I'm still ALIVE!

There's less than two weeks left before the big trip, and I've just returned from a solo overnight in the Catskills. It wasn't much of a hike, just three miles in and back to test the gear and see just what it's like to backpack solo. Almost everything went great!

I arrived at the trailhead around 4pm and started packing in the food and some extra gear I had bought at Campmor on the way up. By 4:45 I was on the trail. The weather was great. 85 in the sun, 75 under the trees. There was a nice spot a few hundred feet away from the main trail, near a stream where I set up camp at around 7pm. Everything went up quickly and smoothly.

After getting my tent and the rest of the gear set up, I refilled the water bladder and gave the inline filter a try as a gravity filter. It worked like a charm, filtering a quart of water in about a minute with no fuss whatsoever. The stream was clean and clear, so it's not much of a test to tell how the filter will react to a less-than-perfect source. Only time will tell if it has the reliability and durability to withstand long distance hiking, but if it keeps up like this, I'll be happy.

I only had a late brunch that day, so my tummy was starting to growl a bit. The Pepsi-G stove and cook set performed just as well as the in-home tests. It looks to be the one I'll use on the trail. May make a slight adjustment and put some fiberglass insulation in the outer ring to increase efficiency. (it'll soak up some of the fuel and allow it to burn a bit slower) The wind barrier worked well, but needs a few slight adjustments to the height.

It had been a long day of driving and hiking so I called it a fairly early night at around 11. The hammock tent worked just as well as in Providence, but the temperature dropped to somewhere in the 30's and my bag wasn't prepared for it. With the bottom of the hammock uninsulated, my back started to get really cold around 2am and kept me awake for most of the night. I'm hoping that a warmer sleeping bag, and putting on my thermals will do the trick. If not, I may have to spring for the extra cost and weight of a under-hammock pad.

All in all, a successful test. There are a few bits and pieces that need to be hashed out before the trip, but most of the big stuff has been sorted. Twelve days and counting...