Laura and I are splitting a duffel bag for the mules to haul down to Phantom Ranch this time. It’ll be filled with what we’ll need for two overnights and one day in between. Nevertheless, I will want to carry enough stuff with me on the trail that I’ll need more than a fanny bag.
I’ve listed some of the things that’ll be in my pack already. Did I remember to mention water and lunch? You wouldn’t think that those things plus first aid and whatnot would amount to much weight, but it all adds up. And as with boots and clothes, I’ve got to condition myself to carry the backpack, and not just a mostly empty one like I’ve been doing.
Problem is, I do not like backpacks, so I have been mostly figuring that I can deal with mine another day. Hah! Pretty soon it’ll be Canyon time and it’ll be too late.
I have a very nice backpack, an Osprey, that an REI backpack person made sure fit me. I like it well enough – it’s lightweight, it holds as much as I need to carry for long day hikes, it’s got pockets and places to clip things – but I still don’t like it when it’s on my back. It feels like I’m in a body cast, and because I hadn’t yet found the sweet spot of strap adjustments too often my shoulders and neck end up hurting after wearing it, even with nothing much in it.
I do understand that if I don’t start using the pack now and figure out the perfect adjustments, then come Grand Canyon I will suffer. I’ve already done that twice and I really do not need to do it a third time. So the last hike Laura and I took I wore the blasted thing on a climb up our local volcano (a post for another day maybe). Even though all I was carrying was water, and not much of it, my shoulders and neck still hurt.
So, okay, time to get serious. In three weeks we’ll be starting down Bright Angel Trail. I can’t put this off any longer. I’ve just got to hike with a loaded pack. But of course, having made the decision, we’re suddenly having Real Winter here, with nighttime temperatures below zero, and snow. Consequently I’ve had little desire to abandon the wood stove for hiking.
Too bad, so sad, my days can no longer be spent sipping hot toddies by the fire (not that they ever have been). The day after Christmas is called Boxing Day, and this year I got a new dog, Izzy — a boxer! — and she needs exercise, so that’s motivated me to get outside in spite of daytime temperatures in the low teens. I gotta admit, it’s beautiful out there. Bonus: Walking in snow provides more bang for the exercise buck, even when walking in tire tracks made when the neighbor rancher comes in to break ice on the cattle tank outside my gate.
Today I had even more motivation than Izzy to get outside. Laura needed to go into town so I asked her to pick up some things for me. I would meet her at the county road and she could hand over the few items I wanted. Essentials only, of course. I would be hiking with Izzy, not driving, and I’d be wearing the backpack so I could not only more easily carry the items back, but also carry some real weight in the pack.
I was shocked when Laura handed me the bag, though. How could three items weigh so much? But heck, if I couldn’t carry this stuff, then what would I do for the Canyon? In three weeks I’d need to carry about a half gallon of water and that alone would be four pounds. Oh yeah, you say four pounds isn’t much, but then there’s the lunch, the chocolate, the first aid kit, and the rest of the stuff — it all adds up. Maybe it wouldn’t be as much as when we carried everything down to Phantom Ranch the first two times, but still…
So I loaded up my pack with the excessively heavy three items and hiked back, fiddling with the straps the whole way until, like magic, it didn’t feel like I was suspending bricks from my shoulders anymore. Success! Not only that, but when I came back, I weighed the pack with the groceries still in it: 12 lbs. No way will I need to carry that much weigh at the Canyon! Double success!
For the record, my pack with first aid and other stuff that basically lives in it all the time weighs 4 lbs. So the essentials that Laura picked up for me weighed 8 lbs. Bananas and cheese weigh more than you’d think. The bottle of wine couldn’t possibly weigh very much.
And then there was a mini-split bottle of Cupcake Prosecco that Laura had put in the bag as a surprise for me to toast the New Year. Why, that alone must have added 7 lbs to my load, right?
Happy New Year to my Patrons and to all my reader friends. In the immortal words of Mr. Spock: Live long and prosper.