It's hard to know what to eat

I finally made a stab at meal-planning this weekend. Fortunately, I still have the plan I used for last year's 10-day trip, which will obviously be the foundation for this one. Unfortunately, I've never had to take charge of dinners before. Plus, I'm hoping to do all (or most, anyway) of my meals "from scratch" rather than using the prepared freeze-dried entrees. So that's going to take some more planning.

I've got breakfasts figured out. That's easy -- oatmeal with raisins most days, with Kind bars to substitute when I'm feeling lazy (or sick of oatmeal), plus coffee mixed with hot cocoa powder. Lunches need some fine-tuning, but I've got a lunch planned for every day of the trip. I'm sure I'll be moving stuff around once I put some more thought into the timing of resupplies. Here are my basic lunch plans:

1) Triscuits, salami, cheese (for as long as it lasts), dried fruit
2) Pita, peanut butter, cheese, dried fruit
3) Triscuits, tuna, cheese, dried fruit

I'll be throwing in a couple of bagels from resupplies and "fresh" fruit when I can. Yes, I'll be sick of cheese and dried fruit, but I can mix up the fruit, at least. And I know from previous experience that the above foods hold up pretty well on long trips. Even the cheese I should be able to use for three or four days.

For dinner, I hunted down 10 recipes that I think I can manage. I'll need to test them out -- hoping to have an awesome dinner party for my friends sometime soon. And whatever, if they all suck I can fall back on the prepared stuff.

So now I need to: confirm lunches; test and confirm dinners; SHOP for my resupplies; and get resupplies in the mail, hopefully in the next two weeks.

Today's hike was about 8 miles around Tilden. It was the first long(ish) hike I've done in Tilden, and my first totally solo (no Camper!), and it was fun. Tilden kind of sucks at trail-marking so I missed one key turn and hiked about a quarter mile in the wrong direction before turning around, but I always knew where I was (love having these PDF maps on the phone). I was even able to give directions to a group of boys who had no clue where they were -- and they had a map!

I hit the top of Vollmer Peak, which at about 1,900 feet is apparently the highest in the Berkeley-Oakland Hills. It was pretty boring, though. You take a steep, wide paved road (not open to cars, at least) to the top, where there's a large gravel lot and a giant antenna surrounded by a chain-link fence. There isn't even a bench to sit on. But you get a nice view of the bay on one side and Mt. Diablo on the other. Not worth a return, trip, I don't think, but I found some other trails that I liked. And it's all dog-friendly, so Camper's coming along someday!

Maybe I can sneak him in my pack

Last weekend I borrowed Camper and we went on a three-hour hike around Redwood Regional. I realized, early on in our outing, that this would be my longest-ever "solo" hike -- and it was fun! But man, I really really wish I could take Camper with me on the JMT. I was talking to him the whole time and we were chasing each other up and down the trails (OK, mostly down), even after six or seven miles.

Below is the map of my hike as recorded by my Garmin. The long stretches on the West Ridge and East Ridge trails got a little boring and dry, but the rest was gorgeous and I'd definitely do the whole hike again. I finally got smart and saved a PDF of the park trail map to my phone (in Evernotes) so I could reference it as I hiked and make sure I got the right amount of mileage without having to plan all of it out in advance. Camper was very patient during my long breaks to check to map. Perhaps because I found some stale treats in my backpack.

The hike specs: a little over 8 miles (maybe close to 8.5 miles, since I had hiked a bit before I remembered to turn on the Garmin), about 1,800 elevation gain. I need to be doing more climbing, but eh, that was fine.

Today was an important day.

Today was an important day. First: I bought two backpacks. Second: I piled a bunch of hiking crap in my living room and didn't bother putting it all away in various closets.

The two backpacks: both Ospreys, 65 liters, they can carry 40-ish pounds (REI guy in SF said I shouldn't push it past 40 pounds, REI guy in Concord said I can probably get it up to 50 pounds; I'm not bothered either way since I really, really want to keep the weight at 40-or-under). One is a size medium, and that's the one in my living room. The other's a small that supposedly is a better size for me but I had to order it online. When it gets here, I'll take them both to a third REI store, in Berkeley, and let someone who knows what s/he is doing pick the right size. Backpacking is so complicated!

Except, you know, not really. That's what I keep reminding myself. I've already got an awesome, well-used, perfectly fine backpack that I love, even if it's about eight years old and probably five pounds heavier than I'd like. (It, too, is in the living room pile.) So, I mean, I'm set. I've got some boots (although I plan to return/exchange them this weekend -- REI again!). I've got clothes and a bear canister and a tent and a hat. Thanks to Shizu, I've got a fabulous sleeping bag.

I've got a map and a spreadsheet and a PLAN. And, like, six weeks to go before I start hiking.

That pile in my living room is going to bug the crap out of me, but it's going to keep things interesting too. Can't keep procrastinating with all that gear taunting me.

I've been thinking lately about when I really committed to this trip. It could've been last December, when we were picking out vacation days for 2014 and I blocked out three weeks in August. It could've been mid-February, when I actually got my hiking permit reservation. But actually, it was my birthday, and that awesome, ridiculous cake. I wish I had a picture of it -- Annie? Shizu? Dad? did someone get a photo? Anyway, it was a sheetcake with candy rocks marking a trail and a couple of plastic trees maybe, and honestly, I don't remember it all that well except that it was hilarious and it was more about my hike than my 40th birthday, which I loved. And my very first thought when I saw it was, 'Holy shit, now I've actually got to do this damned hike.'

So there's been no going back since then, which is fine because I haven't second-guessed myself even once. I've procrastinated, sure, and I'm not nearly as well trained at this point as I'd liked/expected. But I've got enough to work with.

Seriously: can someone send me a photo of that cake??