Wednesday, July 27, 2005

It's Coming Closer

Yesterday I noticed, that I have to less food. I got about 500 gr. with 2000 kcal per day. That is way to less. So I have to come up with a plan to get more Calories.
Perfect would be around 3000-3500. Probably going shopping tonight and see what I can get.

My 1st-aid pack, the hydration system and the water filter is also ordered and should be here mid-next week. Then I have my gear complete.

When everything is working out I get also some brandnew badges from the "Forum"! Then I'm going to make some advertising while hiking. :-)




This was a short update, take care,

Jasper

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Food For 21 Days



This is all the food for the AT Hike.

Don't think I went crazy here! I'm not going to carry all that stuff on my back. I'll send at least two parcels to stations on the trail, so I can hike with a quite light pack. There is a little more food then for 21 days but my former experience tells my, that I need much more food after 10 days of a trip then at the beginning.

The backrow of the picture is mostly breakfast stuff. Dry milk, cream wheat, oatmeal and muesli.
As a lunch snack there are the "asia noodles" and the granola and oatmeal bars.
The white bags in the middle are dinner with noodles and rice.
Left are mashed potatos with gravy and at the right are spaghetti with tomato sauce.

So I have a bit of variety, because I'm not going to eat 3 weeks the same stuff.

All in all I paid 75 $, quite a good price for 3 weeks of food.

Next week I'm going to pack the supplies in daily rations and sent two or three parcels to hostels. I hope everything is working out fine!

Good night,

Jasper

Gear List

This is my preliminary gear list:

Number Gear Manufacturer Name Weight

General

1 Backpack Lowe Alpine Alpamayo 70+20
1 Rain Bag Bach
1 Tent Salewa Island II
1 Insulation Pad TAR
1 Sleeping Bag Haglöfs Goga 12 X
1 Blanket Lufthansa ;-)
1 Multi-Tool Leatherman Wave
1 Pocket Knife
1 1st Aid Kit Light & Dry LD2
1 Lighter
1 Matches

Cooking

1 Stove MSR Dragonfly
1 Fuel Bottle MSR Fuel Bottle 1l
1 Pot Set MSR Alpine
1 Cup
1 Silverware MEC
1 Tea Towel
1 Sponge
2 Soap MSR
1 Oil
1 Spices
1 Salt
1 Travel Diary Moleskin Squared Notebook L
1 Guide Dan Bruce Thru-Hikers Handbook

Hydration

1 Water Bag MSR Dromedar 4l
1 Hydration Platypus Big Zip II 2l
1 Water Treatment MSR Mini Works EX

Hygenic

1 Tooth Brush
1 Toothpaste
1 Towel MSR Packtowel
1 Shaver Gilette Mach 3 Blue
1 Shaving Foam

Electronics

1 Cellphone Sony Ericcson T68i
1 Cell Charger Sony Ericcson CST-13
1 Camera Kodak Easy Share DX7630
1 Battery Charger Kodak K5000
1 Converter Plug Travelwise

Clothing

1 Rainwear MEC
1 Trousers Tchibo
1 Trousers MEC
1 T-Shirt Four Season
1 T-Shirt Jack Wolfskin
1 T-Shirt Star Fit Dry-Star
4 Stockings Tchibo Trekking Stockings
4 Slip Four Season
1 Fleece Jacket MEC 200 Fleece
1 Underwear Tchibo
1 Hiking Boots Meindl Borneo
1 Sandals Source

There are some items which will probably fall out of the list due to weight.

Please help me in optimizing my gear list. I know, some of the items are not perfect for this trip but I already have them and I don't want to by a lot of new things.

Take care,

Jasper

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

The Start Is In Sight

First of all a big sorry for not writing so long. I was a little busy the last weeks and had many things to do. I was a little bit surprised when I looked on my calendar and noticed that there are only a little more then 2 weeks left until I plan to start my hike. I was so busy the last weeks that I didn't really pay attention.

My plans are to walk towards north and make it to Hot Springs, NC in about 20 days. That is 270.5 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia. This shouldn't be a problem if everything is working out fine. If I notice during my trip that I'm walking to slow or to fast I can reduce or extend the distance very easily.

I plan to refill my supplies three to four times during my hike so I don't have to carry too much weight with me. There are some nice places on the way where you can take a shower, eat some real food and get supplies.

The next days I'm going to order a hydration set, a water treatment system and a 1st aid kit. I'm not 100% sure yet what I want to have but I have to make a decision soon.

I haven't decided yet what kind of food I'm going to take with me. Probably I'm just taking standard stuff. But if my backpack is going to get to heavy I have to change to freeze-dried expedition food. But this is going to be pretty expensive.

Read more here soon,

Jasper