I originally planned to thru hike the 323-mile trail in 2018 after I left my job to move to Colorado. That move has been put on hold and I don't have the ability to take off work for a whole month. I have now set a goal to section hike the whole trail before the end of the year. Every 4 weeks, I have 4 days off in a row and I plan on using those to backpack parts of the trail.
I have a 4-day weekend July 20th through July 23rd. The forecast looks absolutely terrible- storms with "some of them severe" all 4 days. While I originally wanted to backpack 47 miles from the northern terminus to Clear Creek Lake, I think I'm going to just do one night. 24 miles from the northern terminus to Morehead. I am all for hiking in the rain, but I'm not experienced hiking in storms. Still, I want to know what its like. I'm about to set out for my first backpacking adventure in thunderstorms. Preparing for a 1-nighter is something I've done hundreds of times so it didn't take me very long to pack. I definitely didn't want to carry a stove this time. There is a great chance I'll be trying to cook in the pouring rain anyway. I got an awesome new poncho that I'll probably be wearing the whole time. I got a gently (never) used SPOT 1st generation off of a flea market page. I think this device gives the solo hiker some peace of mind and is well worth the monthly fee. I am also bringing my waterproof pouch I use for kayaking. My phone still works through the plastic. With food and 3.5 liters of water, my pack weighed in at 27lbs.
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Sheltowee Trace National Recreation TrailThis trail is 333 miles long running from Morehead, KY to Oneida, TN. These blogs are about my experiences backpacking this trail. I've hiked every section at least once and was a class of 2019 Hiker Challenge participant. Categories
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December 2019
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