[at-l] hike

[Charles Davidson]

Hi Gang,
               I took  a short hike and spent the night on the AT. Man 
was it hot yesterday climbing that mountain in the hottest part of the 
day. I was real anxious to try out my new ULA Catalyst back pack. Also 
to test out a slightly used Nomad tent. I have been real happy with the 
two Nomads that I own and this one is slightly different being made 
during a different phase of model improvements. First of all I forgot my 
hiking poles but luckily I had a spare one in the car. I used a stick 
and one pole and got the tent set up fine. While I was out I moved two 
wildlife cameras to two new locations. This helped me test out that new 
pack. I was already carrying more than usual and for a while there I had 
16 D battery's and two cameras for added weight and volume. The pack was 
pretty comfortable being larger and with more padding than my usual 
Golight Race pack. The addition of a frame makes the Catalyst a great 
pack. The pack weighs 43 oz.
    I met a couple of hikers from PA out for a few days. Last night I 
set up camp just as it was getting dark. Suddenly I had a terrific 
headache, actually it wast all that terrific. More like right on the 
verge of making me nauseas. It finally quite throbbing around 4 am. 
Something else I had forgotten in my overloaded pack was a small stuff 
sack that contained, my headlight, ibropene, key to my car and extra 
batteries for my cell phone. For a while there I used my cell phone as a 
light source then I remembered that I keep a small flashlight in my 
toiletry bag. Luckily I keep an extra key stashed on my car. I drank 
lots of water maybe 80 oz and 40 oz of gatoraide from noon till 
midnight. So i stayed hydrated and kept my system flowing. Maybe it was 
that sub way sandwich I carried to the to of the mountain. All in all it 
was not as restful an overnighter as I had hoped for. I cleared a few 
small blow downs. Its off to work again in the morning. Those last 4 
twelve hour days really kicked my butt.

chase