My intent was to tell the AT goodbye by hiking it one last time. Age and knee pain would prevent this from happening. That being said, I came back with several take aways.
Gear Changes
- Blake's Hitch on a byte has been the mainstay of my tarp tie outs over the years, but the length of a 6 ft tie out will only go to 3 ft with this configuration. Removed a foot of cord and attached it to the tie out with the Blake's Hitch. A small byte was added to this cord to attached to a stake. The tie out now has a greater range and should the stake boomerang, the small loop attachment prevents it from getting lost. Thank you HF for this idea! While on the trail, may have even converted one more hanger to the Blake's Hitch Preservation Society.
- Changed out carbon fiber stakes for titanium to accommodate the Eastern rocky ground. Good move.
- Purchased a REI Snow Stake to be used as a pooper scooper & backup tarp stake, but wait, there's more. Bet it could double as a spoon if push came to shove.
- Used CMoulder's method of folding the tarp on last hike and it worked well, but this time the snake skin was used to fill in blank spaces created by items such as MSR Titan Kettle. Ends were even slinked down the sides of the pack to fill up every imaginable space. Upside is good use of space & benefits of a snake skin. Downside is having a pack that is almost impossible to compress even with straps.[AIMG]
Trail MusingsKnees were under the care of an ortho doctor before the trip started. Able to hike a 2 MPH pace with lunch & breaks included. Looking back, 1.5 MPH x 10+ hours might have been smarter than 2 MPH x 8 hours.
Two nights were spent in a shelter. Used a Polycro ground cloth, Z Lite Sol- 6 cut down pieces, with TQ & UQ. Underquilt was used with TQ as a Top Quilt. Cordage was all over the place but it worked well enough. I was warm.
Darlington Shelter.JPG
Would you believe the Darlington Shelter in PA (see picture) has a privy called the Taj Mahal? Who knew!
Bottom LineSpent 26 days on the AT, had a good time & met some great people, but the rolling hills of the Ozark Highland Trail are looking good.
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