My hiking clothes and gear choices have changed somewhat since the last time I posted but not by a lot. I’m tired of thinking about what to bring, what to wear — I just want to DO IT!
The stuff is laid out in columns, as you can sort of see. Column #1 (left) is stuff I’ll wear/use at the rim before and after. The trekking poles separate that stuff from the stuff that’s going down. Column #2 is what I’ll wear the day of the hike. #3 is what’ll be in my pack. #4 is what goes in half of the duffel bag that will go down by mule (Laura’s putting her stuff in the other half).
There are a few items missing from the photo, and some items will be used on the rim and on the hike as well, plus you can’t see all the chocolate that has been added since I took the photo — but what’s on the bed is pretty much what’s getting put in the car tomorrow.
Pro tip (I’m not a hiking pro but I’m a girl — when I want toilet paper I want enough toilet paper). Take the cardboard core out of your TP roll and squish it flat. A not-huge roll squished flat will fit in a sandwich bag. The sandwich bag is then placed in a quart sized ziplock bag for used paper. DO NOT LITTER!
Everything that was on the bed in the photo above fits into four bags, only one of which is stuffed full (the rim bag). As I mentioned, the duffel will also have Laura’s stuff in it. The weight limit is 30#. The bag with my items weighs 9#. Laura says hers weighs about the same. So we can add 10# of chocolate if we want.
I’ll be taking tons of photos, but I can tell you already that there is no photo that even begins to convey the absolute awesomeness (as in gobsmacked-inability-to-grasp-it-awesomeness) of the Grand Canyon. See you on the other side!
