Backpacking training in May

I did a lot of hiking / backpacking in May with Kamal and also got a lot of information about various aspect of our Grand Canyon backpacking trip. So, overall, it was a very fruitful month for the training - it's just that I never got chance to blog individual event. Here are the stats of the training:

May 4th - Mt. Diablo loop - ~8 miles - ~2000' elevation change - with 22 lb
May 10th - Mission Peak - 6 miles - 2200' elevation change - 22 lb
May 17th - PG&E trail (partial), Rancho San Antonio - ~4 miles - ~1000' elevation change
May 24th - Mission Peak - 6 miles - 2200' elevation change - 32 lb

Saw a lot of wildlife in these hikes - a fox, a snake, a long horned deer, rabbits and deers. Views from the peak of Mt Diablo was really impressive. Interestingly, you can drive all the way up to the top, the hike was a loop around the peak. Our goal was to go to Eagle peak, but we never reached there - as we got lost twice during the way.

Vandana was going back and forth about joining us for the trip. She didn't all the training hikes - but finally decided to join. Arun and Hiral had to drop off because of some issues - however, they are the biggest source of information with a lot of experience in backpacking. Darshak et al have also dropped. So, finally, its gonna be just 3 of us - me, Kamal and Vandana.

We knew more or less about the hiking, water, tent and clothing, however we were totally clueless on the food front. We had a long talk with Arun about that - and he explained a lot of stuff in detail. We also visited his home and borrowed couple of stuff. Our alternative for food was: methi paratha and pickle, almost ready made, ultra light weight food from REI, ready made food from Indian grocery stores. We weren't sure about the ready made food from REI. So, on our last Mission peak hike - we tried some. We got the backpacking stove to the top and "cooked" the lunch. I put the cook part in quotes, because it's really not much cooking. You just boil water, which happens in 2 to 3 minutes, and pour it in the aluminum foiled packet of the food, close the zipper and wait for about 10 minutes - and it's ready! And test of the Rice Pilaf was awesome! The Chhole was also pretty good! So, we just unanimously voted for the ultra light weight food from REI. And of course, the biggest plus was the weight.

During that last Mission peak hike - I put all the necessary stuff in my backpack and the weight turned out to be 40 lb! My limit was maximum 35 lbs. I had to remove stuff randomly to bring back the weight to 32. That made me concerned too. On Saturday May 31st, Kamal and I got together to plan and weigh everything in the backpack. Finally, it turned out to be following:

Backpack: 5 lb
Water: almost 3 liters - 6 lb
Tent + sleeping bag - 8 lb
Clothing: extra pair of running short, T, socks, swimming costume, "REI" towel, fleece blanket, wind cheater - 4 lb
Food: 3 breakfasts, 2 lunchs, 2 dinners - 4 lb
All other misc stuff (first aid kit, map, whistle, couple of utensils, knife, sleepers, electrolytes etc.) - 3 lb
Total: 30 lb.

So, here's the compromise we are making:
- No prep for rain - hopefully it won't rain - it doesn't during this time of the year at GC
- Not much prep for cold weather at night.

For the second part, we need to prepare a bit more. Need to take woolen hat, fleece jacket etc. because the minimum temperature at S Rim drops to 1-3 degree centigrade. Even if the bottom of the GC would be warmer, it wouldn't be that much warmer.

But all in all - we feel much more confident after the last Mission peak hike and the weight planning. On the budget front, I would have spent roughly 600$ on equipments. That's because I already had the trekking poles and hiking shoes. REI is really a great place to buy most of these specialty items.

We are leaving this week, and still there are couple of major "TODO" items left, so let me start working on that....