The adventure starts tomorrow!

We'll be spending a very loooooong day traveling from USA to Kiruna, Sweden. After what I expect will be a fitful night of sleep (due to timezones) at an AirBnB, we have a short bus ride to the start of our first of three trails.

As I told Mrs. Dude, once my foot hits the trail, all my stress will vanish and it will be fun! Until then, the hassle of arranging and getting tickets for planes, trains, busses, hotels, and whatnot to piece together three separate hikes takes some fortitude. Plus, the weather forecast looks miserable for the first week on trail - rain every day. So, we'll probably miss summitting Kebnekaise (Sweden's highest) mountain.

I am excited about some new gear for this adventure. I've been using pretty much the same equipment for the past 12 years that I first acquired or made for my first long hike on the Arizona Trail. I'm happy with most of it, but have been looking forward to a few changes...

• Shelter - I've been very happy with my Bearpaw Wilderness Designs shelter but, after sooo many years of use, the zipper is becoming obstinate. Also, since we're definitely going to be having plenty of moisture on this trip, it tends to sag, dropping condensation through the mesh net underneath. That's just the way silnylon works, but Mrs. Dude wants a change.
  TarpTent has a shelter called the Stratospire Ultra made from something they call Ultra TNT laminate - think of DCF (or cuben fiber) but cheaper. Completely waterproof, no sag, and can set up in the rain while keeping the inside dry - so says the advertising. So, I got one and we're testing it out for about 30 days. Hopefully, they won't all be rainy days, right? :-)
  
  PS: When ordering this shelter, THE Henry Shires called me back when I asked a question on tarptent.com. Not fanboying here, but it was cool to have the prez of the company contact a customer, wouldn't you agree?
  
  
• Sleeping - My DIY quilts have been wonderful as far as I'm concerned. I've really wanted to make my own down quilt, but my wife just fell in love with ZenBivy's online presence. With their specs and prices, it was hard to justify making my own, so we both have new down quilts rated to 0F degrees. We'll see how well we can mix down and rain.
  
  
• Rain Gear - I've been a disposable poncho and garbage bag rain skirt guy for the past decade. It's worked fine on my long hikes, but did I say we're expecting at least a week of solid rain? So, I got a new poncho that's more substantial, AND a set of ultralight Frogg Toggs rain jacket and pants.
  It's redundant, and any UL folks will cringe at the extra weight, but I'm just trying them out, ok? I'll throw the poncho over me and my pack if there's light rain and just use the rain suit if it looks like a heavy, sustained rain or cold weather.
  
  So, when I get home, I'll let you know how the gear worked. While we're on the trails, I've got my tracking device and hope to blog when there's coverage. Check in once in a while over the next 5 weeks to see what's up.
  
  Hike On!
  
  Now, I just have my fingers crossed that this trip goes better than my Seven Devils 'hike' earlier this summer. :-)