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maineguide
11-08-2005, 15:25
Hello all and congratulations. I'm working on a story about Thru Hiking for Down East: The Magazine of Maine, and I need to talk to as many of you as I can (via email). The working title of the story is The Things They Carried and it's about the gear that hikers find essential on their trek. I'm a Baxter ranger in the summer and have seen the stark difference between the Titanic packs of SOBOs and the lean and mean packs of NOBOs. If you could send me a list of 15 things you dumped to lighten your load, and the 15 things you considered must haves, I'd be truly obliged. Thanks for you help. Andrew Vietze, Down East Editor at Large. [email protected]

Marta
11-08-2005, 15:48
This sounds like fun article. Good luck with it! I hope you'll post a link here when it's done.

TJ aka Teej
11-08-2005, 18:27
Hi Andrew,
Welcome to WhiteBlaze. We met a few times (season before last?) when you were at KSC. You might want to talk with Bruce White about the things southbounders leave behind between the cabin porch and Hurd Brook. Everything from cats to bluejeans, bibles and boyfriends...
Don't forget to add a few comments about the tokens and totems carried from Georgia to be left in the cairn at Baxter Peak.
TJ aka Teej
ALDHA Thru-hikers' Companion volunteer

PROFILE
11-08-2005, 23:26
I know I have dumped 15 items but I do not carry 15 items.

Red Hat
11-10-2005, 14:08
15 items you need:
1-pack,2-sleeping bag,3-tarp/tent/hammock,4-map/databook,5-headlamp,6-pot/baggie,7-aquamira/filter,8-water bottle/water bag,9-bandana,10-hiking stick/poles,11-lighter,12-stove,13-raingear/poncho/warmlayer,14-hat,15-food

I suppose you could get by without #5, #7, and #10, but I think it would be foolish to try to do so,imo...

UCONNMike
11-11-2005, 13:52
I would love to help you out, I just finished up my SOBO thru hike on tues nite, so send me a pm and ill be happy to answer any of your questions.....one side note to your post, I think that by in large SOBO hikers are more prepared than NOBO's as far as gear decisions go, i started with a 14 pound (base weight pack) and all the other sobo's I hiked with (at least 15) have packs that weighed less than 20, and the horror stories I have heard about nobos are far worse.

Singe03
11-11-2005, 14:09
I started relatively light compared to many (fully loaded weight about 37lbs with too much food, water and fuel, I could probabily started around 32lbs with the same gear had I been smarter). I did not dump a whole lot of stuff but there was stuff I replaced with lighter versions that had the same function like a whisperlite stove for a pepsi can stove, thermarest for a ridge rest, my tent for a hammock, etc as things evolved which lightened me up considerably by Damascus.

If this sort of information is helpful, I'm happy to provide more complete information.

neo
11-11-2005, 16:02
i dont have any items to dump,i carry only what i need:cool: neo

sliderule
11-20-2005, 12:31
I did not dump a whole lot of stuff but there was stuff I replaced with lighter versions that had the same function.


I suspect that the transition to a lighter pack involves more adaptation than it involves elimination.

Except, perhaps, for those poor folks that begin a thru hike with essentially no prior hiking experience. One only has to visit the Springer Mountain shelter in the spring to witness the collection of car-camping equipment that is abandoned after the first day on the trail. Axes, Coleman lanterns, entrenching tools, slingshsots, Maglites with four D batteries, cast iron cookware, Thermos bottles, etc.

And gear by the ton gets shipped home from the outfitter store at Neel's Gap. If you really want to get the facts, spend a few days there in mid March.

lobster
11-20-2005, 14:24
extra sets of clothes

books

get rid of the underwear

water pump

Lion King
11-21-2005, 16:09
15 needs

1) Sleeping Bag
2) Jacket
3) Extra socks
4) Town clothes
5) Food
6) Vitamins
7) Toothbrush and tooth past (can that count as one?)
8) tent
9) Camera
10) Journal
11) Comfy Camp pants, preferably cotton
12) Long sleeve fleece, for warmth in cold and bug barricade in other times
13) A good piece of glass
14) Headlamp
15) Stove


Not needed on AT
1) GPS Unit
2) Cell phone
3) Portable Keyboard computer
4) Those personal planners that go "Beep beep beep" all night when people are entering info into them.
5) Water filter
6) Plastic ground sheets that you use in shelters that crinkle all night
7) Snorers
8) Plastic lamenated Planner sheets of each hours of each days schedule
9) Bowling bowls
10) Fire arms
11) Large Amazonian Grizzly Bear Killer Rambo Knives or machetes (unless you are doing trail work)
12) Politcs, religion and Personal beliefs that insult anyones intelligence by way of force
13) Maps
14) Bugs, they just dont belong there
15) Cell phones, so not needed I mention it twice.

Ender
11-21-2005, 16:37
13) A good piece of glass

What in the world is that for? Totally unexpected, and I just can't for the life of me think up what it's for. (unless of course you meant to leave off the G and the L from glass...).

Here's my needs:

1. Shelter
2. Sleeping Bag
3. Sleeping pad
4. backpack
5. solid boots (my feet aren't great so I can't use shoes)
6. non-cotton clothes
7. rain gear
8. hiking poles (my knees aren't great either so I pretty much need them)
9. stove, cookset, fuel(alcohol is what I'm using now)
10. Food
11. Water
12. Basic first aid kit (usually duct tape, neosporin, Ibuprofin)

Want/Need
13. Camera
14. Journal
15. Book

hopefulhiker
11-21-2005, 17:26
I dumped a lot on the trail.fleece Long underwear was the first to go, sent home a Jetboil stove, groundcloth, allergy medicines, sunglasses, cut maps down to just the profile, mosquito repellent in colder weather, extra food when there was trail magic or ate in town, rain pants in the summer, traded out boots for trail runners,dropped heavy sleeping bag for sleeping blanket, three tent stakes, compass, whistle, sock liners, Is that 15? Anyway I dropped all my winter stuff and got it back in Glencliff,NH

Things I used the whole time, ripped out Wing Foot Data sheets, 1 one litre platypuss, 1 two liter platypus, Luxury Lite external frame pack, MSR titanium pot. Sgt Rock's coffee cup, Silk sleeping bag liner, two pair Thorlo light hiking socks, two oven bags, small digital camera, Henry Shire's Tarp Tent(Virga 2), Three tent stakes, underarmor underwear, Frog Togg raincoat, Patagonia Tee shirt, Lexan spoon,

blindeye
11-27-2005, 10:31
well said Lion King!!!!!!!!!

Sly
11-27-2005, 10:40
Instead of disparaging many the hikers out there (snorers), some people need to carry earplugs!

The Old Fhart
11-27-2005, 11:21
Sly-"....some people need to carry earplugs!"....and noseplugs!:o

Tin Man
11-27-2005, 14:28
Instead of disparaging many the hikers out there (snorers), some people need to carry earplugs!

Thanks Sly. Live and let snore!

Sly
11-27-2005, 23:58
Thanks Sly. Live and let snore!

No problem, but you ain't lived until you've shared a shelter with Woodrow Murphy! ;)

The Old Fhart
11-28-2005, 00:36
Sly, Are you saying Woodrow Murphy's snoring is beyond (or is it Bjorn) belief?;)