.
.
It is cooking out there. I woke rather late, which is fine. Sleep was fantastic and I needed it. Whatever else might still be good or bad, health-wise, that I am much more frequently actually able to do more than become unconscious for some number of hours is huge. My sleep recharges me. I wake refreshed, to varying degrees. And often, like last night, sleep was completely real, I got from sleep what everyone else usually expects. Beautiful!
While still in the waking phase, and that still takes an hour or two, I believe I can get to things again. A couple of loads of dishes, while the my world cools, a bit of straightening and neatening, a load of laundry, all light and easy and slow as I am still a quite limited. That and I want to save a lot of juice to get out and mow later. Absolutely beautiful!
Who would think a man could be trapped in his body for so long. It must be assumed by some that I want to be in here, or something? My bike is on it's way, my boots should be showing up soon, and I am looking for the two guide books for local hiking trails again. I might have to find the trailheads on off days, have some of them marked, and be ready to get out when I am able and quickly before I recant. Once out I will be fine. What are good things to take on short hikes? Water, of course. Perhaps a snack. Maybe insect repellent. Anything else? I will probably need to break these boots in, but I think I can do that by wearing them as daily wear for... a while. A week or two and then beginning hikes, I would guess. These are medium hiking boots, not for the heaviest loads or the roughest trails, neither is on the menu this year in any case. All good. Biking will probably be my real start though. Just a couple of blocks over, down, and then back. I have to regain my skills, strengths, wind, and such. I suppose I could just walk, but walking takes a lot more time to cover so little ground. I still feel... exposed... on the ground on foot and away from home. A bicycle is a vehicle, if more exposed than the Xterra it is comforting to a degree. Yes... I have... issues. Things are tactical, always, for many reasons.
It is a beautiful day. Whatever good or bad is happening in your life, I honestly hope you can take a few moments and maybe a bit more to... just see it. Have a great day.
First aid kit including pain killers and electrolyte replacement, local topo maps, maybe a snakebite kit, compass to use with the map, TP, ultralight rain poncho, firestarter kit (if you get injured and stuck overnight you'll be really glad...), sweatshirt (same reason), sunglasses, wide brimmed hat, some hard candies for emergency calories, more water than you think you'll need.
ReplyDeleteThat ought to fill a daypack.
Daisycat and I are regularly aghast at what most people do *not* bring on day hikes. Typical dayhiker: shorts, tennies and a quart of water.
No hat. Nothing else. Not even the shoes are really appropriate.
Right. If everything goes perfectly. That's about right for a stroll through the park and that's it.
Essentially we start with the contents of an overnight backpack and then back out what is obviously unnecessary for a day hike. Pretty much everything we carry has become useful on a day hike at one point or another.
The only thing I need, initially, is a topo map, the rest I can collect from my various stores. Actually, I might have several of some of those things, a good time to test various items too! I wasn't sure which type of rain poncho to get, so I have several types, for example. Same with fire starters, I have a couple I have been meaning to test (carefully, we are as dry as you all, often, and fire prone). I just bought two collapsible canteens I can take dry, along with water filtration and two steel cylinder (so easy to pack) canteens full of water. The only thing I might add is sun screen. I am researching whether that is actually good for you or not. I can just put some dry Gatorade in a spare container for electrolytes. Beats salts.
ReplyDeleteI might skip on the hard candy though. I do have some survival food, in the foil. Though not technically diabetic anymore, I don't want to test it... more than I do. Hard candy is what drove my blood sugar to over 650-700, in short order, uhrm, back when I was diabetic. The stuff is sort of nasty to eat, and has high sugar content too, but also has other stuff.
The nice thing about being a lug is... 10 pounds really doesn't mean to me what it means to Joe crisp slim college kid. Oh, and that kit will go with me when biking too, should I get to riding more than around the block. *grins*
Thanks! Excellent list. I was just thinking that 'out loud', didn't mean to beg. I was going to get around to looking it up. Being as... 'open minded' as I can be sometimes though, you saved me a lot of trouble. I would have dug for days and probably had too much or too little on my list. Thanks again.