Gear in Review - Sleep System

UPDATE: After spending 5 months in a tent, I've updated this review here: Sleep System - UPDATE

Mountain Hardwear Sprite 1
Specs
3 lbs. 6 oz.
18 square feet

The Story
I have covered this in the blog previously. But to re-iterate:
I got a bivy for the Trail. I tested it several times and I found it to be unusably hot in the summer time. OK in the winter time. And worthless in the rain. Also cramped, not incredibly light. and I could feel a mouse running across my legs all night through the bivy. All in all, just terrible.
I switched out the bivy for a Mountain Hardwear Sprite 1 and I have been completely satisfied. I have used the tent in the canyons of Utah, the mountains of the Cascades, and for over a year on the East Coast. I find the tent roomy enough for me and my gear, including my boots and pack. I have enough room to sit up. Legolas even has a place to swing and cast light on me if I decide to stay up and write. Easy to setup and take down. I have yet to be in a deluge, if it leaks like a sieve I will be complaining about it!

Big Agnes Grouse Mountain Down Sleeping Bag
Specs
3 lbs
good to 15 degrees
Ground pad sleeve

The Story
I have never owned a down bag. After hearing horror stories of wet down I shied away from down. I have had synthetic bags all my life and have always had good luck with them. I have a 40 degree LL Bean bag that I have had for years, and might be switching out to when it gets very warm this summer. I needed a general purpose bag, something that would bridge the gap between too cold and hot out. After researching and weighting my options I found that Big Agnes is a really good brand. Accolades from customers, and the design features including no insulation where it's a waste, a pillow sack inside the bag, the sleeve for the ground cloth were all determining factors. The last, and most important factor: dividends from my REI credit card! I normally would never link a credit card, but if you do online bill pay, buy things from Amazon, buy things from REI, why wouldn't you use this to your advantage? I pay down my credit card month to month so there is no interest or fees. I travel for work, buy a lot of gas, and I have been buying many things from Amazon to prepare for this trip. I have gained a lot of "free" money from these rewards. I have tried to do this so I am using the system to as much of my advantage as possible.
Bottom line. Good bag. Expensive, but the right price for me (free)!

Stoic LTWT Step Sleeping Pad
Specs
1 lb 7oz

The Story
Not much of a story here. I had a closed cell foam ground pad for the winter months to use in conjunction with a 3/4 ThermaRest that I used by itself in the summer months. Together those 2 work great. I chanced upon the Stoic on Steep and Cheap with a price I couldn't turn down. Turns out the Stoic was close to the same weight as the ThermaRest, with a mummy tapered full length design. I'm happy with the design and weight, it is comfortable and does what it's meant to do - float me on a warm cushion of air as I'm floating in dream-land!

SeatoSummit Reactor Thermolite Mummy Bag Liner
Specs
8.7 oz
Adds 15 degrees of warmth

The Story
This big fuzzy body sock does what it does and does it well! I have had it for several years and have used it as a blanket in Brazil while hosteling and it has added warmth on 0 degree nights in West Virginia. The only qualm I have is the body sock thing! It doesn't have a side opening so if you're hot you can poke a single leg out, as I often like to do. Once inside it your in for the night. It is best used for cold weather camping or completely by itself in hot weather.

Things Missed...

...and NOT missed!

I often try to imagine myself on the Trail. Walking along, day after day. Waking with the sunrise, enjoying a breeze, hearing the pitter-patter of rain on my Packa or tent, even being sore tired damp and smelly (not to romanticize the Trail!). I can imagine those individual scenes. I can't imagine it day after day for half of a year. But that's going to be my life. And I crave it! However much I want to get away from many things there is going to be things that I will desperately miss as well. Until the Trail becomes normal, lack of normalcy will be echoing around me. How long will it take for it to sink in that this isn't a short trip? I have done over-night camping trips, and I have done 12 day canoe trips. It takes over a week for the life-style change to really sink in. Even then, you know in a few more days you will be moving with the help of gasoline again rather than your bodies own motive power.
So, what am I going to miss the most? And what do I think I will not miss the most? Here's a couple lists. At the end of my journey I will look back at these lists and then write again about which things on the list turned out to be missed more, less, or surprising!

I will miss:
1. Cara
2. Friends and family
3. Kaya
4. Home
5. Bed
6. Heating/cooling
7. Wine from the bottle
8. Cooking multi-sided meals
9. Showering daily
10. Pay-check

I will NOT  miss:
1. Traffic, other impatient drivers
2. Feeling rushed frustrated and angry at things I cannot control
3. TV
4. Sitting the majority of every day
5. Worrying about needing to exercise or eat right
6. Being bored
7. Immersion in a society consumed with short attention spans, lying politicians, greed, and rampant consumerism.
8. Dress pants
9. Looking at my cell phone every 2 minutes for email - once a day will be fine IF there's signal!
10. Commuting


I know these lists will change, maybe gradually. I may start not minding skipping showers for a week at a time. I may start to really like ambient temperature every day. I may miss dress pants (doubtful on that account, I wear jeans most every day and haven't had an urge to put on slacks).

Things that I take for granted, like water from a tap, a fridge, ease of buying whatever I want whenever I want could possibly become things that I really miss (speaking of consumerism!). I go on this trip to remove myself from typical American life, to get some perspective, and to find out what I really consider important. I may be standing way too close to see what I really value.

What about you? What did you miss? What will you miss?

Little Calf Mountain Reroute

http://www.southshenandoah.net/events/details/29-flyingmcleods-march
I just got a PATC memo with talks of a new mountain to be climbed in Shenandoah; the Trail re-reoute will now include Little Calf Mountain, with west-facing views.
I look forward to enjoying the hard work of those volunteers, and will need to re-pay their work with some volunteerism of my own!



Doing some research:
http://www.summitpost.org/little-calf-mountain-summit-view-bear-den-mountain/468975

Little Calf Mountain is at Mile Marker 99.5

Project Details

Gear in Review - Camera

This is the beginning of a Gear Review series that will cover the gear that I am using, that I have Trail tested and will update each review periodically as the trip progresses.

 Self-timer used

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3

Specs

Features

  -Shockproof

  -Waterproof

  -Dustproof

  -Freezeproof

  -Altimeter / Depth Indicator / Compass / Barometer / GPS

  -12.1 mega Pixel

  -28mm Wide-angle Lens

Focus

  -Optical: 4.6x

  -Extra Optical: 5.7x (4:3 / 8M), 7.3x (4:3 / 5M), 9.1x (4:3 / under 3M)

  -Intelligent: 6x

  -Digital: 4x
  -(Max. 18.4x combined with Optical Zoom without Extra Optical Zoom)
  -(Max. 36.3x combined with Extra Optical Zoom)
Many other specifications are provided at the linked Panasonic wesite


The Story
Problem, I needed another camera! I had a fairly nice Kodak that had an unfortunate snow-boarding accident. I spent $100 to have it fixed, and the shots have never been the same, a tinge of blur on the left side of every picture taken.
I bought a cheaper Kodak and it also took nice pictures, had a decent zoom and was small and light-weight. A humid morning killed that camera in Dolly Sods! That's all it took. The camera was in a plastic bag, it had rained the night before but the camera was in a bag in a backpack with a rain cover under a tarp. And yet when I removed the camera from the bag to take a picture of a gorgeous sunrise from Bear Rocks, the screen became full of condensation and the camera breathed it's last, even after instantly removing the battery, and putting the camera in the freezer when I got home.
After going through two cameras in less than a year I was determined to get one that could live through my life-style, that is outside and on the go, with occasional bumps and bruises. I began searching and came upon several cameras that styled themselves as 'ruggedized'. After reading reviews, and having worked for a couple years with Panasonic Toughbook ruggedized laptops, I decided to go with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3... the only problem was that it hadn't been released yet! The TS2 was still being sold, but heading towards EOL. I decided to wait it out, put in a pre-order and go without a camera for a few months, with the hopes that it would arrive in time to go to Stehekin, WA for the Volunteer Vacation. The camera did arrive in time.
The camera took hundreds of very nice pictures, the battery life was good. The GPS, altimeter, barometer, and compass were nice features. After using the camera for 9 days we were hiking back to base camp with tools in hand. The shovel I carried banged, and not hard, into the camera that was in my cargo pocket. The back LCD screen cracked and spider-webbed. The camera still took pictures just fine, but with the screen compromised I figured the water-proofing was also compromised.
After the trip I sent the camera back to Panasonic, free of charge for warranty repair. The LCD screen was back-ordered for over a month, and a couple months after sending it in I got a fixed camera back. While I'm glad they made good on it, it took way too long. 

Conclusion
The pictures are decent, the stabilization is good, the color is true. However, you must understand that the zoom is not great the lens is contained within the housing so optical zoom is limited, and digital zoom always becomes lossy very quickly. The camera is rugged, but from experience, not invincible. I have taken pictures with it while swimming, but I would not go scuba diving with it, though I would probably go snorkeling.
The GPS takes forever to find satellites and it really must be under clear unobstructed skies. Even with the GPS left on the battery lasts for a long time, several days of constant use. In the time I was in Washington I changed the battery once.

All in all I'm glad I purchased the camera and it will be traveling the Appalachian Trail with me.

Class of 2012

Already the Class is forming. People are in planning and excitement  mode.

I've visited Trail Days in Damascus, VA the last two years. There is a hiker parade as the main event. Main St is shutdown, the crowd forms - many with squirt guns and water balloons (I assume to wash off the Hiker Stench) - and different Classes hike down the street. Some people wear their hiker garb, others wear diapers (no idea how that tradition started), others costumes. The Classes stretch back decades. These classes are a tight knit group of the larger tight knit Trail community itself. Some groups go further and camp in the same "towns" in group camping. These folks have shared experiences, their stories are inter-woven with one another. The events that happened that year on the Trail, weather or tragedy or hilarity, traveled via word of mouth and registry to many hikers that year, cementing a bond between them. This is something I am very much looking forward to.

These people, fellow adventurers, intrepid travelers all, will be my Classmates. I may never meet some, but they will still have a large effect on me. I will be reading their entries in the shelter registers, I will get to know their sense of humor, their frustrations, and I will look forward to news from up-Trail. Those following me will do the same. If I do finally run (or rather walk) into these hikers, I will have an understanding and feel a sense of kinship to them that they won't have for me if they have never read my musings in the registers.

I have already had the pleasure of reading the words laid down by a couple bloggers that are hiking this year. I am looking forward to reading future posts, both on the Internet and in the registers, as both are beginning before me. Laughing Dog and Appalachian Jake are two that I have found so far. Both are good reads, and give me insight into them. Meeting them will be a pleasure.

I have done some research and the more research I do the more blogs and resources I find concerning the upcoming 2012 season. Since the Good Badger has already begun a list of bloggers, I will link his site, and let you do some of your own research. I will be adding all these to Google Reader (RSS is a wonderful thing) so I can follow along.
I see a buzz on White Blaze about those that are preparing to hit the AT in 2012 as well. There are also a bunch of Facebook groups 1, 2, 3,  4, 5, 6
And since I'm a fan of Google+ this blog has it's very own Page for micro-blogging.

More prep talk
On other fronts I completely re-did my shipping schedule and ironed out the areas that I had as gray-areas (Shenandoah and White Mountains). I am pleased with the amounts of time between drops, and the closeness to the Trail. Most I have are within a mile, usually less. I have setup an average of 13 miles per day between drops. I guess the part I may regret and need to change is the length of time between drops. I am planning on some of two or three days, however most drops are for 7 days with a few 8 or 9 days (110+ miles between drops). This may be way too heavy. In the next few weeks I will be loading my pack with all my intended gear, water, and the heaviest amount of food I will be carrying. Virginia has some very long ridge walks, and the southern New England states are, well let's face it, they're easy - comparatively. I have read probably over a dozen journals and books of peoples experience on the Trail. Everyone talks of the hard the beginning, the length of Virginia, the rocks of Pennsylvania, and then the Green Mountains. There are several states, CT, MA, NY, NJ that people say, "another state - woohoo!" and that's about it. That being said, I have also heard those states are very pretty, and I am looking forward the the N.E. stroll (I hope it won't be too hot this summer). I hope that 1 weeks worth of food will not be too much on my back. I am trying to minimize time in town, either having to wait until the Post opens or getting drawn in to all the town calories($)! My meals are light and have high nutritional value, the Harmony House meals are very light! The packets of chicken and the summer sausage both are a bit heavier since they both have some moisture weight, but those will be eaten first!

Pack List
I found a nice web-site that has an enormous library of user generated item weights, as well as the capability of adding your own. It is a work in progress, since I'm not completely a gram-weeny I don't have too much concern with the exact weight of every single item. I care more about the approximate weight just for reference. Once I'm on the Trail for a few weeks, and the handle of my tooth brush is cut off, then you can call me an ounce-counter! 

Holidays and the Approaching Adventure

I went to snowy New Hampshire for Christmas. This has been one of the best Christmas in recent memory. Then again, when does one have enough time off to do nothing for 10 days!

I have been good with my personal days this year, and even with this last expenditure I will be rolling some days over to next year. When I go on the Appalachian Trail I will have some days to give me that one last extra boost monetarily.

New Hampshire

Cara and I drove up after work and arrived fairly late on the 16th. Her parents own and operate a country inn called Lovette's Inn, in Franconia, just down the road from Franconia Notch and Canon Mountain, only a couple miles from the Appalachian Trail and within very easy driving distance of several other ski resorts, and the entire White Mountains region. I didn't realize how many trails this area has to offer... more on that later! Both of her brothers and Significant Others were there, as well as her older brother's 2 kids. The next day after getting there we visited and played with the kids, watched some Christmas movies and generally relaxed. What little snow was on the ground melted. I was hoping for a white Christmas but we still had lots of time until the guy in the red suit showed up.

Over the next several days we opened some presents, ate massive amounts of good food, drank excellent wine, and just generally enjoyed the downtime. Guests with their children came and enjoyed the Inn along with some of Cara's brother's friends that were in the area. The hustle and bustle, was counter-pointed by how homey it felt. One evening we took the kids over to the Polar Express on the Hobo Railroad in a nearby town. The program included getting on a train, getting hot coco and candy, and traveling to the North Pole to hangout with Santa and the elves. Very fun to see the joy and wonder on all these kids faces.

After Cara's brother's left it was just Cara, me, and her parents for a week. We did more of the same, Christmas movies, some light shopping in Littleton, hit a couple local restaurants. Cara and I drove to North Conway to the outlets, on our way across from Franconia we passed by the base of Mt. Washington, which was unfortunately mostly shrouded in clouds and the sky dropped rain onus that froze on the roads and made shopping treacherous - I needed some micro-spikes! The following day the sky cleared and the temperature dropped. The 4 of us went back to Mt. Washington and I was able to see the true sky-scrapper in all it's majestic glory.

We got snow! Enough to go on a short hike on snow-shoes on the cross-country trails behind Lovette's Inn. that evening we decided to open one Christmas present. The girls boxed up a map that I had been eying in a local store, they thought it was a semi-joke gift... I guess they didn't realize how much I love maps! I poured over it, imagining myself cresting this hill, following that stream. The White Mountains has enough trails scattered around it, some very densely interlaced, I could spend the next 20 summers trying to explore them all. I was always impressed by the amount of trails in Acadia when we visited in my childhood. Acadia has a fraction.

This area echoes in my mind with names that I have heard over and over in all the books on the AT I have read. I saw the AT cross the road in Crawford Notch, looked at the mountains surrounding the Notch, stared up at Mt. Washington and tried, really really tried to imagine myself on the Trail for 5 months. But I can't. I cannot fathom how I will feel, or if I will make it. I imagine that I will, but how can I not when I'm making a 6 month commitment to the AT. People ask me almost daily, relatives and friends, if I am ready for my trip. I always answer positively, but it is not an honest answer. I am filled with eager anticipation, tinged with fear of loneliness and knowing that I will miss Cara and everything "normal". The anticipation is great, I have not fully allowed myself to realize I am actually going to embark on this trip. It's all an idea right now. I see the silver thread of the tread-way skimming across the mountain tops, marching a steady march to Maine. I see images flash by in fast forward as if I was on the Trail. But it is all illusory, dream-like and ephemeral still. I am planning and studying maps, trying gear, and making food packets, but I can't comprehend 6 months. I can't grasp going to a post office for food week after week. It's like sitting on a beach gazing at the stars and you can't wrap your head around the vastness of all the stars above you or even all the grains of sand beneath you. I doubt I will get it while I'm out there immediately. We're programmed to always be looking to the next thing, the next drop off point, the next day, the next turn in the Trail or the next peak to bag. I'm hoping when I have 7 days food on my back and all I gotta do between now and the next post office is walk that I can be more in the NOW than I ever have been before.

Another walk in the snow with the three yellow labs playing in the snow with us, and a couple more days of delightful nothingness, work and the world called us back. Ten days gone so quickly, and with less adventure then I have had in years. But I feel recharged. My love grows ever stronger for Cara, and times like this of us just being for days with only quiet happiness confirms my feelings. Of course the drive back in traffic was completely trying to my state of euphoria, people are in such a hurry to get back from work and away from family. I surely won't miss traffic and brake lights while I am on the Appalachian Trail! We got back in time to see my Uncles and Aunts and cousins before finally getting home in Southern MD...

Anticipation

I have been putting together meal packets for the Appalachian Trail. I enjoy the preparation. Not only do I like searching Amazon for deals on food and getting package after package of Clif Bars in the mail, I also enjoy separating, organizing, and repacking. I try to imagine myself 6 months from now when I get to a post office and unbox my fuel for the next week. Will I curse myself for not enough diversity? Though I've tried for it. Will I berate myself for forgetting to put a packet of coffee one morning? Will it be too much or not enough? I feel I can't answer any of these basic questions until I have been out there for awhile. At first I think I will be wasting food, as 700 calories of rice, couscous, or other starch is a LOT, but later, when the hiker hunger creeps in I'm hoping it will be enough. Not to get bogged down into crunching numbers, but I have tried to make the meals fulfill what calorie expenditure I have researched. I do not want to lose much weight while I hike. I can't afford it. To that end I have lots of protein bars, nuts, dried fruits and meats, and tons of starches planned. I am trying to buy as much now while I have a pay check so while I am out there I won't need to spend my saved money on daily meals. I want the money put back to go for 'over-and-beyond' stuff; like an occasional hotel stay, an AYCE buffet, a shuttle ride for Cara to her car - whatever it takes for me to be happy out there, but not the base expense of the Trail.

The anticipation builds, as I think how fast the past year has already gone. Only 3 more months. Only 3 months to buy, build, organize test, address, label, check and double-check EVERYTHING. And all these checks and double checks could go awry if I hike faster than what I have planned (not slower, not in my vocab!). Also adding to the anticipation besides, the ticking of the clock, are the presents I received from all my loved ones. An awesome pair of boots, the Packa which I've spoken of before, hiking socks, a poncho, camp mug, MAPS!, a better funnel and pre-filter for the SteriPen, and a AT tee shirt! People know what I need!

The list grows shorter of what I still need to do. Some things must wait until last minute, like getting a cheaper cell phone, loading the licensing for the SPOT, discontinuing credit card use and switching to cash. Other things I need to ramp up on in a major way, like drying beef jerky and fruits, completing meal packaging, boxing meals into shipping containers. All the work is fulfilling and time consuming.

 *Other pics to be added soon

I have found a good resource for finding out where the AT crosses roads:
http://walkiness.com/scripts/newvarat.php
Google Maps also has a couple good publicly shared maps of Parking and Shelters, provided by the ATC:
http://www.appalachiantrail.org/about-the-trail/mapping-gis-data

Cancun

Cancun

Cara and I went to Cancun for a four day weekend a few weeks ago for a friends wedding. We grabbed a direct flight down to the resort outside of Cancun. Our time was short, and there were events for the wedding guests daily so we did not venture off the resort.

I liked the weather, I liked the resort - Moon Palace Sunrise. I relaxed and soaked up the calm ambiance. The resort was very nicely appointed with everything you could want, from swim up bars to a huge variety of good food and cheap booze (free to guests, cheap to them!).

The well manicured lawns, the maintained streams and fountains, the tractor that picks up sea-weed from the beach to keep it beautiful all gave the place a very unreal feeling. In the sense that it is an escape from reality, it did the trick. Most of the people that worked there knew English very well, I did dive into my mind and pull out quite a few Spanish words and phrase, all unnecessary. I want to begin re-learning sentence structure, I'd love to be able to have a solid conversation in Spanish by the time we go to Costa Rica next year. All of the employees being able to speak English made the place seem that much more unreal. Not a bad thing, just an observation.

We did see some wild-life. We saw iguanas,. and 1 lonely orange-billed gull surrounded by his drab brethren, and to top it off we saw a coati! The coati, also known as the snookum bear, looks kind of like a cross between a cat and a raccoon. Cara and I were going for one last stroll around, killing time before we headed to the airport. By a line of bushes I saw a tail float up from the shrubbery. The tail immediately made me do a double take, as it was much too long to be a cats tail. I skirted the bushes, and grubbing around in the dirt was this coati. He looked very smart and very hungry! He paid us no mind as we stalked him and watched him move down the bushes in search of his meal. A worker tossed us a muffin to feed to him. I always have reservations about feeding wildlife and getting them dependent on humans, I did appreciate the close up views though. My guilt is bearable, but still there.

The important part of this trip, the great part of this trip, the truly memorable part was the joining of two lives. The wedding of two friends, surrounded by family and friends supporting their decision to combine their lives to one. The ceremony was held in a pavilion over-looking the beach. As we walked along the path to the place of marriage, three planes dodged and wove above us, doing aerial maneuvers seen at airshows. The wedding party all made it under the pavilion before the sky opened up, before the bride made it there. The horse and carriage slowed nearly to a halt and then clopped away to shelter to wait out the passing shower. This gave everyone a good laugh and will be integral in the telling of their day forever - an occurrence that some may find horrifying they found funny and up-lifting. After the ceremony we all went to the reception with plenty of alcohol and dancing. I wish the newly weds all the best! They are a wonderful couple.

The trip was relaxing, the travel was easy. Cara is such a good traveling companion. Neither of us like to feel rushed so we arrive early and lounge waiting for the plane. We take it easy and enjoy all parts of the journey. I would want no one else to be with on these trips.