10 Days Til Departure

And the pre-hike gear explosion begins

It’s been a few days since I’ve posted. The work schedule has been rough, as it often is right before a week off. And now not only am I coming off Memorial Day weekend call, this week my wife and daughter went to the beach for senior week/graduation. Which leaves me at home with the two younger boys playing the role of two parents AND doing my day job at the same time. It’s a fair trade to get a week in the woods, but I’m not going to get much hiking prep done. And of course after they get back I get to work back-to-back 16 hour days. So really I only have next Wednesday and Thursday to pack and prepare my meals. Sadly, we know what this means- I will forget something (it won’t be DEET though, not THIS time).

The title pic shows my evolving pre-hike gear and food pile. It’ll get worse.

Fortunately, my trip logistics are settled. I’ll be driving up to Glasgow VA next Friday and staying at Stanimal’s hostel, and getting a shuttle from them early the next morning to Dead Possum Rd. After that, hopefully I’ll be able to bang out the 80 miles to get back over the next 8+ days.

My Lighterpack list for this trip is looking pretty good with a 9 lb. base weight. Hopefully with water, fuel and food I’ll be at or under 26 total lbs. upon departure. I’m bringing along several new pieces of gear to try out, and I also have 7 new dinner recipes. But there’s 8 nights on the trail you say? Well, night 3 is when I plan to destroy Pancho’s Mexican restaurant in Daleville. God put it that close to the trail for a reason.

I’m expecting this to be a pretty social hike since a fair number of thru-hikers will be in the area. I will torment them with my dinners, but I may also share some bourbon with a select few.

My body and my soul are more than ready to get back into the woods. It’s already been 6 weeks since my last hike! I tell ya, this pre-retirement mindset is really pretty sad. I mean, when you feel like your 14 weeks of vacation doesn’t give you enough hiking time, I think you’re pretty close to needing to completely retire. LOL I’m already planning to take SIXTEEN weeks next year (and use at least 12 of them for hiking). I suppose this is the payback for 30 years of 80+ hour weeks and almost no time off. Anyway, I gotta get in the miles while I can. Too many friends and acquaintances my age or even younger have passed away or become too disabled to do much.