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.