Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

Heck, I don’t know. We’ll be staying near DuPont Circle. I’ve tagged along with her a couple of times before, so I know how to get around DC on the Metro, I just don’t know how to get to things that aren’t the normal touristy stuff. I’m still checking things out. We won’t go until late summer, so I’ve still got plenty of time.

 

My buddy has some Altra Timps. They have a thicker sole than the Lone Peak but are otherwise similar I believe. He likes them.

We just did an overnight at GUMO up the Guadalupe Peak trail which is basically all rocks, and he had no issues.

I want some Lone Peaks for myself.

 

Well, I’ll let you know how I like them after I’ve put some miles on them.

 

I also have an important question.

I have a sleeping problem.

Now, this doesn’t always happen to me, but it really reared its head on the trip I just went on.

Sometimes I basically have nights of mental torture where I just cannot get to sleep whatsoever. I might be able to sleep for a few hours and I then I can’t go back to sleep.

It does not seem to be comfort related, but more of a mental thing. I don’t have trouble sleeping at home or anything, though I do stay up a bit late.

Sometimes the first night is tough because you might go to sleep when you aren’t tired, but it was actually the opposite of that this time, where I slept well the first night and terrible after that.

By suggestions? Do I just need to take a Benadryl before sleeping? I have heard things about melatonin too, but have never tried it.

 

I take a few shots of vodka.

 

Pensacola Beach! And if you can afford to swing north of the direct route, check out Canyon De Chelly in NM, Monument Valley AZ, and the Grand Canyon of course. Arches and National Reef in southern UT but that’s probably too far a deviation. Enjoy your trip!

 

Thanks!

 

Correction, Capital Reef

 

Think it could potentially be anxiety? I know there are a lot of people who get anxiety while camping for one reason or another. Not to the point of a freak out, but enough to cause insomnia. When asked most of them are unable to articulate what is making them anxious or why. People also sometimes develop these anxiety issues as they get older which sucks because they can remember camping for years without feeling anxious.

 

I dunno. I suppose it’s possible, but I do not suffer from it elsewhere.

Sometimes on longer road trips I get a feeling of “I want to go back home”, but it’s after several days, and it doesn’t really have to do with sleeping.

 

'mental torture'... so, it's mental. Sounds like anxiety. Find the source and resolve it. The beauty of disconnecting and going out in the boonies is it's just you and your thoughts at some point (if you do it right), this of course means it's just you and your thoughts. Sometimes we don't like what we think.

 

Does the AT cross between Front Royal and DC?

I learned these in groups at the VA. Settle your breathing. Count to your breath or just count a sequence. The key is to occupy sequence and visual.
Next thing I know I wake up.
Veterans have sleep trouble, so veterans learn solutions.
Ken in NC

 

I say that because that seems to be the only thing causing me to not be able to sleep. I’m tired, I’m comfortable, I’m warm, so it’s gotta be mental, right?!

You might be right, I just don’t lnow what would be causing it since I don’t siffer from it anywhere else and I generally enjoy being outdoors. I was even EXCITED to go to sleep after coming back down from summiting Guadalupe Peak because I was so beat! I made it about 3 hours and then woke up.

 

Spouse, parent, job, child, house, old hot water tank... who knows, but it sounds like something back in the world that you're worried about...

Could also be sone kind of 'tech disconnect' issue, we are overloaded by gizmos and it can't be good for us.

 

Haha, I did actually try some of this. Not specifically counting, but I slowed my breathing and visualized happier-type things. It didn’t seem to help? I also put in my Bluetooth earbuds to drown out the sound of the high winds and listen to some music to see if it would help. The second night I did this I did eventually fall asleep but when I woke up, the earbuds were out of battery.

 

Your not alone.

 

I have this issue from time to time and not just when I camp. I always feel like my mind is just racing. Sometimes I can’t get to sleep and I lay there and toss and turn, other times I get to sleep pretty easily, the wake up for some reason and can’t go back to sleep. It usually happens 3 or 4 nights in a row and then I’m good for the next couple of months. Still haven’t figured out what might cause it. Caffeine has never been something that keeps me awake, but as I’ve gotten older, who knows.

 

Both Tacos, is your sleep issue only at altitude? If so, you can look that up online, there are a lot of ways folks go, some take something like Melatonin, or you might try breath right strips or there are some snore things you sleep with in your mouth, it is essentially your body concentrating on breathing cause your short on o2.

Good Altitude chart here. https://www.higherpeak.com/altitudechart.html

 

Hmm, I haven’t tried to compare it with altitude. It doesn’t happen all the time, so I never thought to link it to that.

This trip I was good at ~4000 bad at ~8000, and bad at ~5800.

At Big Bend in December, I was bad at ~7400 and bad at ~3000 one night, but good at 3000 for two other nights.

I have slept all over Utah at various elevations between 3-7000 ish and have been mostly fine. I was fine at South Rim of Grand Canyon at 7000. I was fine in Colorado at ~7800.

It’s also only outside. Indoors isn’t an issue. Trying melatonin won’t hurt anything. I’ll do some more research on it. Thanks!

 

Speak to a doctor!