One Last Hike

packs lined up at the Catoctin Mountain Park

Wolf Rock

With the gorgeous weather this past Sunday, we decided to head out for a hike to work out any last minute issues.  Most of us has a full pack (minus food) to see how we would do.  The terrain was rocky and had a couple of steep inclines.
And it kicked our butts.  Well most of our butts, my mom was good to go for more. 
It's true, it kicked my butt, but it was mostly sore muscles and fatigue.  The pack weight wasn't too bad and my back never bothered me.  My pack is right around 20.5 pounds without my food.  I'm hoping the food is under 5 pounds, and if not, I'm already thinking about what I can leave behind to save some weight.    Honestly, my muscles aren't that sore today either.  I'm wondering if the higher temps played a part and perhaps I wasn't hydrating as well as I should have been. 

Chimney Rock

So this week, I'm working on meals and relaxing.  I'm babying my crappy knee before the departure on Friday, and I'm hoping it won't give me too many problems on the trail. 
After the hike yesterday, I've been a little concerned about how well I'll do on the trail.  Our hike on the AT in Pine Grove Furnace had us doing almost 6 miles in 3.5 hours.  Yesterday we did almost 3.5 miles in 4 hours so half the speed we were thinking.  Luckily it doesn't get dark until 8pm so we'll have 12 hours to hike our first day.  Hopefully with Some well placed breaks during the day we'll all managed just fine.