Thru-hike advice?

[captjet23]

Hi everyone. I am fairly new here. The idea for hiking the AT was just brought up to me recently. Seeing as how I have 7 months with nothing to do, and my father offered to resupply me whenever I need it through mail, I am going to attempt a NoBo through-hike starting in about a month (maybe less).

A bit of background: I have quite a bit of experience with camping and such from my youth, but the real survival skills and such, I'm not so sure about. I am quite fit, if a tad on the thin side. I am quite adaptable, and I think I would do fairly well on The Trail.

The plan: Starting from the southern trailhead, I plan to move fairly fast, as that's just how I do anything. That being said, I will probably take a few more rest days to explore, enjoy scenery, and just relax. I plan on doing yoga most mornings (I am an instructor) and I plan on meditating for at least an hour a day, but I walk quickly enough that it will easily make up for time lost. I would like to "rough it" most of the way. Seeing as how this isn't a whole lot on my wallet, I would like to spend as little money as possible. I am okay with sleeping on the ground or under a lean-to most nights, as I grew up camping like that. I like to enjoy a beer every now and then, but most anything I eat right now is food I make at work or things I cook from the farmers market, so there isn't really any fast food/diner cost. That being said, I don't really know how to pack food for multiple days of hiking. If anyone knows of any good recipe books or anything like that for long hiking trips, that would be excellent. I am an excellent cook, and I am hoping to be able to trade that skill as well as many others for favors and such along the way (I don't know how often that happens, but I love the barter system, and I hope to find others that do as well). I am currently putting together a gear list, but I have no idea what I'm doing in that field, so any help is much appreciated.

The gear: I don't plan on bringing a tent. From what I have read, a sleeping bag and tarp will be quite sufficient. I plan on bringing a water purifier, so if anyone has any small portable options, I seem to be having trouble deciding on what to get. I may bring a home-made stove, but tend to be good at adapting to situations, so if I need to ditch it, I should be fine with materials on hand in most places. I plan on bringing a compass and a map booklet outlining the trail for navigation. I have no idea what kind of boots I am getting yet, but I will be shopping for those next week. The same goes for clothing. I really don't know what type of clothing to bring for this trip, either. If anyone has any suggestions here, they are much needed. Food is, again, tentative. I plan on having a bit of an appetite change, seeing as how I am already going through an appetite crisis (I can only eat all natural food. I have trouble eating processed foods and things with high fructose corn syrup.) I plan on bringing a mycological field guide (if anyone knows of any good ones for just the AT, the smaller the better) as I also enjoy amateur mycology, and there are some delicious mushrooms to cook up in the forests of the Appalachians. Other things like a knife, rope, and other misc items I am trying to get together at the moment. This is all I currently have, and I feel desperately like I am missing a few things. I have a ton more research to do, so it will change, but any help you guys could give would be awesome.

Any questions or comments are most welcome. My main reason for posting this is because I just wanted to talk to other people about it. I am getting to the slightly scared point, and I would like some reassurance that I am on the right path. I also just love listening to other people's stories and would love to hear anything anyone has to offer towards making the trek a little easier.

[garlic08]

One of the beauties of the AT is that it is so diverse and there are as many reasons and goals for hiking it as there are hikers.

It will not exactly be a survival situation out there with a few brief exceptions in the higher country in the Southern Applachians and the White Mts in New England. The AT in its normal hiking season is relatively benign. There is a lot of pure spring water, for instance, lots of fuel for fires, lots of places to camp, lots of grocery stores, lots of places to buy more gear or send extra stuff back home, lots of way to bail out in inclement weather.

Many successful hikers start out winging it on their own, and you are wise to plan at least a little to find out what you're getting into. If you know you can hike 100 miles anywhere, you'll be able to accomplish an AT hike. It's definitely not a prerequisite, but a little experience with your gear and knowing how your body responds to consecutive days of hiking would be a good thing to have.

I'm a tad on the thin side too and that's better than overweight, believe me. Overweight seems to be the norm on the AT.

By the way, you are a very good writer--your post was easy to read, unlike many we see here.

Welcome to this forum and good luck.

[Slo-go'en]

For starts, you can read the many gear lists and comments which have been recently posted here. You are desperately missing a lot of things. Good luck with just a tarp. Having a real tent is highly recommended.

Yes, there are some good mushrooms in the woods, but your not going to have a lot of time to look for them if you plan on getting anywhere. Especially with all the other activites you have planned for the day. But there is always a chance you'll stumble onto something if you know what your looking at.

Having food sent from home can work, but in the long run, it might be easier and cheaper to just have dad give you food money and buy along the way with everyone else.

I would also highly recommend going to amazon and down loading the book "How to hike the A.T.: The Nitty -Gritty Details of a long distance hike" by Michelle Ray. She covers all aspects of hiking the AT and talks about a lot of things you probably would have never thought of.

[hikerboy57]

welcome to whiteblaze.
regarding your hour a day meditation, have you heard of walking meditation?

[SCRUB HIKER]

This sounds awesome. The only serious pre-trip preparation I can think of would be to take your tarp out into the backyard on a night that it's supposed to be raining and storming like hell, and make sure you can find a way to stay dry-ish underneath it. Garlic is right, you can wing almost everything on the AT and learn as you go, but it could storm hard the first night (or the first three nights in a row), and that is the one thing I'd rather know how to handle _before_ setting out. As for the rest of it ... you're clearly smart and clearly thinking ahead and clearly aware of your own limitations, which is more than 80% of everyone else out there has. You'll be fine.

You and your dad sound like the type of people who might be interested in food dehydrating. My girlfriend and I are just getting into it now (she's running a blog, dehydrationdoyenne.blogspot.com), and we've found some good websites, but this book, Trail Food from Ragged Mountain Press (http://www.amazon.com/Trail-Food-Cooking-Backpacking-Paddling/dp/0070344361), is our bible now. It's wonderfully old-school and specific to extended outdoor adventures. You might be able to find it at the Auburn library ... my girlfriend found it at ours, the University of Oregon, and got a six-month loan (grad students ftw).

Good luck on everything.

[brian039]

I'd suggest starting off easy then gradually increase your mileage. Less chance of injury that way.

The year I hiked there was a guy who made pancakes for breakfast and pizza for dinner wherever he camped, he made some money doing that but it slowed him down a lot. He still made it all the way.

I'd bring a tent, it gives you the freedom to camp anywhere you want. All the people who brought tarps ended up being shelter dwellers and shelters are lame.

You need to be adaptable and have a good sense of humor. Take your hike one resupply at a time and never think about Maine until you get there.

[captjet23]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I will be looking into getting a small tent if I can afford one. I will be getting a few more books, and expanding my list a lot. I never thought about injuries, and that is excellent advice that I will definitely keep in mind. I will be reading up on food dehydrating as well as walking meditation as well (I have had it mentioned, but never looked into it as a practice). I am thinking about going with some aqua mira drops instead of a purifier, for the carrying space, as well.

[fredmugs]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I will be looking into getting a small tent if I can afford one. I will be getting a few more books, and expanding my list a lot. I never thought about injuries, and that is excellent advice that I will definitely keep in mind. I will be reading up on food dehydrating as well as walking meditation as well (I have had it mentioned, but never looked into it as a practice). I am thinking about going with some aqua mira drops instead of a purifier, for the carrying space, as well.

Not sure if you want to pay for one but I love my Steripen. http://www.steripen.com/adventurer-opti/

[evan_rolltide]

RTR! Good luck to you! Hope to see you on the trail. I'd recommend checking out the "used gear for sale" section here. I bought my sleeping pad, tarptent, and hiking poles through it and saved some coin.

[Cary75]

I agree with scrub hiker, get a dehydrator. The people who don't use their own dehydrated food eat a lot of processed food. There are lots of trail cooking books out there. I like freezer bag cooking. Basically, you make a big batch of food (low fat) and spread wax paper on dehydrator trays to dehydrate. Once dry, put about half of what you would eat in a pint size freezer bag + press air out. When time for dinner, boil water, add enough to just cover food and let sit about 10 minutes. For fat, add some olive oil. It will be fairly easy to put together boxes for you dad to send you. When a box gets lost in the mail, you will probably get stuck with peanut butter and flat bread or whatever, but that isn't the end of the world once in awhile.

Good luck! You will have so much fun!

Btw, maybe a bivy would protect you from mice crawling on your face in the night, and allow you to camp away from shelters? But don't get one that weighs more than a pound.

Cary

[BigHodag]

As you have a limited budget, I suggest you spend some time at Sgt Rock's site and read his advice on dirt bagging and deal shopping.

http://hikinghq.net/dirtbag.html

Also, look over the many $300 challenge gear lists posted there.

http://hikinghq.net/300_challenge.html

Lacking a JetBoil 5000, you won't win any gear contests, but you'll have what you need to hike the A.T. Best wishes for success.

[Sly]

While some may disagree, I don't believe a water filter is necessary. Most water sources are mountain springs and not prone to contamination.