MY PACK IS PACKED

Photo by Peter Krogh for Avanti Press, Inc. Gratefully used by permission. I bought this card about a year ago, when just starting to plan my Appalachian Trail hike. I just phoned Mr. Krogh asking if I might use it for this blog post, and he agreed. So I thank him very much!


I've gone through my backpack yet again, with my list, and I think I've got everything. Most of the mess is finally gone from the sofa, table, and bedroom floor. I had to accomplish this before I could start getting the camper ready to go on the road tomorrow.

For those who may not know, we live in an RV, have for the last 5 years, sold our house to our son, waved goodbye and hit the road.

So I'm used to living in a 300sq. ft. space, but I'm NOT used to living out of a 3800cu. in. backpack! This has been far more complex than packing my transition and special-needs bags for the Ironman.It's amazing what I've decided I don't need. And there are those who are amazed at what I've decided I DO need.

Three sets of clothes:

• Basic hiking outfit: running skirt w/ the undershorts cut out (I didn't like them, they rode up my thighs), bright yellow longsleeved tech shirt from Gasparilla Marathon 2005; microfiber underwear (black to match the skirt), SmartWool socks. The skirt, ass opposed to shorts, makes it easier to add and subtract the following:
  
• Slightly warmer layer: microfiber stirrup tights; short-sleeved blue tech shirt from Vermont City Marathon 2007. (I think it will be more versatile to layer short tee over the long one, whose sleeves I can push up to make it short.)
• Warm layer: Midweight running tights, fleeze half-zip ls top.

Rain jacket and rain pants over some or all of this if needed. Two additional pairs of socks. Knit hat, knit gloves, the 2pr/$1.49 in Wal-Mart kind.

And that's it. No clean changes of anything but sox, which get changed every couple hours in rotation with others that have been airing out pinned to the backpack. You wash your underwear and dry it overnight. You wear your rain clothes in the laundromat while your travel clothes are in the washer.

I do have sleep clothes: cotton yoga pants (not good for hiking, cotton is cold and heavy if it gets wet) and a ls silk shirt from the Salvation Army. You're not supposed to wear your grungy hiking clothes for sleep because they yuck up your sleeping bag.

My full backpack without food or water weighs in at 22.5 pounds. Four days' worth of food, with one extra supper in case of a delay, plus a quart of water, bring it to 30 pounds. Some think this is too heavy. Others are astonished it's that light.

The weight will start decreasing within hours as the food and water get used up. Water -- I probably won't need a quart at a time while hiking; creeks are plentiful on the southern AT, and running full this time of year.

Here's how I really look!

I'll be posting a complete list of what's in the pack. Right now, though, I gotta get back to getting this camper ready to make the trip from New Orleans to Dawsonville, GA.

Five more days!!!!

MORE STORMS, MORE SEWING

I didn't think we were supposed to have rain this afternoon, and planned a bike ride after cleaning the restrooms after I got home from church.

But when the restrooms were done, the sky looked bad. And it proceeded to rain. And it proceeded to pour. And the wind proceeded to gust and the camper to rock.

I guessed I wouldn't be biking, second day in a row.

So I sewed myself a hiking outfit. Skirt (with pockets) and matching loose shorts (also with pockets) of thin, lightweight cotton (yeah, cotton, more on that in a minute.)

Lots of hikers are hiking in skirts nowadays, including the guys, because of the ventilation they offer -- when you hike 8 or 10 hours in a day, this becomes important, especially if you're on a long-distance hike without laundry facilities and limited changes of underwear in your pack.

I had thought I'd go for the best of both worlds: lightweight skirt over men's Hanes boxers, which are lightweight, thin, airy, and dry quickly. But I didn't like the cut of the boxers. They just didn't feel right.

So I made my own. They fit like they were made for me :-) And a skirt to go over them. Why do I need a skirt if I have shorts that don't look like underwear? Well, a skirt provides a little "tent" for privacy when nature calls. I've learned to pee standing up without baring my butt (that's why I want loose shorts) but you can't do everything standing up. And although you go off the trail by yourself to answer said calls of nature, still, someone might happen by. Anyway, I'm going to try this skirt/shorts duo. It will make it easy to put on a warm layer, if needed... just put it over the shorts under the skirt, rather than under my shorts like most people do, which would defeat the purpose of the shorts.

Now, about cotton. Ordinarily, you don't want to wear cotton because it's too absorbent, gets wet with sweat, and doesn't dry quickly. You can get very cold wearing cotton. However, most hikers won't leave home without a cotton bandanna for 101 purposes. The main virtues of these bandannas are their absorbency (sweat, wet dishes, condensation inside your tent, etc., etc.) AND their ability to dry fast. So, I've harnessed those qualities for under-shorts. For my AT hike, I figure on 3 pairs: one to wear, one to wash, one in reserve. After a day's hiking, I'll rinse 'em out, then hang them on my backpack to dry during the next day's hike, and it won't look like I've got underwear hanging on my pack.

My friend Sally and I are going for a 6-8-mile dayhike Tuesday. I'll try 'em then.