Hello everyone. I just joined the forum a few days ago and have been reading many posts. This place seems like a great font of knowledge. I was in Scouts many, many years ago and used to hike quite a bit. I've been to Katahdin a couple of times, as well as Philmont. I have, however, been away from hiking for about 22 years now.
I've been collecting gear over the last month and feel I'm ready for a nice hike. I was planning on heading up to SNP next weekend for a 3 day, 2 night hike (about 30 miles) but just found out I have 6 days off, so I was thinking of heading up for a nice long break. SNP is about 4 hours from where I live. I feel gear-wise, I'm good. I've just had some random questions pop into mind over the last few days as the time gets nearer.
1. Where do you wash your dishes? In the old days of scouting, we did it in streams or had large containers of water. I know with the LNT principals, this is not cool. I've seen collapsable sinks..is this a good option?
2. what do you all do about batteries, specifically for GPS. I have a Dakota 20 which takes AA's. Should I just bring extras? Do you all use some type of charger? I have a solar charger for my cell, but that won't work to charge the Dakota.
3. I'd eventually like to do some section hiking, with the entire length of SNP being my first goal. In other areas, is it ok to camp pretty much anywhere along the trail? Do you rely mostly on shelters?
4. Can you reccommend a good overall through/section hiking book for the AT?
I'm sure more questions will pop to mind, and I will post as they do, but I greatly appreciate any feedback you all have.
~Brian