Date: 2013-03-15
To: final preps
Miles today: 0.0

First off my hat is off to the current hikers out there and my prayers for their safety are daily. What a change of weather from last year. They are dealing with lows in the single digits and we were dealing with record highs. A few folks have dropped out due to injuries from falls from the ice and snow. At least the weather is finally getting better. Hiking in cold is okay, stopping, sitting or sleeping is a different story. SO airline tickets are bought and we leave 10 April for Richmond, spend the night in a hotel there, meet Spools Parents ¢The Robertsons¢ and then we drive down to Wytheville to enjoy the local scenery until I start hiking on the 13th. Wytheville I know will bring mixed emotions for me since the last time I was there I couldn¢t walk up a flight of stairs without crawling. I was emotionally drained in defeat and physically a mess. Basically Wytheville is my Waterloo.I had to make a few changes to my final items for the hike. My final pack weight with winter gear is 12.75 lbs including a full fuel canister. The weight of my big four- pack, tent, sleeping pad and bag is right at 3.5 lbs!!!!On the gear changes, I tried the foam pads, but it wasn¢t going to work for the long haul for me. So I went to use my Klymit inertia and the valve was busted. I also read a review on sleeping pads and this pad was rated the least comfortable. I would have to agree. I slept horrible on it, but was going to use it since I had it on hand. Also the thing went flat twice on me and it was only used inside the tent or with a ground cloth in a shelter¢¦save money and don¢t go with one in the future. So I ended up having to buy a thermal rest x-lite that has rave reviews over the last year. It weighs 12 oz so I can live with it. The reviews state that it is noisy when rolling around on it so between folks snoring and my rolling around, shelter life could be interesting, with ear plugs mandatory.One last item was I called z-packs and I had them make me an arc-blast backpack with the condition that if it didn¢t feel better than my Mariposa plus I was going to send it back. Well it showed up last month and I have been hiking with it. Last year, and even this year on my practice hikes, the Mariposa has all the weight going on my shoulders. No matter what I did I could never get any weight to the small of my back like it should be and after a while that gets uncomfortable. Hell once I was even hiking for miles without the waist belt attached and I didn¢t even feel the difference. I think a lot has to do with the waist belt set up and I couldn¢t get it low enough or adhered to the pack well enough. So I had this one made with a 24¢ torso and z-pack sews the waist belt to the pack. I looked for reasons not to keep this since money for equipment is way in the red, (not to mention the look from my wife). But this thing is awesome. I loaded it with 22+ lbs and hiked 11.5 miles on terrain similar to the AT- rocks, snow, sand, ups and downs. The weight fell to the small of my back, the shoulders carried only partial weight and I didn¢t even feel it after the first mile or so of getting used to the new weight distribution. This time it wasn¢t about saving ozs, but more about comfort, but I was able to get both. The pack weighs only 14.1 oz. it had room for at least another 10 lbs of stuff if needed. I¢m going with this and keeping the other pack for a backup. It cost me several zero days in a hotel but I believe the trade-off will be worth it. BTW Z-Pack and Matt are fantastic to work with. You really ought to give these guys a shout and try some of their stuff. I have so much stuff from them I could change my trail name to z-pac.I am anxious to get on the trail. Reading the journals of others on the trail already isn¢t helping the cabin fever, but I know I am a few weeks away from completing my training. I have trained hard for the last eight months. Some days I can barely move after the workout, but I think in the long haul I¢ll be ready.Lastly I have to thank my wife for the support she is giving me. She is 100% behind me, although she can¢t understand why the hell I need to do this, or have four sleeping bags, three backpacks and so on¢¦..I got very lucky to have such a great woman and I will always love her a ton. She will be picking up the slack for me while I am gone and will be kept busy between work, house and being my support team at home. I couldn¢t do the trip without her. One of the hard parts of this journey will be the fact that I volunteered to leave my family behind to do this. My dog will be so pissed at me until I return. She has been with me basically 24/7 for the last year as I recovered and played all summer and winter long. I do wish I could have done this hiking stuff when I was younger, but life had other plans for me at the time. I wouldn¢t change a thing though, otherwise my life would have changed as well and I feel I am blessed to have what I have. I thank God every day for giving me the courage to take the path I did, very rarely was it the easiest path. Now at this age I have the chance to do it so I am planning to give it my best. Both the wife and I agree that this is the year. Make it this year, next year we have other plans.