They say that if you prepare good enough, you already done half the work to succeed. Well, I start to be afraid to really start a thru-hike, if my preparation is only half the work, I will be in for a lot of misery and learning, but also off course good views and the possibility to live outdoors for a prolonged time.
I started camping season 2018 with 4 days of testing out my gear for colder temperatures, my sleeping bag definitely failed this test. I even wanted to set it on fire on my last night to sleep warm. The problem was that the thing is not breathing at all, I was just lying in my tent, bathing in sweat that could not go anywhere and started to cool off, making me shiver for hours. I knew my sleeping bag was not the best but I am still disappointed, how can someone make a bag like this? But, I mainly wanted to test my Synmat Winterlite sleeping pad and that one passed! The night I used my sleeping bag as a blanket, I had the warm surface of the pad to lie on. It is also easy to inflate, deflate and pack. Only problem is that even the wider version, is quite small and slippery and I sometimes fell off. That must be the disadvantage of a 500g sleeping pad.
Due to experiences like this I will have to keep on testing and training and get myself in more difficult situations. Not that I am officially a masochist but I’d rather fail close to home and civilization than in the middle of wilderness.
After a good night sleep I actually have good memories of this weekend, there were pretty sections and I met some nice people and I had so much fun on the fairytale campsite and the campsite with new owners, also ordered in some food and ate it at my tent with an improvised spork. Just like last weekend, my mental state deserves an A+ as I kept my big smile up (okay, during the day) despite being sleep deprived and tired.
Hike on!
Distance: 106/552/1500 (this hikes distance/total so far/goal to reach)
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