Date: 2004-02-03
To: Pre hike hike: The Lone Star Trail
Miles today: 0.0

Well, this weekend yielded a fruitful, if short and soggy, shakedown hike. Friday after work we headed out for the western end of the Lone Star Trail, near Montgomery, TX. It was a minor miracle we found the trail head -it was dark, we'd never been out that way, and the maps we'd been able to pull off the internet were scanty at best. But the gods were smiling on us, as we found a trailhead with ample parking. When we got there, we had no idea how well the trail was marked, and whether we'd be able to follow it in the dark. We held out the possibility that we might be 'camping' in our car that night. As it turned out, the Lone Star Trail is *very* well marked, and we were easily able to follow the trail. After hiking in just a couple of miles we came upon the nicest little primitive camp site with a lovely view of Lake Conroe, and we had the place all to ourselves. We set up camp and got dinner going. By now, it was probably around 11 pm. We don't know what time it really was, though, because neither of us owns a watch. (item #1 on the Gear To Buy list: watch). Arwen wanted to test out cooking under our vestibule (see photo). The large vestibule was one of the main reasons we went with this tent, even though it's a little heavy for backpacking. And just like the REI sales guy said, with the vents open you can cook under shelter - which should come in handy on especially rainy days. The next little lesson we learned was that it's important to boil the water *before* you add the macaroni to it. We thought we'd take a shortcut and it ended up never actually boiling. But what was worse, the low heat caused the macaroni to become, I dunno, 'denatured' or something, and what we ended up with was this disgusting milky glue soup. Barf! We tossed it out and decided to wait for breakfast time to come.With hot cocoa in our bellies, we cozied up in our sleeping bags. (Arwen forgot to bring his 'real' sleeping bag, so we didn't get to try zipping them together - so we get to save that for next time.) We tried to get Sasha to snuggle up with us in the tent, but she would have none of it. This was starkly out of character for a pup who could easily be a contender for World's Most Snugglinest Dog. Instead, she wanted to wander around the campsite, sniffing and standing guard. We woke up a few times throughout the night, and she still refused to give up her post. We figured she was just enjoying being out in the wild.This is where the next little Lesson Learned comes in. By morning, Sasha was shivering continuously, even though it wasn't that cold outside. We had assumed her doggy instincts were superior to our parental preconceptions of what she should be doing. But we learned that sometimes Sasha still needs us to look out for her. That next morning we hung out in the tent and warmed her up with our sleeping bags and down vests. She returned to her normal perky self once we packed up and hit the trail, even with her doggy backpack fully loaded.That next day was overcast, cool but not cold, and we were spared from rain - perfect hiking weather! The only problem was, we were basically hiking in a swamp. We couldn't walk too far without coming across creeks and seeps that were difficult to cross. We know we are certain to have soggy conditions at certain points on the AT. But the purpose of this shakedown hike was not to get as muddy as possible; it was to do as many miles as we could with full packs. So, we walked as far in as we could before it got too swampy, then turned around and hiked out, drove to the next nearest trailhead, and repeated. This gave us the added bonus of getting to know some different areas of the Lone Star Trail, for the next time we want to come out and hike it.The highlight of the day was a family we came across on our way out of the first location. They had set up camp on the very spot we'd spent the night, so we stopped to talk to them. This mom and dad had brought their 7-year old daughter (what a cutie!) on her first overnight backpacking trip, just to try it out. She seemed to be having fun - she had carried her own small pack in, with her 7lb cat riding on top! They were really neat people. We told them about our upcoming AT hike, and they said That's awesome! Go for it! It was funny. sometimes we feel guilty for taking so much time off work, 'shirking our responsibilities' and so on. But after talking to them, we found out six months is nothing. Before their daughter was born, this couple took off FOUR YEARS to sail around the world: 32,000 miles. Wow. We were in awe. What an inspiration!Cheers,Arwen & Heather