It has been a long drawn out process of figuring out which gear I want to take on this little adventure. I have almost a year invested in learning and discovering everything I can. Yet I have managed to ignore a lot of gear that seems like the "majority" of hikers talk about these days. Cuben fiber and other Ultralight weight gear options and brands. It all seems like great light weight high quality stuff. So I don't know what it is, I cannot explain it. It just doesn't have any appeal to me as of now. But I'm doing this hike my way and that's all I care about. I am happy with what I have chosen and I can only hope that it serves me well on long haul down the trail. Which is basically the definition of term that is often thrown around "hike your own hike" (HYOH). Words of encouragement to enjoy the Hike as you want to and do the way you want and not let others tell you "how" it should be done. Everyone has there own reasons for wanting to go on a 2663 mile hike. Which is awesome.
Now to the goods
I got the Thermarest NeoAir Xtherm to complete my sleep system. It's called a "system" due to the fact that all the pieces are meant to work together. My sleep system consists of my Nemo 15 degree sleeping bag, sea to summit reactor bag liner, and the new inflatable Thermarest. Clothes can also be included in the "system" my sleeping clothes are going to be some wool socks, wool hat and base layers top and bottom or clean shirt and shorts that I won't normally hike in to help keep my bag clean and dry.
Inflatable Thermarest which is used not only for comfort when sleeping on the ground but it's most important job of insulating me from losing heat into the ground. The Xtherm has internal baffle system to trap heat and return it to the body, also has a reflective outer layer to reflect body heat as well. The stuff sack doubles as a pump sack. Using the pump vs just blowing up by mouth helps keep moisture out.I tested everything out the other night... it's like a dream. I used my down jacket stuffed into the pillow slot in my bag and it was perfect. I can't wait to be on the trail already!
I went out on my second hike with my new pack it was a little chilly and windy so I got to try out my new rain jacket to block the wind. it was great. Opened up the pit zips to cool off and it worked well. I got an Outdoor Research Foray Rain Jacket it's made out of Gore-tex. I love the fit of this jacket. I'm curious as to how much rain this "Water proof" jacket can handle before it starts to leak through. But I have high expectations.
Just in case anyone is curious as to how I know my distance hiked, pace and all that good stuff I use an app called Map My Hike. It's pretty neat, every mile it audibly tells you your total distance avg pace and pace for the last mile. cool way to keep track of your hikes.
I have been itching to go on a longer hike. as you can tell by the shadows in the pictures above the sun was really low in the sky and I was trying to finish before it gets dark. Last weekend I got the chance to hike over 10 miles for the first time ever. I'll talk about it in my next post, so that's all for now.
Don't forget to subscribe I'll be hitting the trail soon. I have a lot of food stuff to do yet so it's going to get crazy in the next couple weeks. I can't believe that in a week I need to start sending out my first resupply boxes. Which I have yet to put together...
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