Thursday, July 15, 2010

Yes my pack still feels heavy but I don't know why

I hiked 19 miles today to the RPH shelter in NY. Today was cloudy,
unlike yesterday, which was stormy...all day....which made it much
cooler. They said it was 91, but fortunately it did not really feel
like it. When you're outside all the time, you really get used to it.
When I go inside places with air conditioning I now freeze to death.
Especially when covered in sweat...oh excuse me, the p.c. term is
perspiration. I don't perspire, I sweat. A lot.

I never shared this before, but back in Rocksylvania, I ordered a
Tarptent and had it shipped to Port Clinton, and shipped home the
tent. That night in the town pavillion was the first time I set it up
and slept in it. They are a little finicky and take a while to tweak
the guylines here and there to the point where it is functioning
properly. Just tonight, maybe three weeks later(?), I feel like I have
the process down. Night before last was the first night it rained
really hard and I got to see how it would hold up in a storm. Besides
the fact that the seams do NOT come seam-sealed which I don't
understand, but that is another matter I won't get in to, I was mostly
pleased with it's performance. During the storm it was fine, but after
the evening rain, staying wet all night, and more rain in the morning,
it began to mist a little inside. (Not incredibly surprising being
single- walled syl-nylon and all.) When the heavy drops fell on the
taut material it sprayed a little water inside the tent. I miss the
space of the Big Agnes, but I do not miss the extra 3.5 lbs. The
Tarptent is 24oz. Yep that's right a pound and a half. It has no
poles, it uses a single trekking pole. I love it when gear performs
more than one function. I have not been able to weigh my pack lately
but I am figuring it to be around 17 lbs without food or water. I have
sent home just about everything that wasn't being used every day. So,
I decided to make another list of everything in my pack.

Gregory Jade 50 backpack
Tarptent
Big Agnes insulated air core pad
Thermarest tech blanket
Sea to Summit silk liner
2 short sleeve shirts
I long sleeve shirt
2 pair socks
1 pair sock liners
Legs from my zip-off pants
Montbell down jacket
Camelbak 100oz reservoir
Princeton tec headlamp
50' paracord
15L dry sack for food
3L Nalgene canteen
Sea to Summit x-mug
Sea to Summit UL spoon
Notebook and 1 pen, 1 pencil
AMK .7 UL first aid kit
Ziploc with TP and hand sanitizer
Ben's 100% deet
Aqua Mira
iPhone and battery charger
Useless pack cover
Useless UL rain jacket

Pretty slim pickin's, eh? I have absolutely nothing in there I don't
use every day. I even sent my B.A. Ultralight chair kit home. That was
the last luxury item to go. There is no time to sit around anyway.
When I get to camp, it's all I can do to stay awake long enough to
write this, let alone laze around goofing off in a chair. So with
that...I will bid you all goodnight.

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