Or is it old dogs and new tricks??

I need new gear to do this hike, so in April I went to an outdoor supply store and got an earful on sleeping bags, sleeping pads, tents and backpacks.  I even tried on a backpack into which the very young and helpful clerk placed sand bags totaling 35 pounds.  My first thought was “my god this is heavy”.  But I’ve hiked with this much before.  So I stood tall and walked around the flat carpeted store looking at all kinds of hiking stuff.  Then my knee popped, well I felt something odd in my right knee.  So I take off the pack, thank the young man and drive home.  This was Monday, Friday I’m at my doctors office with a very sore and swollen knee.  After an x-ray and an MRI I am told I have a meniscal tear and will need surgery to fix it.  GREAT!!  Do you think the Gods are trying to tell me something??  NAAAHHH.

I favor the knee until early June and have the surgery.  I’m thinking I’ll be back to normal in a few weeks maybe a month.  WRONG!!  Two months of not being able to do much.  It is now 5 months and the knee is good, BUT,  it  isn’t  100% better.  I still can not squat down on it, almost.  My plan of hiking the MA section of the AT to try out new gear didn’t happen.  My training hike may be in March when I start my hike.

GEAR.

Hoping to get some great gear at great prices, I go to my first REI garage sale.  I grab a pack, tent and two pair of hiking boots.  Did I research gear before I went??  NO.  Did I know what gear I needed??  NO.  After dropping over $400.00 in an hour at a garage sale, I discover that the pack I grabbed is huge and not very light-weight.  But, after researching it and reading comments from this years Thru-hikers, I have decided to use it on my hike.  I will modify it some to lighten it a little.  It is an Osprey-7075 and I find it quite comfortable (empty).

The tent I grabbed isn’t actually a tent, it is called a Nemo “shelter”.  It has a very interesting design, you pump-up 2 tubes that support the roof of the shelter.  I could use this,  but it weighs 5 pounds.  I’m going to try to get  a tent that weighs less than 3 pounds.  Will I ever use this Nemo shelter??  Probably not.  Was this money well spent?  NO.

The 2 pair of hiking boots are both by Vasque.  I’ve been wearing both  for a while and will be starting my hike with one of them, probably the heavier, stiffer one “wasatch”.  I will use the lighter one “breeze” as my second pair of boots.  So this purchase is working out alright.  I’m not thrilled with how they are on wet surfaces, rather slippery.  My old hiking boots were much better but were more a day-hike type of boot.  Time will tell.

I am spending much more time on the internet researching gear now.  I have come to the realization, that as the weight of the gear decreases incrementally,  the price of the gear increases exponentially.

hoba caitbe