Packing up

I've spent the morning getting my gear together, which was mostly together since the last trip just a week ago.  As always, I'm worried I will forget something, and I usually do.  I ground up coffee beans for 3 days of morning coffee (1 extra day just in case), and repacked my food box.  I carry 4 place settings of cheap silverware, and need to pack those as well.  I'd use disposable but the way most places sell it you need to buy a box each of knives, forks, and spoons.  That irritates me for some reason, so I don't use disposables.

I weighed my boots on the kitchen scale I've used for years to determine the weight of backpacking gear.  The boots are less than 3# for the pair - not bad at all.  I wore them around the house this morning and they feel fine.  I think I could probably hike several miles in them to start out with, although I wouldn't want to overdo it at first.  I took out the insoles that came with the boots and inserted the Superfeet.  Having good insoles makes all the difference in the comfort of boots, as well as shoes in my case.  Not wanting to spend $40 for Superfeet to put into cheap gym shoes, I bought Dr. Scholl's for under $10.  Even they help quite a bit.

From miles and miles of backpacking with a heavy load, my feet grew a complete size & a half, and I lost my high arches as well.  So good insoles and high quality boots are a must for me.  I limit the amount of time I wear the cheap Fila runners and find myself going back to my old walking shoes because they are so much better quality, plus I have the expensive insoles for them.  I got them so dirty it was a disgrace to wear them, so I tossed them into the washing machine thinking it wouldn't matter if they were ruined.  Well, they now look like a new pair and feel great.

I couldn't believe it when the sound of rain woke me up at about 6 AM.  It only rained for a couple of minutes and stopped, then rained a bit later for a very short time.  I don't think it even got the streets wet, just sprinkled, but the weather today has been much cooler than predicted.  I'm fine with that but hope I don't experience rain on this camping trip - nothing I can do about it if it happens, and I must remember to take my deck of cards along.  I don't know which is worse - sore fingers from shuffling the deck, or sore fingers from clicking the mouse.  I'd much prefer the deck of real cards if it wasn't for the bother of shuffling.

I'm waffling over whether to take a lantern - I usually go to sleep much earlier when camping, and I have a very large and heavy flashlight in case I need light (or a weapon).  I think I need new mantles for my Coleman propane lantern before I can use it.

It is fun planning and packing, but I think I'd like to go for at least a week, probably after Labor Day.  In the meantime, I'll get away whenever I can.  I'd like to attempt a trip into the Desolation Wilderness Area, although that would mean parking the car and backpacking everything in.  I'd really like to have the company of another person for that, but it's unlikely I'll find anyone.  I've tried to look up groups of women interested in camping, but they are either RVers, or folks with other special interests.

I won't post again before Wednesday if all goes well, as I'm sure it will.