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.

Packing Begins

Backpacking items have overtaken my dining room table.  This is packing central where I am meticulously weighing each item and making a list to get a better idea at pack weight.  I'm also hoping this system lets me pick and choose wisely to keep the weight as close to 20 pounds as possible.  I'm around 14 pounds right now without clothing or food.  I've been watching the weather forecast in order to make the best decision about what clothes to bring.  Last time, I packed way too many clothes.  This time I'm only bring 1 extra set and something to sleep in.  Right now, unless the forecast drastically changes, I'm going with convertible pants or leggings and taking a base layer that will be sleepwear.  I'm hoping my convertible pants work well with a full pack as that would give me the option for shorts if needed. 
I've typed up our itinerary with planned stops and closest crossroads for my dad who will be dropping off and picking up (well, hopefully he picks us up!).  Just need to finish purchasing the last of the food we need and get that packed and weighed and pack everything up.
Only 10 days to go!

Weighing In

On the first attempt at our backpacking trip, I just packed the pack and put it on and weighed it using the bathroom scale.  It was heavy.  Big E (my husband) and I tried shuffling things around and trading items, but we really had no clue what weighed what, so the trading and shuffling wasn't very effective.
I had seen different posts on groups online about how they weighed each individual item, and honestly, I thought that was silly and overkill.  Then I listened to a podcast that discussed the same thing.  The idea is, if you know the weight of each item in ounces, you can make decisions on each individual item and shed the pounds that way (shave ounces, shed pounds).  I have since become obsessed with the weight of all my stuff.  In fact, the new sleeping bag I ordered is actually a men's short because it saved me $10 but also because it was 2-3 ounces lighter than the woman's version.  So, anyway, yesterday afternoon, I sat down and started weighing everything.  So far, I'm at 18.5 pounds (including the pack).  This doesn't include clothing, food, water or the tent.  It also doesn't include a first aide kit because I realized how heavy they were, so I'm going to rethink my first aide supplies (really, I don't think I need tongue depressors for finger splits when a twig will work nicely in a pinch- not that I plan on breaking a finger).  It did include 3 pairs of hiking socks, which are surprisingly heavy.  Since I'm taking sock liners (essentially a thin pair of socks worn under hiking socks to help prevent blisters), I think I can get away with leaving behind at least 1 extra pair if not 2.  I'm also not planning on taking too many clothes.  Not that I have any intentions of naked backpacking (though there is a naked backpacking day on June 21st FYI).  Clothes are heavy, so if I can take the bare minimum, I'll be good.  Basically, I'll have to wait and see what the weather is going to be like.  I'm hoping for warmer temps so I can wear shorts and leave the base layers at home.
Saving ounces here and there by deciding what is really important to take is how I hope to keep my pack weight as close to 20 pounds as possible.  If I can manage that, I'll be good to go!

Backpacking Command Central

It's starting to get real, folks.  This weekend, 3 of us are making a trip down to REI followed by a lunch meeting to plan out the particulars of the upcoming trip.  Things have a way of sneaking up on you even when you're paying attention.  This time next month we'll be on our second day of our trip, provided we don't have any odd weather occurrences.
In preparation of our meeting, I've been mapping out our stops each day and the mileage between each.  We have some options about where to stop, and I imagine we'll come to a consensus this weekend.  I still need to figure out the last 2 days/20 miles that my mother and I will be doing.
I've also been working on the plan for what's going in my pack.  I'm determined to lighten my load this time around.  I borrowed a digital scale so I can measure each thing that goes into my pack.  Last time I just packed my pack with everything I planned to bring and weighed myself on the bathroom scale to see how heavy it was.  It was 27 pounds, and to me that was heavy.  My husband's was 30+ pounds.  So, following the suggestion from the backpacking podcast I've been listening to (The First 40 Miles), I'm going to weigh each item and make decisions based on the weight of those individual things.  I know one thing I'm going to make sure I do is to not pack the stuff I need for the extra 2 days in my pack.  When my dad comes to meet us at Harper's Ferry, I'll make sure that extra stuff is in the vehicle he's bringing (food, change of clothes, etc) so I don't have that extra weight.  I also plan to offload stuff I don't need for the extra days.  My mom and I can share my 2 man tent, so she'll be able to leave hers with my dad, and she and I can split up mine between us to lighten the load.  I'm thinking those extra 20 miles won't be too bad as far as pack weight, and that's just fine with me!

Things I Learned

While our big adventure turned out to not be so big (we made it one night and about 7 miles), we did learn quite a lot about what not to do next time.  Or, more specifically, how to pack better.

1. You aren't going to starve.  While making up our food, we went a little overboard with the quantity.  We had more than enough ingredients to make up our meal bags so we packed extra.  "Having extra meals isn't a bad idea" my husband said.  He's wrong.  It is a bad idea. Extra food means extra weight.  Pack what you need.

2. Trail mix is really heavy.  Everything you read tells you to have snacks to eat to keep your energy up.  Hiking with 25+ pounds on your back uses a lot of calories.  And while trail mix might seem like a brilliant idea, it's really heavy (especially when you're worried about starving as I mentioned).  Scrap the trail mix, bring some mini snickers or beef jerky and call it a day.

3. Having wine to drink and cheese and crackers for a celebration the first night is awesome-and heavy.  It's true.  My mom took the bag of wine out of it's box and used the water bladder area of her pack to carry it.  I had the cheese and crackers.  While awesome to have a glass of wine, a plastic flask with some whiskey works too, and is much lighter.

4. You don't need a lot of clothing.  I packed a couple of pants, a few shirts, several pairs of socks and a coat and who knows what else.  I was worried I'd be cold or get wet, I guess.  Next time, I'll be packing my clothes sparingly.  I do think having extra hiking socks is important, but maybe not packing every pair of hiking socks you own.  After all, you can dry them out on the outside of your pack. 

5. You probably don't need 3 tarps.  I purchased 3 small tarps right before leaving mostly because of the impending weather.  Instead of splitting them up, I just packed them all in my pack.  Two were purchased with the intent of using them as footprints and the third was a just in case tarp in the event we needed to rig a tarp roof over the tents.  I think they're important, but next time I'll either split them up or only carry the ones I personally need.

6. You won't be bored, so you can leave the Mad Libs at home. I can see taking something to read or something if you're traveling alone, but in our group, our down time was spent talking to each other, eating and sleeping.  I don't think extras are needed.  Maybe just a small knot tying instruction card so you can practice your knots with your paracord.

7. A backpacking sleeping bag is important.  I borrowed my son's sleeping bag so it would fit into my compression sack and be slightly lighter than my usual sleeping bag.  It was still big and bulky and for my next trip, I'll be seeking out something lighter.

So, that's some of the things I learned on the first attempt at backpacking.  Getting pack weight down is a must.  Mine was around 26 pounds and my husband's was over 30 pounds (because he was gracious enough to carry all of the food).  Hopefully we can get the pack weight down below 25 pounds.