Well, I’ve been retired for a whole week now. In that time, I’ve been busy prepping for my new adventure—backpacking! So far, I’ve:
✅ Made and dehydrated three kinds of pork jerky and three kinds of chicken jerky
✅ Dried rice and curried beans
✅ Developed a solid cold-soaked oatmeal recipe
✅ Tested trail coffee options (still searching for a winner…)
✅ Stretched out my hiking boots to widen the toe box
✅ Packed my pack
And yesterday, I did the most important thing—I actually got out on a trail!
The Pack
I’ll go into more detail later, but the bottom line:
- Base weight: ~12 lbs (borderline ultralight)
- Food weight: ~5 lbs
- Total pack weight: 17 lbs
Other Gear
My ‘worn’ gear for this hike included:
- Trekking poles
- Hiking boots
- Electronics
- Pocket knife
- Basic day-hiker clothing (jeans, t-shirt, and a puffy jacket)
Stats
- Distance: 2.23 miles
- Pace: 1.9 mph moving, 1.7 mph average
- Time: 1h 8m moving, 1h 17m total
- Elevation: 100 ft ascent, 96 ft descent
Feet: The Real Test
When it comes to hiking, my Achilles heel is… well, my feet—especially my toes. Knowing this, I brought a pair of sandals to swap into if needed. Here’s how it played out:
- First mile: Hiking boots
- Next 0.75 miles: Minimalist thongs (toe pain = shoe swap)
- Last 0.5 miles: Back to hiking boots (ball-of-foot pain = another swap)
Surprisingly, switching back into boots after the brief sandal break worked! I’ve never done this back-and-forth method before—normally, once I switch to sandals, I stay in them. But this time, I could have kept going after the final switch. A small win!
Body Check
Aside from my feet, everything else felt great.
The Training Mindset
My mantra? Slow is steady, and steady is fast. I want to start small, avoid exhausting myself, and minimize muscle and joint pain. So far, so good. It’s the next day, and while I can feel the workout, it’s in a good way. A quick 15-minute stretch this morning, and everything feels fantastic.
If the weather holds, I’ll be back out tomorrow.
After a year of dreaming, a million YouTube videos, and six months of carefully researching and buying gear, I finally hit the trail with a pack on my back. And I couldn’t be happier!
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