A problem and a half solved...

Well, my latest order from Thru-Hiker arrived over the weekend, and I knocked out one of my gear issues from the tune-up trip.  I just completed a full size quilt (M50/Apex) to replace my elephant's foot as that wasn't quite up to snuff.  I oversized this one so that I could put my sleeping pad inside it just in case I needed the extra warmth (54" shoulder, 50" foot box).  A little hot here to give you a number, but in an emergency I guess the quilt is safe to the mid thirties, comfy in the mid forties, cold sleepers and ladies add 10 degrees to those numbers.

I 'll have to test it out this week, but so far so good.  Even with the pad in there I have plenty of room for squirming- with the open foot box I'll be able to hang my feet out on warm nights so this should be a much more versatile system.  It's got a shoelace style system for a full lace up on very chilly nights, but I won't need it anytime soon.

  Final Tally- 11 3/8 ounces, up from 8 1/4 on my elephants foot, but I should be able to leave the Cap 4 top home now as that was mainly a sleeping piece.  So a 63 gram increase for the quilt, and a 222gram loss on the Cap 4 leaves me with a nice 159 gram (5.6ounce) savings AND a big sleepy time upgrade!  Since I sewed it in all black, with black thread- it even looks relatively professional.

A half problem solved- I also had a chance to make a better prototype skirt, which I will be heading for a run to test out shortly.  Also made from M50 it fits nice, has two pockets and comes in at a rather mind blowing 21grams, even if I add a few "refinements" it should still come in at an ounce.  It's even a relatively tasteful length if I do say so myself.  If this little number works out that will be another sweet swap- 119g shorts for 21g skirt is a nice 3.4 ounce savings.  When sweat soaked, I'm saving at least triple that. 

That's ultra-light at it's best; increased comfort, increased versatility, and a nine ounce savings to boot.

June 2013 Tune-up trip report

This file was too large for the post with the picture quality I was looking for so I made a PDF to make it a bit more readable, I apologize for all the jumping around.  While I'm sure there's a better way, I'm a 35 year old construction worker who backpacks for a hobby, I'm pretty impressed I got this far.

The link will take you to a web preview with pretty fuzzy, but viewable prints.  I suggest clicking on the dropdown menu under file and downloading the PDF.  Once you open the PDF you'll be able to read it in all it's digital glory.

Fair warning though, it's almost as long as the trail that inspired it.  Read on-

Tune up time

Heading out for Springer for my tune up trip, 24 pounds, loaded up for 8 days.  Had to run a mile to catch the train.  Two pints of beer for the train ride and a greyhound will take me to Atlanta from Chicago.

The pre-trip honey do list

Me and my helper had to do a little fixin this weekend. Mama said, "if you're leaving for two months to hike, you better be leaving me in a nice house."

I agree, and so did the boy, "I fixin too dada!" So that's what we did.

Shoes? We don't need no stinking shoes.

Went for a casual walk today and my feet were not liking walking in my Newton shoes. So I ditched them and it felt great! I even jogged a bit!

Looks like my piggies need some sun.

Getting started

Well, I have a blog. Probably not a good thing, but seems to be par for the course these days.

This post is really just to see if I've got this thing working or not.