Learninggg

This was a much more successful trip. I packed smart, had lots of food, and wasn't miserable at all but I still learned alot of junk. In the foil dinner I made I need to remember to CUT THE POTATOES SMALLLLERRRRR. Its like having apples in my dinner haha. I was going to make a Swedish Fire Log but then I realized that you need to split the log into 4 pieces and im not going to bring a wedge and a sledge hammer on this trip haha so I coped out and used a simple small propane stove…..greatest thing ever. You can control the temperature, it burns clean, and cooks super fast. The problem is that the fuel is large, heavy, and expensive. I learned about a block of fuel (kinda like a bar of soap) that burns constant and is smaller lasts way longer supposedly. Well give that a shot this weekend coming up. It was super foggy this morning and the fly of my tent, when I woke up, had water beads all over it. My fly has 2 or so inches separating my tent from the fly so my stuff and I didn't get wet. The door to the fly was super wet though so when I touched it water beads fell everywhere. I need to bring a bandanna so I can wipe down the door in the mornings. Other than that the morning was good. It took me about 2 and some change hours in the mornings to pack up and eat….that is way to long. I was reading and what I need to do is wake up, pack up, hike about an hour then stop for breakfast. When I did it all in one shot I dragged out leaving cause didn't want to leave haha. Once I left then everything was good. My mom joined  me for the beginning of the hike for about 3 hours then I did another 2 by myself. The hiking was good. My boots are broken in but I did have one issue. Packing in food is way different then carrying kitty litter. Food items are awkward shaped, different weights and is a pain cause it makes it hard to bring the weight of the stuff in my pack close to my body. I think most of my problem is that my sleeping bag takes up more than half of my bag then pushes all of the weight higher up on my pack. Then the top of the pack pulls on my shoulders and makes hiking less comfortable. I need to get a new sleeping bag and a compression bag and totally shrink that thing as small as I can. An old friend told me, "The most successful camper isn't the one who survives, its the most comfortable one."
I'd call this one a success. I was exhausted, full, and learned. This is going to be the last weekend at Little Bennett. In two weeks there is a trail that goes from Damascus to a part of the C & O Canal or i'll go the other direction. We shall see. 22 more weeks till the big one…HECK YA!