The color of life...

H:
We finally ordered our gear! Well, some of it. The really important bits... tarp, net tent, sleeping bag, backpacks, knife.

We purchased kits too! Not only do we have the fun of hiking but we get to make our own gear. This might be daunting to some and not advisable according to many websites that I've read... then again, they don't know us. While we're not normally the kind to buy kits we found that this was a very economical way to go. Usually we just look around (often in trashcans) and we just make up whatever we need. I recently recounted the story of how I made part of a costume out of a sheet I found in the middle of the road. One response was: "I don't normally look at things in the road and think... hmm... I can wear that." We get that a lot.

The kits we ordered are from rayjardine.com.

We purchased a tarp kit. We'd bought a tarp kit from this site and used it on our bicycle trip but this time we added the net tent that is rigged up underneath. On our bike trip we had just the tarp. When spring finally melted into summer we made an emergent alteration to the sleeping bag in the form of a roll of screen from a hardware store sewn to the top of the sleeping bag. It was a setup that worked just fine until the summer finally (FINALLY) warmed up and we sweated to death as the mosquitoes swarmed the net over our heads.

We already live with very little accessories in life so we plan to hike the same way. We've opted for lightweight packs to haul our lightweight gear around for the hike. These packs are 2800 cubic inches each and have an extension collar for adding extra capacity when hauling a full load of food.

We opted for a quilt kit as well. Previously we shared an unzipped sleeping bag and it worked most of the time. It was a bag we already owned and had purchased when we had been car camping. This kit is supposed to be lighter weight than that bag and more of a custom fit.

To round it out we bought a knife kit that Dave will get to carve out the handle for our blade for the trail.

In addition to all that there will be a bit of stuff sack sewing.

The hardest part of all the ordering was picking colors! There were too many to choose from. We worked hard not to double up colors of stuff sacks and such. You don't want to try to pull out your tarp and find that you've grabbed your spare clothes or sleeping bag because all your stuff sacks are the same color! Now that we're color coordinated we just have to wait for it all to arrive. More gear is still needed but this is a good start. We will post updates and photos as we get to the sewing.