Date: 2018-04-04
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Start date has shifted slightly to April 16th. I'm very excited to get back on trail but I'm going to miss the family terribly. Spending this time trying to minimize home maintenance, bills, and other distractions for them in my absence. My wife is taking on a lot for me to do this, especially with a new puppy in the house, and anything I can do in advance to make it easier I will.I shook down my pack and reweighed everything to see what I really need. Caution says to take winter gear through April and into May, so I'll be a few pounds heavier at first. But at 16 pounds without food, fuel, and water I can't complain. With fuel, 3 days' of food and 2L water it comes to 27 pounds. My gear is unchanged from last year:pack: Osprey Exos 58tent: Big Agnes Copper Spur 2sleeping bag: Enlightened Equipment Revelation 20 degree quilt + Sea to Summit Reactor bag linerpad: Thermarest zLite styrofoampuffy: Mtn Hardwear Ghost Whispererrain jacket: Montbell Versalitestove: BRS-3000T canister burner (thing is microscopic!)filter: Sawyer Squeezesocks: Darn Tough with Injinji linersshoes: Altra Lone Peaks 3.5poles: Cascade Mtn Tech quick lock cork carbon fiberheadlamp: Petzl eLite (so so tiny, only good around camp)toothbrush: sawed off :)bugspray: heck, yeah! (picaridin)Almost everything held up with only minor scuffs for over a thousand miles, so I'm optimistic it'll hold til the end. I finally repaired my jerry-rigged trekking pole (snapped descending Carter Dome in the Whites) with an OEM replacement tube, instead of the temporary cheap-Walmart-tube-and-duct-tape band-aid. I love my poles! They've saved my butt on countless occasions. Plus they give my arms a workout other than stuffing my face.I tried (oh how I tried!) to find a better shoe to replace my Lone Peaks. I call them my clown shoes thanks to the splayed toebox. They got me through the toughest terrain on the trail but I hoped to find something with better traction and that would lock my foot in more securely. But after a nasty blister from one alternative, and feeling like I was on stilts in another shoe with a large heel-to-toe drop, I remembered why I had settled on Lone Peaks in the first place. Nothing comes close in comfort, especially after 20 or 30 miles over rough trail. I'm hoping the 3.5 version not only lasts as long as my two pairs of 3.0's did (700 miles each), but doesn't start separating after a few miles and look like hobo shoes. Not that it would affect whether I wear them. Appearance ranks about #6392 on the list of hiker priorities.I did pick up a buff to replace the neckerchief I never used. The buff can be a headband, hat, scarf, balaclava, sun cover, and a dozen other things. Still working on getting the do-rag option right!Once on the trail I'll be updating this journal daily. If I don't post by 10pm it's because I have no signal. It will go up when I reach a summit or town the next day. I also load 4-5 pics a day into the photos section with captions. I hope you enjoy following along. I know I will years from now when I'm too old to hike anymore. Thanks to Leif for maintaining this wonderful site!I'd love to hear from you in the guest book. Questions, comments, requests, prayers, encouragement, trail news, and good-natured ribbing all welcome!