What is all that stuff?

I’m getting ready for my two month long section hike through Virginia. Like all other posts I’ve seen and read about getting your hiking gear together and ready, that’s what this is about. I’m not the kind of person who puts everything in a nice neat arrangement and takes pictures of it for my post. No, I’m a  piles kind of person. What you’re looking at are my piles of hiking gear, my “get ready” piles.

When I get the backpacking food I ordered on line in the mail, I throw it on the pile. As I remember a piece of gear I need to put in my pack, I throw it on the pile. I take days, even weeks sometimes, looking at my piles, thinking about what I need to add and what I should take out.

As things pile up my husband looks on in silence, because he’s familiar with this routine. He knows, as I know, that there is a method to my madness, my “piles madness”.  The piles will soon disappear into the belly of my backpack, and into the many boxes piled high on the table, soon enough. So, we both live with them (the piles) for as long as it takes for me to figure things out.

Figuring things out.

What things do I need to figure out, you ask. Well, where to put everything for one. Which foods to pack for each section of the hike? Which box to put it in? Do I need to mail the boxes ahead of me on the trail or can I keep them in my car for resupply? Which gear to put inside my pack and which gear to put outside my pack? Which gear to take? And which gear to leave? It’s a fun preparation. It gets my mind in the hiking mode slowly, but surely.

Organization!

So  how in the world do I organize all the stuff in the piles?

I’ve been section hiking on the Appalachian Trail for seventeen years. This is going to be my longest hike yet. I’m used to organizing my piles of stuff. I know where each thing goes in my pack. I’ve been packing it the same way for years. Anything new I have to figure out where to put it or if it will fit. Like the new umbrella I’m taking this time.

This time I also had to sort my food into multiple boxes, so I could resupply along the way. This was a new step for me. After much deliberation the food got sorted. The boxes got filled and labeled. I decided I was going to resupply from my car. Yes, my car! I’m taking my car hiking with me, but that’s another story.

Finally, everything is loaded in my pack and in the boxes. It only took about four to five weeks to get there. But I’m ready to hit the trail after digging through all my piles and putting everything just where it needs to be.