10 Days.

Are you sick of my R2R updates yet Dear Friend? Lol. They've only just begun, I promise you. ;)

I leave in T-10 days and counting.

I am psyched!

To confirm your suspicions, yes, I've been doing nothing but obsessive research. Yes, I am way too involved in...everything I do. Yes, I've made a list of insects/reptiles/birds/animals I may encounter for identification purposes. Yes, I have made a list of everything that may bite/sting me. Yes, I have made a list of everything that bites/stings within a 50 mile radius that I probably won't encounter, you know...just in case. I like to know how to react to things.

Yes, I researched how many people are typically on the trail, how fast people complete this hike, how many people typically do a N to S R2R. Yes, I am neurotic as all get out.

I have read nearly every trip report I can find on the internet. I have scrutinized what all of those people took with them. I have read every account I can find of people dying in the Grand Canyon. I have read every report I can find of people needing evacuation from the canyon. I have read...everything.

I have watched all the youtube videos.

I don't know that any of this has helped me in any real way.

No, I cannot not do this. Obsessive research is my thing.


**On a side note here, regarding my propensity for obsessive research, it REALLY bothers me when people fail to obsessively research things. Furthermore, when said people are then flummoxed by something they see, or something that happens, or whatever due to their lack of preparatory research, and then instead of going home and doing said research, post questions on facebook asking other people to do the research for them, my blood boils. And then I ALWAYS end up doing the research. Why? Because I'm human, and as such I strive to be constantly learning. If I don't know something, I look it up. I need to look it up. If I don't know what a word means, I look up the definition. If I see some sort of critter and I don't know what it is, I google the heck out of it until I can identify it. I am terminally irritated that this is not the norm. And yes, I know, I know, I need to work on letting go of things and accepting that other people don't do things my way, but it's so hard.

/endrant



Tomorrow I begin test packing and weighing my bag. I'm aiming for under 18 pounds of weight, but I need to eat a lot on the trail to keep myself from bonking out, so we'll just have to see how everything pans out.

I'm also test eating foods. Among my discoveries is that while I enjoy both the flavor and texture of sardines, my mouth does not approve of the way they look. The result it that it just straight up refuses to let me swallow them. (I know we discussed this at length already, but I'm recording the issue for posterity's sake. You know, should I forget and think sardines are a good plan...) I'm trying to see if I can come up with a solution to this problem. Possibly by making some sort of tuna salad-esque creation out of pureed sardines...but so far the results have been less than satisfactory.

With less than 10 days remaining between where I'm standing, and the trip up, planning consumes my every waking moment.

Planning, and of course, missing your face! Gah! I wish you were going with me. Can you imagine the sort of deranged intensity we would bring out of one another on the trail? And the obscene number of pictures the two of us would take?? I swear on all things holy Dear Friend, that the two of us will do this hike one day. AND that we will celebrate our victory with a moonlight kayak trip down the salt river. Pinky Promise.

For now, I'm going to go run the stairs with 20 pounds of water in my pack until my legs go all noodle-y on me. Wish me luck.

All my love.