As a boy, I did a bit of backpacking but not so much as an adult. It's been 50 years, exactly, since my first trip - a 5 day family hike in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Lately, I've been revisiting the idea and decided to do a trip, not too long, but not too short. I'm thinking a 3 day, 2 night hike.
One thing about backpacking that I've long known, but am experiencing again, is that it takes a lot of planning. This is especially the case for me as I'm getting back into it again as a restart. When you're seven years old, the planning is left to others. Now, planning my own hike, it's me. I am the planner.
There are a lot of categories, a lot of variables. I got my notepad app fired up and started researching.
To start, I have a trail in mind: the Ice Age Trail (IAT) in Wisconsin. And, I have the trail narrowed to a section in north/central Wisconsin. So, I started digging into resources. There are two very helpful sites:
The Ice Age Trail
After choosing my target area (directly north and a bit east of the word "Wisconsin" on the map), the next step was choosing a starting point.
Again, there are lots of variables and questions. How many days/nights out? How many miles do I estimate I'll hike each day? I have an idea, but that's based on my experience from years ago. So, I'm really not sure of my daily distance. But, the miles-per-day determines where possible campsites might be, or not. Are those "nice looking" possible sites? Is water available along the route and at points where I might need water?
Doing this research on the interactive map is very helpful, but requires a lot of zooming in and out, panning north/south/east/west, then more zooming. It takes time. I took most of yesterday morning to finally flesh out a plan: day 1, day 2, and 3. In backpacking, having a plan is critical. A plan is for comfort but more so since I'll be hiking alone, it's for safety.
My plan-for-the-plan is to finalize it, print it out on paper, two copies, with maps. One copy is for me on the hike, one is for my wife. Network communication along the trail is questionable and I doubt there will be a network in places. Even with changes in the plan that might come up, having an initial synced plan with my wife is safer than not having one.
This one was easy. Since I'll be going solo on this hike, my wife will drop me off and pick me up. Easy.
Except, maybe it's not as easy as it seems. The issue: I'm not completely sure where I'll be on pick up day.
The end of the route is simply where the trail meets a country road. There is a parking area, I think, but if I get there before my wife, I likely won't want to just sit on the dirt and wait. Knowing me, I'll just start walking down the road. So, the "pick up point" is actually a stretch of a country road. It's actually part of the IAT; it's a connector section. So, any miles I do on that road is actually logging trail miles. This pick up stretch goes all the way back to the main north-south highway, crosses it, and finally to a county park by a lake. I told my wife, you might see a random man walking down the road, that might be me. If I arrive at the county park before she does, in the least, I can use the facilities, get water, sit on a bench, and look out at the water while waiting.
My wife enjoys and has done many day hikes. If things go well, she might like to try an overnighter together with me one day.
Backpackers are gear nerds. And frankly, gear is overwhelming. Again, I considered categories:
Pack
I had two packs on hand passed down from my parents. My mother is a very experienced backpacker (I'll likely write more on this later). Her pack is great, but well-used. The straps looked a bit sketchy at their connection to the frame. My father's pack, the dark blue one, was used only on a couple of trips. It's old (it made the inaugural family trip 50 years ago!), but seem in better shape. I plan to use his. Hopefully things haven't dry rotted and will hold up.
Dangling and shaking out my mother's pack emitted three surprises: (1) a well-worn Blue Ridge Parkway map, (2) a butane fuel canister, and (3) a pillow that I think she made herself and has likely logged hundreds of miles. I will use the pillow on this trip. So, kind of neat, I'll take along Dad's pack and Mom's pillow as kind of a tribute.
Tent
My tent is also embarrassingly old. My brother and I used it as boys, again, some 50 years ago. And, it's not really a backpacking tent. It's a classic A-frame style pup tent.
The tent has issues: I'm sure it's nowhere near waterproof. I'm praying for no rain and am considering it to essentially be mosquito protection only. The teeth on the mesh door zippers are like a veteran hockey player's mouth. I'm hoping to get it zipped and then use the "good" side only. This teeth issue, combined with a couple of rips in the mesh unfortunately hurts the mosquito protection concept. But, I'm trying to stay positive.
Gearing up.
Yesterday, I put up the tent and got out the gear to sun and dry out and so I could look things over.
Why not get a new tent? New tents cost money. This one should suffice for this trip. I've had to buy other things just for this trip and I've hit my purchase limit. In the future, if a return to backpacking pans out and if my wife joins me, I'll upgrade.
Clothes
I'll keep it very simple. Backpacking forces the practical over the fashionable. The main variable now is the temperature. I don't like to be cold. The day temperature will be fine and you warm up while hiking, but nights can get chilly in northern Wisconsin.
Like everything, carrying more clothes is a tradeoff. It's heavy and bulky to carry, but you appreciate it when you get cold. Or, if you don't take it, it's less weight and less bulk, but then you're cold.
If I have room, I'll take warmer clothes and bear the weight. I don't like to be cold.
Water
My mother, who is, again, a very experienced backpacker, advised to me twice yesterday, "Take lots of water. It's heavy, but take it."
I'd already been thinking about water and knew I needed a plan. I searched filters. As usual, there are too many options.
I chose the third option shown, the "Sawyer squeeze water..." choice since it seemed to have lots of good reviews. It arrived yesterday. It had many parts and not many directions for use. I think I'll figure it out though, especially if I get really thirsty.
My mother did say that she nor any of her hiking buddies liked the tablets. She was pleased that I'd gotten a filter and said, "Oh, you'll be fine."
Cooking
Okay, here's the embarrassing part of my planning and prep work. It's also well-exemplifies the learning part of it.
Initially, I planned to use an old Coleman stove. All I want to do is heat water. I'm not planning to actually "cook" on the stove at all. So, I thought the Coleman might suffice. Like the tent, it's too old, too bulky, and too heavy for backpacking. But, I thought it might get me through this test-hike. Then, if I want to go further, I could upgrade.
Despite its drawbacks, it had pluses. The benefits of the Coleman: I already have it so therefore it's "free", and it takes regular old gasoline. This is the same gas that you'd put in your car, no expensive specialty fuel is required.
I did a test run of the stove and, after futzing with it a bit, got going and it worked well. It ran steady with a nice blue flame. Great.
A couple of days later, I wanted to test the duration. I needed to know how long a tank would last; how many cooking minutes did I have? How many pots of water could I get boiling? I planned to do some running/cooking/testing.
It didn't go well.
Gasoline near an open flame is dangerous. Pressurized gasoline and an open flame are just not meant to go together.
I wasn't hurt or burnt. The house didn't burn down. Everything was okay. I learned a lesson and decided to buy a safer "pocket rocket" style butane stove and canisters. Beyond that, I don't want to talk about it. This was pushing the boundaries of stupid.
My soda cup did get converted into a nice pitcher though.
Miscellanea
Backpacking food can also be overwhelming in choices and the technicals. Thankfully, there are lots of cheap and easy options right at the grocery store. And there are lots of recommendations online.
The option variety isn't very wide, but I won't be gone too long so I won't need to worry about eating the same thing for a long stretch. The challenges I'm feeling are:
Here's a for instance: consider a can of baked beans. Since I love beanie weenies, taking a couple of hot dogs and beans is tempting. First, they're ridiculously heavy for backpacking. Maybe they'd be okay for the first night's meal where you eat it and now your pack is lighter. And a benefit would be that you could "cook" or heat the beans right in the can and eat them right out of it. But, now you have a rather icky can to carry the rest of the way. After the meal, it's just a bulky and icky piece of trash that you must carry the rest of the hike.
I won't be gone too long and have only two dinners to plan. I'm thinking:
Grocery shopping is on the docket for today.
I'm taking a dip into getting back into backpacking. There's a lot of prep and planning up front. Learning is a process. No doubt I'll get better for next time. Without a drastic weather change, the plan is for this coming Tuesday to start. We'll see how it goes. Stay tuned.
Railroad McCoy
