Date: 2006-01-12
To: Update and Gear List
Miles today: 0.0

Hey, Y'all!Just wanted to provide a quick update on my new knee and some information on the gear I used during my through-hike - the good, the bad and the ugly!First, the new knee seems to be working as expected. The physical therapy is hard work, and getting an increasing amount of "bend" in the knee is painful, but it all seems to be moving in the right direction. I was able to do a two mile walk a week after the surgery, and was up to five miles after two weeks, but cut back after that to focus more on "flexion" - where my goal is a minimum of 120 degrees of bend. I hit 90 degrees during my hospital stay, but that was while I was on some really powerful pain meds! In my first measurement in outpatient therapy, I had fallen back to 74 degrees. I got it up to 84 a week later, and as of yesterday, I was up to 107 degrees.The knee is still swollen, which makes it both difficult and painful to bend, but I've been working it hard in the hot tub at my local community center and that seems to be helping a lot. Once I get the 120 degrees, I'll revert to my focus on strength training and get back to walking. The good news is that I am well ahead of where most people would be three weeks after surgery, and that is largely due to the fact that my leg muscles were really quite strong after completing the hike, whereas most people have been favoring their bad knee(s) for months if not years before having surgery. Attitude also makes a difference, I'm told, and there also I have a lot of incentive to get back to "hiking form". Don't tell "She-who-knows-me-best-but-still-loves-me", but I'm actually beginning to feel a touch of Springer Fever coming on as March approaches....   Oh, dear!Ok, now on to THE GEAR!First, the Backpack. I had started with a combination of a really light-weight pack (one of those 17 ounce jobs that uses a sleep pad as part of the frame) along with a pretty large fanny pack to carry things that wouldn't fit in the back pack. After four days of hiking, the backpack was already starting to come apart, and the fanny pack, which I wore in front, was constantly banging on my thighs as I hiked up hills. When I hit the Mountain Crossings Outfitters at Walasi Yi (Neels Gap), I had my pack "tuckerized" by Winton (a former through-hiker, himseself), and ended up buying a bunch of new stuff - beginning with a new pack, the 3 lb, 3 oz. ULA P2. I used this pack for the rest of the hike and it was one of my most favorite items. ("Mouth" got his there the same day, and we summited Katahdin together September 28, both still thrilled with our purchase.) I was able to carry up to 8 days food, three liters of water, and all my winter gear, and everything fit neatly within the pack. One of the best features are the sizable pockets that are sewn onto the sides of the waist belt, making the contents immediately and conveniently available without having to remove the pack. I carried emergency gear in one (compass, whistle, first aid kit, flashlight, etc.) and camera, cell phone and toilet pack in the other. The frame distributed pack weight very well, whether heavily loaded or not, and every single section and compartment held up perfectly with no wearing or tearing after 2000 miles. Since I had a down-filled sleeping bag, I did take the precaution of using a trash bag liner in side the pack, as even the best pack cover is not going to help when fording a stream in Maine with water up to your chest! The only thing I had to replace on the pack was the waist belt. The original "large" size became too large after I lost my first 30 pounds. The medium was fine for the rest of the trip, despite the subsequent loss of another 20 pounds. In short, I'd give the ULA P-2 a Ten on a ten point scale. In its present condition, I'd be willing to bet it would do just fine on a second through-hike sometime in the future!My tent was right up there with my pack as a most favored item, also a Ten rating. It was the Big Agnes Superlight Two, weighin in at 3.5 lbs. As with most "two person" tents, the reality is that either you are related before you share it for the night, or you may well be related by the morning.... I'd call it more of a one-and-a-half person tent, BUT it met my needs perfectly. In particular, I was able to get myself and all of my gear into the tent, pack, poles, boots, everything, and still have plenty of room for me and my sleeping bag. The ceiling was high enough that I could easily sit up in it to change clothes, and the length was more than enough for my 76 inch sleeping bag and pad. It, along with my Big Agnes sleeping bag, kept me toasty warm with temperatures in the low 20s, and it help up extremely well in strong winds and torrential rains. On one occasion, I thought my location was ok, but after a half hour of hard rain, realized I was in a bit of a low spot, with water puddling around my tent and beginning to come in under the floor. At one point, I was able to push down a good inch on the floor of my tent with my finger through puddled water, and still, not a drop came through the seam sealed floor. Ventilation was excellent, as there was never a problem with condensation on the inside walls of the tent. As a free-standing tent, I was able to set it up on tent platforms and in shelters, and I could pick it up and move it with ease if need be. One reason I appreciated my Big Agnes so much was that I slept in it every single night on the trail except one - my last night in the Great Smokey Mountains when I was in a shelter with 18 other people on a very rainy night, when there was no place outside the shelter to set up a tent. Between now and my next through-hike, I intend to experiment some with a lighter-weight tarp tent - solely in the interests of trying to get some weight out of my pack. They make some with a floor and fully enclosed, but I'd still have to give up the "stand alone" feature, and probably some space. It would have to be significantly lighter to offset the performance of my Big Agnes, however, which - by the way - like my pack, held up well enough that I suspect it, too, would be able to go another 2000 miles. The only "wear and tear" on the tent occured with the tent poles which have corroded a bit in places. Otherwise, it held up pefectly in every respect. Sleeping Bag: I used another Big Agnes product to sleep in - an oversized, down-filled mummy bag that had a sleeve on the bottom for the self-inflating sleep pad. I really liked this feature, as it helped to ensure the bag didn't slide off the pad (with me in it) when parked on a slope. The bag itself was fabulous, warm enough so that I could sleep in just my longjohns on sub-freezing nights, and spacious enough that I could change clothes within the bag if I wanted to. It actually weighs less than my REI sub-kilo bag (since the bottom was not insulated where the sleep pad pocket was), and is the only mummy bag I've ever tried that did not make me feel absolutely clostrophobic.The only down side was the Big Agnes sleepig pad. after a couple of months, the valve began leaking, leaving the pad pretty limp the next morning. After talking with other hikers with the same pad, I discoverd that this was due to a manufacturing defect, so my wife contacted Big Agnes who immediately agreed to ship me a replacement. The problem with the replacement was that it was a 1.5 inch pad, as compared with the 1.0 inch original pad, as they apparently no longer make the 1.0 inch model. That added unwanted weight to my pack, of course, and - subsequently - even that pad seemed to lose air overnight, not every night, but intermittently. I finally sent it home in exhange for my one-inch thermarest pad. I could no longer fit the pad into the sleeping bag sleeve, but fortunately the bag seemed to work just fine anyway. In short, I'd give the bag itself a 10, but the pad not much more than a 5! Hiking Poles: I was VERY hard on my poles, especially after my knee injuries which occured early in my hike. I began my hike with Leki Super Makalu Cortec (anti-shock) poles, and they were fabulous. For most of the next 2000 miles, I used my poles as crutches to keep as much of the weight as possible off my knees. I used one set of poles from Georgia to Virginia, and then through Vermont and into New Hampshire. The Whites finished off that first pair, and my wife sent me a replacement set. That pair lasted me through the rest of the Whites, and New Hampshire, and then south from Massachusettes to Pennsylvania. The infamous rocks of Pennsylvania finished off both that second pair of poles and my second pair of boots. At an outfitter in Pennsylvania, however, the manager called the Leki rep at home, noting that a through hiker had gone through a second pair of poles, and the Leki Rep authorized a free set of replacement poles! I was most grateful, and was able to finish my hike with that third set. Given the abuse I subjected them to, I'd have to give my Leki poles a ten out of ten. I'd use them again in a heart-beat. Stove and Kithen Gear: I started out with the Wisperlight stove, but send it home from Neels Gap in favor of an alchohol stove. I wasn't happy with that particular stove, for a variety of reasons, but did get comfortable with alcohol as a fuel, so I decided at trail days to give one of the pepsi can stoves a try. It actually came with a whole kitchen, made by Tin Man (available through anti-gravitygear.com)that included a stove with wind screen, a pot with lid and pot holder, and (most important of all) a pot cosy. I used this gear from 2000 miles, and it held up perfectly. I never had a single problem, either with the stove, or spilling anything, or burning anything down - something I can't say about some of my earlier stoves! After 2000 miles, and a lot of meals, it is showing a bit of wear and tear, but the price was so reasonable for the whole kit that I wouldn't hesitate to start out with a new one next time I head for Springer. Another Ten. My water filters were all by Katadyn, and I filtered all of my water throughout my hike. I started with the "Hiker" model, and got about five hundred miles out of it before the handle broke. That may have been partly due to the fact that the filter was getting full, and it was getting really hard to pump. It happened just before I left the trail to come home for Scout camps with my kids, so I replaced it while I was home with the Katadyn Guide model, a higher capacity filter that was a dream to pump - fast and easy. It was so much faster and so much easier, that I could live with the added weight. After another 700 miles or so, however, the bottom blew out of that filter, rendering it useless. I was not able to get a replacement Guide at the next local outfitter, so I reverted to the Hiker model again, and that got me through the rest of my hike. Overall, I'd rate these filters about a 7 - generally reliable, and pretty easy to use, but I think I may consider going with Aqua Mira the next time out. I will experiement some between now and then, and the main motivation is simply to get some weight out of my pack. While I was never sick a day on the trail, others also stayed healthy and did not bother filtering. Most others used Aqua Mira, an idodine additive, or just chlorine bleach. On the other hand, I drank a LOT of water, and I think the fact that my water always tasted good and looked good (no floaties!) had something to do with that. Life is just filled with trade-offs, ain't it!For most of my hike I also used the Camelbak 100 onch bladder, with an insulated sip tube. The mouth piece had a switch valve (rather than a bite valve), which helped to eliminated unintended and inopportune leaks that some other hikers experienced (and that I experienced my first day out of Neels Gap with a new bladder with a bite valve on the end of the sip tube....) I'd give my trusty camelbak, and my wide mouth Nalgene bottle, both a ten. They held up well, and never let me down, for over 2000 miles.I'm not inclined to get into boots, or other clothing items. My sense is that there are just too many variables to make recommendations from others useful. Feet are highly individualistic, and even boots are not always the same product even when made by the same company. I tried, for example, to break in a second pair of size 13 Zamberlan boots, for example, and the left boot on the second pair was just a bit too large, giving me incredible blisters when the first pair fit perfectly, and the other boot in the second pair also fit just fine.   Go figure. The critical thing is to get boots that fit well and are comfortable before you start, and then to pay very careful attention throughout your hike to making sure you stay with a good fit. Over time, your feet will actually get bigger - for some, as much as a size bigger. So the boots you start out with may not fit the same way after a few hundred miles. The next risk is when the first paid of boots wears out, and you have to go to your second pair. All I can say is, be careful. Be VERY careful. If they don't fit, STOP. Find a pair that DOES fit, and don't hike until you do. The reason is simple. If you screw up your feet, you're DONE. Your hike is OVER. It happened to too many of my AT 05 friends, and it is a great tragedy when it happens. Don't let it happen to you. Listen to your feet, and make sure they are happily shod. At the first sign of a "hot spot", stop and fix it. If you can't fix it, change your boots. But whatever you do, do not ignore foot problems. Ok, I'm off my soap box now. Similarly with clothing, where the important thing is to go with basic princples: layers, layers, layers; wicking, wicking, wicking! For winter, make sure you always have that spare set of warm, dry clothes to change into after a day of hiking. In terms of rain gear, the important thing is to have pants and jacket that can seal out the wind (and preferably the rain, as well), and seal in the heat. Most through-hikers I know did not bother to hike in their rain gear. Rain gear that keeps out the wet, regardless of alleged "breathability" and "vents", will keep in the sweat. If it's raining, therfore, you WILL be wet, if not from the rain then from your own persperation. It doesn't really matter much while you're hiking, but when you stop for the day, THEN you want to be able to get the wet clothes off, dry clothes on, and THEN the rain gear comes in handy - keeping you warm and dry while you do your chores and get ready for bed. Many of us also used our rain gear as our "town clothes" - wearing top and bottom while all the rest of our clothes are going through the wash and dry cycles at the laundramat. For camp shoes, most everyone these days has a pair of crocks. I like the ones with the heel strap, which comes in handy if - for any reason - you decide to hike in them. I did that on an earlier section hike when my new boots had given me tremendous blisters on my right foot. I ended up hiking 18 miles in my crocks, and they did surprisingly well. I'd give them a ten, except that I had trouble with the "button" that keeps the straps on on two different pairs of crocks. I was able to use a paper clip as a temporary "fix" until my new crocks arrived, but that is the only weak point I encountered. I'd give them an 8 overall. As you can tell, once I got the right gear, I was pretty happy with it. There are other, relatively minor items that I may have more time for later, but for now, these were the main ingredients that kept me going over the six months of my hike. If anyone had questions or comments, please feel free to use the guest comments section, and I'll get back to you by email.Speaking of the guest comments, I would be happy to be in touch with any future through-hikers - class of 06 or later, if I could be helpful in any way. I'm still working on getting my photos up and running, so hopefully, in due course, I'll be able to add pictures to my journal. We'll see.... we'll see. stay tuned!Longhaul