My second outing with MAHG was to the Susquehanna State Park in northern Maryland. I haven't been to this park before (at least, not that I recall), and while it was still a long drive to the park, it was closer to home than last week’s excursion into Pennsylvania.
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Slightly restless (and having already gained back all eight pounds I lost on the Appalachian Trail), I decided I needed to get out hiking more often, especially now that my knees and feet seem to have recovered, and I can walk down the stairs in my house without feeling like I’m about to fall over.
While there’s still a few trails vaguely near my house I haven’t hiked yet, I’ve long exhausted most of the hiking trails within a half hour drive. Since I’d much prefer to hike something new than retread old ground, I decided the solution was to join a hiking group, With other people in the mix (and someone else doing the planning), it’s a lot easier to consider hikes further afield, especially point-to-point hikes (as opposed to loops or out-and-back).
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My Apple Watch Sport was one of the few electronic devices I brought on my Appalachian Trail thru-hike. I brought it mostly for the novelty and for the (expected to be inaccurate) activity tracking, but it actually turned out to be far more useful than I anticipated.
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When I decided to hike the Appalachian Trail, one of the choices I was faced with was what electronic devices I should take with me. The more I took, the more weight I would have to carry, and the more dependent I’d be on power outlets. As much “fun” as it might have been to have my laptop — which would have made writing blog posts way faster — it would have been entirely impractical weight-wise. After not really much deliberation, decided on five pieces of tech: my phone, my watch, a headlamp, a battery (and power adaptor), and a solar charger (and the necessary cables to connect everything).
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No Appalachian Trail thru-hike is complete without a gear list. Below is a list of the gear I had on the trail. Most of it I started with; a few pieces, I acquired along the way, and very little got sent back.
Over time, I'll add my thoughts and reviews of much of the equipment I used.
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