June 16
Total miles today: 14.5
We finished our final preparations for our planned longest hike ever. At 1245, we hit the trail, after visiting a small church in Hamburg Pa. Our plan is to do about 55 days on the trail. We should have enough time to get to Maine, but not all of it. That's good, as I would prefer to make the final stretch of Maine our final section hike. Our previous longest section hike was 22 days, from Springer to Hot Springs.
How do you prepare for a 55 day hike? Well, it's not much different than a 3-5 day hike. You can't carry everything you might need, the goal is to run out of everything by the next town. Some folks will put together resupply boxes and mail them ahead. I don't bother, the one time we did a mail drop it was at Fontana dam, and I just ordered straight from Amazon.
Since we expect to go through the White Mountains in NH, we will need warmer gear, so we will swap out a few things in Vermont.
What I've done:
1) Fussed at my fellow hikers to get packed
2) Bought some food for resupply along the way when David gets on and off the trail to go to camp
3) packed 3 days of food for 3 people ( and put it all in David's pack)
4) Sprayed everything with Perimethrin ( my wife did that for us...lyme is no fun)
5) Replaced my Osprey Exos48 with a Zpacks Nero...saving almost 2 pounds
6) picked up a Thermarest ultralight Large ( comfy and only 12oz)
7) prepped gear...removed as much as I can from my pack.
8) glanced at Guthook
9) did my best to get all non-trail things in order.
Laurie and Benjamin dropped us on the trail in Port Clinton PA after we joined a small church for worship in Hamburg, PA. They also joined us for the first part of the hike.
Rain threatened all day, but we mostly avoided it....except when we decided to take a dinner break on pulpit rock
I'm writing this post during a snack break at The Pinnacle, 9.5 miles from where we started in Port Clinton. The view is awesome.
5.4 mostly downhill miles to Eckville shelter and we are done for the day. It's 6:30pm. If we don't get moving we will be hiking in the dark.
Total miles today: 14.5
We finished our final preparations for our planned longest hike ever. At 1245, we hit the trail, after visiting a small church in Hamburg Pa. Our plan is to do about 55 days on the trail. We should have enough time to get to Maine, but not all of it. That's good, as I would prefer to make the final stretch of Maine our final section hike. Our previous longest section hike was 22 days, from Springer to Hot Springs.
How do you prepare for a 55 day hike? Well, it's not much different than a 3-5 day hike. You can't carry everything you might need, the goal is to run out of everything by the next town. Some folks will put together resupply boxes and mail them ahead. I don't bother, the one time we did a mail drop it was at Fontana dam, and I just ordered straight from Amazon.
Since we expect to go through the White Mountains in NH, we will need warmer gear, so we will swap out a few things in Vermont.
What I've done:
1) Fussed at my fellow hikers to get packed
2) Bought some food for resupply along the way when David gets on and off the trail to go to camp
3) packed 3 days of food for 3 people ( and put it all in David's pack)
4) Sprayed everything with Perimethrin ( my wife did that for us...lyme is no fun)
5) Replaced my Osprey Exos48 with a Zpacks Nero...saving almost 2 pounds
6) picked up a Thermarest ultralight Large ( comfy and only 12oz)
7) prepped gear...removed as much as I can from my pack.
8) glanced at Guthook
9) did my best to get all non-trail things in order.
Laurie and Benjamin dropped us on the trail in Port Clinton PA after we joined a small church for worship in Hamburg, PA. They also joined us for the first part of the hike.
Big thanks to Laurie for making this possible, she is stuck at home with a quiet, peaceful house while we get rained on. Seriously though, I am blessed to have a wife that supports our little adventures.
Rain threatened all day, but we mostly avoided it....except when we decided to take a dinner break on pulpit rock
I'm writing this post during a snack break at The Pinnacle, 9.5 miles from where we started in Port Clinton. The view is awesome.
5.4 mostly downhill miles to Eckville shelter and we are done for the day. It's 6:30pm. If we don't get moving we will be hiking in the dark.
Hopefully the rain at least kept it a bit cooler for you. Are your backpacks super waterproof?
ReplyDeleteChristine
Glad Laurie & Benjamin could join you for the very beginning of the hike. Is Sage toting an umbrella the whole hike? We like those colorful hiking shoe gaiters to help keep away the ticks along with the Permethrin on socks & long pants. The lighter pack and the thermarest ultralight sound like worthwhile upgrades to your equipment. The Pinnacle snack break location does indeed look awesome. Great reward for your initial hiking miles! Press On!
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