self-reflection

They say you pack your fears when you're hiking the AT. At first I was afraid of being cold, but I'm not so afraid of that anymore. I realize it is inevitable with a March start, and I will deal with it.

Upon reviewing all the gadgets I am planning on taking (a nook, an iphone, a tiny music player), I think I am afraid of being bored. Or maybe I'm afraid of not having any distractions.

I'm not sure exactly what that means for now. I'll probably leave the dedicated music player at home, and see if it's something I miss. Not sure about the nook. My gut says it is a luxury worth keeping (8 oz, battery lasts for a month, e-ink screen makes reading easy). But I might leave it at home and see if I can just read on the iphone.

P.S. applesauce + cinnamon on the dehydrator = delicious fruit roll ups.

Update on 2/1/2013: the mp3 player/fm radio weighs exactly 1 ounce - totally keeping it. And the nook stays with me for now, too. We'll see how many mountains I go over before that changes.

the planning's just beginning...

I'm still trying to whittle away ounces on my pack weight. It has occurred to me that instead of worrying about ounces, I should be concentrating on losing some weight. (I have plenty to lose!). I've already been working out 3x/week, plus hiking on the weekend, so it is obvious I need to make some changes to my diet. But, my diet really isn't that awful - I just have trouble with portion control and a bit of a sweet tooth. So, I've been living by the "3S" rule: no sweets, no snacks, no seconds (except occasionally on days that start with S). If I can drop 20 pounds by the start of my thru, my knees will be a lot happier!

Not totally official yet, but we're looking at a start date of March 6th.