Gear list video

In a months time I should be a good 40 miles or so into my Appalachian Trail thru-hike! Crazy times! This month I have been compiling and prepping all of my kit, finalizing travel arrangements, and generally preparing myself to leave Cornwall. I have 11 more days at my job in Cotswold Outdoor Truro. It'll be very strange to leave, having been there for the best part of three years, and I will definitely miss the awesome bunch of people that are my colleagues. I'm feeling a mix of emotions at the minute: my apprehension has given way to excitement and eagerness, It's been a long time since the last substantial trip and I'm looking forward to shouldering my pack and taking those first steps north. Undoubtedly there will be homesickness at times, although I'm confident I'll be able to channel this into propelling me on-wards!

As a final overview/ analysis of my kit list, here's a bit of a video...

Protect your grub from bears!

Today I took a walk down to the local woods and taught myself to tie a bear bag. I believe the method I was learning is the PCT method, so named as it is widely utilized by Pacific Crest Trail hikers. It now seems the favored option for anyone hiking through bear country. The technique was surprisingly quick to pick up, and the only extra piece of equipment you need on top of your gear list is a karabiner, 50-ish foot length of paracord, and a stick about an inch or so thick and 12 inches long.

So this is how I did it..

I first selected a suitable branch. Ideally the bag wants to hang at least 10ft in the air and 4ft away from the tree. Any closer the bear will just admire your stupidity/ misguided optimism, grab it, and enjoy your next three days food!

I took the bag I will be storing my food in (some people use their tent stuff sack, I'll be using a dry bag) and attached it to the end of the cord using a bowline knot. Into the bag I placed a rock to give it a bit of weight and make it easier to throw. Making sure nobody was in the firing line I chucked the bag towards the branch. First attempt made it about half way. Second attempt hit the branch and came whistling back down towards me as I cursed and ran for cover. Third time lucky! With a nice under-arm throw I cleared the bow, keeping hold of the other end of the cord to make sure it didn't pull everything over.

(At this point I would remove the stone from the bag and put in my food). I then clipped the karabiner through the bowline loop and thread the tail of the rope through, before hoisting the bag. When it was almost touching the branch I tied the stick onto the trailing cord just above head height, and slowly let the bag down until it had locked itself against the karabiner. And there we go! My food is now safely out of reach of pesky bears. If they do decide to have a go at the cord, even bite through it, the bag will stay where it is.

To retrieve the bag you simply pull the trailing cord until you can reach the stick to untie it.

First bear bag! Wooo!

Thanks to the contributors to The Ultimate Hang and Backpackinglight for their awesome information:

http://theultimatehang.com/2013/03/hanging-a-bear-bag-the-pct-method/

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/bear_bag_hanging_technique.html?utm_source=2011-02-15&utm_medium=samh_personal_blog&utm_campaign=2011-02-15sling-it-and-swing-it#.UwOvf_l_ugc

Bear bags...

I've never tied a bear bag in my life. The only creature with any potential to steal your food when hiking the South West Coast Path is a seagull; but they can fly so hanging food in a tree wouldn't really be of any benefit. In fact it would probably make life easier for the seagull.






Any how... have a read of this, it's brilliant! Hilariously funny and pretty useful.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/bear_bag_hanging_technique#.Uv_cAfl_tJI

Water, water everywhere!..

My experience with water purification is somewhat limited. On the majority of walks I've done I have had good access to tapped water sources so purification was unnecessary. When I started reading into the world of techniques and devices there were a lot of options; boiling, filtering with a muslin cloth or pump, UV pens, purification tablets, purification droplets e.t.c. They each have their own merits, although are seemingly inefficient, time consuming, expensive, or bulky to carry.

After much ummm-ing and err-ing, and mild panicking as my departure date loomed, a solution presented its self! Friday's product training at work was on a new water filter device: the Sawyer Mini Filter.

At 60 grams it is among the lightest options I have seen. It is also versatile; able to be used as a straw, attached onto the included pouch for an instant drinking device or decanter; or as I have opted for. fixed onto the hose of a hydration bladder.

It works by channeling water through a membrane composed of 0.1 micron hollow fibres. This is small enough to remove bacteria, parasites, e.t.c. although not viruses (hence it is a filter, rather than a purifier). Water-borne in North America and Europe are very rare, and additional boiling would remove these if the source looked particularly suspect. The filter can be easily cleaned by back-washing with the included plunger, and the life of the device is given as 100,000 gallons 378,000-ish liters), so it should outlast me. Oh, and it's only £30. Looks good from the reviews so far (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E2-F2jRUlk) . Looking forward to taking it out for a test run this week; especially interested to see what the flow-rate is like through the hydration bladder tube.

Full product info can be found on Sawyer's website. Review to follow!

My brother's impending adventure...

My big brother is a legend, and next year is cycling The Tour Divide; a 2745 mile self supported race from Banff, Canadato New Mexico, USA. Follow his adventures here:

http://banditsandbicycles.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-tour-divide.html

Good luck Benjamin!

New kit and other exciting goings on...

45 days and counting! It really is feeling rather close now. I spent the last couple of weeks up north seeing family before I head over to The States, which was awesome. It was strange leaving to come back to Cornwall: in reality it will be no longer than usual between now and my next visit, although the scale of what I will accomplish before hand makes it seem like a lifetime away. All in all I'm feeling ready; physically, mentally, financially and kit-wise. The last thing I have to do is pay for my insurance policy.

New kit!

My kit list is now complete! Very happy that I've got enough clothing e.t.c. for the cold start and the base weight is bearable. My on-going stove saga was finally resolved- I've settled for an MSR Whisperlite International liquid fuel stove with a Primus Eta pot. It's fast, efficient, will work on a variety of fuels, and more importantly will work fine in cold temperatures. It also happens to be the stove I used in Scotland and Iceland so I'm happy with how it operates.

Tilley hats are the way forward!

The 6 weeks-ish of non-stop rain here in Cornwall have led to some pretty vivid flashbacks to my exceptionally soggy week in Iceland last June. Undoubtedly there will be days on end of rain on the trail, although I don't really fancy seeing them from within the eVent cave that is my jacket's hood: It would get pretty claustrophobic and depressing after a while. This is where a Tilley hat will come in...

Tilley hats are a very water resistant, super comfortable and versatile piece of headgear. I'll be donning  a medium brimmed hemp hat for my hike. It will keep the worst of the rain off admirably during the down pours, and shade and breath nicely to keep me cool on those hot humid days. The main thing that sets a Tilley apart from any other hat is its insane durability! They are pretty much impossible to break:If it can survive repeated journeys through an elephants digestive system I am happy that it will serve me well out on the AT.

For anyone considering hats, they are definitely worth a look:

http://www.tilley.com/Hats.aspx

Camera!

I've always used a pretty basic point-and-shoot camera to capture my adventures. For this one, however, I wanted something more rugged that can take photos at a higher quality. I think I've found my ideal camera in the Nikon AW110. It's waterproof down to 18m; so will definitely survive the rain; and shock proof to 2m so won't break so easily when I undoubtedly drop it. It also has GPS with a world base-map, electronic compass and barometric altimeter (Gucci!). I wouldn't usually ever bother with this but it will be nice on this occasion to know where about the copious amounts of photos of trees and sunsets were taken.

Still getting used to it at the minute but there'll be more to follow in the gear section, for those who are interested.


Apologies for the rather dis-jointed and rambling nature of this post; there's a lot going on at the minute!