Journal Comments

Haven't seen any updates in a while, glad to hear that you're still out there!!

That's funny :-)

Will be reading your journal entries. Planning nobo thru hike for a year from now. Enjoy the long walk.

Gary
5-Pack

Thanks! HAVE a great hike!

Your comments have done alot to ease my concerns about my daughter's upcoming thru-hike. I look forward to hearing how you are doing on the trail. Safe journey

gotta luv it.......

these are the times that I like to hear a out the weather man being wrong.

Originally Posted by trucker2015

All we really got here at the approach trail head was some rain and a little thunder.

Trucker, you're killing me! See? I could've managed that, cough or no cough.

Oh well, I'm sure there will be plenty of weather to test my spirit and preparedness soon enough!

Originally Posted by Trebor66

Looks like you made the right decision to push your start date back a week. We are having strong storms with the possibility of tornados tonight (Wednesday) and forcasted again for Friday in North Georgia!

Thanks, Trebor. I've been watching the weather but mostly the temperatures, which have appeared mild. The news, however, has quite a bit of coverage of the storms, so I am glad I'm tucked away in my cabin rather than under a bunch of 80' trees all looking to drop branches ("widow makers") on my tent.

I'm impatient more than anything. Last week I was saying to myself as I was taking the trash out, "Man! This is the last time I'll have to do this for awhile!" Just goes to show that kharma listens and sometimes decides she needs to poke back.

All we really got here at the approach trail head was some rain and a little thunder.

Looks like you made the right decision to push your start date back a week. We are having strong storms with the possibility of tornados tonight (Wednesday) and forcasted again for Friday in North Georgia!

Sure thing, Rory. I am finishing up the last of my plan, tidying up what I set to paper a month or more ago, and I will send you my plan w/ mail drops.

may i ask the mail drop locations? i have prepared some and plan to start March 1. Would like easy access to trail as possible.

I plan on it. I've put together a list of places with Internet access and free wi-fi. Hmmmm, I should probably share that list.

I am so excited for you! I hope you are able to stay in touch on here while on the trail

Condensation seems to be a topic that pops up periodically here on Whiteblaze. I don't have a good answer since generally I haven't had much issue with it. When I did, it was when I was camping on the beach at Port Aransas and I just accepted that the Gulf Coast humidity was going to mess with everything.

With that said, it seems that most people agree that one of the best ways to keep condensation from forming is to figure out how to keep air flowing through the tent while you sleep. This is important for two reasons.

First, one of the main sources of moisture in the air (which ultimately becomes condensation on the tent fabric) is our breath as we sleep; apparently, we exhale a surprising amount of water as we snooze. So, moisture is actually being produced inside the tent, not solely being pulled in from the outer environment. This leads us to the second factor: We need a way to move out of the tent the moisture produced inside the tent.

So, if you're tent has mesh netting of some sort then you need to make sure that the mesh isn't completely covered by the rain fly or other material. You want at least some outside are flowing into the tent. This gets a light breeze blowing into (and hopefully out another side of) the tent and keeps water molecules from getting too settled on the tent fabric.

Leastways, that's how I understand the process to work.

I've also read that it's useful in the morning to wipe down the inside of the tent with a part of your camp towel or bandana to make sure you've removed as much moisture as possible from the tent before you stuff it into it's sack and then stuff that into your tent. Not only will this keep everything from being a soggy mess when you unpack it that night and set it up again, it should make your pack a little light since water isn't exactly lighter than air. Also, I would imagine that packing a wet tent away day after day after day would soon make it moldy smelling and perhaps even effect whatever waterproofing the manufacturer put on it. And, if you store the tent in your garage/attic/hall closet for a long period of time when it's wet, you'll probably find mold on it when you get it out again.

Again, I haven't often had an issue with condensation -- even when camping on the beach the stiff wind seemed to flap the tent enough or blow the moisture straight on through before it settled -- so I may not have the best answers. Keep digging around on Whiteblaze or post a question directly to the forums and I'm sure you'll get a variety of tips.

Thanks, Trebor66! I'm now down to counting days rather than weeks before I start.

Generally, it seems about four days or so.

I have a spreadsheet I put together on Google Docs where I've figured out my likely stops for the night and where I will resupply. For the most part, it seems I can resupply about every 3 to 5 days. There are some stretches where I could skip a town and go 7 or so days, but for the most part, it doesn't seem to make sense to weigh myself down with food (the rule of thumb seems to be 1-1/2 to 2 lbs of food per day) that I can just pick up along the way.

If I recall from your blog, you plan on hiking [part of] the trail with your daughter, so I would imagine that you're going to be carrying more food per day than the typical solo hiker. So, you'll want to keep that in mind when you do your planning. Also, I would imagine that your daughter would have different dietary needs than an adult (different amount of calories, perhaps a more balanced diet -- I'm just guessing here, you'll know way better than I do what a growing kid needs to stay healthy).

I have a few mail drops planned, but that's mostly for feel-good items to perk me up and keep me looking forward when perhaps the hike might otherwise get a little monotonous.

And, yes, I know there are more economical fuel choices than 190 proof Everclear, but this was in the name of experimentation!

I actually got a cheep $15 scouting tent from walmart that I find works perfect for my daughter, myself and both our packs. I have been afraid of getting a tent that not only takes up too much space and weighs me down but also takes too much brain power after a long days hike to put up. The only issue I find with this tent is the over whelming condensation that I find inside in the morning when we wake up. Is there a way to keep it from being a river in our tent?