A day in the life of....
Some people have been asking me what a typical day is like on the trail so I thought I would run through a typical itinerary for you, starting with midnight of that day.
12-4am sleep restless awakening to heavy wind, rain on the tin roof, animal sounds, snoring and people shuffling in their sleeping bags. huddle down further in an attempt to stay warm and pull your fleece cap back on your greasy head
4-6am Awaken at multiple intervals knowing you have to pee, you double check to make sure your headlamp is close at hand in case the urge gets too strong. wondering if you can hold out till 7 am or so. You play the number game of how cold it is out compared to the interior of your sleeping bag with how many people will you awaken in the shelter related to how bad you have to go.
6-7am The urge to pee is quite strong and you wish you were a boy so it wasn't such a big deal
7am-8am You get up to pee but try to be nonchallant about how bad you have to go now that other people are up and moving around. You get dressed (meaning you may add a layer, you are already wearing the clothes you hiked in the day before they were your jammies). It's cold out and you hop around while you cook breakfast (oatmeal) or eat cold (pop tarts) depending on the mileage you plan to do and if you feel like lighting up your stove or not. Eventually you build up oatmeal in your food bag and end up cooking frequently near town. You pack up your stuff. Sleeping bag, pad and everything gets repacked everyday so it becomes a quick system. You check your water level and how soon the next source is on the trail....do you have enough to get you there? You also look at the elevation changes in the book and figure there will be twice as many ascents as descents that you see stated there. (pack put on)
8-9am You get the trail rhythm on the trail, fresh calories in the system and you move at a decent clip. You have a snack
9-11am You wonder why you decided to do 18 miles today seeing as you have only covered 2-6 miles at this point. You think about the fellow hikers before you and after you....you wonder if you can safely pee before someone comes over the crest and sees you (pack taken off). You have a snack.
11am-1pm You stop for lunch (pack taken off). You hate the trail and how long it is. You figure out for the umpteenth time how long until the shelter you stop at for the night. You may ascend to a clear vista on a mountain but it is (fill in the blank with one of the following: foggy, rainy, snowy, windy, freezing) and there is no 360 vista anywhere to be seen. A lot of climbing for nothing. You have a snack along with your lunch of big snacks.
1-4pm Your mind really starts to wander. You've sang all the songs you know in your head (or out loud). You've prayed about the pain in your (fill in the blank here: foot, ankle, toe, knee, shoulder, neck, hip, back, muscle, bone, leg) and the amount of miles you have to cover. You imagine being at Battle Lake or what it was like to be (fill in the blank here: warm, cool, comfortable, without a pack, in flipflops, working, clean, fresh smelling, normal, around people). You find a water source .3 miles down a very tough blue blaze trail that barely trickles anything you wish you filtered instead of purified.You pee (pack off). You have a snack.
4-5pm You start to look for the shelter even though you KNOW that it is at least another 1-2 hours out. Every large downed tree over a horizon is a possible roof and every squeaking tree (there are a lot of them) are people talking at the shelter. (you think about taking off your pack). You have a snack.
5-6pm You arrive at the shelter and claim your spot by rolling out your therma rest and laying out your sleeping bag. Hopefully by a wall where there is more wind/rain/snow protection and more privacy for the one woman in the shelter. Your pack explodes out everything in it. You get water from the nearby source. You have a snack and then you eat your dinner of (fill in the blank here: ramen noodles and instant potato concoction, noodles and sauce, rice and sauce) with spices added in. You clean up your pot and stove with camp soap and hang it from a mouse hanger. You hang your pack as well. If the shelter has a known bear problem or everyone else is you either bear cable (provided by the USFS) or you bear bag (which is a whole other blog subject).
6-7pm You do your devotions, read, greet people coming in late, feel good about the day and plan the next one. You chat. You have a snack (just kidding you brush your teeth).
7-8pm You climb into bed and hope to be warm enough. If it's a really cold night you have your nalgene bottle filled with water heated from your stove preheating your bag. You put it everywhere your body is cold. You pee.
8-9pm You start to fall asleep.
9-12am You try and sleep, getting some good rest before being soundly awoken and laying there for awhile. You are still chilly and moving your water bottle around to stay warm. You wish you could have a snack (you're feeling hungry again)
In all honesty, some days are great, some are battles of wanting to quit and being lonely. The days end in the shelter with friends has kept me going the past week. The weather has been brutal and I can only hope for better weather days and less mental battles!
12-4am sleep restless awakening to heavy wind, rain on the tin roof, animal sounds, snoring and people shuffling in their sleeping bags. huddle down further in an attempt to stay warm and pull your fleece cap back on your greasy head
4-6am Awaken at multiple intervals knowing you have to pee, you double check to make sure your headlamp is close at hand in case the urge gets too strong. wondering if you can hold out till 7 am or so. You play the number game of how cold it is out compared to the interior of your sleeping bag with how many people will you awaken in the shelter related to how bad you have to go.
6-7am The urge to pee is quite strong and you wish you were a boy so it wasn't such a big deal
7am-8am You get up to pee but try to be nonchallant about how bad you have to go now that other people are up and moving around. You get dressed (meaning you may add a layer, you are already wearing the clothes you hiked in the day before they were your jammies). It's cold out and you hop around while you cook breakfast (oatmeal) or eat cold (pop tarts) depending on the mileage you plan to do and if you feel like lighting up your stove or not. Eventually you build up oatmeal in your food bag and end up cooking frequently near town. You pack up your stuff. Sleeping bag, pad and everything gets repacked everyday so it becomes a quick system. You check your water level and how soon the next source is on the trail....do you have enough to get you there? You also look at the elevation changes in the book and figure there will be twice as many ascents as descents that you see stated there. (pack put on)
8-9am You get the trail rhythm on the trail, fresh calories in the system and you move at a decent clip. You have a snack
9-11am You wonder why you decided to do 18 miles today seeing as you have only covered 2-6 miles at this point. You think about the fellow hikers before you and after you....you wonder if you can safely pee before someone comes over the crest and sees you (pack taken off). You have a snack.
11am-1pm You stop for lunch (pack taken off). You hate the trail and how long it is. You figure out for the umpteenth time how long until the shelter you stop at for the night. You may ascend to a clear vista on a mountain but it is (fill in the blank with one of the following: foggy, rainy, snowy, windy, freezing) and there is no 360 vista anywhere to be seen. A lot of climbing for nothing. You have a snack along with your lunch of big snacks.
1-4pm Your mind really starts to wander. You've sang all the songs you know in your head (or out loud). You've prayed about the pain in your (fill in the blank here: foot, ankle, toe, knee, shoulder, neck, hip, back, muscle, bone, leg) and the amount of miles you have to cover. You imagine being at Battle Lake or what it was like to be (fill in the blank here: warm, cool, comfortable, without a pack, in flipflops, working, clean, fresh smelling, normal, around people). You find a water source .3 miles down a very tough blue blaze trail that barely trickles anything you wish you filtered instead of purified.You pee (pack off). You have a snack.
4-5pm You start to look for the shelter even though you KNOW that it is at least another 1-2 hours out. Every large downed tree over a horizon is a possible roof and every squeaking tree (there are a lot of them) are people talking at the shelter. (you think about taking off your pack). You have a snack.
5-6pm You arrive at the shelter and claim your spot by rolling out your therma rest and laying out your sleeping bag. Hopefully by a wall where there is more wind/rain/snow protection and more privacy for the one woman in the shelter. Your pack explodes out everything in it. You get water from the nearby source. You have a snack and then you eat your dinner of (fill in the blank here: ramen noodles and instant potato concoction, noodles and sauce, rice and sauce) with spices added in. You clean up your pot and stove with camp soap and hang it from a mouse hanger. You hang your pack as well. If the shelter has a known bear problem or everyone else is you either bear cable (provided by the USFS) or you bear bag (which is a whole other blog subject).
6-7pm You do your devotions, read, greet people coming in late, feel good about the day and plan the next one. You chat. You have a snack (just kidding you brush your teeth).
7-8pm You climb into bed and hope to be warm enough. If it's a really cold night you have your nalgene bottle filled with water heated from your stove preheating your bag. You put it everywhere your body is cold. You pee.
8-9pm You start to fall asleep.
9-12am You try and sleep, getting some good rest before being soundly awoken and laying there for awhile. You are still chilly and moving your water bottle around to stay warm. You wish you could have a snack (you're feeling hungry again)
In all honesty, some days are great, some are battles of wanting to quit and being lonely. The days end in the shelter with friends has kept me going the past week. The weather has been brutal and I can only hope for better weather days and less mental battles!
posted by Noellebellz at 1:55 PM
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