Its about a month and a half left before I hit the Appalachian Trail again. Planning is going good. Still marking out where I think I’d like to stop for food and resupply. Hitting the gym constantly and eating like a horse. I’ve finally gotten my body weight up to 135, with a final goal weight of 140. I’m pretty sure I can find enough food to shove in my mouth so as to acquire those last five pounds with little effort.
I recently purchased a new tent. I ended up going with the ZPacks Solplex. It’s total weight is supposed to be 15.5 ounces, not including the stakes (? ounces), nor ground cover (2.5 ounces). It’s a single layer tent, which usually means a bitch load of condensation, but due to design, ZPacks claims condensation should roll off the tent efficiently. I’m going to give it a couple test runs while I’m still here in Florida (capital of condensation) and see how it performs. This tent is supposedly a full 1 lb., 13 oz., lighter than my MSR I used last year. So, I’m pretty stoked about the weight savings I’m getting.
Also, I know it’s going to be cold periodically on the trail. That’s something I’ve gotten used to expecting, but last year I mailed home my fleece liner and this year I’m removing it before I pack it. The one I currently use is 1lb..
So, last base weight weigh in I was around 15 pounds total. Minus the fleece liner (1 lb.) and tent weight savings (1 lb., 13 oz.), I should be approx. at 12 pounds. Still some wiggle room to get to the goal of 9 lbs., but I’m not going to beat myself up if I can’t make 9, as long as I get close. I’d be happy if I end up at 10. I’ll forgive the one pound. If I want to get all hard core, I can skimp on the extra food and only pack in 10 lbs. of food, instead of 11. Total goal weight is 120.
So, that’s what’s happening. A lot of last minute crazy stuff to fit in my schedule just to be able to leave my life for two months, but I knew it was going to be “Go Time” once I found myself with less than 2 months before lift off. It’s the little things like making sure I have the right phone service, switching to Verison, getting my bills paid in advance, etc.. All the prep for my life versus the prep for the hike. It’s never over.
Flying to Maine in August and the rest is hopefully history.
http://www.trailspace.com/gear/zpacks/solplex/