TRAIL DAY 6
Fri, Feb 26, 2016 I decided to take my first “zero” day – the hiker’s name for a day when he does zero miles on the trial. I was going to say “hikes nowhere” but that’s often not true because a hiker is homeless, car-less. All movement is by foot or thumb, offer or shuttle. Cab – out of the question – that’s civilization and too expensive – that’s from the other world.
Well, my zero at Wolfpen was mild and required no walking except down stairs and around to the front of the building. Breakfast pizza, coffee and later tend to emails and such on my tablet with coffee at one of the tables. Theo stayed outside to avoid the two stubby pit bulls inside who were unsuccessfully bold in their admiration of my pizza.
A big TV was blurry and happily low-volume in the back corner. A bathroom was handy and a sufficient resupply stock for when I was ready to get going.
Resupply was based on plotting out the next stop northbound. You’d turn to AWOL and check the profile of the trail ahead – everything turned on that profile. Was I going to have an 8-mile day or a 12-mile day? Where’s the next road crossing, hostel or town and how far east or west. Would I be hiking off the trail or riding? Would it be 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 days to the next stop? When you figured out the challenges ahead and how you’d plan to meet them, then you could resupply. You’d have an idea of menu but the supply controlled.
And, of course, few stores cater to thru-hikers. The size of the items may be individual and expensive or family size and cheaper and somehow, you’d make do. It wouldn’t be until Stratton, Maine, that someone introduce me to the idea of splitting groceries.
I had to work out the weight of cereal. I didn’t need a whole box of Raison Bran and it wasn’t hardy enough. Adding a pack or two of granola added to the weight and bulk. Oatmeal? Some would eat it cold but, for me, that would require the stove and too much fuss (this would change in time). Powdered milk? Do they have it?
I’d work my way through these momentous decisions, trying one combination and then another. By the time I got to the north, I’d worked out my breakfast fare superbly – but let’s wait till we get there.
Lunch was also a work in progress. It was cold out so I didn’t have to worry about things spoiling. Lunch meat, cheese (heavy but good calories and fat). Whole wheat tortilla flats or bread? Flats won out but they, too, were heavy. And why not Duke’s Real Mayonnaise in a pouch. Even when it was warm, I reasoned, “Hey, they sell it off the dry-goods shelf and the opening to squeeze the mayonnaise out was small and would be closed instantly so why not?” I even tried olives and pickles for a while in one of the sorta heavy plastic bottles I brought from home. These would go back in time and condiments would fall off the list but they were nice while they lasted.
Ramen noodles for supper. . .or Knorr Sides or, if you could stand the price which I decided to bear more and more going north, freeze dried foods from Mountainhouse, Backpackers Pantry or Good2Go. I even tried prepared dinners in a plastic dish which I would open at one end and heat in boiling water – but that was much farther north and, while kinda good, proved to be too bothersome and not worth the weight.
The Wolfpen supply was somewhat hiker-friendly and I loaded up on pouches of this and that and brought them up to the bunk room to pack in my three meal bags, returning some items as more than needed.