what might be different this time around?

The current rains here in South Korea—with Typhoon Lingling still on the way for a second session of pummeling—are a reminder that autumn tends to bring hurricanes.* There's a good chance that this upcoming walk might therefore end up rainier, overall, than the walk in 2017, when it rained over three scattered days. That's going to suck, if true, so I'm hoping for a placid, dry fall season. Still, there are other aspects of this walk that are likely to be different.

Cold weather, for one thing, makes me want to poop. I know, I know: I'm wired weirdly, and that's too much information. Sorry, but I'm being honest, here. Daytime temperature through early to mid-October ought not to be too cold, but the final ten or so days of my trek promise to be very cool during the day and positively cold at night, i.e., just above freezing. For the most part, this shouldn't matter: I'm camping for only four days out of twenty-eight days on the trail. Ensconced in a motel room and comfortably under a thick motel blanket, I doubt I'll be touched by the outdoor chill. And when I am out camping, I need only make sure my head and feet remain warm. To that end, I just received my Amazon.com order of "footies," which came with insertable, microwavable bean bags in them. The bean bags are heavy, not to mention useless since I won't have access to any microwaves unless I'm in a posh hotel. So the bean bags are being left behind, but the footies themselves will be coming along.

What else might be different? The contents of my backpack, which in theory ought to be much lighter this time around (the loaded backpack, I mean, not each individual item in the pack), will be substantially different because I won't be traveling with a ton of food. MREs, as I learned to my cost, are too heavy; since I now know I can eat at every town I stop at, there's little need to carry even snacks. (Besides which, random snacking on the trail can sometimes also make me want to poop.) I'll have my Survival Tabs for when I'm camping, but aside from my 3-liter hydration bladder of water, that's about it for sustenance. This also means I won't need to take along my mess kit and tiny German chemical stove—another few ounces saved. I'll have room to stuff my foam roll inside my backpack, which means I can use the pack's rain shroud to cover the entire pack during inclement weather. With fewer items to pack, it'll be easier to dig around the pack's innards to find my necessaries.

Another thing to consider is whether the cooler/colder temps will lead to my catching a cold. I can't say that I've ever hiked long distances while sick;** that might be an interesting prospect, or, more likely, it might simply suck balls. Here's hoping I don't fall ill on the path.

Clothing-wise, I'll be wearing almost the same getup I wore in the spring of 2017; I'm fine with cool weather because I'll be moving at a brisk pace for eight or nine hours per day, which will heat me up—but just in case, I'll be bringing a poncho, my windbreaker, and a cleverly designed vest that my ex-boss got me for Christmas one year. I'm still debating whether to bring gloves; I don't think I'll need them because, as windy as it might get on the trail, the fall weather simply isn't going to be frigid enough for me to worry about cold fingertips. I can always stuff my fists in my pockets if it's an emergency.

Partly thanks to advancing diabetes, my feet ache all the time, now, so that might be more of an issue—something to replace, this time around, the pain of walking with a huge, bloody blister last time around. However, if I walk injudiciously, I might end up with a blister again, but if I do, I predict the blister will arrive much later in the walk this time. I do plan to lose much more weight this hike, which ought to make things easier on my feet (along with the aforementioned lighter backpack), and I'm currently trying to lose a few kilos even before the walk begins. I've been sugary-drink-free for three days thus far; I doubt that that has translated into significant weight loss, but it's probably good for my blood-sugar levels, which could use a reprieve from my normally bad eating and drinking habits. I'll also be wearing my new walking shoes, which should make my cross-country journey a tad more comfortable.

What else might be different this time around? I can't think of anything else for the moment, but if I do, I'll be sure to jot my thoughts down here.

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*The link takes you to a Wikipedia entry that notes the Pacific hurricane season actually starts in late spring, but I confess that I don't recall things getting particularly typhoon-y before September. In Korea, there's the jangma, the July-ish monsoon season, but I don't think that's actually driven by hurricanes. So, no: I tend to associate hurricanes with the fall.

**When I lived and studied in Switzerland, I frequently walked short distances while sick. Those were miserable—but blessedly brief—experiences.