Well guys, the trip was a bust. The weather was perfect the first day out, but after that it turned hot and stupid windy (50mph winds), so not a lot of game action. Saw a coyote, woodpecker, and a few mulie does, but no whitetail or elk. And it's looking like that will be my only time out this year, so I'm thinking I'll be chowing down on tag soup this year...
Definitely the pack was heavy, no doubt about that. If I was packing any long distance (ie greater than 2km) I don't think I would have taken as many cans and instead gone for rayman noodles and rice and camped near a creek. It certainly was nice to be able to go wherever I wanted this time and not worry about needing a water source for dinner.
About the salt thing, from my army days we were taught that you sweat out a lot of salts when you're working hard. That's why you get sweat stains/salt stains on your shirts/boots. And if you don't replace that sodium, it can be trouble. Obviously that doesn't mean you gorge on salt, but you should replace it somehow. I don't know the scientific reasoning behind this however, so maybe someone else can fill those details in.
Lastly, I think the hardest thing I found on this trip wasn't the heavy pack, it was that you have so much "alone" time, huddled solo in your sleeping bag in a dark 2-man tent. I was up hunting at 6:30am, and done eating dinner and "in bed" at 6:45pm due to not having anything to do. So that was close to 12 hours of doing nothing/sleeping (no books, no buddy to bull#### with, no campfire, sleeping on a crappy foamie). That was something very new to me, as I was used to guide camps where you had either your dog or other hunters with you, as well as work that needed tending. This time out there was none of that, and I found it hard to hang out in a sleeping bag with nothing to do for 12 hours. Anyone else had this happen, and any advice to counter it? I'm thinking I should have humped in a small candle lantern and a trashy small paperback novel.
I'll be sure to get pics as well.
