What to leave home/preparation for a thru-hike (Hiker Advice)

[chris]

Gaitors uses...
I never leave my gaitors at home and this is why...

1. keeps sticks out of your shoes
2. keeps leaves out of your shoes
3. keeps small stones out of your shoes
5. keeps mud off of your socks/legs if you happen to step into depper mud
6. keeps you from getting scratches on your shins in overgrowth sections
7. keeps the bottoms of your pants cleaner
8. "could" help prevent a snake bite from actually contacting skin. Oh boy ..the price to pay for saying that...sigh
9. if worn under your rain pants they help to keep your shoes dry in light to moderate rain...if even for an hour I find it very worth it.
10. keeps water from being splashed into your shoes/on socks if walking through a wet area with puddles.
11. keeps stickers from getting caught on your socks and thus annoying the crap out of you.
12. keeps shoe laces from being untied by getting caught on something.
13. small amount of warmth in winter/cold hiking conditions

the end...

You missed: Can keep poison ivy off of your legs.

If you wear high gaiters, you might save yourself some discomfort. I got 3 cases of poison ivy on my lower legs last summer in about 1150 miles of hiking on the AT. Gaiters would have kept this from happening, I believe.

But, I'd then have had perptually sweaty legs and looked like an idiot, something I was not prepared to do. Maybe panyhose would work just as well and be more stylish.

[Skyline]

like what?
a clear wide-mouth naglene cantene?
anything else?

Here's a link to the bag I use on the Campmor site (Campmor item 80728). It's also available at many storefront outfitters.

http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/st...berId=12500226

[oldfivetango]

You forgot that gaiters may help in the prevention of the tiny seed
ticks.After they became a problem some years ago i dont go in the woods
without tall boots-knee high tall or lately,gaiters.
IMHO it keeps the lil buggers from sensing a warm blooded creature and
jumping on for the ride.After I started wearing leg protection of some sort
I have NEVER gotten another seed tick.Anybody else have the same experien ce? Oh, and at my age you don't really care how goofy you may look to others out in the woods.
Cheers to all,
Oldfivetango

[Mountain Dew]

14. Poison ivy wont get you with gaitors


Good call Chris

[Nightwalker]

Thanks so much for this post. probably one of the most useful posts this beginner to intermediate hiker has read.

I am personally undecided as to weather gaitors in rain are helpful or not. Do those with gaitors find that their feet stay drier in prolonged rains? if they don't then they would not be useful in my book.

David

I think dry feet are highly overrated. I wear trail runners and wear 2 pairs of thin nylon mens dress socks (the .97 per pair type). The only other socks that I carry are Thorlos for in the tent at night.

When those slinky nylon socks start getting crusty, just rinse them out in the creek. (If you don't use soap, the sweat itself won't hurt the fishies.) Hang 'em on a tree or over your tent overnight and they get really close to dry by morning. If your feet get dry once a day in your sleeping bag, the all-day-wet in the rainy season won't blister you up very bad at all, especially if you wear extremely breatheable shoes. I'm a trail runner fanatic, but I won't even start that flame war.

As far as soap itself goes, you really need a very tiny amount. Your pot gets very clean by filling it up with leaves and pine needles, scrubbing them around in there, and repeating until clean. Unsanitary? You betcha. But what's the next thing you're gonna do with that pot? Boil water in it!

The absolute only thing that I'd add to what A-Train posted was this: find a way to test your setup out on at least one weeklong getaway before you leave for your thru-hike.

Would you really think it'd be a good idea to do a 6-month hike without testing yer rig?

Frank/Nightwalker

[Nightwalker]

Good post about thinking in terms of weight penalty.

And a good reason to use the Gear Weight Calculator.

I've lost a lot of pack weight with this thing and a 30 dollar digital scale from Office Max.

http://www.chrisibbeson.com/pages/Ge...alculator.html

It's a freebie as well. That's always a good thing.

Frank/Nightwalker

[hikerjohnd]

I think dry feet are highly overrated.

Spend a week in wet socks and boots and you'll change your mind right quick fast and in a hurry!

[jmaclennan]

The original post will no doubt be very helpful to prospective long distance hikers. It may seem obvious, but don't forget a headlamp. The small and light Petzl Tikka worked fine in camp (not so great for night hiking) and it's really fun to say. Go ahead, say it. Petzl Tikka. See! Also, carry some duct tape by wrapping it around your hiking poles (if you carry them). It'll come in handy at some point.

[Nightwalker]

Spend a week in wet socks and boots and you'll change your mind right quick fast and in a hurry!

Been done. Dry socks at night, wet ones back on in the morning. Mind still not changed.

If you plan on somehow bringing enough socks to constantly wear dry ones, well, I tried that a long time ago and it never worked. I just started wearing ones that didn't care if they were wet or not. The double-nylon trick totally stopped blister production. Totally.

How do you propose to keep your feet dry? I don't think anyone's managed to do it yet!

[hikerjohnd]

When I was in ROTC we went on a week long camping trip in Florida. From the moment we got off the bus to the time they left, it poured, almost non stop. We managed to set up the mess tent (I was in charge of that detail)to have a semi-dry place to stow gear while we waited for the rain to let up to the point we could pitch our tents. While I was working to get the mess set up, the guy I was sharing a tent with thought it would be a good idea to begin unloading the bus (because the bus couldn't stay) and so everything was piled on the ground, in the rain, actually in a runoff, for about an hour. Everyone was soaked, our gear was soaked, my tentmate was a moron, my stuff was on the bottom of the pile and got the worst soaking, and our Commander refused to admit defeat. The mess tent looked like a laundry mat with clothes everywhere. We tried to use the camp stoves to dry stuff, but nothing ever did. On the 5th morning I called home and my sister came and picked me up. I went to the ER for my feet as they were so waterlogged they hurt when I moved. I never understood what was wrong, I think they were just running tests, but after a night in the hospital, the doc prescribed bed rest for 2 days - it took them that long to un-prune.

Now, I am obsessed with how to keep stuff dry. I line my sil-nylon stuff sacks with trash bags, line my pack with a trash bag, and still use a pack cover. And in the center of the bag is a pair of emergency socks, inside two ziplock bags - at some point I will have something dry to put on!

[Colter]

Very good post, A-Train. I agree with almost every suggestion.

[Lyle]

I am personally undecided as to weather gaitors in rain are helpful or not. Do those with gaitors find that their feet stay drier in prolonged rains? if they don't then they would not be useful in my book.

David

My $0.02 worth:
Gaiters help to keep your socks clean, in some conditions they help to keep small pebbles/sticks/etc out of your shoes.

Do they keep your feet drier? Not in the long run. If you are in a prolonged rain, your feet will get wet. However they do delay the soaking in my experience. Most folks don't wear rain pants as a rule, so much of the rain that runs off your jacket or poncho ends up on your legs. This water runs down your legs and into your socks, thus soaking your feet quickly. My experience is that the gaiters delay this soaking by diverting most of this runoff past your socks.

That said, I have not carried gaiters for summer hiking in years. Too little benefit for the added weight/bulk. I do use them for snowshoeing always.

Lyle

[Jack Tarlin]

I've never worn gaiters, but I can understand why people do.

One brief comment, tho: The high ones, especially if they're electric blue, are REALLY goofy looking.

[Hooch]

Also, carry some duct tape by wrapping it around your hiking poles (if you carry them). It'll come in handy at some point.

I dunno about that one. If you keep duct tape wrapped around your hiking pole, that is more weight that you have to swing when you move your poles. I think you're better off keeping it somewhere that it's handy, but you don't have to move it each time you move your poles/hands. I keep a few feet of duct tape wrapped around a tongue depresson in my pack, but in a handy place for when I need it. I just like the dancing banana. I wish they had one on HF!

[Hooch]

Gaiters help to keep your socks clean

If you're worried about clean socks, might I suggest ping pong or maybe playing bridge? Seriously, though, who REALLY gives a crap about clean socks when you're backpacking?

[Heater]

I've never worn gaiters, but I can understand why people do.

One brief comment, tho: The high ones, especially if they're electric blue, are REALLY goofy looking.

The high gaiters always remind me of Alice the Goon in the old Popeye cartoons.

[Jaybird]

"A-Train"

wish i'd had this list in 2000 when i started section-hikin' my way up the A.T....."on-the-20-year-plan"


thanks for posting this

[atraildreamer]

When those slinky nylon socks start getting crusty, just rinse them out in the creek. (If you don't use soap, the sweat itself won't hurt the fishies.) Frank/Nightwalker

What happens when Frank washes his socks in the creek!

[mrc237]

Just a minor comment here about sun block. If you leave Springer mid-march there is is very little tree cover. I got sun burn right on the top of my ears that still peels off occasionally (2000 hike) now I carry a small amount in a tiny screw top jar and wear a boony hat.

[Trailjockey]

For you people who like to hike in wet feet for long stretches, I think you should do a little research on Immersion Foot aka. Trench Foot. If not tended to, can evolve into Jungle Rot. Dry feet are important to a long and happy hike. Take it from someone who had to learn it the hard way.