ElizabethClose

Admittedly I'm a dyed in the wool overplanner. In my defense, I'm cutting the imaginary contingencies down to the 90+% liklies.

SHELTER - new hammock, fly, paracord, stakes, etc - I set it up yesterday for the first time and discovered you need a tree you can "hug" because throwing cord AROUND a huge tree deserves a clip on "America's Funniest Home Videos"

WATER - filter, camelback and poly canteen - tried out in the kitchen sink, seems doable

FOOD - struggling a bit with this one because I really do want to lose weight on the hike, but don't want to be listless from lack of calories. Current theory is 2500 calories a day for initial food drops and if I find I need more I'll have my crew boss at home send extra or I'll buy extra at the town stops. I've been making granola and dehydrating food like a lunatic for a month and still don't have enough done, so I broke down and bought a couple pounds of freeze-dried veggies (thank you Harmony House!!)

CLOTHES-Gross, I know, but I'm wearing one outfit each week. I'll have a fleece jacket, a "night layer" and 2 pr extra socks

BACKPACK - Ideally keep it under 40 lbs ... equipment has me pushing 30 and water is going to be about 8, food will be another 8 or so. These two will get lighter as I consume them, but still need to evaluate whether I need to purge/pare

Haven't figured out what I'll do about the midnight creepies - when you wake up in the deepest part of Mirkwood and you hear "something out there". I'll hold off on screaming unless "it" touches me :-)