Preparations
Looking at my life recently, I noticed that it's much easier for me to just put up a quick status update on my Facebook page instead of typing something in here that's actually, you know, thought out and stuff. That, and my life isn't really all that interesting.
I'm going to try to post more here, really.
Had an appointment with A's new doctor today, and it went well. The guy seems like he knows what he's doing and he actually listened. He's an endocrinologist, and usually that means that no matter what we say, the endo looks and says "Diabetes!" It doesn't matter that her sugars have been under control and her A1C is great, it's always the root cause of everything. This one is different. He listened, said, "yeah, you may be right, it might be a hormone problem" and went and ordered the tests to find out if it was. He's pretty decent so far.
Somehow, I've stumbled on a this page, Trailjournals.com and I've gotten hooked. I like being out in the outdoors and when I was in middle school, our science teacher took a bunch of us for a backpacking trip in the arches area around Moab, Utah. Across state lines with 20 pre-teen kids on a backpacking trip...Mr. Cazier was crazy. But, I really enjoyed it. Since then, I've found all sorts of excuses to go hiking and camping, and I've done Search and Rescue, and enough backpacking in the USMC to have hiked across a third-world country, but I've never gone out and done the backpacking thing solely for the enjoyment of it.
It's time to start. This year, I'm going to do a 50 mile hike from Ashland, OR to Mount McLoughlin, just northeast of Medford, along the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.
My medium-term goal is to hike the PCT all the way across Oregon. My long-term goal is to hike the PCT from Canada to Mexico. My extreme long-term goal is to do the triple-crown (the PCT from Canada to Mexico, the Continental Divide Trail from Canada to Mexico, and the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia).
In preparation, I've looked through all the backpacking sites that I can get my hands on, and I've compiled a pretty decent gear list. My office looks like an REI store vomited in it currently. I'm trying to catalog all the assorted outdoorsy gear I've collected over the years, from my old military gear to the crap I acquired in SAR to my rock climbing gear. I've got a lot of outdoor stuff. I really only need a few things. I'm in need of a water filter, a lighter (weight, not warmth) sleeping bag, and a more varied assortment of foodstuffs. Extra batteries are also a must as are some extras of things like matches and flashlights. Lighter rain gear would be good, too. But for the most part, I could, in a three-season situation, walk out the door and go for 3-4 days with what I've got right now.
My other goal is to get the stuff I need to do this sort of thing year round, which will be a bigger investment, because I need a 4-season tent and a warmer sleeping bag, along with more and thicker thermal clothing, but it's not out of reach.
So, as this gets closer and closer, I'm going to try to journal my preparations and then transcribe my paper journal that I'm going to keep on the trail when I get back.
I'm actually getting really excited about this.
I'm going to try to post more here, really.
Had an appointment with A's new doctor today, and it went well. The guy seems like he knows what he's doing and he actually listened. He's an endocrinologist, and usually that means that no matter what we say, the endo looks and says "Diabetes!" It doesn't matter that her sugars have been under control and her A1C is great, it's always the root cause of everything. This one is different. He listened, said, "yeah, you may be right, it might be a hormone problem" and went and ordered the tests to find out if it was. He's pretty decent so far.
Somehow, I've stumbled on a this page, Trailjournals.com and I've gotten hooked. I like being out in the outdoors and when I was in middle school, our science teacher took a bunch of us for a backpacking trip in the arches area around Moab, Utah. Across state lines with 20 pre-teen kids on a backpacking trip...Mr. Cazier was crazy. But, I really enjoyed it. Since then, I've found all sorts of excuses to go hiking and camping, and I've done Search and Rescue, and enough backpacking in the USMC to have hiked across a third-world country, but I've never gone out and done the backpacking thing solely for the enjoyment of it.
It's time to start. This year, I'm going to do a 50 mile hike from Ashland, OR to Mount McLoughlin, just northeast of Medford, along the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.
My medium-term goal is to hike the PCT all the way across Oregon. My long-term goal is to hike the PCT from Canada to Mexico. My extreme long-term goal is to do the triple-crown (the PCT from Canada to Mexico, the Continental Divide Trail from Canada to Mexico, and the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia).
In preparation, I've looked through all the backpacking sites that I can get my hands on, and I've compiled a pretty decent gear list. My office looks like an REI store vomited in it currently. I'm trying to catalog all the assorted outdoorsy gear I've collected over the years, from my old military gear to the crap I acquired in SAR to my rock climbing gear. I've got a lot of outdoor stuff. I really only need a few things. I'm in need of a water filter, a lighter (weight, not warmth) sleeping bag, and a more varied assortment of foodstuffs. Extra batteries are also a must as are some extras of things like matches and flashlights. Lighter rain gear would be good, too. But for the most part, I could, in a three-season situation, walk out the door and go for 3-4 days with what I've got right now.
My other goal is to get the stuff I need to do this sort of thing year round, which will be a bigger investment, because I need a 4-season tent and a warmer sleeping bag, along with more and thicker thermal clothing, but it's not out of reach.
So, as this gets closer and closer, I'm going to try to journal my preparations and then transcribe my paper journal that I'm going to keep on the trail when I get back.
I'm actually getting really excited about this.