Packing List

I'm going on a three day backpacking trip in the Shenandoah National Park, but by the looks of my guest bedroom, where I've spread out all my gear, I'm leaving for a 3 month expedition in the Himalaya's. The thing about such trips is that the basic gear stays the same whether you are going for 2 days or 10. The only difference for a longer trip is that you need more food and more socks.

So my packing list includes:

• tent
• sleeping bag
• sleeping pad
• lightweight backpacking stove and gas cannister thingy
• water filter (thanks Jen!)
• water tablets and Crystal Light (my preferred method but apparently not satisfactory in the Shenandoahs).
  
• 3 Nalgene bottles
• 3 pairs hiking socks (need to locate 1-2 more pairs in the bottom of my closet/sock drawer)
• a couple shirts, pants, shorts, etc.
  
• cooking gear and eating gear
  
• food: two prepackaged freeze dried meals, granola bars, oatmeal, crackers. (A's bringing more).
  
• first aid kit
• toiletries
• camera
• whistle and compass
  
• book: Harry Potter y el misterio del principe (These books are a great way to keep on my Spanish... aside from traveling places which is way better of course.)
  
• A bunch of other random crap: rain poncho, tarp, bungees, rope (for hanging food out of the way of bears)
• Topo map (very important)
  
• Medium sized "Juice box" of wine--this is a very handy invention
  

Since I'm meeting my hiking buddy A. near the park, we are going to sort through our stuff before striking out. So maybe some of these things will be duplicates and I can jettison them from my pack, which last night weighed about 30 or 35 pounds. This is I think more than I should be carrying but on my last trip my pack was 45 pounds so this felt like nothing. And I am using a new internal frame backpack made for women, as opposed to the 1972 external frame pack I used on my last trip.

We checked out a number of possible routes but I think we've settled on this one. It looks good for a weekend: easy 2.3 miles the first day, which is good because we are meeting at 3:00 and will probably need at least another hour to get our s**t together. The second day is 8 or 9 miles and covers some of Furnace Mountain without making us hike the whole thing all at once (apparently it is called Furnace Mountain because the sun beats down, nearly boiling one in one's own skin). The last day is 6.4 miles or so. So hopefully the weather will be nice and my pack won't suddenly way 20 lbs more when I put it on....