A few days away

I finished my last day of work yesterday and I fly out Monday, so I've been deep in preparation for some time. I have come to discover that leaving life, home, and work behind for 4+ months requires a bit of effort.

A few things that feel noteworthy enough to mention:

Friends, Family & Coworkers

I did not expect that the process of simply telling people that I’d be going on this trip to be such a fun and meaningful experience. I’ve been touched by how many people have been genuinely excited for me, offered their homes to stay in, and expressed real interest to meet me on the trail.

I wanted to tell everyone what I’m doing and start this blog so I didn’t completely lose touch with folks while I’m gone. Now, I’m starting to think that this experience might be the best thing possible for keeping in touch, reconnecting, and building closer relationships with everyone. The last couple months have been filled with some of the best catch-ups I've had with folks in some time; a very pleasant part of this experience I didn't expect.

Questions on my mind

1. What will the social dynamics feel like? Talking to strangers isn’t what I’d call a strength of mine. While the majority of people typically stop their trip early, there are still 42 others slated to start on the same day as me. I certainly won’t be alone, at least at first: https://atcamp.org/atthruhikerreports.cfm
2. The first night is going to be cold (23 degrees); not much colder than I’m prepared for. How will that feel?
3. Should I sleep in the wooden shelters with a real roof, strangers, germs, mice, and bug exposure? Or should I just stay in my tent each night?

Packing

This has been really fun and challenging, and is the manifestation of quite a bit of research, testing, and credit card usage from the past few months. There’s so much to read on the topic and so many decisions to make to balance weight, comfort, and cost. I’ve nearly finalized what I’ll be starting with, with a few decisions left. Despite a modest backpacking career and plenty of testing, I’m not certain which things will earn a permanent spot in my pack.

In typical fashion for myself, I’ve developed some goofy metrics to help guide me, and stumbled across some interesting ones. Some of the more amusing ones, in my opinion:

• The Wasted Pound Mile: The weight of an item x the distance I walk with it if it wasn’t needed. Thinking about items with risk of high scores here has felt like a useful exercise. An extra t-shirt I don’t need can easily rack up big points. Even that spare bandana that only weighs an ounce may not sound like a big deal, but that’s almost 140 Pound Miles over the course of the hike!
• Milliampere-hours per gram (mAh/g): Battery capacity divided by weight. This has informed a few choices, but notably an iPhone Pro 17 with a higher capacity spare battery over an iPhone pro 17 max.
• Moisture Vapor Transmission Rate (g/m²/24 hours): is effectively a breathability score. I splurged on a fancy new raincoat, and the 43,000 score should allow for a waterproof yet highly breathable experience. A mesh running singlet would have an nearly infinite value, while a garbage bag is pretty close to 0. Mind you, this is marketed as a selling point for the jacket so I don't know if it really means all that much, but its a fun metric, nevertheless.

Here’s the list as it stands today. I welcome all input!