Corridor 9

I had quite a productive night last night due to the fact that Kristie and Kendall were off at a Pampered Chef party. Not to say that I wanted them to be away or anything, but more that I was able to accomplish a lot in the amount of time they were away. {whew… had to rephrase that one correctly or suffer the wife’s wrath }

I finally finished packing for the trip this weekend, and I must say how eager I am to get on the trail again! I think this trip is going to be a lot more forgiving on both my back and knees than the last trip was. When I went to the Smokeys in September, my pack weighed between 55 and 65 lbs. This is a lot to carry on your back for 6-7 hours at a time. After tooling around with different packing configurations, and aquiring some lighter weight gear (Thanks mom and dad!), I was able to shave off a considerable amount of weight. With everything packed that I was going to take, except the water in my CamelBak, I weighed a hair over 32 lbs. I figure when I add the water I should weigh between 35-37 lbs. Thats a difference of between 20 - 30 lbs! I’m hoping that when dad and I go to the Grand Canyon, the split in weight between two packs will allow us to cary between 20-28 lbs a piece.

Now all thats standing in my way is time…. another 21 hours to go!