Trip Preparations

It's been a busy week. If I were more disciplined I would have blogged more and explained the steps I have been working through. Today's the day I leave for a brief sojourn in the the North Cascades National Park. Here's a summary of the preparations I have made.

• Identify and prepare gear and equipment
• Prepare menu and shopping lists
• Plan route and prepare maps and GPS waypoint list.
• Replace worn-out, broken, or missing equipment.
• Purchase new equipment (Suntactics charger for my iPhone, Sawyer squeeze bottle filter)
• Purchase food and supplies
• Repackage food in ziplocs and bear canister.
• Pack everything into my pack.

I am trying a couple of new things this trip. I want to test the Suntactics charger in Washington weather (supposed to be cloudy and rainy) it probably won't be able to keep my phone charged. I am bringing my  iPhone in a Life Proof case. I will be using my iPhone for blogging, pictures, and I also have my maps in PDF format on it. I have printed out my maps because I don't trust the battery life of my iPhone or the ability of my charger to keep it charged.

I am also bringing the water filter in addition to my Aqua Mira. The idea is that the filter gives you water instantly while Aqua Mira takes approx 30 minutes from the time of collecting the water until you can drink it. The filter is an extra 3 ounces. I will see if it is worth carrying those ounces on this trip.