Old Friends and New Ideas

November 8th-December 8th-
The last month seemed to have flown by. Our time has been spent living large in NashVegas visiting friends and family before leaving. With our next long distance hike 3 weeks away, we are slowly tying loose ends together. We have been seriously thinking about our gear choices and how we could lighten our packs even more. The main goal is to experience New Zealand and not schlep around a heavy pack full of crap. With that being said our planned gear list at this point is teetering on the edge between lightweight backpacking and ultra-lightweight backpacking. By definition, ultra-light is when your base pack weighs under 10 pounds without consumable items. Before leaving I plan to post our complete gear list, but for now here is what we have replaced. Our beloved MSR Hubba Hubba HP tent weighing in at 5lbs is now a Double Rainbow Tarptent weighing 2.5lbs. The next item was a huge step for us. With numerous long conversations, we have decided to leave our separate sleeping bags at home and share a down quilt. Being that we fight over a king blanket in the queen size bed in Beulah, I'll be curious to see what happens. Our research about New Zealand shows that most things there cost more than in the US, so we took another step by leaving our Steripen at home and invested in a Sawyer in-line water filter. The price, availably, and weight of camera batteries to power the Steripen were the biggest deciding factors. Lastly, we each purchased a cuben fiber rain jacket from Z-Packs. Any thru-hiker knows that nothing is waterproof. I was tired of carrying a useless breathable rain jacket. Truth be told, my $3 poncho I bought in New Hampshire on the AT was just as good. With this jacket weighing in at 4oz, It was worth a try. Shadow is our tech guru for the trip. He has basically created a Te Araroa guidebook for us by compiling bits of information on the web. I will be curious to see how much our packs will actually weigh once we meticulously measure each item with a digital ounce scale after Christmas. Stay tuned for a complete gear list....

Our new tent!

Home Sweet Nashville Home.

Country Mouse and Shadow