Made it through the pics from the Shenandoah AT section hike a couple of weeks ago and put an album of those up.  You can find that here.  In the process I discovered that the time was off on Loonie’s T5i.  By approx 13 hrs!  That made going through them a challenge when trying to mix them in with mine.  So, I’m not exactly sure all of the images in the album are in the correct sequence but you’ll get the gist of it all.  Now I’m sorting through the pics of the second part of the trip when we did some day hikes in the park and visited Montpelier.  Here’s some that I thought were interesting…

Bearfence Mountain Rock Scramble

Bearfence Mountain Rock Scramble

Big Meadows Picnic Area

Dark Hollow Falls

Sunset from the meadow

And a few from Montpelier…

In the meantime, we’re looking at the calendar to see where we might fit in two or three days on the Ozark Trail.  Considering the time of year and all of the things going on with the family in the next couple of months, that’ll be a challenge but, fingers crossed, hopefully we’ll squeeze it in.

We’re also looking at some other options for meals while on the trail.  Something besides the standard fare from Mountain House, Backpacker’s Pantry and AlpineAire – brands you typically find at REI and Walmart.  Turns out there are a number to choose from, but I think Packit Gourmet looks like a winner.  We’ll see.  I suppose we could invest in a dehydrator and prepare the stuff ourselves but that sounds like a crap-load of work and neither of us is too enthusiastic about investing the time to do it.  We also need to take care of a few gear-related things…pickup a few extra stakes and dry sacks, repair a trekking pole, etc.  Nothing major.  And we need to come up with a better strap/harness for Loonie’s 35mm.  Right now she’s suspending it from loops on her pack shoulder straps with some elastic bands and carabiners.  Works, but far from ideal.  It may just come down to leaving it behind on longer trips.  It adds a ton of weight as it is.

Anywho, as soon as I know more about the next OT hike I’ll update things here.

More to come…