Gearing up for the Appalachian Trail

Yesterday's REI date resulted in much backpacking gear!

Between our REI shopping spree for wedding gifts and yesterday's REI date for thru-hike gear, we will be getting quite the hefty dividend this year!  I'm betting we will spend it along the course of the thru-hike too!

First, we had the good fortune of unintentionally planning our REI date on Virginia's Back to School Tax-Free Weekend!  We renamed it Back to Nature Tax Free Weekend and took full advantage of it!  What a perfect weekend to not have a wedding on my schedule!

Jeff's stack of boot possibilities

I am sure the gear heads who follow us are dying to know what we got, so I won't delay! 

Clothing & Footwear:

Ironjen:

• 2x REI Sahara Convertible pants
• Columbia Omnishade shirt
• Exofficio Gill shirt
• 2x Injinji running socks (for liners)
• 3x REI wool hiking crew socks (2 pair for alternating while hiking and one for camp)
• 2x Patagonia hipster undies
• ISIS Acqua rain shell
• REI Windbreak Jacket
• ISIS Down Jacket (Already owned and LOVE)
• Asolo FSN 95 GTX Boot (Already own and LOVE)

Ironjen's clothes

Muskrat:

• 2x REI Sahara Convertible pants
• REI Sahara Shirt
• Royal Robbins Island Cool Mesh shirt
• 3x REI wool hiking crew socks
• Silk liners to be purchased, because Muskrat HATED the Inijis!
• 2x REI silk boxers
• Mountain Hardwear Plasmic rain shell
• REI Windbreak Fleece (already owned)
• Asolo Reston WP Boots

Muskrat's clothes

Gear:

This was the tough stuff!  We had to make some calls about what existing gear we were going to upgrade and what new gear we needed to get.  Tents have gotten A LOT lighter in the last 10 years, but our Sierra Designs Gamma is in such perfect condition that we decided to at least take it on the test hike before making the call to replace it, though there are some very tempting options out there that are HALF the weight!

Our other big question was sleeping bags.  We went into this gear purchase wanting to either get a double bag or get two single bags that can zip together in spite of the fact that we own perfectly awesome sleeping bags that are just as light as most bags on the market.  After a long discussion of the pros (snuggling!) and cons (can't be split up if needed in a shelter or hostel) of the Big Agnes double bags (which look so so so awesome), we decided to go with two zipper compatible REI bags, which weren't in stock.  Good thing too, because once we got home, we discovered that the liners we bought to help keep our bags clean and to add warmth would pretty much negate any cuddling inside of a double or zipped together sleep system.  So, I will be sleeping in my Moonstone 3D Minima and Muskrat will be sleeping in his Sierra Designs Wild Bill with our new liners!

Here's everything else we got:

More gear

And even more gear

Sleeping:

• Cocoon Hyperlight AirCore Pillow
• Cocoon Silk Mummy Liner (adds 9 degrees to the temp. rating on our bags)
• Moonstone 3D Minima 22 (Already owned)
• Sierra Designs Wild Bill 35 (Already owned)
• Sierra Designs Gamma 2 (Already owned)
• 2x Big Agnes Air Core SL sleeping pad (Have to order - REI out of stock)
• Big Agnes Sleeping Pad Coupler Strap (Have to order)

Cooking & Eating, & Drinking:

• MSR Windpro II (Already owned)
• MSR Alpine 2 (Already owned)
• MSR Insulated Mugs (Have to order - REI out of stock)
• 2x REI Folding Utensil Set
• 2x Camelbak 2L Bladders (Already owned)
• 2x 32oz Nalgene Bottles (Already owned)
• 1 Sawyer squeeze water filter

Packs & Packing:

• Muskrat: Osprey Atmos 50
• Ironjen: Granite Gear Nimbus Access FZ 3800 (Already owned)
• 4x 10L REI Lightweight Dry Sack (2 for food and 2 for clothes)

Hiking:

• 2x Black Diamond Trekking poles
• 2x Black Diamond Spot Headlamps (Already owned)
• Sawyer Permethrin (to apply to gear)
• Coleman Botanicals Insect Repellant (We will try natural before going chemical for direct skin applications)

Feeling Ready:

Muskrat and our haul from REI

We had the help of our friend, CW, on the pre planning for the big gear purchase, and we had the help of a great trail-hardened sales associate, Eric during our shopping experience!

Once we get the out of stock gear ordered tonight, we will be ready to rock and roll on our test hike in a few weeks!  I'm really excited to get out there and try everything out for 70 miles, especially in light of the very difficult 6 weeks we had with Muskrat getting sick and having surgery, and having to miss our honeymoon at RAGBRAI.  This trip will at least start to make up of that!

In other news, Zach "The Good Badger" Davis has invited me to blog for Appalachian Trials!  Check out my first post!

©2014 Jennifer Magnuson, All Rights Reserved, Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

Backpacking Gear Inventory

Back in 2004, after a very sad and painful, but ultimately good, parting with my first husband, and after I had been diagnosed with dermatomyositis, an "incurable" autoimmune disease that causes a severe skin rash and debilitating muscle weakness, I decided that I was going to rebuild my life on the outskirts of DC's chaos.  I bought a sweet log home on the side of High Knob in Warren County, Virginia.  If you're an Appalachian Trail geek, you know that the trail crosses High Knob, and when I discovered AT access within a short walk from my front door, I decided it was time to get some new backpacking gear.

Old house in Warren County

House steps from the AT

     

Yes, I was sick, weak, and covered in a rash.  Yes, I was on high doses of prednisone and low doses of a chemo drug methotrexate, and suffering from all of the wonderful side effects, but there was something about the diagnoses that made me crazy mad to LIVE!  Everything that the doctors said I couldn't or shouldn't do was exactly what I decided to do.  So, I drove down the mountain into the town of Front Royal (the northern terminus of Shenandoah National Park's Skyline Drive), and found Weasel Creek Outfitters.

I met with Brandon, who owned the Great Weasel with his wife Wendy.  They would both become good friends of mine, but alas, would eventually sell Weasel Creek and move away from "Fr-oyal," as the locals called it.

I told Brandon of my desire to eventually thru-hike, and of my easy trail access.  I told him I needed to get all of the stuff.  Now.  I spent the rest of the afternoon trekking around the shopping center with various packs full of weight, assessing a multitude of sleeping bag and tent options, even heading out to the grassy area behind the shop to set up some tents.

I left with a Granite Gear Nimbus Access FZ3800 pack, a Moonstone Minimus 22 degree bag, and a Sierra Designs Gamma 2 person tent (not because there were two people, but because there were two black labs and me).  These items have served me very well over the last 10 years, and I'm one of those people who takes meticulous care of my stuff, so when our friend, CW, came by last night to help us inventory gear for our upcoming test hike, most of it looked almost new.

Dexter

Sam

Morning in Shenandoah National Park

2010 Backpacking Trip

2010 Backpacking Trip

Muskrat made a spreadsheet (because he rocks at spreadsheets!), and CW and I buried the room in all manner of backpacking and car camping gear.  I had planned to take photos, but there was just no space, and frankly, the mess we made was embarrassing!  I read off makes and models, CW looked up weight data, and Jeff tallied and sorted everything on the computer.

I thought we were pretty well equipped, especially since all of my old stuff is in such great condition.  As it turns out, it's all pretty heavy compared to what they make now.  My pack is 4 pounds, 9 ounces!  Our tent is 5 pounds, 10 ounces!  I know we will be sharing the weight of some gear, but we are both thinking that we may need to upgrade some stuff.

Car camping in the Backpacking tent after a bike ride on Skyline Drive 2012

That said, we do have some newer gear. . .

Muskrat picked up a nice new Osprey Atmos 50 pack a month or so ago when we went on an REI shopping spree with all of the gift cards that people had given us for our wedding in April.  (We have the best friends EVER!)

We both need new sleeping pads, because Muskrat ripped his on a rock, and it just seems like a bad idea to start the trail with a duct taped piece of gear, and I have a super minimalist one, because what's a few nights of discomfort, right?  Not something I want to endure for six-months!  Besides, they make AMAZING stuff now!  CW brought over his Big Agnes Air Core SL for us to try, and MAN that thing is probably more comfortable than our actual bed!  He also let us demo his Cocoon Hyperlite AirCore pillow, which is a mere 2.4 ounces and smaller than a yogurt container!

Muskrat has a really nice two year old Sierra Designs Wild Bill 35 degree bag, but we are thinking that he will want something with a little more warmth for the colder parts of the trail.  The other sleeping bag factor is that we both bought our sleeping bags when we were single people, and now we are getting ready to spend six-months living outside as newlyweds.  In fact, our first wedding anniversary will be about a month after we start the trail.  I think we might want to find some bags that zip together.  It just wouldn't seem right to spend six months sleeping in separate cocoons!  We are looking at getting the Big Agnes Coupler straps for our sleeping pads, and are researching some double wide sleeping bags!  I am particularly intrigued by the Big Agnes Cabin Creek 15.  At 6 pounds 5 ounces, it's a little weighty, but it may work, since we are sharing the load between our two packs.

For a sweet resting space, we are bringing our Eno Doublenest hammock too.  I don't know if we will use it to sleep in at any point, but it sets up quickly and makes a nice spot to take breaks!

One other consideration we are still grappling with is food storage.  I have always backpacked with a bear canister, since I had a bad food bag experience at Girl Scout camp.  I like the was of closing up the lid and stashing that bad boy in the woods until morning.  It's also a nice seat for eating.  We will see if we decide to go back to bagging or if we bring my trusty Bear Vault BV500.

SO MANY DECISIONS TO MAKE!!

After all the gear was stashed in the storage space again, I began to feel a little under prepared (I know, we have 7.5 months before we start!) and overwhelmed.  Muskrat, who is so very good at keeping me grounded, maintained his composure and said exactly what I needed to hear. . . "REI date this weekend?"

Stay tuned!

©2014 Jennifer Magnuson, All Rights Reserved, Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

Required Reading: Appalachian Trials by Zach Davis

Over the years since I discovered the dream of a thru-hike (1989), I have read a good bit about the AT.  There have been books, blogs and journals, and countless articles.  I've met thru-hikers when I have been out on day hikes or on some weekend backpacking trips, and I have dreamed wistfully of the day when I could be the one telling the story of MY thru-hike!

Now, as Muskrat and I have decided to thru-hike, set a projected start date of March 15, 2015 and are delving into the actual preparation for the actual hike, we have been seeking out things to read that are more than a gear list or a step by step account of someone else's thru-hike.  Don't get me wrong, we LOVE Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods.  It's inspiring, entertaining, and full of history and ecology lessons that gave me even more respect and reverence for the trail than I already had.  David "AWOL" Miller's AWOL on the Appalachian Trail, as I mentioned in a previous post, was short on introspection and emotion, but still an incredible account of his 5 million step journey from Springer to Katahdin, and we are eagerly awaiting the release of his The AT Guide NOBO 2015.

On one of our many Google searches for AT planning resources, we stumbled upon thru-hiker REQUIRED READING!!  Zach Davis aka "The Good Badger" is a 2011 NOBO thru-hiker who penned the book Appalachian Trials about mental preparation for a 2,181 mile journey on foot.

I can tell you that if this book isn't on your pre-hike reading list, it needs to be.  Muskrat and I have each undertaken our fair share of mentally and physically challenging feats in our lives.  I've successfully completed four Ironman triathlons, and Muskrat has participated in countless randonneuring (self-supported bicycle rides) of distances ranging from 125 to 400 miles, and he was a member of the 2011 four man team that won the non-stop, 860 mile Race Across the West from Oceanside, California to Durango, Colorado.  We both know from experience that even if your body is trained and your gear is perfect, that the mental game can make or break your event.

Davis' book addresses the mental challenges that you'll undoubtedly encounter on the trail, from the low points where you'll wonder why this seemed like a good idea at all, to the end of the honeymoon phase, to the social pressures on and off the trail, the unexpected and potentially catastrophic events (illness, injury, off-trail drama) to the best advice I have heard about pacing, gear choices, nutrition, and reintegration into life after the trail.  In less than 100 pages, Davis manages to spill more universal truth out of his pen than you could learn at a 30 day yoga retreat.

He touches on the benefits of making lists about why you're embarking on your journey, the consequences of quitting and the rewards of staying the course.  He delves into the ways meditation can help you overcome challenges, and offers up some techniques for those unfamiliar with it.  As someone who made a stunning comeback from an incurable and debilitating disease, I can tell you that Davis is SPOT ON when he writes of the strength of character and confidence you gain by persevering through the tough times, and the methods he recommends for doing it.

At the risk of going on and on, and telling you so much that you'll make the mistake of not actually buying and reading this book, I will leave you with this.  It's the best resource I have read so far on preparing for a thru-hike.  There were several times I actually cheered out loud in agreement with something Davis totally nailed.  This book facilitated several discussions between Muskrat and myself about our individual expectations, ideas and goals for this shared trip.  Some of this was stuff we may have neglected to talk about without the benefit of the book, so Appalachian Trials may have saved us some marital trials along the trail, since it's always easier to get on the same page and discuss things when you're sitting on your comfy couch than it is to do so when you're sweaty, hungry, smelly and tired!

Seriously, whether you're NOBO, SOBO, flip-flopping or even facing some non-backpacking related challenge, this is a fantastic resource and the best $11.69 ($8.99 for kindle) you could spend!

Also check out his website, which is also chock full of resources for all things AT!

©2014 Jennifer Magnuson, All Rights Reserved, Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

Pre-Trail Reading and Reflection

This morning, as Muskrat recovers from some surgery he had yesterday, we finished David "AWOL" Miller's AWOL on the Appalachian Trail, his account of his 2003 thru-hike. I had always heard really great things about the book, and I loved it, though I was surprised at how clinical of an account it is. Maybe it was my projection of my own storytelling style that had me expecting to hear a more introspective and emotional story. Despite the book not meeting that expectation, I found myself drawn into the story of footsteps through the green tunnel. It was almost meditative, as I anticipate some of the hike will be. Two of the passages in the book that stuck out most for me were these:

"The payoff, though difficult to quantify, is much greater than I expected. I have no regrets about having gone; it was the right thing to do. I think about it every day. Sometimes I can hardly believe that it happened. I just quit, and I was on a monumental trip. I didn't suffer financial ruin, my wife didn't leave me, the world didn't stop spinning. I do think of how regrettable it would have been had I ignored the pull that I felt to hike the trail. A wealth of memories could have been lost before they had even occurred if I had dismissed, as a whim, my inkling to hike. It is disturbing how tenuous our potential is due to our fervent defense of the comfortable norm." -David "AWOL" Miller, AWOL on the Appalachian Trail

"Hiking the AT is 'pointless.' What life is not 'pointless?' Is it not pointless to work paycheck to paycheck just to conform? Hiking the AT before joining the workforce was an opportunity not taken. Doing it in retirement would be sensible; doing it at this time in my life is abnormal, and therein lay the appeal. I want to make my life less ordinary." - David Miller AWOL on the Appalachian Trail

"I want to make my life less ordinary." I have a feeling that this is one of the things people have judged me for the most in my life, yet it is one of the things that I am most proud of, and also one of the things that I wish I had done better when I was younger.

There was a time in my life, that due to the influences of parents, teachers, peers, religion, etcetera, that I thought that there was a checklist to happiness, a roadmap to fulfillment that I saw modeled all around me. My heart had always been drawn towards the outdoors, adventure, mountains, unconventional living, but the evidence of my actions clearly demonstrated that I felt far safer with "the conventional norm."

I mentioned how I felt shamed by my classmate's reaction to the one and only time I voiced my desire to go to the woods in lieu of going to college. Somehow that moment of honesty, and the shame that I felt from it, spurred me to a gorgeous engraved piece of paper that hangs of a wall matted and framed in walnut. It has an embossed seal, some foil lettering, a bunch of signatures, and at one time it gave me a sense of worth and value, and it made me feel as though I had done what I was supposed to do on the way to being happy and fulfilled. After suffering a less than exciting year in an office, an incurable and debilitating bout of illness, an ill-advised marriage and the subsequent divorce, I see it as a symbol of dreams deferred, and as a learning experience far more valuable than anything I ever did in the classrooms where I earned that degree.

I don't regret it, and it certainly didn't ruin my life, as life is pretty grand! I just wish that I could tell my younger self to quit looking at the people around me, many of whom I later learned weren't as happy and satisfied as they led me to believe, as examples of how to succeed. I'd tell myself to take the time to get to know who I am and what I really want, and to always follow that deliciously tense tugging that I feel in my chest when something ignites my passion. I lived by the checklist, and I almost died by the checklist in my mid-20s. Experience has taught me that there is much more risk in living "the comfortable norm" than there is in living a life "less ordinary." My 30s have been about living from my heart, and they haven't disappointed me yet.

My heart says it's never too late to hike.


©2014 Jennifer Magnuson, All Rights Reserved, Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.