Avoiding a wet, back side while hiking with a pack

The premise of the Osprey Airspeed suspension as featured in the Exos backpack line is that the mesh back panel suspended an inch from the pack will keep sweat from soaking our backs due to the air that can circulate.  My recent walks show a more complex picture.

In three days of walking I have a better idea of what to wear with the Osprey Exos backpack at air temperatures of ~35F degrees.  Never mind the last 1200 miles I walked on the PCT in 2015 with Osprey Atmos 65 AG, Osprey Exos 58 and some unknown REI backpacks, when the temperatures ranged from 40-70F.

Day 1. I walked 7 miles with a light load in my Osprey Exos 38, with its Air speed mesh back panel.  I wore two Icebreaker merino wool t shirts, a long sleeve pullover, fleece arm warmers  and a down jacket for a 33F degree day.  On completion, all the layers came off.  I had a wet front and back of the two t shirts.  The down jacket back was also quite damp and compressed.

Day 2.  I walked 7 miles.  I wore one wool t shirt, fleece arm warmers, my down jacket worn backwards and unzipped so that I only had one layer between me and the mesh back panel of the pack.  36F degrees this day and with a 6 mph wind.  The jacket came off when I had the wind behind me.  Once I turned back into the wind, the t shirt with fleece arm warmers wasn't warm enough.  I stopped on the leeward side of a building to adjust layers.  I continued walking with just the t shirt and the down jacket--it was too warm, I felt sweat on my arms and front trunk.  On completion, the back of my t shirt was slightly damp--unlike Day 1, I didn't have to hang the shirt on a line to dry.

Day 3.  I walked 3.4 miles.  Temp 35F with wind of about 9 mph.  I wore one wool t shirt, fleece arm warmers, a nylon shirt worn backwards and unbuttoned.  Again, only one layer between me and the mesh back panel of the pack.  Happily, only slight dampness on the back of my t shirt.  Nice.

The bottom line here:  To keep my the back of my clothing from wetting out from sweat, I need just minimal clothing to keep the mesh from irritating my skin.  Quite likely, in warmer weather, walking shirtless as I've done in 2015 will keep me dry.

Unrelated observation:  The wind rarely blew hard enough to require a layer on the back side of my pants. This raises the question of a clothing component system that starts with a front panel for a headwind and a back wind layer that snaps on when the wind does blow hard enough from behind or when we stop long enough to feel the chill from behind.

Cold sunny day for a hike

Seven miles over 2 hr. with two stops to drink hot chocolate, the first at Olympic Stadium, and the second@Sam Benn Park where I also found a Sunny Spot to put up the hammock.

breathing

I was sure a few hours ago about breathing while swimming.  I proposed that holding my breath underwater and exhaling just before taking a breath would maintain my flotation better than exhaling throughout the stroke.  One website author wrote that holding a breath and would fill the chest making it rise and that the legs and hips would sink.  That seems to be the consensus--what do I know?  My legs are always going to me more dense than my torso, because legs are mostly muscle vs. a mix of gas, fat muscle for the torso.  Wouldn't the legs sink with or without a chest full of air if I don't swim "pressing" down my chest to keep my legs in line?  I'll go to the pool, blow out all my air push off the wall and when I stop gliding, my legs will sink first and fast!

During kicking drills without a kick board, I always noticed how I would sink as I exhaled.  I don't use a kickboard.  I just kick on my back or side.  I'd kick face down, but I haven't a snorkel.

Other benefits of expelling air at the end of the underwater phase of a stroke?: 

1. possibly more oxygen is available to blood flowing through the lungs with a chest of air.   The more air I have in my chest, the more molecules of oxygen--the concentration still drops as I consume it, but more slowly than with me trickling air out during the underwater phase.
2. If more of my head or torso is out of the water, that could decrease the wetted surface area.  I'd love to see a video of myself to know how deep I'm swimming with either kind of exhalation.

I'll be working on the difference between swimming with a gradual exhalation throughout the underwater phase and swimming with an explosive exhalation at the end of the underwater phase of my swim strokes.  More on this later, I hope.

OK, suspend the low meat diet

I checked into my Red Cross Blood account and found that my hemoglobin was only 13.3 before donating two units of blood.  I suppose that accounts for an unusual level of fatigue when swimming butterfly.

The clams have defrosted and only wait for the right dish after tonight's swim.

modifying a pair of REI convertible pants to a hiking kilt for summer hiking.

A hiking kilt/skirt from a pair of REI convertible cargo pants?  Yes, I did it because of crotch humidity.  My best days on the PCT last year were with a single layer below the belt, either my shorts (REI pants with the legs zipped off) or my loose Island print boxer shorts (Patagonia sells the boxer shorts, but not the print)

The boxer shorts:


The converted shorts:


The back side of the converted shorts:


How?

1. Rip the seams that hold in the zipper.  
2. Let out the fabric that held the zipper in and sew a rolled hem.  
3. I was done, but for times when I hike with just that layer,
4. I sewed the top edge of a 9" x 10" square ripstop patch under the front panel so that it would fall over my private parts like a breech-cloth when I sat down. Picture below.
5. Later, I installed snaps from the bottom of the zipper to the hem in front.

Keep-outa-jail breech-cloth:

FWIW, the total bottom hem length is about 52". REI cargo shorts have really baggy legs.
Length from waist to bottom hem: 23"--removing the zipper from the cuff and letting out the fabric added 4" as seen by the color change.
On cold mornings I'd pull on a pair of pants or shorts under these and remove them as I warm up.  A pair of baggy butt pants with slim, stretch legs may fit the bill, like maybe RCMP pants or jodhpurs but I might have to make those myself.

The disposition of the pant legs:  They are too baggy to use as pant legs anymore--consumers will put up with bad design.   Ripped apart and sewn together, they may have a life as a new skirt, since the top end is nice and wide like the bottom of the shorts.   The bottom end is narrow, smaller than my waist, nothing that a couple panels of stretch fabric won't fix.

Dreams that have no meaning? And "Reading, what's that?"

I dreamed that I left my front door unlocked to let Goodwill in to take my dining room table.  That I went home and found the dining room completely empty of everything else as well, though no other room had anything missing.  In the dream I had two abodes and was trying to remember which one was robbed.

Each time I awoke to either snack or pee, I remembered none of that was true, and each time I went back to sleep, the dream persisted.    I arrived home today from a hammock hang to find all well in my only residence.

I can't define the significance of the table, the theft nor the two places of residence.  

I must understand why I can't say I'm going to eat vegetarian in a social gathering?  What keeps me going back to socialize with people who thrive on material acquisition and show no interest in reading or in having their children read?  If they don't talk about reading books or newspapers, can I reasonably conclude that they don't read?  I sure hope not.

Mugs, a new convert to DeLorme InReach, told his story:  lost, sunburned, dehydrated and hungry after four days in the Wallowa Range in August 2016.  He found his position after calling Search and Rescue (SAR) and having his position triangulated properly on the second try.  If he didn't have a cell signal, maybe backtracking to the trailhead would have saved him--could he have found his way back?  He confessed to not having acquired and read a trail guide to the area, which would have told him his route wasn't maintained.  He also only took pieces of the maps he needed.  His map ended where SAR told him to go.  Saved only by one signal bar on his phone.

Missing still:  Kris "Sherpa" Fowler. Last seen ~October 11, 2016 in Packwood, cold (and hungry?), asking for work to fund a night at a local hotel.  Determined to finish, searchers assumed he hiked north from White Pass and disappeared.  His mother and other family returned to Ohio.  If only we could turn back time and give him a DeLorme InReach or an ACR--so sad to read of his disappearance. 

I went swimming while the presidential vote was tallied

November 8, 2016.  I saw the map online of the voting trends with Florida and Pennsylvania colored pink for votes in favor of Trump.  I went to the swimming pool.  I swam for 45 minutes, working on freestyle and butterfly. 

I felt less energetic from having given two units of red cells the day before.  Given that limitation, I could work on feeling each part of the butterfly stroke.  Are my hands near the water surface as they begin their sweep backward?  How is the timing of the hip snap the knee snap and are my shoulders positioned for the arm sweep over the water?  How much of the stroke is up and down vs. forward driven?  Am I remembering to breathe deeply enough?

November 9, 2016.  Olympia.  The post presidential election mood is shocked, angry, depressed, disappointed with almost everyone I've seen.  Mark Hodgkins' house:  Alison opened the door when I rang and instantly offered me tea.  Doreen on the phone fir work related talk.  Mark changing out some part of a bike.  He has a list of to-do's that look like no one's idea of a day well spent--his RV needs a lift kit so he can go onto rough dirt roads to find a place to park overnight.    His stuff owns him--maybe more than my stuff owns me--I resolve to go home and look for stuff to give away, to simplify.  He's about to get under his RV to do some work--I'm so thrilled not to have one of those own me.  Me: what does that yellow bag contain?  Mark:  A sail for his sail board, borrowed it from Herbie--Me:  Herb and Carrie Weiss?--Mark:  Yes.
He knows Herb and Carrie!  So funny.

The Trump University trial will begin soon.  It may be interesting.