Date: 2007-11-27
To: time is marching on
Miles today: 0.0

It's been almost two months since my first entry, which is difficult to believe. I've been working like crazy to save money for the trail. I went on a short backpacking trip on the Superior Hiking Trail with my brother. We made it about three days before the weather forced us off the trail. It rained so much that the trail was under 4-6 inches of water and the bridges were overflowing. The winds picked up and trees were being pulled down into the newly created rivers flowing down the hills. And of course, because it is Minnesota, it was cold! So, we hiked out to the highway and hitched back to my car. Even though my trip was cut short I had the opportunity to try out some new equipment, which was very exciting for me! Unfortunately, my experiences weren't the greatest. I had brought two popcan alcohol stoves and dumped what I thought was a sufficient amount of alcohol into a pop bottle. I was wrong. I used about half the alcohol the first dinner! We decided to forego our oatmeal breakfasts in favor of granola bars and gorp in order to conserve fuel. The second night it stopped raining long enough to build a fire to cook our meal. Ironically, we never did run out of fuel because we had to hitch out, but had our trip lasted the planned 5-6 days it surely would have. I am still planning on bringing a popcan stove, but I need to experiment a bit more with using it to know the proper amount of fuel to bring! I tried to make Sgt Rock's V8 can stove, but it was much more inefficient than the regular pop can, so thats out for now.I also tried out the REI Sub Kilo 15 down sleeping bag and the Prolite 3 Thermarest. I was cold at night even though it only got down to the high 30s to 40s at night. I can't really explain why I was cold, but I think it was a combination of factors. I recently replaced the Sub Kilo with the Mountain Hardwear Phantom 15 down sleeping bag. I haven't had the opportunity to use it outside yet, but I did sleep on it on my couch in my basement. The basement is a bit chilly, but I was so ridiculously warm in that sleeping bag that I had to use it as a half-quilt. I think it will do the trick for the trail. It looks like it is warmer and of better quality than the REI bag. The amount of rain made me give serious thought to my footwear. I love my hiking boots. I've hiked hundreds of miles in them without a single blister, however, when they get wet, they stay wet. The boots have goretex and trudging through all that water soaked them anyways. Eventually I stopped trying to avoid the deeper areas and the water flowed over my ankles. My boots were mini swimming pools that kept the water in rather than draining it. When I hiked through a lot of snow on the AT the boots also got wet, stayed wet, and froze. I think some lightweight shoes might be a better option because at least they will dry out a bit.Enough about gear!!! Sorry to bore everyone! I am a LITTLE bit obsessive about it right now. I had the opportunity to meet Mammoth- another minnesota 08' thru-hiker. It was really great to meet someone who is just as excited as I am about our upcoming adventures. We talked about the trail and maps and gear and maildrops and lots of other things! While we won't be starting at the same time, hopefully we will run into each other on the trail sometime or at Trail Days. It is really nice to meet others who have the same thoughts, obsession, and dream.and finally... the dream:I had my first dream about Katahdin! In my dream, I thought "I made it to Katahdin, I'm so proud/ happy/ emotional" All I had to do was to climb the mountain and I was done. I wanted to climb it so badly! I started climbing and I had to slide over a rocky ledge on my stomach. While I was laying on my stomach a rattlesnake came up and slithered into my hair! I didn't know what to do and my primary thought was that if I moved the snake would bite me and I would have to decend Katahdin without reaching the top! The thought of this horrified me and I woke up!