Backpacking Trip Scheduled

I bought the tickets for the Delta flight from PDX to SLC, and it felt real for the first time: I'm going backpacking in the actual wilderness in Utah, in the delightfully named Death Hollow.

Now I need to figure out what to buy/borrow/take for the trip. My only backpacking trip since 1996 was in November, and the temperature dipped into the twenties. The trip in April should be more temperate.

I'm excited. I'm not nervous about my fitness level for the hike, or about animals, or really anything else legitimate. My main worries center around being properly equipped. I know that I'm going to be sitting in front of a half-full backpack with all sorts of doodads and gadgets spread around me the night before the flight, worried sick that I'm missing/forgetting something.

I won't be missing anything, and I'll know that, but the irrational feeling will persist until the day we're hiking out back toward the car, and I see that I've brought much more than I actually needed. Books that I was sure I'd read. Food I was sure that I would eat. Clothes I was sure I would wear.

But it will be fine. I'll overeat on the hike out to make myself feel less foolish, and I'll call the entire endeavor a great success.