Let's take a walk

[I_think_I_can]

Hey everyone,

I want to thru-hike the AT starting in about a year and a half, and am wondering if any other hikers have product recommendations, particularly for women hikers. Also, what were your biggest obsticles on the trail? Thanks!

Erin:banana

[MOWGLI]

Hey everyone,

I want to thru-hike the AT starting in about a year and a half, and am wondering if any other hikers have product recommendations, particularly for women hikers. Also, what were your biggest obsticles on the trail? Thanks!

Erin:banana

Erin:

Have you done any backpacking trips yet? A thru-hike is basically a series of 3-5 day section hikes, all strung together to create a long distance hike. I would suggest you try and get together with some folks and hit the trail.

I also hear there is a Women's backpacking Forum on Yahoo. That might be a good place to get the female perspective.

You might also go on over to Trailjournals.com and read some of the journals there.

Good luck!

Little Bear

[Tin Man]

Reading is good. Try "Long Distance Hiking:Lessons from the Appalachian Trail" by Roland Mueser. The gear comments are a little dated, but it is a good summary of all things AT related. The following websites are a few of many that may prove helpful for selecting gear in addition to poking around here on Whiteblaze:

Backpacker magazine section for women:
http://www.backpacker.com/women/0,7812,,00.html

Some suggested gear lists:
http://www.monmouth.com/~mconnick/chklist.htm
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=4266

Popular site for lightweight equipment (not an endorsement - have not tried their stuff....yet)
http://www.golite.com/

Good luck. Ask questions. People here love to help.

[TakeABreak]

Erin,
I have several question for you,
When do plan to start?
How much hiking and walking do you do regularly?
Excetera
when you plan to start and from where, is a key factor in gear.
Mail drops or no mail drops?
email me directly if you want and I will tell what I used and what I know about the new gear out there, every year it gets lighter.
The most expensive gear is not always the best, nor is the best gear always the cheapest. confusing? It can be, do not buy everything on shelf just because some outfitter in IL, thats never thru hiked tells its what you need.

[blindeye]

my name is rick and although i too am just getting gear reccomendations right now,what caught my attention was your time frame. i also am planning a thru hike in 06 i'll be going SOBO. which direction are you hiking?

[jackiebolen]

The biggest obstacle is packweight, especially for a woman. I guy who is over 6 feet tall and 200 pounds can get away with a 50 pound pack, at least in the short term.

Think in percentage of body weight. My pack, minus food and water was about 15 % of my body weight, which is about the lowest you can get without going too extreme. Anything over 25 % of body weight is crazy. 15-20% is about ideal if you want to make it in the long-run...anyone can carry a huge weight for a short distance and not suffer too much.

I highly recommend Ray Jardine's Book, "Beyond Backpacking." A little extreme yes but at least he gets you in the right frame of mind and then you can use your own common sense.

[hustler]

Jackie's got a good point. I would say when building your set up, think outside the box. The traditional backpacking set up won't be ideal on the AT. The more open you are to ideas, the more successful you are on the trail.

Keep an active lifestyle, so you won't be totally out of shape. I am a marathon runner/skier and I still have a rough time. It took awhile to get use to pack weight.

Practice makes perfect. Test yourself and your setup as much as possible before hitting the trail. It will pay off.

[Spirit Walker]

I'll second the recommendation that you go hiking every chance you get in the next 18 months. The more comfortable you are with hiking and camping, the easier the trip will be. Equipment needs can vary depending on your body and what kind of weight you are willing/able to carry. Lighter is better - to a point. Some ultralight gear is extremely uncomfortable to carry, especially for women who aren't used to carrying a lot of weight on their shoulders. If you have no gear at all, start by borrowing gear from hiking friends, go out with groups (so you can compare notes with other hikers), and figure out what you actually need. A luxury for one hiker is a necessity for another. With experience, the load gets significantly lighter, but that takes practice.

Biggest obstacle - how much do you like hiking? That is all you will be doing, all day, every day, in rain and snow and heat, for five or six months. Unless you know that you really love to walk, think twice.

That wasn't a problem for me - I love to hike. Nor was camping, nor weight (I had too much weight, and gear that was all wrong for me, but it really didn't matter much, physical discomfort isn't that important, to me) -- what bothered me most about the AT was the crowds. I was used to hiking alone, and I ended up having issues with so rarely being alone on the AT. I learned about camping far from shelters, and it did get better, but the first month or so, I was going nuts because the reality was not at all what I had expected. The other issue was physical - I was in pain a lot of the time on hte At - first blisters, then tendonitis, then leg cramps at night, then just being sore and tired from doing long miles every day. (I have no padding on the bottom of my feet and they didn't like the pounding they got.) I got tired of always being tired. The better shape I was in, the more miles I did each day. It is a part of thruhiking for me, and something I've learned to live with, but there are times that it gets in the way of really enjoying the trail. Even so, the rewards are worth the cost, for me. I love the life, the beauty, the wildlife. It's worth a little pain.

[Jack Tarlin]

Excellent post by S.W.

In addition to reading journals, talking to former thru-hikers, and getting useful information from books and websites, you have the advantage of having some time before you start your hike. Presumably, you'll have time next spring or summer to do some hiking, try out some gear, etc. If possible, try and do a week to ten day hike, preferably on the A.T. so you can meet and spend time with some thru-hikers (June in Central Virginia is very nice; August in Vermont is better still; Maine after Labor Day is best yet, tho fairly challenging). You might find out that while you love the woods and hiking, you don't necessarily wanna go out there for 175 days at a time, and guess what----neither do most folks! Better you discover this in advance before quitting your job, selling your car, moving out of your apartment, farming out your cat for six months, etc.

Then again, you may discover that you LOVE the idea of being out there for an extended period, which is what I hope happens.

But absolutely, get out there for some trial hikes, of whatever length. You can meet a zillion other hikers, read a pile of books, read tons of gear catalogs, spend half of every day or night on the Internet. Bottom line, tho, is that the single best way to prepare to spend a great deal of time in the outdoors is to spend as much time as you can in the outdoors.

[Kerosene]

The posts above give you a lot of good reading and resources, I Think I Can.

If you're looking for someplace to start without wading through everything and then trying to make the call, let me offer up a few favorites you might consider initially. There may be alternatives that are better suited to your physique and preferences, but these tend to be pretty popular on the AT. There are a lot of other options out there that you should explore; treat these as ideas to start with.

Pack: Granite Gear Vapor Trail or Osprey Aether 60. Go to an experienced packfitter to make sure the pack, hipbelt and shoulder straps are adjusted for your physique.

Boots: Check out Merrell (http://www.merrellboot.com/) and Vasque (http://www.vasque.com/). This is probably your most important purchase and there are many personal preferences out there. Do a search on this site and Backpacker.com (http://www.backpacker.com/gear/footwear/step1/0,5201,,00.html) for boot fitting tips.

Socks: Depends on your boots, but SmartWools are popular.

Sleeping Bag: Assuming you're heading north with the crowds in April, you're going to want to invest in a good, lightweight 20-degree bag. If you can afford it, take a look at the Western Mountaineering Ultralite (http://www.westernmountaineering.com/ba_UltraLite.htm), Feathered Friends Hummingbird (http://www.featheredfriends.com/ProductDetails.aspx?productId=2&CatId=1&ProductName=Hummingbird), or perhaps the Moonstone 800 Lucid (http://www.moonstone.com/d_sb.asp?id=T12577%20Regular%20/%20T12477%20Long).

Sleeping Pad: Therma-Rest Prolite 3S, although you're still young so you might be able to get by with a Z-Rest closed cell pad.

Shelter: There is a lot of diversity out there, ranging from tarps, to tarptents, to dual-wall tents, to hammocks. I love my Hennessey Hammock (http://www.hennessyhammock.com/), although it's more complicated to use in temperatures below 50 degrees. A good compromise is the Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo (http://www.sixmoondesigns.com/store/shopexd.asp?id=33), but take a look at the Henry Shires (http://www.tarptent.com/products.html) single-wall tents also. Here's a Backpacking Magazine article on how to buy a tent (http://www.backpacker.com/technique/article/1,1026,1931,00.html).

Stove: Get someone on this site to make you a soda can alcohol stove.

Clothing: I like the Coolmax Alta shirts from Duofold because they're so light and dry amazingly quickly, but there are many others out there. Convertible zip-off pants/shorts are popular. You'll want to bring long underwear the first part of your hike (probably silk or capilene). You'll also want a microfleece or Polartec 200 fleece, or perhaps a lightweight down jacket (< 10 oz) for camp.

Stuff Sacks: Go with silnyl stuff sacks for your sleeping bag, cloths and other gear if you can afford it. A silnyl stuff sack weighs 75% less than the comparably sized coated nylon stuff sack.

Rain Gear: Your lighter options range from Frogg Toggs (http://www.froggtoggs.com/) (my preference) to Marmot Precip (http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?memberId=12500226&productId=2405492) to just relying on an umbrella. A lot of thru-hikers dump the rainpants, especially during the summer. Your rain gear can also serve as another layer and protect against wind.

Water Purification: Aqua Mira.


Here (http://www.backpacker.com/women/0,7812,,00.html) are a few articles on women's equipment from Backpacker Magazine. There are a lot of other good lightweight products out there that Backpacker rarely mentions.