Shenandoah National Park: The Training Montage

I know it has been a while since I posted an update. Training and preparation for Shenandoah has been in full swing over the last couple months. With less than 24 hours until we are on the road to Shenandoah, let me bring you up to speed on all the things we have done to be trail ready.

No movie or show is ever complete without epic music playing across a training montage. So in the Karate Kid Spirit, here is ours. While we have been hiking and increasing lengths of those hikes slowly over the past year, these last couple of months have been spent preparing for the weight of the gear we would be taking. What we decided to do first was pack our day packs with weight plates and some of the gear we would take. In that first picture I am carrying a 25lb iron plate, Seningen is carrying 15lbs and his bear canister, Joey is carrying the snacks and good vibes. We did the Green and Blue Trails at Fair Hill as a loop.

Next we needed the real packs, most of the gear and a little extra weight. So we packed up most of it, put it in the packs, added our weight plates and proceeded to suffer on the Beaver Marsh Loop at Elk Neck. We did two loops on Beaver Marsh. First with all the gear plus the weight plates. The second we dropped the weights and zoomed. We learned exactly how much weight it was.

Finally we did ALL of our gear, food, clothes, AND the weight plates. We cursed our past selves for the plan and determined what cruel things we would do to our past selves if ever time machines were invented. That was HEAVY. We did the tri-state trail at White Clay Creek State Park. Here we are sweat covered, and sitting with a back to back with a cheek in each of three states. (We are sitting on the Tri-State line between PA, MD, and DE)

But that is not even the whole story. That physical training does not even count the planning, mapping, equipment testing. The nearly endless stream of texts, plan changes, “hey did we think of this” conversations have been hallmarks of our daily lives. The Amazon orders, Cabela’s gift cards burned, and REI trips made have burned some treasure. The nursery that was painted and furniture put together to make sure it’s ready for a new arrival. The master’s class work that needed to be put to bed before departure. SO much preparation went into this moment. It is with no small amount of pride and excitement that I say “Shenandoah Here we come”.