Headed down to the Pine Barrens to pound out some mileage. My original goal was 13 miles in one day, but I didn't know if I could make it.
I had intended to start hiking at noon, but woke up with diarrhea.I didn't want to take that on the trail so I decided to postpone my departure. While waiting for things to calm down, I went through my pack looking for weighs (pun intended) to lighten it. I got rid of the following:
Extra headlamp
Rain gear (instead brought lightweight poncho)
Six extra batteries for headlamps
Lengths of Amsteel I always take in case I want to splice (and I never do)
Extra aluminum pot I use to drink coffee
4 carabiners I never used
4 continuous loops and two soft shackles (I only brought one soft shackle and one continuous loop)
Bag I carry batteries, carabiners, Amsteel, continuous loops, etc.
Glasses - I never use them
Magnifying glass - never once used it
Cut my repair kit & first aid kit in half
Knife sharpener
Sawyer Squeeze backflushing syringe
Flashlight
Extra garbage bag
Four oz. denatured alcohol instead of 8
Four velcro fasteners
Spare whoopie sling and tree strap
Needle nose pliers
One Sawyer water bag (I still took two)
Two hand warmers
One oz. of coffee (usually carry two)
Once the tummy calmed down, I drove to Batsto Village and started hiking at 2:45 pm. There were a lot of very attractive women there - I'm not sure what the occasion was - I think it was an antiques fair. Who knew the honeys love antiques?
About 4 miles into the hike, SilentOrpheus called me and said he was coming down to hang at Batona, so I accelerated and did my best pace ever: 3.5 miles per hour. Frosty adult beverages are a powerful motivator for SilvrSurfr.
Stay tuned for Part 2 to find if I make it to Batona, or just get hopelessly lost at night as I usually do.
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