Any Opinion Appreciated!!

[scotty]

My wife and I are planning a thru hike, this upcoming year. Please advise on boots and packs. :confused:

[mAineAc]

There are a lot of choices. Did you have a price range in mind?

[magic_game03]

you should list some details such as: where are you starting? when are you starting? do you have some of your gear picked out? such as..., how much are you willing to spend, are you near an outfitter where you can try out some packs or are you going to buy off the internet? do you carry water bottles or hydration packs? as much info as you give the better the response you will recieve.

[Kerosene]

Oooh, pretty wide open request! You'll be getting lots of opinions on this one.

Boots: Lighter the better, but they have to fit your feet weell and they have to be stiff enough to stand up to the rocks and rough trailbed. A lot of thru-hikers swear by the lighter trail runners, even foregoing Gore-tex in order to speed drying. However, I've talked to several thrus this year who started with trail runners and are dealing with foot bruises and are sick of walking in soggy shoes every day. A compromise might be a low-rise true boot that you can periodically apply waterproofing to. While any piece of equipment is your choice, it's critical that your boots fit well (remember that your feet will "spread out" after several months of walking!) and there are a lot of opinions. I do think that a higher-rise boot is superfluous once your ankles get stronger from backpacking.

Packs: Most thru-hikers have moved to internal frames, and a large percentage of them easily make do with 3000 cubic inches or less. To some extent, the pack you need will depend on the amount of weight you expect to carry (recognize that you are more likely to try to carry more weight if you buy a bigger pack!). I suggest that you try to keep your total pack weight, with food and water, under 30 pounds, but it will likely take some practice and other lightweight equipment to get there. At that weight, you could go with an Osprey Aether 60, Granite Gear Nimbus Ozone or Vapor Trail, Mountainsmith Ghost, ULA Fusion, and a number of others. You will find gear reviews on this site and at www.backpackgeartest.org (http://www.backpackgeartest.org).

[SGT Rock]

Have you hiked before? The question is like asking what car is the best.

Running shoes that fit and are comfortable and a pack that weighs less than 2 pounds. There are a lot of choces out there.

[Mountain Dew]

Scotty....you have done the most important thing already in my opinion. You ask long distance hikers for advice. That's the one thing that i'd do different if I had to do it all over again. You might check out my website, which followed me on my 2003 thru-hike. Many of the questions you'll have I answer on my website in the journal portion. www.at2003.com

[Rain Man]

Please advise on boots and packs. :confused:

Yes, I recommend boots and packs!

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

My apologies ... the devil made me do it!!!!
:sun

I agree with the posts so far ... footwear that FITS, is light, and protects your feet from the trail ... and "smaller is better" (within reason) for packs for sure.

Rain Man

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[sgtjinx]

What you need to do is find a good outfitter. One that has people that know what their talking about. Also look in magazines like Outdoors or Backpacker. They carry a lot of information about different packs or boots and other equipment that you may need. You need to try on the boots and packs to have a hands on feel. Remember what works for some people may not work for you or your wife.

Good luck, :sun

Jinx

But being in Key West all you can find is Scuba shops and bars. ;)

[TakeABreak]

Scotty,

The above opinions are correct, you need to leave more details, from where and when. Are you using mail drops, excetera.