4-11-16 Mostly healed, gear details, heading out

So!

I’m seam sealing the Tarptent Notch so as to use that instead of my Zpacks Hexanet w/ Hexamid Solo-Plus Tarp.

The Zpacks tent is my totally awesome bad-ass little house that has been great so far. The material is firmer and feels sturdier for all its really thin and light, whereas the Tarptent setup’s is flimsier though a bit thicker.

The two are about the same size but greatly different in indoor shape.  The diamondish shape of the Notch compared to a rectangular shape.  Takes some getting used to I will think, have only given a bit of hanging out and a test-run, which I’ll be doing again tonight since it’s raining. Plus some more little mods to do.

Love my Zpacks tent but the Notch sets up a lot faster, a Lot, and has other bonuses like two entries and two large vestibules while being slightly lighter than my Hex-set and the tarping automatically just being lower to the ground in all places without the same amount of effort as my Hex-set setup.  Again – faster.  I don’t have that in-love feeling toward it and while in it, but I’m hoping that will grow if the tent works well in the actual field.  If it doesn’t work out somehow that matters, I can just have grant ship me back my Zpacks one.

I’m planning to leave day after tomorrow if that works out with Grant after we chat tonight. Need to also spend today getting supplies organized easier to ship to me and stuff, need a lot of Ziplocks for stuff I’ve got and to make some lists for things I don’t so they can just read them off and order shipping supplies like boxes and yada.  We’re still working out the resupply thing and it’s easier to do it myself here with how Grant and I chatted the other night. So gonna do that while inside as much as I can.

Ankle is hurting a bit more the past yesterday and this morning so far, but not at a problematic level.  I think I just put a bit too much strain on it while doing my seam sealing with moving around and having it in odd positions sometimes.  Walking and stairs and all that haven’t been bugging me and it’s been fine til that. So after my shower I put on my KT Tape, as normal now, and thought again about how I need to order more already and had the mental joke about how I should buy stock in one of the companies that make it since I’m gonna be using a lot over the next few months it seems.  That’s another item to add to resupply considerations.

Purchased my Smokey Mountains pass again so I can print it out here and be ready.

Ordered a new backup battery as I somehow lost my old one and got the wrong size, plus my cancellations I made on some stuff on Amazon didn’t go through so I need to send those back, too.  Ordered directly through the Mophie site a much smaller and lighter; I don’t need this amount of size and weight nor amount of charges this one does. The new one coming only has 1 USB port while my old one had 2, but it has more energy storage. As I never really charge more than one electronic at once (maybe twice entire time I owned the old one) this isn’t a big deal.

Also ordered a very quite, rechargeable, very light, and waterproof vibrator for nights or days I’m camping far away from others and wanna.

 

Been walking around in my Vibram 5 Fingers shoes and gonna bring them to try hiking with them some.  I did so a lot with my training walks and hikes so this isn’t a new thing with them, I just chose boots instead mainly for threats of a lot of snow and ice and the top of them can’t be waterproofed really.  Am bringing my boots for thst weather but gonna see how using the Vibrams go with the nice dry/drier days.

 

Am doing the dread vs. excitement thing about getting back thst I had about getting started.

 

Dread not about the hiking and camping itself but just that sick attachment to common life that I have and know I need to remove from myself.  I’m relieved and comforted spiritually about this some in reminding myself thst once I was out there I didn’t feel any missing really.  I just changed over to a new normal, so I’m glad and reminding myself of it.

 

And excitement because, well, duh, I’m getting back to the Trail and it’s beauty and the effort of it and the goal and being in nature constantly almost and the so different world in the subculture and the time dilation effect I found, etc.  I was out there such a short time and saw and did so much. Hungry for the next set of rocks and limbs and mud and tree tunnels and rivers and masochistic pleasure of uphills.

 

Well, it’s 10am and it’s not gonna get much lighter if weather stays true so it’s time to go set up the tent and see how it is inside and what the water situation is and such tonight. Time to get working on all the stuff mentioned.

 

Am going back out soon, go me.

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