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Everything is awful, I really want to not have to have a job (medicaid for all, where are you, if I didn't have to pay for health insurance I could go part-time and actually breathe), and somebody needs to talk me out of using up a bunch of my leave and going on a solo backpacking trip this spring.
(Current nebulous plan: Get someone to drop me around the 100-mile marker on the C&O Canal Towpath Trail; hike downhill. 40 miles in there's a train station where I can take the train home; 60 miles in there's another train station where I can take the train home; 100 miles in is the last train home.
Which means I don't have to commit to walking a hundred miles or call home in shame, I can just make a decision at each train station. And the terrain's good, so it's hard for me to imagine not being able to do at least forty miles in a week, even if all the worst happens.
It's not a wilderness trail, so I wouldn't be out of civilization for any very long stretches, which means I could go very light on things like food, and do a few hotel/restaurant stops if I wanted. And there's supposed to be potable water every five miles or so, so I shouldn't need to worry too much about carrying/filtering water.
The only tricky bit is that there's nowhere to sleep in the last 20 miles, and the very last stretch is through the city, so when I got to that last train station I'd have to be very sure I could do 20 miles in a day, and still not miss the last train. But I could stop before then if I didn't think that was doable.
I'd need to make sure my camping hammock was functional enough, and decide if I want to try to stick with a vintage Sterno stove or finally get the backpacking stove I've been lusting over, and figure out my cell phone charging strategy, but other than that I could probably just mark up some maps, pack a bag, and then go.
I've wanted to do this specific trip since high school, so, why not now?
And then once I've done a 100-mile solo trip it'll be a lot easier to convince myself I can do more ambitious ones.)
(Also convince me that if I do it, I shouldn't try to do it in period-appropriate cosplay.)
(Current nebulous plan: Get someone to drop me around the 100-mile marker on the C&O Canal Towpath Trail; hike downhill. 40 miles in there's a train station where I can take the train home; 60 miles in there's another train station where I can take the train home; 100 miles in is the last train home.
Which means I don't have to commit to walking a hundred miles or call home in shame, I can just make a decision at each train station. And the terrain's good, so it's hard for me to imagine not being able to do at least forty miles in a week, even if all the worst happens.
It's not a wilderness trail, so I wouldn't be out of civilization for any very long stretches, which means I could go very light on things like food, and do a few hotel/restaurant stops if I wanted. And there's supposed to be potable water every five miles or so, so I shouldn't need to worry too much about carrying/filtering water.
The only tricky bit is that there's nowhere to sleep in the last 20 miles, and the very last stretch is through the city, so when I got to that last train station I'd have to be very sure I could do 20 miles in a day, and still not miss the last train. But I could stop before then if I didn't think that was doable.
I'd need to make sure my camping hammock was functional enough, and decide if I want to try to stick with a vintage Sterno stove or finally get the backpacking stove I've been lusting over, and figure out my cell phone charging strategy, but other than that I could probably just mark up some maps, pack a bag, and then go.
I've wanted to do this specific trip since high school, so, why not now?
And then once I've done a 100-mile solo trip it'll be a lot easier to convince myself I can do more ambitious ones.)
(Also convince me that if I do it, I shouldn't try to do it in period-appropriate cosplay.)
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The last time I backpacked I had my weight down to about 15 pounds dry, including clothes and shoes. It would probably have to be a little heavier on this trip, but still under 20 pounds, and I wouldn't have to carry more than a few pounds of water. I would not be comfortable and would hate it by about the second hour of the first day, but so far my pack experience has been that the only way through is through, and I've done pretty substantial city walking with packs that weight that were all books. :D