The Avocato

Here is my first attempt at laying out a schedule for my Colorado Trail thru hike.  From what I hear, the best plan is to make a good plan and then when you take your first step on the trail throw the plan out. That sounds cute and all but it's probably a better idea to have at least a vague schedule so I can know how much food to make/buy, when to have resupply boxes arrive at various mountain towns and when and where I can meet various people who have expressed a passing interest in hiking a section or two with me. I worked out a pretty conservative schedule that takes 39 days, which seems a little long to me, but I can always speed up and walk more if I need to.  I have included four "zero" days (days spent in town when no trail miles are hiked).  Not including the zero days, average miles hiked per day comes out to 13.85 miles per day.  I'm hoping after the first week has passed and my body has come to terms with the fact that it is going to be forced to...

I had written a post about replacing Kermit but I'm not sure what happened to it.  One thing is for sure though:  It was lost because of human error. Ask any robot.  It's always human error.  If the post was lost it's because I forgot to save it or I deleted it or I just imagined the whole thing. The robots are always right.  If the computer program is wrong it's because a human didn't program it properly.  If your digital alarm clock doesn't sound off in the morning because there was a neighborhood blackout in the middle of the night and you are late for work, it's not the robot inside the clock's fault, it's the drunk asshole who ran his car into the pole supporting the transformer that exploded causing the blackout's fault.  The clock probably even offered you a place in the bottom to put some batteries for just such an occasion, but you didn't put batteries in there.  That's two humans' fault.  The robot was an inn...

Can't believe I haven't posted this yet, but below is my current gear list.  Small items change now and then, but the biggies are mostly in place barring some unplanned nonsense. Firstly, some definitions: Base weight:  the weight of everything in/on the backpack, including the backpack Pack weight:  the base weight plus consumables (food and water) Skin out weight:  the pack weight plus everything you wear and carry while hiking (clothing, trekking poles, etc.) I've got my base weight down to about 15+ pounds, including camp stuff, hydration system,  clothing carried, electronics, etc.  I am pleased with that. Food will add about 1.75 pounds per day, give or take. The longest distances between resupply points have me carrying five days worth of food at a time.  That amount will add about nine pounds on the first day of those stretches with the weight reducing as the days pass and the food gets eaten.  The shortest stretch i...

After some lackluster commercial freeze-dried meals on trail this year, I asked Lola for a food dehydrator for my birthday so that we could make our own.  Dried food is important on the trail because wet food is heavy to carry.  Dried food is a fraction of the weight of, say, canned food or ready-to-heat pouch food.  Two nights ago I was ready to test it out so I made a big batch of spaghetti and meat sauce.  We enjoyed big bowls of it with a nice glass of red and expired episodes of The Daily Show. After dinner I pulled out The Beast.  Nesco American Harvest Dehydrator and Jerky Maker. A mouthful of a name that could use some shrinkage itself. I spread half of the spaghetti mixed with the sauce onto the fruit leather tray so it wouldn't seep through the venting trays.  The unit only came with one leather tray, though, so I cut a circle out of wax paper and layed that on another tray, then spread the remaining spaghetti onto it...