Walking with New Pack

Two days ago I stuff some rolled up blankets into my new backpack. According to the bathroom scale (which I hope is accurate weighing a backpack, but why shouldn't it be) the whole thing was ten pounds. OK, not very much, but one must start someplace.

In my twenties, my now ex-wife and I attempted backpacking in Rocky Mountain State Park. Of course all the literature and advice said practice with a loaded pack was critical. Well, we both said no way, both of us young and healthy people. We were experienced car/tent campers and thought we knew best how backpacking should be done.

We found a good trail and started out one morning. I am totally embarrassed to say we walked in about a mile and realized we were not in any shape to go further (hanging head in shame). We made it to a beautiful spot next to a bubbling stream underneath a fire tower. I'm not sure if it rained or not while the scenery was superb, the hiking and backpacking was a disaster.

Fast forward a few decades and Michelle and I are going to give backpacking and hiking a try. So I walked three miles with the pack which felt good. The weight was not on my hips well so that will need adjustment. I will walk again twice this week, three miles one time and five miles at the same weight.

We both are planning a longer hike this weekend Busse Woods Forest Preserve. The plan is to increase weight for next week's walks.

Busse Woods Bike Trail

Backpacks

 

 

Using the April Gear issue of Backpacker I narrowed down the myriad choices for backpacks to the Osprey Exos 48. We were looking for a pack that we could use for both day hikes and our eventual goal of hiking with overnights. This pack seemed to fill the bill.

 

We went to our local REI store Schaumburg, IL to see the pack in person, to touch, feel and wear. We had no intentions of buying at this point. Our salesperson turned out to be an Iraq vet working while attending college. He was excellent in his knowledge and working with the two of us.

He picked out a small Osprey Exos 58 for Michelle and a large Exos 48 for me. He took our measurements prior to picking the packs out. He then stuffed weighted bags into each pack so we wear then. The estimated the weight  at 15 - 20 pounds. After a few minutes he looked at mine and from the way it was fitting me was to large so we tried a medium which worked well. The large did not sitting on my hips correctly.

We spent about fifteen minutes walking about the store and while the packs felt heavy, it was not extreme. Easy to say while in store but we realize walking with weight in the packs will help us become conditioned for the trail.

So our salesperson, being a good salesperson, helped me make a buy decision and we left the store with our new backpacks!

We are planning to buy some play sand and put the sand in five pounds bags we can wear the weighted packs during our neighbor walks. At the same we purchased the book 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Chicago to identify some local hikes we can experience with out new packs.

Welcome to our blog!

My wife and I are married four years. After having done very little camping after the early 1990's I introduced Michelle to tent camping in 2011. We camped in The Badlands and Custer State Park in South Dakota. The weather during our stay in Custer was cold and rainy. After two nights there we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park.

We spent three nights and four days there where the weather was much warmer and drier. We viewed the snowy mountains from our camp site along with the elk that ate breakfast in our "front yard". We hiked up some trails in the park, up into some interesting conditions with snow on the ground. I did have trouble with the altitude after years of smoking, age and lack of hiking experience. Michelle loved camping and the area we visited of spectacular mountains and forest.

The next year we traveled to northern Wisconsin which was cut short due to a medical issue of mine. We did however spend a few hours hiking around the park and on the North Country Trail.

Last year we moved up to a pop-up trailer which was much easier than pitching and taking down a tent. Our big trip that summer was to Smoky Mountains National Park. Our campsite was some miles into the park in the northeast corner. The campground was quiet and a beautiful place to camp.

While there we did a day hike on the Appalachian Trail. We hiked four miles up to Charlie's Bunion which overlooked a great view of the great land and forest in the park.

 

 

 

John and Michelle

I took us five hours hike up to the bunion round trip which was eight miles. Michelle and I were worn out from a rough trip up but a much rougher coming down the steep trail. We meet some great hikers along the way. A young man who was hiking from the southern terminus of the AT to New York. He has done the northern portion the year before.

A group of men in their forties and fifties were hiking from the southern terminus to the where the trail exits the park heading north. The packs they carried seemed huge! Even feeling worn out and sore, we knew hiking would be good for us and enable us to see wonderful, wonderful country.

My name is John Mosman and my wife Michelle Smernoff. We are planning to do some hiking on the North Country Trail (NCT) in August and the Ice Age Trail (IAT) in Wisconsin in September.  We will need to get in better shape and purchase the equipment. For this year we are day-hiking and next are looking at a few overnights.

I will be 66 next month and Michelle is 47. We are walking to get our stamina better and looking at equipment and planning the summer. This blog will be about our adventures with camping and hiking.

What to Bring Along

What do we need to bring along on a day-hike or overnights on the trail? I found a wonderful site called Section Hiker that is filled with advice, reviews and great stories about hiking. Phillip Werner is the gentleman whom writes the site. Well worth a look (but come on back).

The site has a page called Day Hikers’ Ten Essentials Guide (good for backpacking too. I took his guide and made an Excel spreadsheet for the equipment we will need for our hiking adventures.

If you see anything we are missing, please leave a comment....also your recommendations.

Gear Recommendations		One Item	Two items
Essentials	Up to 4 hours	More than 4 hours	Overnight
Maps and Compass	Local Maps	Local Maps	Local Maps
		Sunnto A-10 Compass	Sunnto A-10 Compass
			GPS
Sun Protection	Billed Cap	Billed Cap	Billed Cap
		Dermatone Tin	Dermatone Tin
		Sunglasses	Sunglasses
		Long Sleeved Synthetic Shirt	Long Sleeved Synthetic Shirt
Insulation	Fleece Sweater	Fleece Sweater	Fleece Sweater
	Wind Shirt	Wind Shirt	Wind Shirt
	Rain Jacket and Pants	Rain Jacket and Pants	Rain Jacket and Pants
		Insulated Jacket	Insulated Jacket
		Glove Liners	Glove Liners
Illumination	Black Diamond Spot	Black Diamond Spot	Black Diamond Spot
	Extra (AAA) Lithium Battaries	Extra (AAA) Lithium Battaries	Extra (AAA) Lithium Battaries
First Aid Supplies	Adventure Medical Kit	Adventure Medical Kit	Adventure Medical Kit
	Aspirin	Aspirin	Aspirin
	Nix Lice Treatmeant	Nix Lice Treatmeant	Nix Lice Treatmeant
Fire	Small Box Wooden Matches	Small Box Wooden Matches	Small Box Wooden Matches
	Light My Fire Fire Wheel	Light My Fire Fire Wheel	Light My Fire Fire Wheel
	Vaseline Coated Cotton Balls	Vaseline Coated Cotton Balls	Vaseline Coated Cotton Balls
		Stove	Stove
Tools and Repair Kit	Swiss Army Classic Knife	Swiss Army Classic Knife	Swiss Army Classic Knife
	Duct Tape, Safety Pins	Duct Tape, Safety Pins	Duct Tape, Safety Pins
Nutrition	Nuts, Dried Fruit, Bars	Nuts, Dried Fruit, Bars	Nuts, Dried Fruit, Bars
			Sandwhich
Hydration	2 Water Bottles, 70 oz. Reservoir	Water Bottles or 100 oz. Reservoir	Hydration Bladder
		Chlorine Dioxide Tablets	Chlorine Dioxide Tablets
Emergency Shelter	Emergency Bivey	Emergency Bivey
		Blue Foam Sit Pad (Substitute)
		Blue Poly Tarp and Paracord	Tent (use for day trip too?)
Other	Emergency Contact Info	Emergency Contact Info	Emergency Contact Info
	Loud Whistle	Loud Whistle	Loud Whistle
		Toilet paper (wet wipes) & Trowel	Toilet pape (wet wipes) & Trowel
Backpack	Osprey Exos 48 & 58 (one each)	Osprey Exos 48 & 58 (one each)	Osprey Exos 48 & 58 (one each)
Sleeping Bag			Sleeping Bag
			Sleeping Pad
			Tent
			Bear Bag
		Rope	Rope
	Insect Repellent	Insect Repellent	Insect Repellent

Pop-up Trailer

Below is our pop-up trailer which we have christened George.

George and our family campers



George is a 2013Viking model 2108 who sleeps six, two double pull-out beds and room to sleep two more on the couches and over the table. He comes with a stove, sink and refrigerator.

George is our base of operations and we could not be happier with our choice.