Survival Gear

Went to Phoenix over the weekend after we woke up to 5" of snow and no power.  Shopped Sportsman Warehouse, REI, and Cabela's.   Bought some SmartWool ($11) thin hiking socks and a pair of zip off hiking pants (clearance $24). Trial hike with the socks felt a little loose and my feet moved around a little so I laced my shoe a little tighter and all was fine.

Was able to look at, touch, and feel a lot of stuff.  Liked the Big Agnes one and two person light weight tents, and the Therm-o-rest Neo air sleeping pad.  Still couldn't get the feel for the backpacks and sleeping bags.

I received the ParaCord ($8) that I ordered earlier and made a couple of  Survival Belt.

                                                 Made a before and after (the hike) version!

 Inner one is four loops per and the outer one is three.  Will go with the three model as it has about 50 ft of cord and that should be enough and will be ~75% of the weight.  Just have to find the right buckle.   As I lose weight on the hike, it can be "unraveled," as needed to fit my new slimmer, trimmer, leaner body!!

Work and spend!

Did a 2.7 mile hike with a 10 lb. pack!  Got tireder and it added about 5-6 minutes to the round trip.

Bought a small "practice" tent from Walmart the other day, decided it was too small, so I took it back and bought one on their web site.  4x6 = Too small,  7x7 = better.  Weight should not be a problem because I will mostly be doing car camping now and will get the "big bucks" tent next winter.

Look at Walmart's hiker stuff, and looks like that is where I will buy the misc. stuff that I will need on my hike.  Saw Mountain House dehydrated meals and the price looked pretty good for 2-3 severing per pack.  They even had dehydrated Ice Cream!!!!  May have to try that!

 While doing a 2.5 training hike (walk) the other day I came up with the idea that I should walk the equivalent of the AT during the next year.  Good idea until I started doing some quick math in my head.  To do that, I would have to walk/hike six miles/day for 364 days!  Not going to happen!  I will try to get in 10 miles/week for starters, maybe 15 by the end with some overnights, weight, and, elevation gain training when I have the chance!  

I made and tested two more CatCan stoves yesterday.  All the same basic design but with 1/2 and 1/4 the number of holes, thinking I could use one for a "simmer" stove.  Didn't work out very well, maybe I need smaller hole?  Will experiment more as time go. 

I also picked up a "WalMart" 1-1/2 qt aluminum grease strainer for a test cooking pot!  Didn't work, it turned out to too big and dissipated the heat to the air too quickly.  Smaller would have been better!  But, after that I have decided to get the 600 ml (20 ozs)  Titanium cooking pot in stead of the 900 ml one.  So the money spent will be "recovered" with the smaller pot, and, it will be lighter to carry as well.  3.4 oz vs. 4.1 oz!    Quick math shows that as 1,526 ounce miles, or 95 pound miles!


H.



 Interesting notes from 2011 attempted thru hikes

 from                     http://www.appalachiantrail.org/about-the-trail/2000-milers


Northbound (Georgia to Maine)
1,700       started,         Springer Mt., GA 

   849         50%           made it to        Harpers Ferry, W. VA       1,015 miles 

   414       24.4%          made it to        Katahdin, Maine,              2,181 miles!

Cooking with Gas, well, gasoline deicer anyway! Heet

 Starting with a cat food (aluminum) can.  After M fed the cats, I cleaned the can and taped a  strip of grid paper and marked every other grid near the top, then punched the wholes with a Walmart $0.97 hole punch.  Then punched the second row just below and centered to the top row.

 Using a 12 oz canned chicken can (steel) as a pot and the water started at 65.7*F.

Most YouTube demos use a  16 oz pot with lid, but the Titanium pot I want is $50and  so it will have to wait a while, closer to hike time!

 My supplies for the test run included a clock for timing, and a Harbor Freight digital thermometer for measurement.   The fuel used is Heet, a gas line deicer, which is mostly alcohol, 16oz for $1.67.

 I did not measure the fuel used, but would guess about 1/2 oz.  You can see it in this photo, so make your own guess.

 Ignition! Allow a few seconds or so for the stove to "prime."  This allows the stove and fuel to heat up and the the alcohol will start vaporizing and flame will turn blue.

The pot is on the stove, note the time!

Nice blue flame, if you can see it.

111.2*F

128.8* F

190.4*F  Those are just bubbles on the side of the pot, it is not boiling yet!

203.9*F

Hard boil @ ~204* F!  The elevation here is ~4500 Ft above sea level, and that is the boiling point of water here!

 And, 204*F is the perfect temp to brew coffee!






Twelve oz of water boiled in less than eight minutes, light to boil!  I may make another stove with less and/or smaller holes to use for simmering as there are no adjustments to this stove.  I have not bought my digital scales yet, but, my guess is less than an oz for the stove!

I may have to get a video camera and start a YouTube account,...  Not!  But, thanks to all the YouTube contributors for making this stove happen!

Cat Can Stove

Made it to Wal*Mart today and bought three cans of cat food, "yellow" heet, and a hole punch!  Ready to experiment with the Cat Can Stove tomorrow!

Hooked up the Solar Charger to the Ipad, took a few hours, but it went from 58% to 100%, so it dose work.  Hooked to an Ipod, went much faster, but, it is a much smaller battery!

Also, I am planning a trip east in a few week and just may car camp on the way and go through Great Smoky Mountains NP and get in a few practice hikes on the AT!

M is talking about car camping up to Washington state and take the inside passage to AK. She is taking about a two month trip!

Buy the Book

 

Today I ordered a copy of  Appalachian Trail Thru-Hikers’ Companion - 2012 , a 100 ft length of  500 pound test para-cord, and went on a 2.5 mile training hike with the aid of my hiking poles.  Lots more stuff to buy, and more money to spend.

Local shopping and health check!

Had blood work done today, Cholesterol 180, Triglycerides 98, and sugar at 92.  I am happy with that!

Went by the local outfitters today to see what they had.  Picked up a pair of Throlo CoolMax socks ($15) for summer training.  Also found a pair of  Nite Ize S-Binners #1, for $4, M claimed them as soon as I got home because they were "So Cute!"

At Costco I found a Back Pack Solar charger,  Nomad 7 watt for $64 and a 10 LED twisty stick light for  $8.

If anyone is wondering why I put the $$$ (before tax) in, it because I want to track the cost and memory fades very quickly!

Let the shopping begin

Went to Phoenix yesterday and started looking at hiking gear! $$$

Saw some I liked, saw prices that I didn't like! Major items such as tents, backpacks, and sleeping bags look to start at the $200+ price point. Smaller items like stove, mess kit, etc., look to be $50 to $100! Sure wish Harbor Freight sold the good hiking stuff.

I already have a good set of hiking poles, Lekis, and I think a self inflate sleeping pad.

I'm a touchy, feelie guy when it come to buying this kind of stuff that I will wear, carry, and use every day for six months! Will do more looking and shopping as I have several months to a year to buy all the gear.

Clothing is just as expensive. Good shirts, pants, shorts, wind breakers, and such, start around $35 to $100 and up if I really want the good stuff!

Time will tell!

H.

So I've decided to take a Hike

I decided to do a thru hike of the Appalachian Trail, a 2,178 mile hike from Northern Ga. to Maine! I must be crazy!

                                                           

It is too late to plan for this year for an early start, and, waiting until my 65th birthday would be too late to start. I have penciled in 21 MAR 13 for a "Start with Spring" start the Appalachian Trail hike! Something I have wanted to do since I first heard of it in 1970! Almost did it in '99 but got sidetracked going to AK. I am in excellent health and the only barrier I can see would be physiological!

My trail name will be Two Stix, at least for the start. When training for the '99 hike, I used two pieces of PVC pipe as hiking sticks. When talking with someone in the neighborhood, he said, "Oh, you're the one I see walking with two sticks!". I liked it, and was going to use it then but never made the hike.

I ordered a subscription to Back Packer magazine yesterday, $12, let the spending begin!

Not much accomplished to date, just a lot of thinking and a little research! I will try keep this blog up to date as much as possible, but I do let it go a little as you can see form the last posting.

A lot has happened since then. I just looked, December 2009, over two years between post, Wow. I promise to do better!

Since the last post I have two additional grandchildren, for a total of three! Nekio Jane (Almost 6)and Robert Joad (almost 2) are Lee's children, Malati Norah is Aaron's born this past January! The summer of '10 we made a four month RV trek to AK. It was a great adventure!

I have been researching gear and prep tips, food to carry, and reading a few journals of hikers. I am looking to buy the new Nikon Coolpix S9300 some time after it is released and the price has dropped a little, or at least refurbished one become available. I am also considering an Iphone, or at least a Smart Phone for my posting and internet access for the six month duration of the hike. Jim always said, "You need to be smarter than the equipment you operate!", so maybe I should stick with my Dumb Phone, after all, how smart can it be to take off on a 2,200 mile walk through the woods at 66 years old!