Updates and a Proposed Itinerary

A lot of things have changed since my last post. Most notably, I'm probably not going to be able to complete the Side-to-Side portions of the trail as I don't think I'll have a vehicle. This will also affect the way that I get to and from the trail. I'm in the process of figuring out a way to the Southern terminus and think I have a way from the Northern terminus to Burlington. This also means Ramius will need to fly with me to and from Vermont - something that I'm somewhat uneasy about. Assuming I fly into, say, Boston, the flight will only be about 4 hours, which means he'll have to go a minimum of 6 hours without a bathroom break. That isn't the problem so much as my concern over the possibility that he'll have to go in the cargo area of the airplane. There are ways around that, including his small size, but I have a considerable amount of information to sift through before I book the tickets.

On a more positive note, Ramius and I have been taking a number of training hikes throughout the Boulder OSMP. Hiking times are quite encouraging, though the weight carried by the both of us is not anywhere near equal to the eventual weight we'll be carrying. That said, the gear list that I posted has changed considerably for the better. I will eventually put up a preliminary gear list, but in the mean time I will note that Ramius' gear is down to just 2.2 pounds (a 33% decrease) and mine is down to 19.8 pounds (a 24% decrease). Most of his overall pack weight was lost after I decided to put his bed into my pack. The weight loss in my pack largely comes from lighter cookware, a lighter sleeping bag, and swapping my boots for trail runners. I think I have everything now, so will probably get the list put up here in the next week or so - after I'm done with my Master's Thesis.

And now... for the itinerary:



One will note that there are only two resupply days and that some of the mileage is quite ambitious. The only concern that I have about the more intense days (e.g., Day 14) is the possibility that Ramius may not handle them well. As previously mentioned, we have been going on some grueling hikes recently, and he has performed admirably on them. We will be taking a few backpacking trips meant to simulate the number of miles hiked in a given day and dealing with things like fatigue, setting up and breaking down camp, the food issue, and other factors that we'll encounter on the trail. Hopefully those trips will give me enough insight into how we will both handle the strain of the trail.

Cheers!