19 Days- Completed Projects

There are only 19 days left until I fly to California.  The fact that my countdown has reached the teens is a little daunting.  There is no more pretending that there is plenty of time—but I might be at the point where I don’t need plenty of time to get ready.

Lately my lists seem to be in good shape.  This week my Mom and I worked steadily on my Make, Modify, and Repair list.  Together with help from the sewing machine we crossed off all but three items on the list which leaves a pillow, rain skirt modification, and alcohol stove.  The stove I’ll make myself as soon as I get my hands on a Pepsi can.  I’m stumped on the pillow.  I always carried one in the past and I would get a small amount of glee using a pillow when other hikers were using their boots or balled up clothing.  I feel like it is something I should leave behind.  For the two years I’ve had my rain skirt it hasn’t received much use.  When I did use it the fabric would stick to my legs, bunch up, and then I’d have wet shorts.  I haven’t been able to figure out a way to make it stay down.  Velcro didn’t work, and that was about the extent of my ideas.

I’m still dehydrating food.  I’m getting very close to calling it quits, but I’m trying to preserve.  By my count I have lunch covered, but I only have about 80 dinners.  What I have doesn’t look like much food some I’m concerned I’ve over estimated.  It’s hard to tell how much food is in a glass jar after dehydrating.  I’ve dehydrated five pounds of potatoes in a stew this week.  The recipe called for ¾ a pound of potatoes for six servings.  I added two cans of beans which were not in the recipe.  So after hiking twenty mile days what is a serving?  It’s like one of those math problems I hated in grade school.  It’s also a trick question.  The answer is there is never enough food.

My little home.

The biggest project crossed off my lists was working on my tarp tent.  We added some Velcro tabs so the bug net at the bottom on the tent can be attached to my Tyvek foot print.  My new cut to mummy bag shape footprint is about 4 ounces lighter than my old Tyvek footprint.  The weight saving is canceled out because I added 4 ounces of clothing.  I’ve swapped my fleece lined leggings for lighter leggings and swapped a fleece long sleeve shirt for a dress.  I need to pack everything up and find out my new base weight.

I’m slowly filling up my Amazon cart with more hiking stuff.  I noticed a couple weeks ago that I’ve broken off one trekking pole tip.  I cleaned my poles for the first time in three years last week and they promptly stopped working.  The poles have taken a beating—they have lost their paint, but they are still straight and still lock—or at least they did until I cleaned them.  My Dad looked at them for all of a minute before figuring out how to fix them.  I’m also ordering a spare battery for my new smart phone.  I’ve typed up one journal entry on the phone and I think it took the whole day.  Hopefully I get better or I’ll have to carry a battery for each day between towns.

Also since I’ve last posted I’ve registered for ADZPCTKO (http://adzpctko.org/)—a big kick off party for the PCT hiking season.  In the four and a half days registration was open 512 people signed up.  I’m still working on arranging transportation to and from the Kick Off.  I did get in touch with a trail angel for a ride to Campo for the 22^nd, so that’s all set.  Just under a month until I'm on the trail.