Rocky-Ready
In true Dom-fashion I flew to Canada without packing my sleeping bag... Hoooow? How can a person forget THE most important - and expensive - piece of gear? How? I'm such an idiot!!! On the bright side I get to choose a new one. I've been eyeballing this crazy bag by Sierra Design made for tummysleepers like myself, so I splurged and got it. It's probably best described as a mix of a sleeping bag and an actual bed, since the top part unfolds into a blanket, which makes it easy to toss and turn and tuck yourself in. It's so great to praise gear that you haven't tested yet, but I am pretty positive that I bought a piece of camping heaven.
(Fun Fact: I also left my sleeping pad in the overhead bin on the airplane...)
There are so many things I worry about before stepping on trail, that finally getting out there and hiking 30 miles a day almost seems like a relaxing thing to do. Did I pack enough food? Will my resupply packages arrive in time? What happens if Katie gets injured? Would I keep on hiking solo? Will my gear be warm enough? Will I be able to handle the bears? Is the new ultra light rain jacket actually water proof or just ultra light?
I've changed a lot of my gear and I've tested barely any of it so you guys are in for an interesting journey. I feel good about my gear though. I feel like I've made some smart decisions, let's hope so. I'm super happy and proud to announce that ON Shoes agreed to sponsor me again. I love their products and their trail runners fit my feet like they actually designed them just for me. They got me from Mexico to Canada without a blister so there is no way in hell I will ever wear a different model. ON also hooked me up with some sweet active gear made from paper thin materials that I'll be wearing for the next to months.
I can't wait to get back to the grind. It sounds weird and most people will never understand why I would put myself through the trouble of having sore legs and wanting to eat cold soaked couscous every day, but there's just something about it that I love. You feel alive out there pushing your body to its limits while being exposed to the elements 24/7. I haven't pushed myself to a crazy level like that since finishing the PCT and my legs are nowhere near ready for this upcoming section. But whatever. Give it a month and we'll be back in our old shape. Hopefully.
We've been hanging out at Katies house for the past few days putting together our resupply packages. This is what stresses me out the most since its just so overwhelming. Normally I would just buy a couple of ready made couscous packages and add some flavour packs to them or I would get a Mountain House, but this time we thought it would be smart to just order all kinds of freeze dried products and make the dinners ourselves. Now as I look at our ‘way too healthy’ green veggie packages, I am not sure how smart that was. I also didn’t put any of the packages on a scale so I'm not sure if I packed way too much or not enough at all.
We'll start our hike on the morning of the 6th and we're currently looking at a hot and sweaty 32 degrees on our first day. A bit much but nothing we can do to change that. Maybe bring deodortant. We'll head out to hike an easy 15k to get back into hiking mode and we'll be out in the woods for four days straight before hitting our first resupply stop in Coleman. No cell phone reception, no people, just the good ol' Tape Boss and I scrambling up some mountains.
Before all of that happens I'll get to cross a huge one off my bucket list though. It just so happened to be that the Calgary Stampede opens its gates a day before we leave and this cowgirl gets to go. I've been wanting to see those grounds since the sweet sweet age of 10, after listening to a Garth Brooks CD I found in my dads car. I've been to a bunch of small rodeos in the past but never to a big one like the Stampede. So here we go. Rodeo-Dom is ON!
Resupply madness at Katies house. This is what 2 months worth of food look like. Spent around 650 buckaronies on my food for the trail. I'm a bit worried that the dinners will suck big time since I seasoned them myself...
The last supper.
