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Subscribe to RSSOk, so if any of you are like I am, and I have a sneaky suspicion that this might be the case. You have packed… unpacked… repacked… unpacked and resorted… and finally packed your bags. And now they are probably sitting in a room at your house, staring at you. Then as you stare back at your pack, little bubbles start to move around in your stomach, and you then begin to panic. “Do I have everything I need? What is the weather gonna do? 8°!!!! Are you frickin serious???” You check the weather report again and realize that 1) you read it right the first time and 2) the high temps don’t look much warmer. This is when you start to rationalize everything AGAIN.
I don’t think that I need to go in depth any further, we all know what goes on in our minds about packing for a trip like this. But I seriously want to pose this question to everyone involved. What are your fears/concerns about Mt Mitchell? And are they justified?
Good one! Hmm…my only real concern is the road condition on the way to base camp. Some of the Tennessee crew are already in the snow, and they say it has been coming down good. Guess we will see once we get there!
My fears/concerns, like you and most probably like everyone else is that of the extreme conditions MitchellWinter will unleash on us and also what to bring. Sure, if weight weren’t an issue we could pack 4 sets of our warmest clothes and be safe. But, when backpacking, it is all about balancing the needs/wants and being smart about it. As someone who slightly under packed clothing last year, I will pack a little warmer clothes, and try to cut in other areas. My new sleeping bag is a couple pounds lighter, so that will certainly help. Another thought that comes to mind: communal supplies. This may be another post all together, or perhaps a Facebook discussion, but how many stoves do we have/need to bring? I have a plastic trowel (used for burying various things, no not big enough to bury a body) that all are welcome to use. I will also bring a steripen for water filtration. Anyone else have a water purification method? Jeff, perhaps you could suggest the best communication method our group(s) could discuss these issues so that we can be most efficient in our packing…