Wednesday, October 27, 2010

What didn't work on a thruhike

A thruhike is pretty hard on you.  It's hard on your stuff, too.  Some items made it the whole way on my hike, but they didn't necessarily make it intact.

I started out with an old ultralight backpack, a Gossamer Gear Mariposa.  It started ripping within two weeks.  I then purchased a Mariposa Plus.  Some non-vital ribbon immediately pulled out, but that's not why it didn't make it the rest of the way.  It just wasn't comfortable enough for me, day to day.  At the end of the hiking day, it felt like a bag of jello was sagging down my back.  I needed something with more support.  (I found a Gregory internal frame pack that did the job nicely, but I dearly missed the outer pockets and light weight of the Mariposas.)

I started and ended with Keen boots, but they weren't the same pair.  I'm wearing the third pair to work now.  I also killed a previously used pair of Merrells in Pennsylvania.  (Actually the Merrells might still be hikeable, but they don't fit my feet anymore.  Thruhiking made my feet just big enough that the toes pinch now.  )  The Keens started failing the same way every time - the soles started to delaminate where they wrapped around the midsole.  No amount of glue would hold them together.  Mostly that was just an annoyance.  The real failure was how quickly the soles would wear off.  Then the boots would lose stiffness, and as a consequence my feet would hurt all the time.   Then I knew it was time for new boots.  I would get new insoles at the same time - Superfeet hot pink insoles.  The hot pink have dense foam under the ball of the foot, which made my feet very very happy.  An important breakin tip is to keep your old Superfeet if you do this, and only use the new Superfeet a little at a time the first few days.  The old Superfeet have molded to your feet, and the new ones have not.  So wearing the new ones all day is a bad idea until they get to know your feet a little better.

My first sleeping pad, a medium NeoAir, suffered some internal delamination after two months.  It still held air, but it had a bulge right where my back went.  My second pad was a short NeoAir, and my knees and feet didn't like dangling over the end.  The NeoAirs are 2.5" thick, so it's a much longer dangle than with a standard 1/2" foam pad, for instance.  My last NeoAir was long, several inches longer than me.  But the weight was only an ounce more than the model I wanted, so I lived with the silly long pad.  I loved my NeoAirs, they were very comfortable.  The only caveat is that they are not warm enough for cool weather.  For that I layered a thin foam pad with the NeoAir.

I didn't wear that many clothes at any one time, but I went through a number of garments on the hike.  Mostly bottoms.  My skirt proved too warm for warm weather hiking.  My shorts and pants tended to get thin at the rear (from sitting and sliding down steep rocks) and then they'd also get loose as I lost more weight.  Fortunately JD was able to find and mail me a new pair as needed.  For the most part I stuck with the same brand because I knew it fit.  (That would be White Sierra Tetons.  Great convertible pants for curvy women.)

I went through socks very regularly.  I wore two layer Wright socks.  JD bought them in three packs and mailed me new ones whenever mine got thin.

I went through several raincoats before I purchased a new Marmot Precip.  I've worn so many of these out that I didn't want another, but the salesperson pointed out that a year or two of daily use is probably considered "a lot" of use, and it wasn't that bad that the coat eventually stopped repelling water.  And, indeed, the jack did fine for the rest of the hike.  I think I got it in Hot Springs, and it went the rest of the way to Woodstock with me.  Prior to Hot Springs I was just wet a lot, no matter what I wore.

I believe this will have to be done in installments.  I carried a lot of stuff!

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