Brother, Can You Spare A Lung?

I spent a good portion of Saturday evening putting together meals for the upcoming hike in the Smokies. Six days worth in all. Based on various hiking sites, I had assumed 1.5 - 2.0 pounds of food per day. Two pounds doesn't sound like alot until you begin weighing the ingredients - especially if most of what you plan to cook is dehydrated. Using a digital postage scale that I had around for eBay purposes, I put together the following menu: Breakfast Instant Breakfast, with powdered milk added Instant oatmeal, with powdered milk added Multivitamin Aspirin Lunch Powerbar Dinner Chicken noodle cup-a-soup (2 serving size), w/dehydrated vegetables added 20 oz Gatorade I'm barely scratching the 1 pound per day mark with this, so I might carry a bag of trail mix, beef jerky or both to supplement. With all of the gear, electronics, food and 2.3 litres (80 oz) of water, I'm coming in at 38 pounds pack weight. High, to be sure, but my body weight is the bigger issue at this point. Combined pack and body weight is coming in at 380 pounds! My knees will never forgive me if I don't drop more weight before February. At any rate, I decided to take a "hike" around the neighborhood to see how things felt: Distance: 2.69 miles Elevation Gain: 372 feet Elevation Loss: 374 feet Average Heart Rate: 131 BPM Max Heart Rate: 157 BPM Recovery Heart Rate (5 mins): 103 BPM My lower back was a bit sore during the walk and the abductor muscles in my hips talked to me pretty much throughout. Had to stop on most of the climbs at least a couple of times to catch a breath. It will be interesting to see how this changes after the hike next week.

Tech On The Trail

Tech on the trail is a somewhat tricky subject amongst AT thru-hikers. Some feel that it is a violation of the wilderness to enter the long green tunnel with anything more advanced than a LED headlamp. Others wouldn't dream of taking the first step without their iPhonePodBerry safely ensconced in their pack. I'm thinking something a bit more hybrid. I do think that loud conversations on cell phones and MP3 players blasting out tunage is a distraction, but I also think that technology, when used discretely, is not a problem. As the mantra goes, "Hike your own hike". I hope to be able to keep posting while on the AT and to that end, I'm putting together a solution which (hopefully) will allow me to "go green"; using solar power to keep my palmtop and digital camera alive for the duration of the journey. After exchanging several e-mails with vendors, I've ordered the components of what I hope will be just such a system: - Raon Everun UMPC w/ 2300 mAh battery (Blogging, photo uploads, e-books) Weight: 1.0 lbs http://www.dynamism.com/everun/main.shtml - Raon Everrun 4000 mAh battery Weight: .25 lbs - Xantrex PowerSource Mobile 100 (4000 mAh battery w/ AC inverter) Weight: 1.05 lbs http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/233/p/1/pt/5/product.asp - Global Solar P3 - 15 watt/12 volt Folding solar panel Weight: 1.6 lbs http://www.globalsolar.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38&Itemid=67 - Targus Mobile 70 Universal AC Adapter (To charge Everun and digital camera from PowerSource Mobile) Weight: .5 pounds http://www.targus.com/us/product_details.asp?sku=APM10US Total System Weight: 4.4 lbs While the setup won't exactly earn kudos from the ultralight hiking crowd, it's about the best config that I have been able to work out thus far. As soon as the components arrive, I will post the results.