Leaving tomorrow... I mean today!

What time is it?
I've been running around non stop for the last two days getting everything in order... and I think I'm finally ready.

50 days worth of food is no easy purchase. Especially when you're carting it all back on the subway. But it's done now. All packed away neatly in 7 little boxes ready to be shipped out to me on the trail. Filled with dehydrated and dried goodness. Mmm. I wonder if I'll ever be able to eat couscous again... I bought enough of it for something like 18 dinners. All the bills are paid, I left some blank checks with M, and all the rest of life's little randomness has been sorted out... I think.

This pic was taken after my first grocery run. It's only about 2/3 of all the food I ended up buying. Hmmm. When you look at it like this, it doesn't really look like that much. Hmm... I wonder if it really IS enough...

In the past week, I had a chance to do a bit more testing on stoves and have decided that the original design is still the best. So I'm sticking with the Pepsi-G. Bought a few more loose odds and ends. A Platypus water bag here, a clip there. But with all the shaving of oz's on my pack and gear, It's still at a comfortable 20.5lbs without water, fuel or food. Not bad. I think I'll probably be weighing in at between 27-29lbs fully loaded.

It's like moving to another city... times twenty. Really, I mean, at least when you move to a new city you can buy Tylenol if you forget some. But on this trip, once I've left, that's it. There's no surviving something like "oops! I forgot to pack three meals!" or "bills? didn't I write a check for that before I left?!"

Aww, heck. I'm probably being paranoid. It's probably the drowsy lack of sleep in my brain right now. I'm not even really sure if I'm making sense. And I need to get up and catch a plane in three hours. Maybe I'll set one more alarm clock. Yeah, I can use the one here on my desk... Aaaaannd.... There! Okay. Four alarms should do the trick, right?

Well, maybe I should set my watch alarm as well. Just to be sure.

Saying goodbye to everyone I know

Chaa chaa chaa..... Well, It's not like I'm leaving forever or nothin' but there's still a lot of people to say goodbye to. After all, 50 days is a long time. Last night My buddies Kate and James had M and I over. They always do the dinner thing up right and this time was no exception. They cooked up an awesome seafood paella which M and I stuffed our faces with before stuffing our faces again with mangoes and ice cream! Mmmm... Just getting my energy up for the trail... Yeeehaaa! I also have to give them a warm Thank You for the solar panels from the previous post. It was a group gift. So, THANKS!

And speaking of the solar panels, there's a little update on them. I've been testing the setup on and off this past week, and here's the scoop. It looks like charging batteries with it will work great. I've had no problems getting a full charge in to my AA and AAA NiMh batt's with half a day's worth of sunlight. I've also tried hooking my cell phone up directly to the solar panel with less success. It appears that the connectors I have don't do the trickle charge thing too well, and it actually DRAINS power if there is little or no sunlight! So, I'll probably go the AA battery route and pick up one of these things to fuel the phone. It shouldn't be a problem to work it out this way, and I'll also be able to charge my phone with disposable batteries in a pinch. Naaaaice.

Tomorrow I'll be going to Campmor or EMS to pick up some delicious dehydrated dinners. Yummm. They're pricey, I know, but they're also really easy to eat on the trail. I figured in about 20 of em' for my trip. The rest will be home made concoctions of noodles, rice, lentils, and the like.

The lightest weight tripod around

On my never ending quest for lighter and multi-multiple use gear, I came across this little gem hidden inside the pages of instructables.com. It's an ingenious technique of using a bit of string or rope as a tripod. Perfect! Now I can add one more use to the ever growing list of things to do with my bear bag rope.

Just attach the string to your camera, loop it below yer' feet, back to the camera, and then tie the end off on a tree. It'd probably take a little getting used to setting it up, and it's not quite as stable as a real tripod. But it's definitely a nice little trick to keep in mind when you want to get that long exposure of your campsite after the sun's gone down beyond the ridgeline!

There are also diagrams of simple monopod and bipod string techniques too. You can find them all right here.

Oh yes, and the 9V LED light is another cool little project on the site that's perfect for the beginner-electronics chap in need of a nice build-it-yourself light.

aww, thanks guys!

It's my last week at work and some of my good buddies from the studio pulled together their pennies and got me this awesome gift certificate to the local camp store! Sniff. It brings a tear to my eye! Thanks James, Aaron, Dave, and Dave! I'll miss hangin' around the booth and grumbling about work and life. Now it's off to the store to pick up some necessary randomness.

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...

photovoltaic renewable energy...

More commonly known as SOOOLAAAR POOOWEEER! It's magical, it's mystical, and it's all mine! Haaahahahaha! Well, actually, it's not that magical or mystical. But it is mine. Thanks to the generous M, I'll have a constant and renewable energy source to take with me on the trail. Just as long as it's not pouring for weeks straight.

This little SOOOLAAAR POOOWEEER! setup will be the system that charges my phone and allows me to keep in contact with all of you lovely people out there. And thanks to a handy-dandy battery charger, it will also fuel my Petzl headlamp. All I do is strap it to the backpack by the four grommets attached to each corner and plug in the phone or batteries. The charging times on the packaging and online are a bit unbelievable... 4-6 hours for a full charge on AA batteries, 2-4 hours for a full charge on a cell phone. But even if it takes twice as long as they say to charge these things, I'll be in good shape.

Okay, I admit, there's a bit of uncertainty as to whether or not it will work exactly as I've got planned. And M was a bit weary about buying me something that hasn't been tested out yet, but like I always say "live life like you're gonna' die in 45 minutes and you'll only be disappointed 25-80% of the time" I've tested it in-home by sitting it next to a bright window for the day. When I returned home at night, all four batteries were fully charged. So at least I know it works! I'll be conducting more tests over the next two weeks to make sure that this SOOOLAAAR POOOWEEER! setup work well on the trail.

prepping for overnight solo test

This weekend I'll be heading up to the Catskills for a short overnight solo trip. It's mainly a shakedown of the gear I'm planning to bring before heading down to Georgia. It'll be my first solo overnight which will either be a bunch o' great fun... or two days of absolute terror... or both. Who knows? Maybe I'll come back all white in the face and call the whole AT trip off! he... heheh.... ahem.

So, here's my gear list. It might look a little long for a simple overnighter, but I'm packing everything I think I'll take with me on the AT to test it all out. Items in GREEN I've used extensively and are reliable, RED are untested, and YELLOW are stuff I'll be picking up at Campmor in Jersey on the way up. I'm half way through the process of weighing everything so some don't have numbers yet. This list will have a few changes in the next two weeks. Be sure of that!

CORE:

• Osprey Atmos 65 Backpack 61oz 4200 cu/in (large)- A killer lightweight pack with nice breathable straps and back. The shoulders could use a touch more support, but other than that, it feels great.
• Hennessy Hammock Expedition Asym 42oz - I tested this out in providence a few weekends ago and it was SUPER comfy. At least for the one night I slept in it. It was a cool 50 deg and raining but was still one of the best first nights sleeping in a tent I've ever had.
• 4 tent stakes - For the guide lines on the Hammock. Simple thick aluminum. Also used for my pot holder over the stove.
  
• EMS 40 deg. synthetic sleeping bag 29oz. - old faithful... may need an upgrade to a 20 deg at some point.
  

Kitchen:

• Pepsi-G Alcohol stove 1oz - I'll probably take a few alcohol stove designs along to see which one works best.
• Listerene 16 oz Bottle w/Alcohol - with extra fuel for the testing.
  
• Snow Peak 1 liter Cook Pot 6oz- Titanium lightness.
  
• Spoon
  
• 1 Liter Nalgene or Gatorade bottle - mostly for night drinking and as a backup for the camelbak.
  
• 3 Liter Camelbak - with hydration tube
  
• Sawyer InLine Filter 1.8oz - attached to the Camelbak. This is the most untested part of the setup. Might have to abandon the idea for my old PUR Hiker if it doesn't work.
• Water Purification Tablets - To kill Viruses. Probably Katadyn Micropur.
  
• Bear Bag and Rope - Watertight with a loop for hanging. Last time I was on the AT we hung one too close to the branches and something nibbled it's way in to our bag and made off with a bunch of GORP.

Clothing:

• EMS Gore Tex boots - This might be changed to a lightweight boot in order to keep cooler and lighter.
  
• Hiking Socks(2 pair)
• Wicking Sock Liners(2 pair) - still debating if this is necessary.
  
• Pants with Zip-Off Legs(2) - need one more pair.
• T-Shirt(2)
• Wicking Boxers (2)
• Lightweight Long underwear - Top and bottom
• Teva Sandals - For in camp use and fording streams
• Sil Poncho - Great design for the backpacker in mind. Can also be used as a tarp tent.
  
• Baseball Cap
• Sil Stuff Sack - For organizations sake

Electronics:

• 6.5 watt Foldable Solar Charger - With battery and cell phone charger.
• Petzl Tikka Headlamp 2.7oz - Including 3 rechargeable AAA batteries
• Palm Treo 650 Cell Phone 6.3oz- For emergency use and updating this bloggeroo. *need to buy an emergency AA adaptor for this as well*
• Digital Camera - Still haven't done my research here yet. Still deciding on if I should go cheap or medium in price.

And more:

• First Aid Kit - Inside Ziploc bag we've got Band Aids (5), Moleskin (a lot), Tylenol (6), Advil (6), Aspirin(6), Diarrhea Medicine(3), Tweezers, Antiseptic Wipes(6), Large Gauze Pad(2), Water Purification Tablets, Elastic support wrap
• Repair Kit - Tent Patch, Mosquito Net Patch, Duct Tape, Small Sewing Kit, spare shoelaces, Matches, safety pins
  
• Matches and Lighter
• Bandannas (2) - one with the stove, one on me.
  
• Notebook and Pen- for my thinking
• Maps - Will probably carry half at a time, and have the other half sent to me on the way.
• Guidebook - Also available as a free download, but buy it if yer' gonna' use it.
• Suunto Compass - always know how to use one of these suckers!
  
• Walking Poles - Haven't done my research on these yet.
• Sunscreen
• Leatherman Wave Multitool 8.5oz- don't lose it!
• Small shatterproof Mirror - To see just how un-presentable you are when going in to town. Also good to check for ticks, and signaling... i suppose.
• Plastic Whistle
• Toothbrush, Toothpowder, and Floss - you know what they say about cleanliness... well, it's double fer' your mouth! Floss has the double use of sewing thread.
  

to build a fire

... well, stove actually. But Jack London's short story of the same name left a strong impact on me. Man struggling to live in the world he's been brought in to. Fighting the weather, and his own psyche... Things will be a bit easier for me. First off, it won't be -20 f where I'll be, and I'll be carrying a lighter. None of this flint and steel thing.

So, I've been looking to take 5 lbs off of my loaded base pack weight and am re-assessing all the gear I've got. Most of my backpacking is with a small group of 2-4 people, and so my gear is suited for that. But since I'll be doing the bulk of the AT solo, there are a lot of items that don't need to be as large or robust as what I have now.

This weekend I was looking at stoves. I have an MSR Whisperlite Internationale. A great stove for most everything I use it for. It's reliable, rugged, and works for large and small groups. But it also weighs about 2 lbs when you include the fuel bottle. Not bad, but there are plenty of ultralight alternatives for the solo hiker. I started checking out the web, and came across something that peaked my geek-builder interest a bit more than the others. It's the soda can stove. A small, build-it-yourself alcohol stove of the type that many long distance hikers have started to use on the trail because of their small size and and reliability. There are many different designs out there. The one I finally decided on is Scott Henderson's Pepsi-G stove. In reviews, it seems to have a good balance of fuel efficiency and durability. It also has great visual step-by-step build instructions and it looks freakin' cool!

So I set about putting it together. All of the detailed instructions are at Scott's site, so I'm going to give you a down and dirty version. First thing is to buy the supplies. One can of Pepsi, One can of Guinness, and J-B Weld (basically, a high temperature glue). Punch some holes, cut the bottoms off the cans, build a little inner wall, glue them together and you have a cool little stove! All in all it took only a few hours to assemble everything. But the big question is will it work!

One of the more important things to get right is the jet holes. After the alcohol vaporizes into gas, it escapes out of the jet holes and ignites. This is where the bulk of the stove gets it's heat from. M inspects my work with her keen cat-like eyes for any defects.




Here's the completed stove. All glued together and ready to take on some fuel. I must say, it's really a pretty little object on it's own. Kind of like a cockroach ufo. At around 1 oz, It's 1/20th the weight of my Whisperlite stove.




So,after I finished the build, I went to the nearby Home Depot and picked up some denatured alcohol, one of the fuels of choice for this stove. Came home, set up the little stove under the vent in the kitchen, and put about 1 tbsp of alcohol in to the center part. And it worked! After about 45 seconds of the stove self-priming itself, the little jets around the top sparked to life and a little mini stove is born!

I ran a number of tests in the kitchen and it seems like this little bugger has the potential to work out great. It took about 4 minutes for 16 oz of water to come to a rolling boil, and used up only around 1 tbsp of fuel. There is one or two other designs that I'd like to pursue, but for now this thing looks like it'll work great! This weekend is my big solo test of the gear I've got and the Pepsi-G will definitely be coming along for the ride. I have yet to figure out how to create an adequate simmer ring, but I'm still experimenting with designs, and it's a fairly minimal item. I'll most likely do more of a "keep it warm with a coozy" approach to cooking to save fuel. Basically all that means is I'll heat the water to boiling and then keep it warm in a coozy instead of on top of the stove.

* If you are interested in making your own, I strongly recommend you check out www.zenstoves.net. They have a great selection of different designs and information on making alcohol stoves.

i'm gaga over in-line filters

Water. You need it constantly, it's heavy, and it can be filled with little buggers that can make you feel terrible. When backpacking, every ounce you carry counts. You get water from anywhere you find it. Streams, rivers, lakes, ponds.... in a pinch, you can even squeeze water from fresh elephant dung! I saw it on man vs. wild. For the last six years I've been using my trusty PUR Hiker water filtration pump. It's simple, and has proven itself reliable. But pumping water through a filter is a time consuming process.

Well, I think I may have found a solution in the in line filter. It's simply a water filter that removes the pump assembly and attaches right to your water bladder's drinking tube. So, in theory, all you have to do is fill the water bladder with untreated water, cap it off and start sucking water through the tube. Ingenious! In camp, it can also be used as a gravity filter by putting the bladder above the filter and letting gravity filter the water in to whatever container you put under.

Reviews online have been mixed, but the issues seem fairly minor so I'm going to try it out. Here's the scoop. I'm going to purchase two different kinds.
The Sawyer biological inline water filter and the Seychelle inline filter We'll use them here in the Catskills next weekend as well as for the first week on the AT and see how it goes. Both claim to have a filter rating that is better than what I've used previously, although none (including the one I use now) filter out viruses. In order to kill those buggers and as a backup I'll be bringing along some Aquamira or Micropur tablets.

So far, I've already started testing out the Sawyer and it appears that it will work exactly as described so we'll see! My hopes are high!

mapping it out

The Appalachian trail is roughly 2175 miles long from end to end. It crosses 14 states, with it's southern point just north of Atlanta, GA and it's northern point on top of Mt. Khatadin in Maine. I can't recall the first time I heard of the trail, I just know it's always been on my mind.
For me, getting back to nature isn't a choice. It's a necessity. If I didn't have trails and forests to walk through, I don't know what I'd do. Probably plant a forest. There's something revitalizing about it all. It brings me back to the reality of it all. The reality that this world wasn't made perfectly for us humans. In fact, when you get outside of all the man-made ness of things, you begin to realize how physically ill suited we really are. It brings things back in to perspective. Something that can be lacking when you live in such an artificial environment like New York.

Anyway, that's part of the reason for this trip. Because I always love a good nature hike. There's plenty of other reasons too, but let's leave it at that for now. So, over the last few weeks I've begun to plot out my trip. Making sure I know just where I'll be headed over the 50 days in June, July, and August. Google Earth has been a tremendous help in getting a general image in my head of distances and terrain.



This is a snapshot of the roughly 550 mile section I'll be walking. The red line is the AT. The bottom pushpin marker is the end of my previous one week hike at the southern point, and the start of my long hike. The top pushpin is my planned endpoint in southern Virginia. From there I'll hop on a flight back to good ol' NYC and my buddy E's wedding. By the way, feel free to click on any of the images in the blog to see them larger.



And here's one more Google Earth photo. This time showing the weekly stops I'm planning where I'll pick up packages of supplies at nearby towns and maybe a shower at a motel! You can clearly see the light blue state border lines in this one. In the end, I'll have traveled through five states. Starting in Georgia, then crisscrossing the border between North Carolina and Tennessee, And finally up in to Virginia's.

Of course, all of this is fairly open to adjustments on the trail. There are always unexpected things that pop up and change the course of things. So, If I don't hit these exactly, things will still be okay. I may just need to have a package sent to a spot a little earlier, or later. The plan is to have a general layout to follow, and as I go, I'll call M at home with any changes in the plan.

successful phone blogging

I just took a short break from work and walked down the street to the mini-mall next door to send this to my blog via my Treo. It looks like blogging to this site from my phone is going to work when I'm out on the trail after all. And I can even post images! Nice successful first test.

and so it begins

Hello everyone.
So, I'm walking the southern section of the Appalachian Trail in a little under a month. Anyone who wants to follow along with me, just stay tuned. The fun will begin June 8 when I leave for Georgia. A few years back, I walked the first 35 miles of the trail with M and Y and it was an amazing experience. In those seven days I saw things that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Like the time we set up camp by a little stream and after it got dark, tiny yellow lights started flashing up in the trees all around us. An hour after sunset the entire forest around us was lit up with fireflies dancing in and around the leaves. It was almost like floating around with the stars.
But this trip isn't just to be awed by the nature. It's also going to be a time of contemplation. I've just put in my resignation at work. I've had a great time working as a character animator, but there's this itch in the back of my brain that needs to be nurtured. I'm not quite sure exactly what it is yet, but hopefully I'll find a little of what I'm looking for on the trail. So, In three weeks I'll be a mountain man.

In the meantime, I'll be using this space to prep. Keep notes, and to plot out my trip so it might be a little non-sensical and boring until June 8. Just a fyi warning there.