Trail Head wisecracker Sim asked me today just how many beers does it take to trek across Corsica?

Well Sim, it's a grueling hike, for one thing. Long days and lots of up and down with a heavy pack. And it's pretty hot and humid, too. So right there you've got to know that keeping up your fluids is critical to good health and the overall success of the trek.

Fortunately, the Corsicans are well versed in hiker health and welfare issues and therefore, provide frequent refuges and bergeries along the route where parched walkers can replenish their vital liquids.

They've even gone so far as to install solar panels at each refuge in order to fuel refrigerators to keep the life-sustaining beers at the proper serving temperature.

God bless them!

Enjoying a cold Pietra (for medicinal purposes) on the deck of the Refuge d’Ortu di u Piobbu.

And should a couple of cold ones not satisfy the thirsty Corsica hiker at day's end, for a few more euros one can purchase a bottle of vin rouge de Corse, chock full of disease-resisting antioxidants.

About to enjoy a bottle of Corsican red wine with our Mountain House meals, Refuge de Petra Piana.

Both myself and my hiking buddy Phil can attest that the ready availability of these precious liquids allowed us to carry on daily in the face of very difficult conditions and were a factor in our ultimate success.

So, Sim I hope this answers your very important and insightful question.

Anyone else?

By the way, I think it only appropriate, given my just concluded research on the health benefits of beer and wine on the trail, that I approach the AMC and the Maine Huts & Trails people, and lobby for beer and wine to be made available to thirsty hikers at those facilities.

You with me on this?

(More photos of this awesome hike to come next week!)

Now, you digital camera techno-heads out there probably already know this, but us regular Joe-schmoe users (like me!) are just finding out: The new Energizer e2 Lithium batteries are unbelievable!

A single pair of these power-packed AAs in my Nikon Coolpix 5600 lasted through my entire 14-day hike overseas, churning out energy enough for 1,125 5-megapixel hi-res digital images and a handful of movies.

In fact, they only gave up the ghost yesterday, just as I finished uploading the last of the hike photos onto my laptop.

That's pretty amazing performance, wouldn't you say?! Significantly better than the NiMH rechargables and miles ahead of regular alkalines.

And to think I packed along an 8-pack (about $16) of them not knowing I wouldn't need but a single set.

Wow!

At this rate I'm figuring the remaining six lithium batteries I have will last through an entire summer of outdoor fun and adventures. I'm gonna give it a go and let you know.

You go bunny!

Twenty-one hours on the go yesterday...

From taxi to puddle jumper across the Mediterranean to a short hop across mainland Europe (right over Mont Blanc and the Alps!) to a long haul across the Big Pond to a bus up the Maine Turnpike.

I'm beat.

But it's sure good to be home!

On trekking in Corsica and the GR 20 Route: Many photos (about 1,250 or so) and many, many stories to tell. But gimme a little time to catch up with myself and then we'll talk some more.

In the meantime, how the heck have you all been?

What kind of fun outdoorsy stuff have you been up to while I was away?

Tell me all the details of your summer adventures so far, 'cause inquiring minds want to know...

Bonjour!

De Calvi sur le cote nord de Corse, a la Mediterraneé.

Le Haute Route de Corse via le GR 20 est finis. C'est magnifique! Le chemin de la montagne tres difficile, et tres beauté.

Je suis fatigue, maix heureux, apres 200 kilometers la randonee a piéd.

Sur le froid Pietra biere maintenant!

Revenir a Portland Maine des Etats Unis le soir Mardi.

Au revoir.

A bientot! Sante!

(Pardon, s'il vous plait. Je ne parle pas bon Francais!)

The purchase date on my British Airways and Air France plane tickets reads 3/9/06.

Wow! Three months ago. Where did the time go?

Tomorrow afternoon I'm off. To Corsica. Via London and Nice.

Headed square on for a 15-day trek across the mountainous interior of this ancient and mysterious and beautiful and rugged island, on a route called the GR 20.

I've been assembling my kit for weeks now. Sorting and sifting. A little pile here, a little pile there. Thank goodness for the check list!

Everything's on my living room floor now. Set for the final viewing and the ultimate stuffing into the pack.

Packing up for Corsica, with a little help from my cat Molly (upper right), and my gear check list.

If I had two more days to frig around with it all, I'd take them. But I don't. So tonight is it.

As we speak, of course, I'm confident that my two wily but lovable cats are continuing to rearrange and hide a few items. Ever adding to the packing adventure.

But it'll get done. And then I'll be off.

And some 24 hours after take off from Boston, I hope to be nestled in a comfy gite d'tape in the tiny village of Calenzana, ready to find a Corsican pub where I can practice my French once again.

"Deux grand bieres sil vous plait madame."

Yes, it will be a good adventure. I can finally feel it.

Talk to you all in a few weeks. Have a safe and fun June in the Maine outdoors!

It's Friday. Yeah.

I'm done. Out of energy. For regular work anyway.

So, in my mid-afternoon, post-lunch daze I turned to Google for some entertainment.

Today's search would be for that most sought-after product, that dream come true item for us hikers and backpackers who enjoy a cold malt-based beverage but can't or won't carry the damn cans along on the trail. Enough to satisfy anyway. So we make do with a road soda on the way to the trailhead. And a pub stop post-hike.

But what if? What if someday, someone would, could invent "dehydrated beer"?

Makes my imagination run wild. You too?!

Imagine stopping into Hannaford to buy groceries for your next weekend backpack. And along with your Lipton noodles, oatmeal and tea bags, you toss in a six-pack of dehydrated beer packets.

Later on, miles up the trail at your pretty lakeside campsite, you mix up a Nalgene bottle full of cold mountain water and a packet of the precious dehydrated Geary's or Gritty's or Sam Adams, shake well, and enjoy.

OOOOOhhhh. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Carey! Carey! Wake up! It's all a dream!!

NO! Say it aint' so, I tell you.

But it is, sorry to say.

My Google search for "dehydrated beer" brought a brief flicker of hope when I came across a site called DehydratedBeer.com. But then, slow as my synapses are firing on this Friday afternoon, I knew I had been duped.

"Master crafted with genuine dehydrated water." Damn if I catch you mister!

And so the search, the hope, the dream continues for this parched hiker...

... that chickens could fly?

But according to Wendy Almeida's blog today, I guess it's true!

I've said it all along. Never say you've seen it all. Because you ain't!

The whole chicken flying thing reminds of the famous flying turkey episode from "WKRP in Cincinnati", when Herb Tarlek dropped live turkeys out of an airplane over a busy shopping center as a Thanksgiving promotion for the radio station.

On the ground it was pure chaos as a horrified Les Nessman reported that "the turkeys are hitting the ground like bags of wet cement!"

The gruesome scene ended with Arthur Carlson, the station manager, mumbling something like, "On my honor, I thought turkeys could fly."

And that's where I think I peed myself.