Training for the OT Thru Hike Part 1

I have watched a few YouTubers thru hikes on the Ouachita trail and I have come to the conclusion that doing some physical training to prepare for my trip will help. To that end, I have been doing some weekend hikes to push myself.

This was what I did on President's Day. I had the day off work, but my wife did not. I drove to Pinnacle Mountain State Park with my loaded pack (around 20 lbs) and went half way around the Base trail from the west side of the mountain to the east side, then I went up and over the east summit and down the west summit trail. When I got to the base trail, I hiked back around the whole mountain.

I didn't have a satellite device on that trip, so I don't know exactly how many miles it was, but I believe it was around 5 miles total and took under 3 hours. The East Summit trail is a tough climb, especially with a loaded pack, but it was great exercise.

This kind of preparation, not only helps me to get physically prepared, but it helps me to learn things about my gear, my pace, and my water needs.

That was a week ago. This past Saturday, my wife and I went out on a wet and raining day to test my rain gear. I have a Frog Toggs brand jacket and pants. I didn't bring the pants, but I did wear the jacket. It worked fine. I also tried using a trash compactor bag as a pack cover. It worked fine. I think the pack would have been fine without the cover in the rain we were in, but I was curious to see how it would work. Here's a photo.

I just pulled the bag over the top of my pack, then cut slits for the straps. My pack is water resistant, but in a heavy downpour, it might eventually wet out. I have a pack liner inside to protect things that need to stay dry, but if a wet bag is heavier than a dry bag. A wet bag is also heavier than a dry bag plus a plastic bag. I think I will probably pack an extra trash compactor bag as a backup for my pack liner, but I don't think I will really need it for that purpose. I now know that I can if I need to though.

Yesterday (Sunday) I went back to Pinnacle Mountain in the morning. I did some testing and practice using my Garmin InReach Mini 2. This is a completely new device for me and there has been a learning curve for me.

The InReach Mini 2 is a satellite communication device that allows me to send and receive texts, it can ping my location on a map to my wife, and it has an SOS feature in case I ever get into trouble on the trail somewhere. The SOS function alerts search and rescue, it allows me to send and receive messages with an evacuation team, and also includes GPS location so they can get to me quickly.

I have learned that in addition to sending a check in message to say I am starting my trip at the beginning of a trip, I need to activate the tracking feature that pings my location. Without that, it doesn't ping my location so my wife can follow my progress. I also need to end tracking and save the activity when I'm finished.

On top of Pinnacle yesterday, I discovered the importance of securing the device to something that is fixed to the pack, not to a strap that can be unbuckled. I initially had the device attached to my sternum strap on my pack. But when I sat down to rest for a minute at the top of the mountain, and unfastened the strap to take the pack off, the InReach came off. I didn't realize this had happened until I was about 20 feet away from where I had been sitting and I reached over to grab the InReach and it was not there. Fortunately, I was able to double back to where I had been sitting and find it.

These are all mini lessons. A few weeks ago, I went to Iron Springs Recreation area to hike the Hunts Loop trail. My plan was to hike in, spend the night in a trail shelter, then hike out the next day. I got a slightly late start and after a little less than a mile, it occurred to me that I wasn't not 100% sure I had locked my car in the parking lot. I didn't feel comfortable continuing on because I didn't want the car stolen or even to have someone going through it, so I abandoned my plans and headed back. The car was indeed locked, but it was too late to continue on with my plan. Lesson learned, and I didn't jeopardize a planned 2 week thru hike trip by messing up on the first day. If I'm parking somewhere and going on an overnight trip, I need to be intentional about locking the car before I leave the area and possibly text my wife about it, just so I'm sure I did it.

Notes so far:

• I'm hiking around 1.6-2 miles per hour on average over rough terrain
• Secure the InReach on my pack, not on sternum strap
• When starting
• Lock car and text to say you did it.
• Start tracking on InReach
• When finished
• End tracking on InReach
• Save activity

Saving the activity helps me to see the data clearly after the hike is finished. We hiked in Hot Springs on Saturday, but I didn't save activity until I got to the trail head for my Pinnacle hike on Sunday. So there was a crazy line on my map stretching from the trail head at Hot Springs all the way to Pinnacle Mountain.

Anyhow, these are things I can get better at by using the equipment, establishing processes, and testing my equipment and my physical limitations with lower stress situations and situations where I can easily bail without ruining a long trip.

I have seen enough videos where people had to bail on their thru hikes because they were unprepared or had equipment failures on the trail. There are enough things that can go wrong on a long trip like that without adding to the problems by not knowing what I'm doing.

I'm learning as I go. Hoping to do an overnight this coming weekend. I expect I will learn a lot with my first overnight trip in over a decade.