Post Mortem

So, now that the rush from this weekend's activities has worn off, I spent today figuring out what I needed for the next trip. For the most part, we were ready, but we were carrying a lot more weight than we really needed to, and April ran into some trouble, namely that she was wearing the wrong socks. She should have been wearing woolies. That was my fault, really. I didn't make it as clear as I probably should have that socks are really important for something like this.

So, for next time, we'll lighten the load a little.

1. I bought a water filter. On sale at MEC, it didn't cost too much. It means that we'll need to carry less water on our backs, and less fuel to boil what water we do obtain from the river. Since water alone was the single heaviest and bulkiest thing we carried, it would have been nice not to have to carry as much of it.

2. I bought a smaller flashlight. I mean, really. The flashlights we had were fricking huge. They also weighed a bloody ton. I invested a few bucks and bought a much smaller one.

Everything else was good, I have to admit. Nothing went horribly wrong, in spite of all the things that could have. We had bad weather, but we made it through it. And April right now has more confidence in herself than she has in all the time I've known her. All in all, I'd say that this qualifies nicely as a very, very successful trip, and I'm really looking forward to the next one.

I spoke to April this morning. She's in good shape, but still a bit sore. But she's rather excited about the fact that she's accomplished more in the last few days than she thought she was capable of. She's also looking forward to our next little jaunt; planned for the weekend of the 30th-1st of August. We're gonna take this one a little easier. Less hiking, more camping.