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captain insano
01-03-2013, 14:08
hey guys and gals, first post! so I'm planning a thru hike this summer and taking no time off from school as I transition from completing junior year and begin senior year. therefore I have a whole lot of ground to cover in a short period of time and need to be as efficient as possible, obviously. so I have a few questions...

from reading plenty of posts it seems people are not too enthusiastic about mail drops even though this seems a very efficient method especially with my limited amount of time...thoughts?

also I've encountered various methods of water treatment and cant decide what type I want to pursue...thoughts again?

these are just 2 main questions I have among many so please feel free to offer any advice as well por favor, so excited for this adventure!

Violent Green
01-03-2013, 14:19
First of all, get ready for about 10 people to tell you that a 100 day thru-hike is not only silly, but also impossible. Only you can decide this. My only advice would be to train for your hike now before you hit the trail. It will increase your odds of completion.

Mail drops work terrific if you plan them properly. Having someone back home who is responsible also helps. Of course, since you plan on covering some mileage each day, you can resupply at several places that are very near to the trail w/o doing a mail drop. Maybe not in every case, but most.

Water treatment -You will get a lot of opinions here. My favorite is Micropur tablets due to taste and low weight, but it will get expensive over 100 days. I would probably use a Sawyer squeeze filter with Evernew bladders. Not too expensive and you get the water immediately.

Ryan

Slo-go'en
01-03-2013, 14:22
Mail drops can actually slow you down if you don't get to town during the hours the PO is open. It could be just the next day, but if you show up on Sat afternoon, you'll have to wait until Monday morning to get your box. It can be a real PITA to arrange to get to the PO when it's open.

Water treatment is a toss up. Chemicals take time to work, filters can be heavy and sometimes break or clog. Personally, I perfer filtering. Tastes better, is quicker and removes all the dirt, floaters and insects.

100 day through hike isn't impossable, it's just difficult. You'd best be in good shape to start, have your feet broken in so you don't develop blisters the first couple of days starting out trying to do 20 miles a day and already being an experiance camper is a big help so you don't have to learn as you go. It's not rocket science, but already having a routine down will let you do more hiking and less fussing around.

SCRUB HIKER
01-03-2013, 14:36
Follow Baltimore Jack's advice in the resupply guide (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/articles/resupplybook.pdf) and send your maildrops to privately owned places (hostels, motels, restaurants, etc.) instead of post offices to avoid the problem of getting to town and not being able to access your maildrops.

People will say you can't make friends or see anything if you hike that fast, but that's all BS. By the time Virginia rolls around, a lot of people, especially young thru-hikers, can do 20-25 mile days without it killing them. You might be able to make friends and hike with someone or some group for awhile before you leave them in the dust--i.e. they go into town for a zero/nearo and you push on. I took a leisurely pace last year (5 1/2 months), but two of my hiking buddies (same long-term pace) spent a couple of days busting out 25s and 30s with a guy named AYCE, who was doing the trail in 100 days. They had a fun time with him and enjoyed mixing up the routine for awhile. I'm sure you'll make friends who don't mind doing high mileage with you for a brief spell.

So a 100-day thru-hike between semesters is absolutely possible ... I might actually be able to put you in touch with some guys from UNC-Charlotte who did exactly that a couple of years ago. PM me.

Cookerhiker
01-03-2013, 14:39
Mail drops can actually slow you down if you don't get to town during the hours the PO is open. It could be just the next day, but if you show up on Sat afternoon, you'll have to wait until Monday morning to get your box. It can be a real PITA to arrange to get to the PO when it's open. ...

For this reason, I recommend that you send your maildrops to hostels/motels. However, this obligates you to stay in them which will affect your ambitious schedule. In order for your 100 days to work out, you'll need to plan your resupply & town stops rather precisely using the Companion (http://www.aldha.org/companyn.htm) or AWOL's guide. Ideally, you want to arrive at your town stops late in the day after hiking your 20+ miles so that you can pick up your supplies, shower/laundry, eat, go to bed, and get on the Trail early the next day. Your time savings comes from not having to shop for groceries once you find a store (and not every trail town has decent stores).

Malto
01-03-2013, 15:03
Here is a perspective from someone who has done a hundred day thru hike. Mail drops will save you a significant amount of time if you do your homework up front and pack out the proper amount and kinds of food. I relied almost exclusively on mail drops on the PCT and would do it again. If hiking the AT I would do a combination mostly because there are so many resupply options on the trail. Cookerhikers advice is good about selecting locations that are open longer. Even with post offices you may have to push a bit harder a few days to hit the open times but I never lost a single minute due to waiting for post offices. You will quickly learn to look ahead a resupply to make sure you have time to adjust mileage.

As far as water treatment, sorry to say but you aren't going to get a lot of help. You will hear what others do which is great but it all boils down to personal preference. Do you need to use it, do you want to wait, what to carry the weight. You can find all the trade offs clearly laid out in the 1000 previous threads on the subject.

Finally, I'm not going to start the debate on can you or should you. As you may have guessed your desire to fast hike a trail is not new. Suggest you read this. http://Postholer.Com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=6182fcabed68cd7981e233593368d3 a9&entry_id=27590

Papa D
01-03-2013, 15:31
good post GG Man - - a 100 day thru hike is very doable for someone in very good shape that wants to spend all day, nearly every day hiking. I'd suggest limiting mail drops to hostels and hotels - - arriving at a town on a Saturday at 5 pm and having to wait until 9 am Monday to get a package from a P/O is a no go and a total waste of time - - you'll save the most time by forgoing as many drops as possible and just learning to shop for your resupplies efficiently and re-package food and supplies in zip-locks in grocery store / convenience store parking lots - - you may get lucky, get asked what you are doing and get a ride back to the trail too. one benefit of being a fast hiker is that speed gives you better re-supply options - - for example, many folks NOBO hitch into Franklin, NC which wastes a couple of hours - - from a fast hiker's perspective, Franklin is only one day (25 miles or so) from the NOC for you where you walk right into a store, so you skip Franklin you should be able to choose re-supply points in this sort of style and eliminate long hitches and shuttles more than a hiker that averages only 10-14 miles per day (more or less average)
As for water purification, most all fast hikers purify with bleach - just a few drops as needed and go - easily obtained, etc. Aqua-Mira would be fine too - - the weight, clogging potential and general hassle of any filter is just to much to worry about for a fast hiker - - you want every task to be as easy and as trouble free as possible.
GGMan's post above is good as is his link.

Feral Bill
01-03-2013, 15:32
Re: Can you?

Worst that happens is you don't do the whole trail. Have fun either way.

captain insano
01-04-2013, 12:27
thanks, this is very helpful. one more unconventional question. so I'm in great shape and just started training for my hike. I've seen a lot of people talk about losing a decent amount of weight over the course of the AT, which makes sense but makes me wonder if I should try to pack on a few pounds before I start? obviously I dont want to let that hinder my training/hiking but I dont have too much excess weight I can casually drop and would definitely be concerned if I lost 10+ pounds...sorry if that sounds arrogant, but its a reality I have to deal with if I'm doing 20+ mpd

thats my thought too, Feral Bill, even if I dont complete the entire trail I still get to spend 3 months enjoying it

Mags
01-04-2013, 12:39
I personally would not suggest putting on extra weight. Fat is just something you have to carry up and down the hills and taxes your body more.

Here's a good article that should help:
http://andrewskurka.com/2006/how-to-hike-a-fast-thru-hike/

My advice? If you can, try to get a week's backpack in doing the pace you plan. Not only is backpacking fun, but you'll get a chance to dial-in your gear and see if that type of pace is good for you.

~25 MPD is NOT super human (hell, I can do it), but it does require some discipline and experience that many first time AT thru-hikers do not necessarily have.

A one week backpack will help see if this pace if for you.

EDIT: HEre's my own take on water treatment
http://www.pmags.com/a-drop-in-the-water-bottle-water-treament-methods


As I always like to say "There is no best gear!" (http://www.pmags.com/best-gear-fallacy):)

captain insano
01-04-2013, 12:51
yeah that was one of the first articles I read when deciding if I wanted to do it or not, I had completely forgotten about it, thanks!

and I plan on hiking the first 150 or so miles from Springer over my spring break to gauge my abilities, gear...etc.

Mags
01-04-2013, 13:23
yeah that was one of the first articles I read when deciding if I wanted to do it or not, I had completely forgotten about it, thanks!

and I plan on hiking the first 150 or so miles from Springer over my spring break to gauge my abilities, gear...etc.

Awesome. You'll have fun. Get to see the starting AT thru-hikers and see what NOT to do as well. ;)

HooKooDooKu
01-04-2013, 14:44
You loose weight on the trail by expending more energy hiking than in calories you take in. The more you weight, the more energy is expended trying to hike. So the best place to start at is with a lean fit body and consuming the right number of calories for that body. Otherwise, the more you weight, the more calories your body needs. So by starting with a smaller body, you not only save weight in body fat, you also save on weight in the amount of food you need to carry.

Astro
01-04-2013, 15:21
I personally would not suggest putting on extra weight. Fat is just something you have to carry up and down the hills and taxes your body more.

Here's a good article that should help:
http://andrewskurka.com/2006/how-to-hike-a-fast-thru-hike/

My advice? If you can, try to get a week's backpack in doing the pace you plan. Not only is backpacking fun, but you'll get a chance to dial-in your gear and see if that type of pace is good for you.

~25 MPD is NOT super human (hell, I can do it), but it does require some discipline and experience that many first time AT thru-hikers do not necessarily have.

A one week backpack will help see if this pace if for you.

EDIT: HEre's my own take on water treatment
http://www.pmags.com/a-drop-in-the-water-bottle-water-treament-methods


As I always like to say "There is no best gear!" (http://www.pmags.com/best-gear-fallacy):)

Great advice about the one week trip. If you are going to school in Charlotte, I would strongly recommend going to Springer and hike as far as you can Spring Break. This will do several things for you:
experience on the trail you will be doing a couple month later,
shake down on your gear,
see if you really feel like those kind of miles,
meet a lot of "potential" thru hikers and see what their challenges are (at your pace you should get to meet a lot in a week)
chance to even meet some people who have previously thru hiked the AT,
great way to spend a spring break.

Malto
01-04-2013, 16:03
It rarely will make sense to pack on extra pounds. Let's compare gaining ten extra pounds to provide 1 pound per week in food energy, 3500 calories. That 3500 calories could be carried as food which will weigh 1 lb if you have a food density of 125 calories per ounce and do in average four day resupplies So the first week you would carry ten lb extra in fat vs 1 lb in food. The next week, nine lbs fat vs 1 lb in food. And so on.

In addition as was mentioned above the extra ten lbs will require more calories to carry. If youre total weight with pack is 200 and you are burning 6000 calories per day that is an extra 300 per day or 2100 per week. Add this to the number above and you can see why it makes zero sense to gain weight above a minimum amount of body fat to allow your body to draw for a day and replenish at night.

Slo-go'en
01-04-2013, 18:04
and I plan on hiking the first 150 or so miles from Springer over my spring break to gauge my abilities, gear...etc.

Go SOBO so you can meet all the NOBO's who are already out there - then see if you can catch up to them later...

joshuasdad
01-04-2013, 19:56
Consider a flipflop hike or SOBO to take some pressure off. Some people (e.g. ATC) consider a thru to be hiking the trail in a year. Have fun with the hiker bubble at spring break, do the Smokies and some of NC on weekends until June, then flip up to Kathadin to hike back to your endpoint. Not only will you make new SOBO friends, you will also see some earlier NOBO ones as well.

If you can't finish by end of summer, then just finish via weekend hikes, as you will be near Charlotte anyway.

Hosaphone
01-04-2013, 20:19
Finally, I'm not going to start the debate on can you or should you. As you may have guessed your desire to fast hike a trail is not new. Suggest you read this. http://Postholer.Com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=6182fcabed68cd7981e233593368d3 a9&entry_id=27590

Gooooood stuff. Reading the rest of the journal now...