Support Network

Do I have one?

Well yes, but actually no.

Or no, but actually yes; but I couldn't find an image for that.


My girlfriend, other friends and family will be (hopefully) reading along at home.  Possibly watching along if I post videos.  They'll be with me in spirit.  But in person? If I'm lucky?  Maybe?

My girlfriend and family have expressed interest in flying out to see me whilst I'm away, but there's no guarantee that they can.  They certainly can't do it more than once (unless it's an emergency).

Unlike some American and Canadian (or even Mexican) (or maybe Cuban) (or any one else in North America), my friends and family can't just pop over to see how I'm doing.  They might be able to send me supplies or gear, and I might be able to send stuff home, but that will be costly; and will have a significant delay between them sending it and me receiving it.  

I'll be working under the assumption that I cannot get aid from friends and family, and it shall be a nice surprise if I do get anything nice.  I plan to be fully self supported, because I don't have the option not to be.  

However 

I do have a sort of lifeline guarantee.  If something goes wrong, if something bad happens, or even if I just want to give up; I do have a one use only Get Me Out Of Here card, if you will.  But there's no takebacks, no rewind or undo button.  No Ctrl+Z.  
Unlike local(er) people, if I quit I will not be able to un-quit without saving up and booking flights all over again.  

No pressure, though; right?

 

Aren't I Worried?

I'm going to confess a secret.

I'm getting worried.

Not, you know, lot.  But.. a bit. 
I keep thinking what if my bag is too heavy?
What if something goes wrong?  I could get injured! 
I could miss out on important things back home!  I might not be recognised, maybe I won't recognise my friends and family when I get home! Six months is a long time, after all.

And worse, what if I don't enjoy it?  I can't easily come home if it turns out to be completely awful.
Don't get me wrong, I am still very excited and I am looking forward to it all.  But.. what if!? 

So here's what I'm doing

I am doing as much as I can to not read about other people right now.  I can't keep comparing myself to others who might be lighter, who might be heavier.  I'll get stuck in a loop and panic. 
So I'm throwing myself into my other duties right now.  I'm still exercising and keeping myself fit and ready for the hike of a lifetime, but I'm also not going to read anything more.  If I need to get lighter stuff, I'll do it when I'm in the USA.
I'm taking on more tutees and engaging in my other hobbies more, and hopefully I'll stop worrying for now. 
Because all of these worries are unfounded and silly.  I will have fun, if I do get injured I have insurance, if something goes wrong I have backups.  So everything will be fine, I know it rationally.








....but what if...?

Ursack AllMitey

It's been a while since I've written anything.  I've not had much to write.  Now I do.

Ursack AllMitey

So on the trail, there are bears.  Bears are a little bit scary even though they have cute fluffy ears and look adorable.  They are cute, they can also chew me up and spit my out literally.  So I don't want to keep food in my tent in case a bear decides it's hungry.  A fed bear is a scared, possibly hurt, me but also a dead bear.  bears that associate humans with food tend to get put down eventually, and we shouldn't want to put down anything that looks that cute. 

Generally, people on the AT use something called the PCT Bear Hang.  In short, this means hanging a bag full of food (and other smelly things) from a tree so that hopefully a bear cannot get at the food.  I'm not going to do this.

Now before I have an angry mod attacking me with pitchforks for indirectly harming the population of one of the cutest apex predators in the world, I do have my reasons.
Andrew Skurka, adventurer (I want that job title), has relatively recently posted on his own vastly superior blog about why bear bags are probably not the best.  In case you don't want to read a better blog than mine, I'll summarise:

• It's probably going to be done wrong.  

...that's pretty much it.  It actually takes a lot of skill, and thus a lot of practise, to successfully hang a bear bag.  It needs to be far enough off the ground  (approximately 12' or 3.5m), far enough down from the branch and far enough from the tree (about 5' or 1.5m).  Even if someone is the absolute best bear bag hanger to ever hang a bear bag, they still need suitable conditions to it in.
Now I know, I know; I'm going hiking through the woods - of course there'll be trees I can do that from!  But that still means finding one accurately.
It's also time consuming, and can be dangerous as it involves throwing a rock over a branch and hoping to not hit anybody when it comes down.

So what am i doing instead?  I'm going to use an Ursack AllMitey.  Mine arrived earlier this week.  Obviously,  I've not had a chance to test it myself, but it has excellent testimonials.  It's a bag that by its design material is impervious to bears and to rodents.  (Notably, it isn't dog or presumably wolf resistant.  Something about sharp enough teeth and strong enough jaws.) 

I shove all my food and other bear-attracting items into it, tie it shut and then secure it to a tree.  It doesn't need to be high up a tree, it doesn't need to be out of reach.  It's only secured to a tree to make sure a bear doesn't run off with it.