Day 33: The struggles of walking together

Walking with my dad again is great! But it also has some disadvantages. That’s what I experienced today.

They took us back to the trailhead. And we’re back on the move! We reviewed “Place of Beauty”, it deserved its name!

The rest of the day, Ferdinand and I came up with different movie scripts that we thought would be interesting. Forests are a great place to unleash your creativity. After a while, Scholar and Mollie also joined our small group.

retaining

Since it’s my dad’s first day of riding, we had two possible goals for the day: 12 conservative miles or 16 regular miles. After arriving at the 12 mile camp, I still felt great! Ready to walk a few more miles.

But my dad didn’t want to go any further. It’s very understandable, but I still felt like I had to hold back more than I wanted to. It didn’t help that I was a little frustrated with my dad’s attitude toward the weight of his backpack.

He is injured, but refuses to lighten his pack. Even though his backpack weighs around 50 pounds and carries a lot of heavy luxury stuff; like a puzzle book, a big bar of soap, an extra pair of clothes, and a chair.

I usually don’t care about any of that. Do your own hike and stuff. But now I felt like it was holding me back.

Oh well, a day to take it easier really isn’t a big deal. And you should be a little more patient. I just hope it starts to heal well and gets back into rhythm. And maybe take some weight out of your backpack.

Doing a pack shakedown myself

Not only is my dad’s backpack heavy, mine has also gained weight. We weighed him at the shelter, with food for four days and two liters of water. It was almost 40 pounds! That’s 9 more than Neel Gap and I can feel it. Everyone else carries around 30 pounds. I’m doing something wrong…

Shakedown time! Ferdinand, Scholar and Mollie took a look at my backpack. Although I feel like I’m pretty focused on my stuff, there were some things I didn’t even realize I was carrying. Like a little strap.

I also brought the rope from my bear hanging kit, because… you never know when you need rope, right…? No, I use a bear can now and have some spare lines anyway. It’s just filling my fears. It is necessary to release the rope. The same goes for my sunglasses that I never wear, including the heavy case. And the extra towel, too many backup bets, you get the idea. I can still lighten my load a little, without sacrificing any comfort.

But the big elephant in the room was my food. The food he was carrying was too heavy. Microwave ready rice, cans of spam, multiple summer sausages, etc.

Ferdinand also made me and my dad a great offer. He has some friends in Maine that we could send our stuff to. That way we can send some things that we don’t want to throw away, but don’t need right now. Which is great! Thanks Ferds! I noticed that my dad felt better about sending some things away, rather than throwing them away. So it will be a great help!

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