s 2.5 inches thick, which allows me to sleep on my side if I need to. I can never do this in a bed because of the pressure it puts on my shoulder. It has an R value of 3.3, which allows me to use a top quilt instead of a mummy sleeping bag, saving some weight.

The top quilt and sleeping pad (deflated)

“Sleeping Bag” – Wilderness Logics Top Quilt King 15*. 1 pound, 9 ounces.
This down top quilt is 55″ wide, providing plenty of extra room to drape around me and block out the cold. It has a draw string and snaps at the bottom to turn it into a foot box for cold nights. Another snap and draw string at the top allows me to pull the quilt tight around my shoulders if needed. Best of all is that I don’t feel restricted. The mummy bags I tried are just a tad tight for comfort and this quilt will be easier to pull on/push off as needed throughout the night to regulate my body temperature. I may send this item home once I clear the White mountains since I won’t likely need it again until the Smokies.

Clothing – Total weight of 3 pounds, 6 ounces.

REI polyester longjohns
REI Sahara long sleeve shirt
Fingerless wool gloves
Burton beanie
Sun hat
ExOfficio Give-n-Go boxer briefs
Down jacket
Elastic knee brace
Town shirt
Darn Tough hiking socks
Camp socks
Trash bag

The list above is clothing that I expect to be in my pack most of the time. Not included in that list is another pair of hiking socks, boxer briefs, athletic shorts and a short sleeve shirt. These items I’ll be wearing all the time unless I’m cold enough to need more layers.

Other Gear – Total weight of 3 pounds, 14 ounces.

Sea to Summit folding bucket
Sea to Summit head bug net
Compass/Whistle/Thermometer
Eating utensil
First-Aid kit (band aids, ibuprofen)
Black Diamond ReVolt head lamp
Gerber Mini Paraframe Serrated knife
Toothbrush w/ case, toohpaste, floss
Trash compactor bag (pack liner)
Dr. Bronner’s soap
Shamwow (wash cloth)
Gold Bond body powder
Toilet paper, hand sanitizer
Body Glide
GSI Cathole trowel
euroSCHRIM Swing Liteflex Trekking umbrella
Smartwater bottle (x2)
Sawyer Squeeze mini water filter
Iodine tablets
Ground cloth (2 yds. ripstop nylon)
Kindle
Moto E cell phone w/ charger
AWOL’s AT Guide book
Ipod Shuffle w/ charger
Clothing stuff sack
Extra stuff sack to use for a bear hang
50′ Zing-it for a bear hang
Chapstick
Ear plugs
Bic lighter
Matches
Pen/small notepad
Needle/thread

………..

The folding bucket and wash cloth are critical items for me. I’m a hot sleeper to begin with and when you add a film of sweat to that, preventing my pores from breathing, I get really uncomfortable. The folding bucket is some kind of polymer coated fabric and it’s capable of holding over 2 gallons of water yet is weighs less than 3 ounces. My intended routine is to wash off each night and then use the bucket to rinse out my hiking socks and and underwear. This should prevent any substantial sweat build up that would prevent the clothes from doing their job (wicking sweat away from my body) or causing friction due to the crystallization of sweat as it dries. I’ve done this routine already on one of my prep hikes and it works really well for me.

I’ve also made the choice not to carry rain gear. Almost everyone I’ve talked to or read about their experience says even with good gear you’re going to get wet from sweat, even if you keep the rain off. We’ve already established that I’m a warm person so I’d rather get wet from rain than so wet from sweat that it might as well be rain. Other people who have carried umbrellas have found they come in handy for a variety of other uses as well so I thought I’d give it a shot. If the umbrella doesn’t work out, I’ll buy a cheap Frogg Toggs poncho so I still have some ventilation but I’m protected from the worst of the rain.

For water filtration, I’m relying mainly on my Sawyer Squeeze. The hollow membrane fibers filter out all bacteria but not viruses. I’ve done a lot of reading and it looks like most cases of Norovirus and Giardia are spread through bad hygiene practices than just coming across bad water sources. I plan to take the iodine tablets and use them on questionable water sources or in areas where there is high hiker traffic, since there will be higher risks of hikers contaminating the water sources but outside of those scenarios I don’t intend to use the iodine. I’ve only used the Sawyer Squeeze up until this point and haven’t had a problem.

So that’s everything in my pack!

 

OMG 10 More Days!

I’m starting to freak out a little bit, like a 13 year old girl on the way to a Backstreet Boys concert (or Jonas Brothers, One Direction, take your pick). 🙂 Two years of dreaming and planning and it’s right around the corner.

It looks like it’s only going to be me and Kristin making the drive to Maine. Google Maps says 12 hours but I’m hoping that’s more like 10 hours at Wade speed. We have to be through the gates of the park by 8:30 pm so it’s going to be an early rise for us. We’re planning to leave from my Mom’s house in Taneytown because from there Google Maps takes you up through Pennsylvania. If we left from our house, we take I-95 up through Philly, New Jersey, and right around New York City. No thanks!

Once I begin my trek south no one will hear from me for 7-10 days. The first town I reach is Monson, 110 miles after Katahdin and that’s the first place that has cell service. The first 60 miles of the AT after Katahdin is actually as flat as it gets. The next 50 get much more strenuous but still nothing like Katahdin. I’ve already started walking to prep my feet and legs for this much movement. I’ve walked 20 miles in the last 3 days and the goal is to be walking 10+ miles every day next week. For grins, I’m going to guess that I’ll make Monson in 7 days. We’ll see how that works out, but that’s my guess.

I’m picking up a Samsung Galaxy S5 tomorrow so my pictures should be awesome. I’d have preferred not to spend the money but for only $100 (and I can resell it later) it’s worth having awesome pictures. They never capture how amazing the scenery is in person but at least they will be quality additions to my blog posts since I want this to document my odyssey. The Moto E I have takes mediocre pictures at best.

Only 10 more days! Crazy!

Making Final Preparations

We’re back from Jamaica and yesterday was the first week day where I would have ordinarily had an alarm set to go to work but I don’t any longer. It feels really weird, almost like I’m forgetting something. Now that our trip is over all my attention is turned toward my departure two Saturdays from now. In that time I need to get all my gear prepped and ready, including any weight shaving I might do, make sure all my insurance and financial loose ends are tied up, and get all of my responsibilities associated with normal life into the simplest form possible for Kristin to manage over the next four to five months.

Some of this stuff is simple, but important, and other things are not as simple. It’s things like having a bunch of cat litter and cat food on hand, and making up a calendar with all recurring events on it like trash, recycling, etc. I typically take care of all that stuff and I want her to be able to take care of all those things as easily as possible. We also simplified the credit card situation so we’ll both be using the same card and only that card. That means one bill each month (we pay them off every month) instead of three or four. I manage our finances as well so I want that as simple as possible as well since she’ll need to take some of that over while I’m gone. I’ve automated most of the bills but there are a couple that will still need manual intervention. She won’t be able to pick up the phone to ask me questions so I’m trying to get every one of these things into a simplest, final form that leaves no questions in my absence.

As part of my preparations I have also decided to walk about 10 miles as many days as I can between now and July 2nd. This will help toughen up my feet and get my hips, knees, and ankles used to that much movement. I don’t expect that two weeks of this will eliminate all the pain I’ll experience when starting my hike but I think it will go a long way in minimizing the worst of it. With any luck this will allow me to travel a further distance each day than I would without a “break in.” I walked 11 miles today and my feet and joints are definitely feeling it. My running shoes are shot, thin in the forefoot, so this is helping to simulate the toughness of rocks on my feet all day.

These last two weeks are going to go pretty quick. I’ve made lists to make sure I don’t forget anything but I shouldn’t have any problem getting it all done as long as I stay on top of things.

I’m Going Anyway

Recently I was reading a thread on a forum I frequent and someone commented about most of us having “the one that got away.” When I read that I thought of my own life and I suddenly realized that I don’t have one of those. All the things I’ve truly wanted, I put in the work and I got them. There was absolutely some luck involved at times, but I also put myself in position to reap the reward because I did the work, even though it wasn’t always fun. I thought about my future self twenty years from now. Maybe I won’t be as able bodied as I am now. Maybe kids and other life dreams will have crowded out my thru-hike dream. If I don’t do this, or at least start it, would this be the one that I’d say got away from me? I’m right here on the edge. I’ve done all the preparation. For the past two years this dream has been one of two that has occupied my mind.

After my third shakedown hike I was weighing this question against all the questions I raised in Failing Forward. By the time I went to work this past Tuesday, I’d had several days to think about everything. As the weekend ended I found myself considering two positions. If I didn’t hike, I would keep working. If I didn’t keep working, I would hike. At the center of my doubt was the fact that I planned to give up my high paying career and never return to it. If I was unsure of whether the thru-hike was something I really wanted to do then perhaps now was not the right time to pursue it, given how much money I would be giving up to make the attempt. Monday night I was discussing my dilemma with a good friend of mine. As I explained all of this to her  she told me that I had quite literally put a price on my dream. I knew quitting work now meant forgoing additional income but I hadn’t thought about it quite like that.

Within an hour of arriving at the office Tuesday morning it was once again crystal clear that I could not work any longer. The burden of being stuck at a desk has become like a bag of concrete sitting on my chest, making it hard to breathe. How easy it is to forget that when you’re climbing a mountain in 90 degree heat and pushing yourself close to your physical limit. My return to the office was like having a tuning fork rung in my ear, refocusing my attention. By mid-day Wednesday I was beyond certain that I would indeed quit my job and I felt foolish for thinking I could sit at that desk for another 6-9 months.

So I’m hiking, it’s that simple.