Well… less than 30 days. I confess, I’m bugging. A bit, anyway. Technically, the whole thing could still fall through, even at this late date (it depends on what the tax preparer says). I’m pretty sure we’re good, though, and that I’ve worked out the right contingencies in case we’re not. But part of me is afraid to commit, and part of me is so very totally committed already.
Is my gear warm enough, too warm, too heavy, not heavy enough? (OK, that last was a joke. It’s too heavy. It’s always too heavy.) 🙂
Am I too fat? Not fat enough? Do I have enough food? Too much food? Food is heavy. Bodies are heavy. Bodies with less weight need to carry more food. And I’ve trained and dieted down to what they call my “ideal weight,” which means I don’t have a lot to burn off at the beginning. I’m carrying roughly 3200 calories a day, beginning right at the Approach Trail.
Will I be faster, better, surer footed? I’m thinner, I’m more experienced, and I know what to expect, which speeds me up, hopefully. But I’m older. And ultimately, it’s still really really really really really hard to climb 15 to 20 miles of mountains every day with a loaded pack.
Weather forecasts now include my start date. (Freak.) Do I have enough layers? I was SO COLD last time, so cold–I can’t overstate the misery. And I had much more body fat. But that was a record-cold, record-wet year. I mean, it was like 9 degrees on day 2. This year, it seems, is going to be warmer than average (and wetter than average), and I’m starting two weeks later. So… am I overcompensating with the layers and the 10-degree sleeping bag? I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know!
Like the man said, the waiting is the hardest part. I keep adding crap into my pack. Somebody called it ‘wait weight’, which made me laugh. Wait weight. Yeah. It is.
Karma AT2019 