As The Crow Flies

While I was out hiking on the PCT this summer, I met a woman who was carrying some diversions with her. She carried knitting, a book, and some crosswords. A book always seems too heavy to carry and I don’t know how to knit, but a crossword puzzle ripped out of a newspaper seems like it would be a light diversion to have when a storm keeps you in your tent or you just feel like hanging out for a day. It would also make a good emergency fire starting material.

Lining my pack with a clear plastic bag not only keeps my stuff dry when it rains, it keeps my wet stuff separate from my dry stuff. When my tent is wet, I slide it down in my pack on the outside of my packliner thus keeping it from soaking my other stuff.

If the sun comes out while I’m hiking, I stop, spread everything out, and let it sit in the sun for 20-30 minutes and dry out.

After preparing my cabin for guests, they called and canceled. I didn’t really mind, except that they were going to take me to the little store so I could fill up my propane tanks. In anticipation of this, I carted six tanks all the way down my big hill to the spot I had shoveled off for them to park. Now I have to haul all those tanks back up the hill.