Date: 2011-04-23
From: Home

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 33 ¢ I have gotten a lot done since being home for a few days. Went to Mahoney¢s last night and got some resupply gear. I am changing out some of my gear. I have been using a MSR Whisperlite stove with a white gas canister. I have been cooking in a pot which, of course, has to be wiped clean after each use. The prevalent cooking gear on the trail is the Jetboil device. It is a single pot that sits on top of a burner that sits on top of a butane canister. I had originally gotten the WhisperLite stove because I thought I would actually be cooking, but actually all I have been doing is heating water to rehydrate potatoes or pasta dishes. I am pretty sure this will help reduce my weight and will certainly help reduce the volume in my pack. Additionally, I started out using a gravity feed water filter from Platypus. This works well, except you have to collect water in one bag and filter it into another bag, which takes time and again is weight in the pack. After I got into the Smokies, if the water came directly from the ground, I have been drinking it without filtering it. It is no different than drinking from a well. I have had no intestinal problems doing this. Certainly, if it is a stream, I will continue to treat it. I am changing from the Platypus device to a ultraviolet device. To use it one just filters the water through a small filter, treat it with this UV emitting device and you are good to go. I will also start carrying two 20 oz. bottles. I will drink from those and when I find a water source I can quickly refill without getting out all the Platypus equipment. I will probably keep 1 liter of water in my Platypus back pack reservoir but nothing like the 3 liters I have been carrying. I know some of you are skeptical of this but I continue to look at methods to reduce my back pack weight. Speaking of weight, I weighed Thursday morning and since I started this journey on March 22, I have lost 14.5 pounds. This is with me eating anything and everything I can get my hands on. And eating stuff that I would not normally eat, like candy bars, 2 full stack of 14 Oreo¢s at one sitting, an entire canister of Pringles, whole milk, etc. Additionally, other than an occasional Jack and Coke I have not had a carbonated soft drink in 14 years. That is not the case any longer. Most trail magic stashes will have soft drinks and I have to admit I have partaken of them, anything that has calories in it. And I don¢t bother with the diet stuff, I crave calories. One¢s metabolism is increased so much walking 7-9 hours a day one cannot carry enough food to replace the calories that have been expended. I know that one day this will come to an end so I will need to be careful. Anyway, I am thinner and weigh less than I have in probably 20 years. The real advantage of this is that I don¢t have to carry all that body weight around!!!I have not really taken the time to discuss what I have been eating for the last 4 weeks on the trail. The local store in this area subscribes to NuVal which is a firm that measures various nutritional values of food. This might be a total scam, I don¢t know but I did spend an hour in the store before leaving and looked at various items that I could carry, cook and consume on the trail that had the highest NuVal score. Ramen noodles are a very common food staple on the trail; they are light weight, inexpensive but only have a NuVal of 2 out of a 100. I have been eating instant mash potatoes that have a value of 90/100. I stay away from noodles, especially if you have to pour excess water out. Water is valuable, you don¢t throw it out, you drink it or have the food absorb it. I have eaten some of the Pasta dishes and mixed tuna fish or chicken in them. The Star Kiss tuna and chicken packs (7.6 oz.) are good; nothing is wasted and good value, score of 55. It is amazing the NuVal variation in breakfast bars. I do eat raisins and other dry fruits, almonds and peanut butter. Peanut butter does not have that high of NuVal score but does have a lot of calories. I ordered some dehydrated food in bulk, scramble eggs/sausage, lasagna, and sweet and sour pork. I will put a single serving into a freezer Ziploc and all I have to do is heat my water and let it soak. I am trying to drink more Gatorade type drink (powder into the water) to help keep my electrolytes in balance. Bottom line, there is a lot of repetition on the menu but it is just hard to carry around that pork barbeque sandwich. That is why one cherishes cookies in the mail drop!! I have read all the postings over the last couple of days and I know I am repeating myself but I really do appreciate you taking time to send me encouraging notes. If I have not responded directly to you it is because I do not have your email address. Knowing my friends and family are tracking me helps motivate me to take that next step. I can¢t imagine doing this without that type support. I will be back on the trail Sunday afternoon and will report in when I can. I hope each of you have a blessed Easter as we celebrate God¢s love through our Lord¢s resurrection. Thanks again,