Zero Day #5

More rain in New Hampshire, a Zero Day for Dave.

As of 8/15/11:
Miles today - 0
Miles to date - 653

Rich, Stitch and Yak decided to get more miles under their belts and left under threatening skies, but Dave thought he'd wait it out another day.  About an hour after the guys left, the rain started and Dave was glad to not be walking over the rocks in the rain.  If he has good weather in the next few days he hopes he can catch up with them again.  The section they are hiking is from Pinkham Notch to Gorham, backtracking in a sense.  They had taken the shuttle from Pinkham Notch to get to the hostel, and are now shuttling back to PN to walk the 18 miles. Under great conditions, it's a 2 day walk.  Dave is planning on 3 days.  The youngsters, Boulder and Frosty, did it in one day (before the rain started).  It's not the miles, it's the rocky road.

Dave picked up his packages from the PO which included a couple from here and one he had mailed himself from Hanover to lighten his pack. He wants to keep a light pack on this particular 18-mile section so will be leaving much of his food and some of his clothes at the hostel until he gets back.

Here's a picture of a typical box he packed, ready for me to send him.  In the first picture you can see the dried tortellini, a package of tortillas, a package of instant dry milk, and the guide book he needs for Maine.  The second picture shows, from the right, oatmeal and raisins, orzo, stuffed and dried tortellini, and I don't know what the other things are. The brown thing in the middle is probably one of his dinners.  The big white package on the left may be instant mashed potatoes? Dave made and dehydrated many dinners, then vacuum-packed as much as he could.  There are some Cliff Bars in the bottom left of the picture.  One time I made the mistake of taking things out of the box to see what was there, and also to discard some of the trail bars he didn't like.  I couldn't get everything back in one box, even though there was less to pack!  This time I took off only the top layer to take a picture, and even then had a problems getting the box to close.

Dave was having zipper problems with his gaiters.  Gorham has a good outfitters store so Dave bought a new pair.  The old ones lasted about 20 years.  He has one month to go before he may retire these new ones.  He said as the hikers get closer to the end of the trail, some are getting excited about hiking the Pacific Coast Trail.  He said it does not sound remotely interesting to him at this point.  He's looking forward to doing much shorter hikes in the future.  Sounds good to me!

Dave also shopped at a grocery store to round out his food supply.  He was happy to find Little Debbie Brownies.  570 calories in each pack.  Keep those things far away from me not that they even sound good but I can pack on the pounds just by looking at them.  Dave weighed himself and thinks he may have lost up to 25 pounds by now.  And here's what he had for dinner - cheese filled tortellini, white chicken chili, almonds, dried fruit, and a can of Pringles.  3,000 calories since noon, he estimates.  That's the kind of energy he expends on the trail!

Here was Dave with Pyro on June 13th, just starting out.  Sure wish I could see a picture of him now!