Date: 2006-02-06
To: Gear Changes
Miles today: 0.0

Let me forewarn you, this entry may contain TMI (too much information) for some readers, for others it may prove helpful.I went backpacking this past weekend with a group I belong to ¢ The Outdoor Club at the College of the Mainland ¢ Hi Guys!! ¢ We had a fabulous weekend at Lake Georgetown. Some of the group canoed while the rest of us backpacked a total of 11 miles on the Goodwater Trail.We got to the trail head Friday night about midnight and quickly set up our tents and crawled into our sleeping bags, it was a very cold clear night; the stars were amazing, the moon had set by the time we got there. Anyway, my new tent is a breeze to set up and I was toasty warm in my sleeping bag with the liner and silk long johns, and a pair of smartwool socks. My thermometer said it was 31* inside my tent in the morning, and everything (outside) was covered with a very heavy coating of frost when we got up- you could make snow balls out of it! After breakfast we packed up and hiked to our campsite ¢about 6 miles, the weather got quite hot (up into the 80¢s) and we are all a little sunburned from it!I am NOT ready for the mountains of Georgia/ North Carolina, Georgetown is in the ¢Hill Country¢ of Texas and the biggest ¢hill¢ we climbed must not have been over 50 feet!!! And my calves are sore! I¢m afraid I¢m in for a brutal awakening when I get there! My backpack was very very comfortable, I had about 35# in it, not that I really needed all that weight for a short weekend, but I wanted to try carrying that much. I did find that the shoulder strap of the pack sits right on top of the strap from my t-back sports bra and was uncomfortable, so I need to find new bras. I wish the pack had more external pockets, I like to compartmentalize everything, and would just like to be able to store some things on the outside of the pack (my flashlight for one, and lunch for another). You can purchase a separate lid for the granite gear packs, but I¢m not sure I really want to do that; I¢ll have to think about it, or sew up something useful. I¢ll also get a fannypack to carry my camera and snacks.I had too many little stuff sacks; I¢ve made oodles of them from silnylon all different sizes and colors, but don¢t really need them all. My boots were great and I love the smartwool sock liners. I¢ve also decided to forego the Patagonia long johns for smartwool ones! I¢ve read many rave reviews about them, most importantly that they don¢t hold onto the hiker stench when washed.My 1.3 Lt Titanium cook pot is too big, so I¢m looking for a smaller one. I have a bid in on E-bay for the .9 Lt pot. I brought my down jacket with me and was very glad to have it, but it¢s not really a backpacking jacket and took up a lot of room, so I¢m now on the lookout for a down jacket for the first month or so while on the trail. I will leave my nalgene bottle at home (it¢s too bulky) and take an extra 2 Lt Platypus bag for use in camp. And, the last and maybe most useful thing I discovered is that gallon size Ziploc bags make great thunder pots in the middle of the night when you don¢t want to get out of the tent! This will be good not only for very cold nights but for rainy nights as well! (I told you this may be TMI! ¢ oh, I decided to ditch the butterfly pillow, and I made a small flannel pillow case which I put over one of my stuff sacks and it worked great as a pillow. I got my new glasses today (they weigh 0.4 oz ¢ am I getting a little obsessive here?) and they are not bifocals, but I did get the transition lenses so they are sunglasses too.We have our plane tickets for Atlanta, and reservations at the Lodge in the park, I have just 40 days till I start! Yesterday was my twins 21st Birthday ¢ Happy Birthday Josh & Jeff!