Equipment Testing a.k.a the Shakedown before the Shakedown

“Pull over!” “No, it’s a cardigan, but thanks for asking!”

It is fiiiiinally starting to feel like spring. During the past two months, in total New England style, we have had warm days, snow, and seemingly never-ending rain. There is still 3-4 feet of snow on some of the 4k footers in New Hampshire and you can feel in the air that everyone is very hesitant to put away their winter coats.

But today, Tuesday, May 16th, is phenomenally gorgeous.  And tonight, I am going on a 5-6 mile hike right outside of downtown Boston to test out how my packed pack feels on an actual trail. I have stuffed it with weighted bags at REI and done some laps around the store, but I want a real test run before my

*FIRST BACKPACKING TRIP EVER*

(cue lightning bolts and horns and cymbals and confetti)

My trip isn’t until the first weekend in June, but I am pretty busy these last two weekends in May with concerts and work and life, so, tonight is the night to test it out. I hopped on the scale last night and with everything (minus food, but including 2L of water), the pack clocked in at 20 pounds.

I’m going to come back to this post and include an EDIT (see below) with some short thoughts about the pack after my hike tonight. And then, before I leave for my

*FIRST BACKPACKING TRIP EVER*

(cue lightning bolts and horns and cymbals and confetti. again.)

I’m going to go into full-geek mode and write a post with my gear list and full pack weight so all of you nerds can pick apart what I’m bringing and hopefully help me shed a pound or two.

EDIT: The pack felt amazing! I got a ton of compliments on my ZPacks MultiPack and everything just felt good. I hiked with about 10 other people and none of them made fun of me for testing out my overnight gear on such a short hike. So, it is official. I am doing this. I could not be more excited to live in the back country for two days. Stay Tuned for the final gear list! <3