What did the fox say?

Journal

When we got to the parking lot it was full. Lucky we were able to park 500 ft back up the road in a little parking lot. The walk up to the Franconia Brook East camp site was a cake walk. Basically a gravel road. There were about 18 sites there, and two out houses. Sites actually had fire pits with grills on them. Past that we continued onto the intersection of East Side, Cedar Brook Tr and Wilderness Tr. which is where Pauline wanted to get to so she could mark it off on her map, red lining. We headed south on Cedar Brook Tr to see what the camping and water situation was like for when we did the hancocks desolation trip.

At about 9:30PM I heard this crazy sounding call in the woods. Dark out, in the woods, unknown sound and movement outside the tent. The sound is like 10 times scarier. The temp got down to almost 40F, and I was warm in my 35F sleeping bag until that point. I had to put on my puffy and zip up the hood. Legs were still a little cool, but the rest of me was warm and I drifted back to sleep quicker then I expected. The windows were open on both sides of the tent, and we woke up with a completely dry roof. My knee started hurting about 6.5 miles in, but did feel better in the morning. Didn't feel sore right away, but was pretty soon after starting down a slight downhill. By the end of the 6 mile mark my knee was sore even walking on level ground. Usually level and an upward slope didn't hurt. By the time I was back home my knee was fine again.

I really liked the gear and amount of food we brought. It was just the right amount of food, with only a little left over. ALWAYS make sure have have a little left over in case of emergancy. Base weight was about 13lbs, and 17lbs with food (snacks, dinner and breakfast for two) and water. Still feel like I could get to a 10lbs base weight if I tired hard enough. I'd like to do that without spending more money though. Maybe loose stuff sacks and just use a contractor bag for water proofing.

So I decided to try a new trowel for digging cat holes. This time I used the Tentlab Deuce of Spades trowel. Worked really well for cutting through the roots so you can make a deep enough hole.

My yellow running sleeves worked really great. I worm them half down as off was too cold, on was too warm.

Brought: Zpacks backpack, Zpacks Duplex. Helium 2 wind breaker, capilene patagonia, Base 3.0 long johns to sleep in, red puffy, thin EMS hat (wore for a little at night, then just the hood of the capilene, yellow running sleeves, 35F bag, neoair xlite air pad, blow up pillow, TOAKS titanium long spoon, TOAKS Titanium 750ml Pot, Sea to summit x-cup, MSR micro rocket, Tentlab Deuce of Spades trowel, Katadyn 1L BeFree water bottle and filter, 2L HydraPak collapsible water bottle. Worn, hiking pants, EMS green t-shirt, big rim OR hat, trail runners, dirty girls, synthetic toe trail socks.

Wish I brought: None.