Timeline

I chose my rain jacket because it looked great on me, and as far as I knew, it was a relatively lightweight 3 layer Gore-Tex jacket. Being Gore-Tex, it's a hard shell jacket that held up quite well, both for rain and when walking through all manner of cactus and needle. As a result, I never need to be careful about what I was walking through - I let every sharp item scrape against the jacket, and it had no problem repelling all manner of Caryophyllales.

I say "nearly" because

My first tent, purchased in July for a 4 day backpacking trip, was an MSR Hubba Hubba NX: a 2-person tent. I had just learned about REI, and the review sites said this was a great tent - the perfect middle of the road. It was freestanding, and easy to set up; I loved it.

I then acquired the 1-person version: The MSR Hubba NX. I love it as well, until I realized that at 3.5 pounds, and that was far too heavy.

For my first 3 day backpacking trip, I had a Jetboil micro-stove. It provides the pot, the stove, a windscreen, and even a built in piezo lighter for 12.5 ounces. It's almost the perfect solution. It's certainly easy to use, and is not likely to ever tip over.

12.5 ounces was too heavy, though. I opted to try to piece together a similar system at half the weight.

I spent a lot of time trying to refine my gear before the trail. I had a spreadsheet with 8 million items, and I added, removed, and refined things for months leading up to my start date.

My base weight was 13.5 pounds when I began, and during the course of the trail, I got it down to ~11 pounds.

Now I know why they say not to camp on peaks.

During the night, the wind was mild. Until it wasn't. And then, I had to close the bivy due to the wind chill.

There's a pupper waiting outside the store as they open up.

It's after sunrise, but I'll be walking by 8. Of course, since there's a store, I'll begin the morning with some ice cream.

I have just over 2 miles until the next water source, so I take my time and cook some breakfast and drink the rest of my water. After the extremely dry night a couple of days ago, having plenty of water out here is luxurious.

As I came out of the canyon yesterday, the terrain became rolling hills, and the terrain continues today until I come to a cow pond. These days, I tend to use Iodine more and filtering less, but when you can actually see the cow patties in the water, fil

Once again, it would be ideal to take off early.

Before sunrise, even.

After picking up my package from the post office, I mosey on over to a little dessert shop and order a root beer float. Dazed, I stare into the distance.

It's 3 more miles to get out of town, to a place I can camp.

The alarm goes off at 4.

4AM. This is the earliest I've ever tried to get up.