Assorted Happenings

My mom and I took a hike on Wednesday so I could wear my pack with everything but my food and bathroom items ready. I had taken off the lid pockets, because it is removable and would take away a little weight, but I have to put it back on after taking this hike. Without it, too much weight gets shifted to the outside of my pack so that my food bag would fit and it hurt to carry the weight like that. So the lid will go back on. (I also lost a marble and if you are interested in what that means go to The World's Biggest Marble Hunt on Facebook and join the group and have some fun.)

I have found several blue, black, and white feathers during my walks and hikes.

While we were talking about some of the details of my hike I looked down and saw what I think is a blue jay feather. It is blue, black, and white, and according to the meaning of feather color page I use that means a change is on the horizon. (Read about my mystical mind.) Well it certainly is. In just a couple more weeks (really I could be counting in days now) I will leave for my attempt at a thru-hike of the Ice Age Trail. I'd say that's a pretty big change.

One of the bowls I donated.

In other news I attended an Empty Bowls event at my elementary school, the same event I went to last year. The kids made bowls that they got to keep and several local potters donated bowls to be raffled off. All the money raised and canned food is to be donated to the local food pantry. I won a bowl again this year in the raffle. My donated bowls went missing some time between when I dropped them off on Monday and the event last night. All the teachers were trying to figure out where they went and hopefully they'll find them and be able to raffle them off among the staff and teachers when they do. Raise a little more money for the food pantry.

The second bowl I donated.

And a handled soup bowl.

Yesterday I sorted through my pottery that I boxed up at the end of the season last year to make sure I have enough for my show tomorrow. I loaded my car today. The first show of the year is always the hardest. I'm not sure where everything got stored for the winter, I can't remember exactly what pottery I have or want to take, and this show is actually a craft show so I am also taking my crocheted Kritters, my new sweater monsters, and the beaded sun catchers I made this winter. This also poses new problems as I have to work out how to fit these items into my regular display and much of that tends to happen when I am setting up at the show venue.

One of my new sweater monsters. He is a specific variety
I keep calling "Pocket Monster."

I don't know how many more times I will get to writing before I leave. I will have at least one post next week and then we'll see!

Sap Flow

I went for a walk today. Getting in shape and blah blah blah, but I was enjoying the sun and I love this in between time. Before the snow melts completely, but having warmer temperatures.

So I was enjoying the way the melting snow creates little rivers and streams, the way it sometimes falls over pebbles in miniature rapids and how it even sounds like a babbling brook, and I could hear another noise. A random, but steady, dripping in the leaves on the ground. It sounded like snow melting out of the trees, except we haven't had snow in the trees for a little while now.

I knew what it was, but I had to find a specific tree to confirm. The next time I heard the drip, I glanced around and found a maple tree with wet branches, held my hand out where a drip was collecting and waited patiently for it to fall. If you've never had fresh maple sap right from the tree, you don't know what you are missing.

I'm not a big fan of real, pure maple syrup, but then I'm also not a big fan of the fake maple syrup, but when I can get a taste, even a single drop of maple sap I will wait for that drop to form and catch it when it does.

It would seem the maple trees are very happy with the weather we've been having. Below freezing at night, and getting to 40 or 50 during the day. Perfect weather for the sap to flow. There is one tree on my road that always seems to be the first to start flowing and when the weather is cool enough during the day, sap icicles form on the branches where the sap is dripping. Those are wonderful too. Lightly sweet frozen treats. If you can get one down. My mom and I knocked one out of the tree last week and I managed to catch it. One year, the tree trimmer went through and cut a branch on a sugar maple at the end of our driveway and when the sap started to flow it formed an icicle several inches long. My dad hoisted my (adult) brother up high enough that he could grab it and my whole family got a piece of that one.

So today, or in the next few days while the weather holds, listen for the drips and look for wet branches. You might get a little sweet surprise.

My Own March Madness

This month has been crazy for me. Not because I set up a basketball bracket and cheered on my team, I've never been big into sports of any kind, but because I have spent the last three weeks making pottery, grocery shopping for my hike, planning my hike, packing for my hike and thinking about my hike. I only have a little while longer to get ready for my thru-hike of the Ice Age Trail and I've got my first art show of the season thrown in for a little added extra fun stress.

Glazing everything, little by little.

I believe I have mentioned this before, but I plan to be gone for two months. That's two months I would normally have to get some extra pottery made for my summer show season and since I won't be around I had to do a little extra early and hope I have enough to keep my shelves stocked until I can get making again. I should be fine, especially with this last week I have gotten three glaze firings done. Add that to everything I have left from last year and everything I made earlier in the winter, I will be fine for at least a few shows.

The first firing of the month.

I have a show next Saturday in Phelps. It is actually a craft show and so I will be bringing my crocheted Kritters, my new sweater monsters, and my beaded sun catchers along with my pottery, but then I won't have another show until July, and I won't be available to mail out anything if anyone is looking for a Mother's Day present or shopping from my Facebook page. I do still have work at Chocolate's and More in Minocqua and a larger selection at Artistree gallery in Land O' Lakes.

The second firing.

Between making pottery and sweater monsters I have also been preparing my food packets for dinners on the trail. I have been testing assorted meals and making lists of the last few things I have to remember to buy. I've also been in contact with several of the chapter coordinators for the Ice Age Trail, getting some information about the trail itself and any tips and contact information that care to offer. It is appreciated, but however many tips and heads up I get I will still need to "hike my own hike."

The third firing.

I've heard this phrase from blog posts, magazine articles and a couple of the chapter coordinators have mentioned it. I can take everyone's suggestions for what I "need" to do, or what I  "should" do, or what I "should" bring, but then I'm not doing this for me and how I feel about what I need. Yes, I've asked for help, suggestions, tips, ideas, but ultimately I have to decide what is best for me and *MY* hike. If I took every suggestion for gear I should have (here is a partial list of what I'm taking), I'd have at least 5 more pounds of gear. If I hike the distances that have been suggested (part of my distance planning can be seen here), I'll still be walking in August. And if I take a hiking partner like has been suggested, the whole point of the trip will become null and I might as well not go. I'm sure I will want socialization at some point and welcome some chance encounters or people coming with me for a day now and then, but you know what? I am really looking forward to seeing what I am capable of on my own.

Getting dinner packets ready for the trail.

Pack Weight

This pile of gear is what I will be taking with me on my hike. Somewhere in this pile is my tent, sleeping gear, camp kitchen, clothing, toilet supplies, first aid, personal items and tech items. Not everything is in this picture, I still want to find some lightweight shirts, and my bathroom items (soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, contact supplies and glasses, medications and vitamins are all absent), and some of these things will be cut out or minimized. In my first aid kit I have a whole tube of anti-bacterial ointment, I will be transferring a small amount to another container, and my camera case is not coming, it is just representing the camera I used to take the picture.

And obviously the scale is not coming. However, I did use the scale to weigh each item, or collection of items, (I counted my tent, footprint, rain fly, poles and stakes as one item) and then entered these numbers into a chart to see what my current estimated pack weight is. (Estimated because my water containers are not filled and I don't have my food prepared.)

Right now, without a couple items I've forgotten and without those few items minimized, I am at 42.5 pounds. It is a little on the heavy side, but since I am essentially hauling my entire life on my back for two months, I'm proud that I've kept it where it is.

Some items, like my purple fleece or my awesome new bright blue hat that I got at the Hiker Box in Eagle River, also where I got my backpack, (go see them, they know what they are talking about when it comes to backpacking) don't really need to be counted in the weight since anything you will wear daily doesn't add to pack weight, but I put these in there because I don't think I will be wearing them every day. I didn't count my pants, shoes, or trekking poles.

Item	Weight pounds	Ounces
Backpack	3	15.6
Tent (footprint, fly, stakes, poles)	2	13.2
Sleeping bag (compression strap)	3	3.8
Sleeping pad (bag)	1
Water bladder (empty)		9.7
water bottle (empty		1.3
Water filter		15.1
Kitchen (fuel, stove, pot, spoon, bag)	1	10.2
extra fuel canisters (each)		13
poncho		11.4
Bear Bag rope		7.3
Food bag		2.4
first aid		4.9
Pocket knife		2.7
Additional first aid		2.5
Bandana (2)		2.2
Towel		2.5
Head Lamp		3.3
Carabiners and clips		3.3
Bag		1
Cup		5.1
Toilet paper (w/ shovel, bags)		8.6

I have seen more organized charts, but I simply listed items as they came out of my pack or as I thought of them. No rhyme or reason to the order.

There are some items I know people will be looking at going why is she taking that? One such item is what appears to be a box of screws in the bottom right corner. That good critics is my art box, I plan on doing some painting while out hiking and so I will be taking a pencil, drawing pen, watercolors and brush(es) with. I also have my sketchbook and journal there. That little stack of items weighs 1 pound 5.4 ounces, but I couldn't get rid of it even if I was trying to reduce pack weight. I am not taking anything else to keep my mind occupied or to relax at the end of the day and I wish to record my hike by writing, drawing and painting. And I seriously doubt my ability to go two months without doing anything creative or artful. That little box contains everything I need to create mini watercolor paintings, including water.

Today I also went through the whole hike again to work out some shorter distances for resupply boxes. I had been at about a week between, but I think I have found enough places to cut that back to 5 days at most which means I have less food, and weight, to carry between resupplies.

So over the last few weeks of my planning time, I will be working on cutting back my weight by shaving a few ounces off items where I can, finding lighter alternatives or maybe (but not likely) removing items completely.

Tentative Schedule

I finished planning my daily miles for my Ice Age Trail thru-hike. If I keep to that schedule, which I probably won't, I will complete the hike in 58 days. There is still a lot of planning left, a few supplies to buy, and of course food planning, buying and sorting.

The last two pieces of gear I ordered, my tent footprint and
solar charger. The solar panel is a bit heavier that I expected
so I am going to try to reduce my pack weight elsewhere.

The next thing I want to do is go through the whole hike plan again, but this time enter every town where I could possibly get a resupply box. I want to get a box every 4-5 days. That means I would only have to carry about 10-12 pounds of food. That's about 2 pounds of food a day plus one extra day of food. I hope to have less food weight per day than that, but 2 pounds is what many resources have recommended. And at least in the beginning I can bring less food, because I tend to not eat much in general. Eventually I will have to add some more calories, but I can easily have a few crackers with peanut butter and raisins as an additional snack since I will be carrying them anyway.

I am not a big fan of dried fruits and veggies, I think I mentioned that once
before, but I did like the papaya and pineapple.

I also still want to email the trail chapter coordinators and the Ice Age Trail Alliance for tips in those areas of the trail where there are no camping options. Maybe they have suggestions or might offer to come collect me at the end of the day. And to just get general information about the trail.

There are a couple places where I might take an extra day simply because I know I will love being there, I can plan those as "rest" days. I want to be able to take my time and enjoy Parfreys Glen and Devils Lake State park in the Baraboo area. I went there on a Geology class field trip in high school and I was in awe of Parfreys Glen. And Devils Lake has shower facilities, I can maybe be clean for a day or two.

I am a part of the Facebook group, World's Biggest Marble Hunt,
I will be doing some hides while I hike. If you want to find one of the marbles
I hide, join the Facebook group and watch for my posts. I will be doing this
as a way to keep myself entertained and you all will have an advantage to
finding them since you already know where I will be.

I keep finding myself in tunnel vision. I can focus on getting one thing done then move on, but I'm having problems keeping up with all the things I have to do in order to get back into the reality of post-hike life. I spent a week making pottery and during that week I did no planning, I stopped going for walks and generally stressed about trying to multitask without actually accomplishing any multitasking. The last two days I have loaded the bisque kiln and today is my second bisque firing, which has left me with time to think about the hike again. The problem I am having is that I know I will immediately have to jump into art shows when I get back, and that requires having enough inventory on hand, since I am missing two months of work time, I have to make some extra work now, while I am also planning and preparing for the hike. Plus I want to be able to fully enjoy myself while I am hiking and not think about everything I will have to do when I get back. So if I can get most of it done now, I (hopefully) won't be thinking about it while I hike.

Tuesday	28.6	39.3	10.7	3f	4	Moh's Mountain
Wednesday	39.3	59.7	20.4	5f	5	Polk County Primitive Camping
Thursday	59.7	75.3	15.6	6f	8	Burnett County Primitive Camping BW13
Friday	75.3	90	14.7	8f	9	Barron County Prim. Camping Bear Lake Segment
Saturday	90	113.2	23.2	10f	10	Barron County Primitive Camping BW3, rookery
Sunday	113.2	134.3	21.1	12f	11	North Lake Primitive Campsite, RU2
Monday	134.3	160.3	26	15f	14	Primitive Campsite CH13
Tuesday	160.3	184	23.7	16f	16	Brunet Island State Park
Wednesday	184	209	25	17-19f	16	Otter Lake County Park
Thursday	209	229.2	20.2	21f	18	Taylor Cty. Chequamegon Forest Primitive Camping
Friday	229.2	249	19.8	22f	19	Chequamegon Forest Primitive Camping
Saturday	249	269	20	24f	20	Taylor County Forest Primitive Camping
Sunday	269	293.8	24.8	26f	21	Taylor County Forest Primitive Camping
Monday	293.8	315.8	22	28f	24	Turtle Rock Segment
Tuesday	315.8	339.2	23.4	29f	26	Underdown Segment Primitive Camping
Wednesday	339.2	364.5	25.3	31f	29	Langlade County Adirondack Shelter or Primitive
Thursday	364.5	384.9	20.4	33f	30	Camp Susan's Prim. Camp. Highland Lakes Eastern

Just a little of my 58 day plan. The day of the week, start mileage, end mileage, total daily miles, map number from the atlas, page number in the databook and where I hope to camp that night. Of course these are guesses, estimates for how far I can hike in a day and some are simply the next available camping area. The final will also include where I will pick up my boxes, the contact numbers for the places I plan to camp (if I need to make reservations), and the post offices I will visit.

Planning Fears and Frustrations

Coming to understand myself more fully, I've realized that I prefer schedule, certainty, and control. I'm now faced with two months of anything but those things. I honestly won't know where I will sleep each night because I have no idea how far I can actually walk in a day while carrying a 40 pound backpack. And with that uncertainty I can't know where I will be the next day or the day after. I'm trying to make a schedule, a projected day by day estimation of where I will be each night if I manage to hike all the miles I think I need to go in order to reach a legal campsite. Meaning I don't want to sleep right on the trail or several yards off the road into someone's field or woods. Because that would be trespassing.

I'm confused, stressed, frustrated and I'm hoping I don't lose my mind trying to organize my own plans. I know while I am hiking I will want to keep up with any schedule I make. So if I only go 12 miles when I had planned on 20, I will attempt to make up those "lost" 8 miles. I know this is something I need to work on. Being flexible. I hate being flexible. I want to know where I will be and when. If I have plans with someone I want to know exactly where and when we will be meeting and I expect those places and times to be sacred in a way. We said 4:15, that means we get there at or before 4:15. Can you see how hard it will be for me to fly by the seat of my pants when I get a few miles (or days) off schedule?

Maybe if I had done a big, multi-week hike before I attempt going for two months I would be a little more relaxed. Then again maybe not, but at least then I would be able to know myself a little more and know how much leeway I can give myself in terms of food and supplies I can live with if I take an extra day or two to get to my resupply boxes. And I might be a little more comfortable finding a place to sleep when I end up walking down a country road as night falls.

I don't want to be strictly stuck to a schedule. I want to be able to take my time and enjoy the hike. If I find a pretty place I want to be able to feel comfortable enough to sit down and paint a picture instead of fretting about being on time.

I've been told multiple times by several people, friends and family, that they believe in me, they believe I can do this, they believe I will succeed. I don't know if I believe any of them yet. I don't know if I believe in myself that much yet. Maybe I had more faith in myself before I had to count miles. Now faced with the real planning of where and when, my usual action of control is failing me. And I don't like it when things fail me. That is usually about the time I back-pedal and stick to my comfort zone.

(And I also keep rediscovering that I can write about all of these fears, problems and frustrations in my journal and I rarely feel better about it, but I write one blog post about them and suddenly it makes sense or the problems don't seem as big anymore.)

Taking the Next Steps

Things are coming together. My planning stalled out around my birthday because I was waiting for a few items I knew I'd be getting for birthday presents. I now have the most important of those items, the Ice Age Trail Databook. This is the companion book to the Trail Atlas which was one of the first things I bought for this adventure, and contains all the mileage for the trail, certain landmarks, and towns on the trail. I have just over one month to plan out my projected daily mileage, mail pickups, and hopefully be able to use that data to decide how much more food I'll need and how many mail drops I'll need to plan for.

Clockwise from top left: day pack, databook, t-shirt, Buff, rain poncho, towel

There was an experienced backpacker hiking the trail this winter, he finished his hike in 50 days. I've never done this kind of hike and I'm hoping to finish in 60. Less if I can manage it, more if I have to. That means I'll need around 70 days worth of food in case I end up taking longer than I expected. I can't take much longer than that though, I have art shows starting on July 1st and I need time to make sure I have all my things ready for that part of my life.

Just need a bag of Italian herbs to make this meal.

There were a couple items I was debating getting. One is a tent footprint and the other a solar charger for my phone. I could manage without, but if I could afford them I wanted to get them for convenience and safety sake. Not to mention it would worry my parents if they didn't hear from me for several days or several weeks if I couldn't charge my phone. So lucky for me, my credit card informed me that I had rewards points to redeem and I could use them to get gift cards that I could in turn use to get the items on my wish list that I didn't think about asking for my birthday and I thought it best if I bought the solar charger myself as it is one of the more expensive pieces of gear.

Awesome and easy supper, I need to make the dry powder mix in a separate
bag and add it to the boiling pasta partway through cooking.

So now I have a rain poncho, that can double as an emergency tarp shelter; a Buff head cover; a backpacking towel, I found I did not enjoy drying off with nothing more than a handkerchief; a second athletic t-shirt, I will only be taking two for the whole trip, at least that is the plan; I got myself a lightweight, compact daypack, I can use it for several purposes in towns, campgrounds, or on the trail; and the databook and I still plan on getting the tent footprint, the solar charger and I have yet to get the extra fuel I will need for my camp stove.

I may try adding some of my sprouts to the burritos, and I think the rice
needs to cook just a little longer before I add the beans.

The last couple days I have tried making some of the recipes that I hope to eat on the trail. I've tried the Knorr Rice Sides and liked some of those, but the Pasta Sides taste like plastic to me. I bought a few different types of pasta and a couple different sauces to make my own. For the cheese and spinach tortellini I will boil just enough water to cover the pasta and then add some tomato paste, Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese. I look forward to that. I also got some veggie based pasta (zucchini and spinach rotini) that I will add cheese sauce or alfredo sauce to. I had to figure out how much sauce powder, powdered milk, powdered butter and water I need for one serving, but after doing a little math I got it right the first time, I will want more pasta for a meal than how much an actual serving is supposed to be, so I will divide my boxes of pasta into 3 meals. I also got some wheat spaghetti that I will break up into bite sized pieces and either use the tomato paste or the cheese sauce to make meals from that. Today I also tried a bean and rice burrito that was very good, but needed some salt and a little more chipotle powder and cheese than I put in it. I can also add some tomato paste to the burrito and to the rice sides to use that up faster since I will be carrying it the whole way. I also recently got my sprouting kit for the trail so I can have fresh greens the whole time. I'm not a fan of dehydrated veggie chips or the like, so I need to get my vitamins in other ways.

The bags will hang from the outside of my pack and I should get enough
sprouts from one sprouting to last a few days.

I will be going to some experienced backpackers with all my gear to get some advice about what I may not need in order to reduce my pack weight. I'm a little concerned I'm going to end up with 50 pounds of stuff once my food and water are added in and I already know there are some items I will be taking that are purely comfort items. If I am truly miserable on the trail, I know I won't last long. I also know though, that if I have too heavy of a pack, that could end my hike early due to injury or exhaustion. It is a balance I need to find between gear and comfort/safety.