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I would never stay 2 nights in town. Instead, I'd either do a really short (less than 5 miles) day into town and get there in the early morning. Or else, I'd hang around all day after sleeping in...

I did some island hopping with my hammock last summer. I live in Vancouver and so ferried aroud to some of the Gulf Island (Mayne, Pender and Saturna) and walked and camped on beaches, etc. Good...

Yes. I have a mid-weight fleece that I bought about 5 years ago and I still wear it around town. On cool summer nights, I almost freeze. I'd never bring it into the forest anymore.

I did a bit of research into Lyme Vaccines before I left on my thru-hike and there were a few reports of bad, bad side effects for a certain group of people with a certain blood type or something...

Ditto with the Moosewood Cookbooks. The new one, "Simple suppers" or something along those lines is excellent. I've cooked probably half the recipes in it and only one has dissapointed me.
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Because after a long day of hiking I'm tired and lazy and usually didn't feel like finding trees and setting up my hammock. I also hiked alone all day so liked to talk to people at night.

I think any type of vigourous, cardiovascular activity would be helpful. The better shape your lungs and legs are in before the hike, the easier the first month will be for you.

Plus, if you...

I ate a decent amount of food out of hiker boxes but I would NEVER have depended fully on them! That just seems crazy. Sometimes there was nothing in them at all except mystery baggies of...

It sucked in 2004 and I was happy to only be stopping in for a lunch break and not the night. It's poor design is not really condusive to people actually sleeping in it. However, it is a beautiful...

When I finished 1500 miles on the AT, I was sick of backpacking and would only go on dayhikes, with friends, if they organized it! However, after about a year, I was back in form and ready to hit...

Duncannon, who doesn't like the Doyle? Erwin, Damascus.

I use the Go Lite Gust which doesn't have a frame. My solution is to roll my sleeping mat up loosely and put it in my pack and then put everything in the middle of it (if that makes sense). It...

Forget the underwear. I never wear any while hiking and find that the airflow cuts down on chafing considerably.

But if you do wear underwear, never, ever, ever wear cotton.

You can buy single package laundry detergent at laundromats or hostels will have detergent. Don't bother putting it in maildrops.

Also, everyone just dried their gear and didn't stress. If...

I would say you should be fine with one stove. An option would be to take two pots. Then cook and share round one. While you're eating that, cook round two. Eat and enjoy.

People that I hiked with in 2004 liked Lafuma...they're a Canadian company. Well-made, not too heavy and easy on the walled

I met a guy in 2004 who basically ate MREs the whole way. He got them cheap from a friend or something. While they did appear to be tasty and convenient, he carried substantially more weight in...

Ditto with the staying in shape year-round. Swim, run or bike to keep your lungs healthy. Lift some weights to keep your upper body strong.

Diet: lay off the empty calories. Empty calories...

On my AT hike, I went light and just used a mini LED light that weighed less than an ounce. I didn't plan on hiking at night. I rarely got up at night to go to the bathroom. I got up early enough...

I got Ehrlichiosis from a tick bite in 2004 and it ended my hike. I was too weak to keep walking and so I went home and still felt horrible almost 2 months later.

I remember doing some internet research into this a couple years back. There were enough horror stories about the vaccine to convince me that it wasn't worth it. However, this is just hearsay, do...

Grad School Student

I use socks when I hike in mine too. Some smartwools or something should do the trick.

Every 5-10 days, I would try to get to a shower and a laundromat. Besides that, I would use some alcohol hand sanitizer after wiping my butt and that was about it for hygiene. I also brushed my...

I hike with a thin pair of poylpro liner gloves. They are perfect because you can still hold your poles or whatever pretty well and also you can wear them while operating your stove/setting up your...