Thursday, June 24, 2010

Boot Camp

Since it rained from mid-May until Mid-June, I'm behind on my backpacking fitness.  I'm planning to do a lot of long-range backpacking later this summer, so I need to get to work.  I've declared the next two weeks Trail Boot Camp.  I'm going to take big hikes pretty much every day, alternating days of elevation gain with days of flat-out distance.  Yesterday was a light elevation day, up the ridge behind my cabin and along the Forest Service Roads up there.  Today, I'll hike up the East Fork for several miles.

To simulate carrying a backpacking load without actually loading up my backpack, I decided to add a little weight to my day pack.  I didn't want any metal plates clanking around in there and testing the seams of my pack, so I added the largest book I own—The Complete Works of Shakespeare.


It's a heavy book.  "The weight of this sad time we must obey; Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.”  From King Lear.

3 comments:

  1. You know, it would be a lot easier and quicker if you drove instead of walking! You'd have more time to read that GIANT book!

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  2. If you put some sandbags in that thing then you wouldn't have to worry about Charlie gettin in your perimeter at night either! How about a ruck instead of a fanny pack?
    Den

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  3. Sandbags? I said boot camp, not Airborne Ranger training. I have a nice, almost new internal frame backpack ready to hit the trail, but I'd feel a little silly wearing on a day hike. Plus I'm generally lazy. Den

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