ET's Info-Stew

23:10: Exactly 3 weeks and 5 days until our backpacking trip to the Lost Coast. I'm very excited. Mr. Cleek, Lisa and I will be hiking 25 miles from the mouth of the Mattole river south to Shelter Cover in 7 days and 6 nights. I've never met Lisa before but Mr. Cleek says shes a good hiking buddy. I know we'll have lots of fun. We've made out a minor plan that gets up from start to finish in 5 days, 5 miles a day. But because we want to stay longer, we are going to stretch it out to 7 days. Thats perfectly fine by me. That also gives us some leeway in case we miss low tide on some day. I've already picked out a couple places for day hikes, including Shubrick Peak, and the old landing strip. We need a tide table. I found a website, topozone.com, where I found free topo maps. Unfortunately, half of the trip has a black hole because of some error which I don't think will be fixed before we leave. This year, I've been riding my bike so I have had quite a bit of exersise so far. Soon it will be time to load up the packs and do some city hiking to make sure everything works out. This year I've come upon an entirely new system of backpacking: ultralight. I've talked in forums and even started an ultralight backpacking internet club. Last year, I carried at least a 50 lb backpack. This year, my pack will weigh 30 lbs. I spend about 20 hours designing and sewing a new backpack that weighs 1.3 lbs. instead of my old 5.3 lb pack. I'm making a quilt that will replace my sleeping bag. I'm using my camp chair as a sleeping pad, as well as a support system from my pack. I got rid of my raid clothes and put in a light poncho. I'm replacing my canteen with a water bottle. I got an MSR Miniworks water filter and a 22 oz. fuel bottle. I'm replacing running shoes with watershoes. I got rid of the extra stuff in my mess kit, camp soap (who's gonna care if I smell) and the large trash bag. I'm leaving all my fishing stuff home as well as my book. I got a new fanny pack and flashlight, as well as a new, better camera. I have new all leather Vasque Clarion boots and new liner socks. I have my own water basin. I'm dumping shorts, the camp towel and gloves. I'm making sure I don't bring too much food. Maybe another couple of things here and there. I just hope it works out well because I don't want to carry another heavy pack like that again. To organize all of my gear, I made a gear organizer program. I'm working on a better version now. I need to buy the insulation for the quilt very soon for it to be done on time.