Waiting for my walk to begin

Lightening my load

As of this morning, it is three weeks until I begin my hike. Waiting for my departure date frustrates me so much. In the past two weeks, I’ve unpacked and repacked my backpack too many times. I keep doing it thinking maybe I can lose some weight. For example, I have made decisions about the following items:

1. Fleece sweater with sleeves vs. just a fleece vest. Given the recent cold snap here on the east coast, I decided to grab both. My morning walks were much more comfortable with both on. Weight gained = 14 ounces.
2. Camp chair versus sitting pad. I am sixty-three years old. I don’t really like crawling on the ground anymore. But I also don’t have the patience to assemble and disassemble an ultralight chair. I ended up choosing the platform to sit on. Weight saved = 15 ounces.
3. Fleshlight versus inflatable doll. A two-person tent is sometimes lonely. Unfortunately, neither will be in my backpack, too much weight for a luxury item. Weight saved = ?????
4. Disposable plastic bags versus reusable plastic bags. This was probably the hardest decision. I hate the idea of ​​adding more plastic to the landfill, but I still haven’t found a reusable bag that fits the bill. I haven’t made a decision on that yet.

In the end, it looks like I only saved a couple of ounces, but don’t get excited just yet. I have also decided to add a small stainless steel thermos to my kit. Please allow me to explain. When I go on a bike trip and cycle tour, I like to wake up, break camp, and hit the road quickly. I usually eat two hours in the morning. Since I don’t tend to worry as much about weight when I’m cycling, I make a habit of carrying a small stainless steel thermos that allows me to keep my morning oatmeal warm until I eat it after two hours. While I’m breaking camp, I boil some water, add it to the oatmeal in the thermos, and enjoy it still hot two hours later. Until the recent cold snap, I had planned on only eating breakfast bars, but I’ve gotten tired of my practice hikes, so it looks like I’ll bring the thermos.

My first visit to Dollar General

But by chance I have saved some weight. Another byproduct of waiting forever for my hike to begin is the constant revision of my itinerary during the first month of hiking. From now on, I plan to keep my daily mileage to about fifteen miles while on the Pinhoti Trail. It turns out that by doing this I can be in a hostel or town every three or four days, so I have decided to send resupply boxes for the first month of my hike. When I hike here at home, I carry small sandbags from a weighted vest to simulate the weight of trail food. Each sandbag weighs two and a half pounds, so I’ve been practicing with one sandbag for each day of hiking to get food. For example, I took a four-day hike 100 miles from home in late summer. On the first day, I packed four sandbags to simulate four days of food and then dropped one bag for each subsequent day of the hike. Well, I made my first trip to Dollar General last week for a mock resupply store and was able to prepare meals that would work for me without a lot of prep headaches. When I got home and started packing the boxes, I discovered that a typical day’s meal weighed just under two pounds. I saved some weight without even trying!!!

Stay connected

In the future, I plan to post updates weekly. I want to thank everyone in advance who chooses to follow us. I will do my best to meet the proposed schedule. If you want to follow along without having to check for updates every day, simply subscribe to my blog by adding your email on my home page. By doing so, you will receive an email every time I post. You will then be able to access that post from a link in the email.

This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any products or services you purchase using links in articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price they would otherwise pay, and their purchase helps support The Trek’s ongoing goal of bringing you quality backpacking information and advice. Thank you for your support!

For more information, visit the About page of this site.