Shopping for Supplies

In the final week leading up to the hike, I am making preparations and getting last little odds and ends I need.

Sunday, on our short 1 hour hike in the Redmond Watershed, my rear end became completely soaked from my hydration bladder which was leaking from somewhere. Thus,,most of the water went ON me instead of IN me. That is no good! So I had to take a little REI shopping tour yesterday to find a new water bladder.

In addition to needing a new bladder to hold all of my water, I decided it would be a good idea to buy new batteries for my head lamp. I am shooting to complete the 31.5 mile trail by 7 pm. Although the sun sets by 8 pm, the final 6 miles of the trail are tree covered and quite dark. When we hiked the watershed Sunday night we had to cut our training 20 minutes short because the park closes at 7:30 pm which in the forest is considered dusk.

In the event that I end up behind and not keeping my intended pace, it is quite possible I will end up on the trail at dusk or in the dark. Therefore, I felt it a good idea to bring my head lamp and have it ready just in case. Once it turns dark I slow down as it is harder for me to walk with my imbalance. As a result, if I end up in that situation it will take me longer. Fortunately I have a very high power head lamp which puts out lots of illumination.

I do not have a good history with sunglasses. Within this summer alone I have lost 3 pairs and broke 2 pair. One pair it is unknown where they disappeared to, another I lost while training when I took them off in the dark woods, and the other fell down the honeybucket hole when they flew out of my pocket while I was trying to pull out a handy wipe. After investing in yet another pair on Saturday, I finally broke down and bought a sunglasses retainer yesterday during my supply hunt outing. The retainer is a cord which attaches to the sunglasses so I can keep them safely draped around my neck whenever I take them off.

The last item on my list was a new hose clip for my hydration pack. The old one was velcro and had become worn out to the point which it did not fasten well anymore. Camelpack makes a new kind which snaps shut so I will not have to worry about developing the same problem again.

I am pretty sure I am all set. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is some mosquito repellent. When we did our 15 mile hike the bugs were coming out in full force around between 5 and 6 pm. Now that it is weeks later and cooler, it is pretty certain they will be out earlier (especially seeing that the trail crosses a river in the final portion and ends at a lake). A lady I know who lives nearby sells Avon so I am hoping she has some trial size bottles of "skin so soft" as I prefer to use that over stinky repellant.

This is a good reminder to make a list to make sure I do not forget anything critical (like my water bladder I forgot last week).