Date: 2016-01-24
To: Shakedown hike report
Miles today: 0.0

I just got back from my one-night shakedown hike on the Lone Star Trail with my shakedown compadre,Texas Bob. Man, what a good time, a great walk and an even greater experience in regards to getting a feel for some of my equipment and testing it through what ended up being a very cold night in the East Texas woods. But wait, there's more .... I also picked up a few little tidbits from Texas Bob as he is making his second shot at an AT thru-hike this spring and has done a lot of sectional hiking. With that experience he brought some practical first-hand knowledge to the "Party in the Pines".I wanted to make the hike as realistic as possible so I packed my entire kit with exception of just a few items. Because we were only going for one night I did not have to carry multiple meals so my pack wasn't quite 30 pounds. To rectify this topped off my pack with two cans of Coors light and some extra grub.We set up camp in a primitive campsite deep in the Sam Houston National Forest. The minute the sun dipped below the pine trees, the mercury started to drop. And quick. Going in I knew it was going to be a cold one but that was good because I was iffy on my extreme cold weather set up. By morning I found that I was in fairly decent shape as I got through the night being fairly comfortable despite the temperature getting to at least 28° forcing me to go "full mummy". Bob's evening didn't go as smoothly as he was trying out a new sleeping pad that evidently did not do what his old one did; Insulate him from the cold ground. On the other hand, I stayed warm despite pulling out the big guns and sleeping in just about every article of clothing I had in my kit. I know what you Northerners are thinking but hey man, 30 years of living down here in Texas with thin out anyone's blood! Eskimos included.Here are some other things I discovered....My Sea to Summit insulated sleeping pad kept sliding all over the floor of my Tarp Tent. I mentioned this to Bob and he suggested "painting" strips of seam sealer on the floor of my tent to serve as a grip. Problem solved.I like to use bandannas and I carried two red ones with me. I'm going to carry one red one and one blue one so I will know which one has been used to clean-out my cook pot and which one might serve as a "do-rag". I don't want to mix it up and have my hair smelling like Knor fettuccine pasta meal. I carried a absorbent Shamwow with me to serve as a camp towel and something to wipe away condensation.   That's right a real live Shamwow on the Appalachian Trail!! However I'm going to cut the one I have in half, it just does not need to be that big.Looking for shit in the dark sucks. I knew this going in. Onmy shakedown hike I refined my system as far as how to square things away in my pack and tent while in camp. I wasn't sure about my neck lanyard with my knife, lighter, micro-light, a military can opener and a few small clips for whatever I decide might be clippable to them. This however worked very very good and I'm definitely e going to be using it. Finally, and this is a big one, I have just recently bought a Flip-10 phone recharger. I decided to try it out in and charge my iPhone and guess what I discovered.... Yup, the cord connecting the charger to the phone was the wrong port. How bad would I have that sucked if I discovered that someone is in Georgia?Hiking out we passed many other hikers as the day was beautiful. My pack felt great on the way out having drained the ballast cans the evening before. My next test has to involve rain and my rain gear as I have not tested it yet.