Gear

The most frustrating part of the prepping process is getting gear and then realizing you hate it. I only learned I wanted a fanny pack with zippers inside when I used my LiteAF fanny pack and didn't know where to put my spare memory cards. Every time I went to take my phone out of my shoulder strap on the West Rim Trail, my wallet came right out with it and onto the ground. No way I need to worry about that or anything else getting left behind.
I will be documenting my experience on a camera and, as per usual, I can't decide which camera I will be taking. My Nikon 3400 is too heavy, my Yi4K action camera does not have the right look, and my Sony a6400 has a crop sensor with no image stabilization. I may upgrade to the Sony a7ii for the trip, (maybe even buy a drone) but I'm sure I'll change my mind 10 more times.
Last big change is my pack. I keep going back and forth on whether I want a frameless back or not. Right now I have the Zpacks Arc Blast and one of the straps on the back digs into my shoulder blade. It doesn't touch my back if the frame is arced, but I will look into something else if I am still having problems.

Shenandoah

To take advantage of a three day holiday weekend, I drove south to meet up with Brad, Raechel, and Krista for some hiking in Shenandoah. Although in 180 days, all four of us will set out onto our NOBO PCT attempt, this trip was not intended for training. In any case, Brad was so excited about his new 65L Deuter that he used it on three of the four day hikes, insisting that we fill it with all of our things. Raechel and Krista plan on sharing a three person MSR tent on the PCT and Brad tried out his new 1+ REI Half-Dome (which will be returned after two nights of rain leakage). I wore my new Altra Lone Peak 4 trail-runners all weekend, which worked fantastic compared to the first time I tried. Friendly reminder never to start out wearing zero drop shoes on an 18 mile hike....yeah. It was great to have the lodge to camp out in and play meme games when the weather turned south. We also took advantage of the breakfast buffet, like true thru-hikers! Last I'll mention that I finally stepped foot on the AT for the first time! And of course I took us on connecting AT trails at every opportunity.

Happy Hiking,
Rebecca