The Ranger Codex

We started the drive at 10 pm yesterday to avoid most of the traffic. Even still, we got Atlanta around 6 AM and had to deal with traffic. The problem with this plan is the check in time at the Amicalola Lodge was 4 pm and we were looking at getting there at 7 AM. So, we stopped in Alpharetta to kill some time. We napped in the car a couple times since we didn't get much sleep the night before, spent a couple hours walking around the mall, and then finally made the drive to the Amicalola Falls State Park.

I'm packing my gear and leaving for the trail tomorrow. When it comes to backpacking gear, everyone has their own opinions. And there are a lot of things to consider when choosing gear. Mainly price, weight, and comfort are big consideration. When it comes to weight, base weight, which is gear without consumables like food, water, and fuel, is the main metric used.

Preparation

In my ongoing attempt at getting into shape for my upcoming thru-hike, I have been working on getting my pack weight down. With my bear can, my base weight is around 19 lbs. For those unfamiliar, base weight refers to the pack weight with just the gear and not consumables like food, water, and fuel. I am thinking of switching to a bear bag instead because it would save me about 2 lbs of weight, but the bag hasn't arrived yet. So, for today's hike, I loaded up my pack with all my gear including the bear can. I even loaded about 3 days worth of food into the can and filled both 1L water bottles full of water. I then weighed my pack using a luggage scale and got a pack weight with consumables at 29 lbs.

Preparation

I woke up with the thought to push myself and prepare for my upcoming
thru-hike. As I live in a very flat area, I can't properly train for the
mountains that I will experience along the Appalachian Trail, so I had to
opt for more mileage instead.

To this goal, I decided to hit up one of my favorite local trails, the
Tenoroc Public Use Area trails. The area use to be a phosphorus mine, so
it actually has a decent elevation gain for this very flat state. The trails
are also only a short drive away and cost $3 for entry, although it does have
an annoying setup for the check-in/check-out.