Gear List and Mail Drop Itinerary

[Kc Fiedler]

I assume you're keeping a journal somewhere online? I'd like to follow this one. I might see ya up in NH or ME when I flip around to SOBO in late July.

I am not keeping a journal although I am sure I will write about it after I get back. Hope to see you up there!

KC-
I'm with ya buddy-Your hike is very doable- you just need some fine tuning to give it your best shot. Happy to help if I can, so are a few others.

A bit of advice if you want it-

Gear-
As long as you are a warm sleeper and have your hammock system down you will likely be fine. On a speed hike a few cold nights won't kill you. Assuming you plan on bringing the Nano Puff as your safety piece you should be okay. You could probably lose the bottom thermals at those temps.

OTH- it may make more sense to have a slightly warmer bag in lieu of the nano and thermal undies as you won't likely wear them at any time other than sleep. You won't be sitting around camp much in your jacket- so might as well put the pound into a 35 degree quilt instead. Add the jacket for the whites/southern maine only.

Extra battery for the E+ lite is only a few grams. Are you night hiking? You may be a little light on your battery/main lamp set up if so, but that time of the year you may not need it. If not night hiking at all- ditch the BD and AAA batteries and go with just the E+.

Keep the bear bag and line- light enough even if you don't sling your food every night.

Water storage missing as mentioned.

Bleach- Matt Kirk "used" bleach. It works fine just remember that the residency time is what's needed to make it work like all chemicals. In the heat of the summer will you want to stay patient? You have a bandana- but what will you use to pour/strain silty/dirty water. No biggie really- just think on it and have a plan.

Resupply/itinerary-
Start with your daily- IMO it's not realistic only because you have ignored the trail itself. Regular 4 month hikers hit high 30's in the easy parts and low teens in the hard ones. You should plan for the same. I see pretty average miles daily miles all the way through your schedule. Matt Kirk held average, but Jen Davis and everyone else has mileage all over the place. Likely you will see the same.

I included two sheets for you to look at- both 90 day schedules based upon Map Man's average speeds for hikers. One is the true average, one is a speed hiker average. (I can explain more if needed but, long story short- these schedules help you take into account the fact that you could be busting some 30's in the middle of the trail and some 15's in the whites. That is real life- plan for it and your goal will be easier to achieve. It's futile to try to hold an average in the hard spots, and silly not to stretch your legs in the easy sections.

Once you build a more realistic daily schedule you can build better resupply's around it. One big thing missing from your sheets is the actual day. You will likely need a few P.O.'s. Once you have it locked in you can slide your actual start day based upon the projected day of the week you will hit those P.O.'s. You will likely find if you slide your start date around a bit you can time your p.o's to hit on a Wednesday- the perfect day as that leaves you two days in either direction to play with before you hit a weekend.

You also need to look harder at holidays- you are resupplying at a state park on july 4th. Maybe you called and that's fine- but check that stuff too.

Nero's- I think every speed hiker here and elsewhere has preached the benefits of doing resupply's in combo with a shorter mile day. Arrive in the afternoon, sleep in and leave a bit late. By doing two back to back days at 75% of your average miles you build a rest day without taking a rest day. At 90 days you have time for it. Simply hitting town in the afternoon and having a lunch, dinner, breakfast, bar visit etc. is a nice break and you're still out of town by 10:00am.

Supplemental supplies-
Either I missed it or you didn't show it well- one of the greatest things about moving quick on the AT is that you pass food all the time. You don't seem to be taking advantage. You shouldn't need to carry much more than 4 days at 25MPD. That doesn't mean resupply every 100 miles but it does mean you may pass a gas station or other chance for a meal to make a three day supply stretch to five trail days.

Review the attached resupply sheet for some ideas, but simply put- if you pass a hot dog stand on day 3 of a stretch, grab lunch and dinner there and don't carry a lunch and dinner for that day.

Continued best of luck!

It very well might make more sense to have a warmer bag and ditch the nano but that's not the way the cookie crumbled this time.

Having used the BD and the E+ I find that the E+ runs out of batteries much quicker and doesn't provide me with the light I'd like for possible night hiking in some sections. I do not plan to hike into the dark on a regular basis but I do expect that I will be setting up camp in the dark from time to time and maybe making a few extra miles into the night every once in a while. The illumination on the BD is just so much more preferable. I will continue my search for a lighter high lumen option, but I think for now I'm happy enough with the BD.

I will most likely be hanging my food 90% of the time. The itinerary I have set up (which I will be revising thanks to the wonderful input from some of you) is really just for benchmarks. I do not plan to actually camp at the exact location outlined on the itinerary, it's just to keep tabs on my progress. Ideally I'll get to and then hike a short distance past my destination for each evening.

I like all of your input on the itinerary and I will put it all to good use! Thanks a lot. I will check into the holidays, and my itinerary (as it stood) had all my PO resupplies on a Wednesday already with a May 10th start date. But I'll have to juggle the numbers again as I reform my daily. I will put your attached documents to good use! Thanks a lot for the tips and help.

Here are a couple of suggestions.
1) Break you your 160 mile resupply and even your 132. I would not suggest going longer than 5 days max and would target 3 days if possible. Also, I would not limit yourself to maildrops only. You can easily add a couple days worth of food and carry the special mail stuff for both the mail and store legs.
2) do not underestimate what a meal or hot shower will do for mental health. It may seem to be a waste of time but will help in the long run.
3) I believe your 4300 calories will be way too low, unless you either way 120lbs or have a fair amount of excess fat. I would target 1 calorie per mile per lb of body weight (including pack).
4) often you can hitch into town quite easily. I wouldn't rule that out.
5) take a look at this mileage summary from my PCT hike. While a different trail there are many similarities. the Sierra is conceptually like the Whites in regard to lower mileage, especially the year I did it. For an total average of 26.5 total I had 19 days at 35-45mpd. If you look here http://postholer.com/journal/viewJou...entry_id=26640 you will find the breakdown of mileage on full hiking days. For the most part I put about the same effort toward each day yet there were major variations in daily mileage. You will need to plan for that and bank miles early in the hike to offset harder miles up north.
6) gear. You have that dialed in.
7) water treatment. I would suggest getting a full course of metronidazole in case you end up with giardia. I took that with me as part of my first aid kit. PM me and I can let you know how to get it if you want.

enjoy, drop me a note when up you hit PA.

Malto,

Again, thanks for the input and insight. I will keep it all in mind. I agree that 4300 is pretty low, and I'll continue to do my best to improve that. I am a pretty small guy but even so I'd probably be better served (ha, pun) in the 5000+ range. I will think hard on your advise and use it the best I can!

[Kc Fiedler]

KC-

Review the attached resupply sheet for some ideas, but simply put- if you pass a hot dog stand on day 3 of a stretch, grab lunch and dinner there and don't carry a lunch and dinner for that day.

Continued best of luck!

JB,

What are the numbers in the NOBO column? I'm having a bit of a hard time really deciphering Map Man's table data. You linked an 18.5 mpd and a 25 mpd spreadsheet... can you help me digest what's going on in the spreadsheets?

I have the general idea, and it seems super helpful but I'm still a little lost in the numbers.

Also, the spreadsheet for resupplies is PURE GOLD!

[colorado_rob]

...
3) I believe your 4300 calories will be way too low, unless you either way 120lbs or have a fair amount of excess fat. I would target 1 calorie per mile per lb of body weight (including pack).
4...

Never heard that rule of thumb, interesting. I don't know KC's physique, but for myself, I burn about 3500 a day doing 20 mile days (carefully kept track of because I use mailed resupply with known calorie content), and I weigh right about 200 with pack (175 + 25 average), so I run under that rule of thumb personally.

Read Bill Bryson's book sometime: "A Brief History of Everything". Great book. He talks about how remarkably efficient the human body is for walking, or used to be when we walked all the time. I believe this is what happens on long hikes; we become hyper-efficient with walking, our bodies tune in so well.

Anyway, I think for a reasonably fit person, 4300 is probably too high for daily calorie consumption for KC's average MPD. Just going by my own body here though, I know what I ate and that I did not lose weight.

[rafe]

Is Tarlin's 2007 resupply list posted on WB somewhere? It's pretty comprehensive. If not, I can post or PM a copy. I have no idea if he's done updates.

[Kc Fiedler]

Post a copy if you can I'd like to see it.

[rafe]

Jack Tarlin's AT Resuppply info, 2007.

[Lambarrassment]

I'm using two 1/8" closed cell foam pads one in the pack body to give the pack rigidity and shape and another in the back panel to replace the stock "sit light" pad. I pulled out the aluminum frame to shed the 3.something ounces it adds and removed the pouch that normally holds a water bladder.

I still need to shorten all the straps and then re weigh the pack.

The double closed cell pad works for me because I'm hammock ing and it fills the need for insulation, pack rigidity, etcetera. Might not work for everyone.

Nice! I'm still a ground-dweller for the time being, so I need a little bit more from my back. That said, I've fooled around with a folded full-length inflatable pad in the back pocket, and so far even that works better than I expected. I think I'm ditching the aluminum stay, too. Good to hear that works for you!

[Just Bill]

KC-
Map Man's relevant article- http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/cont...T-Hiking-Rates See table 3 for where the numbers came from.

As far as the two sheets- one is for average hikers, one for speed hikers. What's the difference? Do you have your trail legs or not? Basically will you hit the ground running or will you take your time building up to speed? (there is no right answer)

Both posted as "attachment" with no name so sorry for the confussion.
The NOBO column- these numbers are directly from Map Man's data for the average MHPD. For the average hiker's sheet- I used his average numbers from table 3. For the speed hiker sheet I made an assumption- if you were in shape (you have your trail legs) then you could use the best number for each section and create a "speed hiker" average, although "trail legs" average is really more accurate and it would apply to any hiker in shape when they start regardless of intended pace.

What is cool about it- assuming the hiker is in shape, and putting in a full day then it shows more accurately how fast you will travel and reduces the big variables down to the relative difficulty of each section of the trail. We all agree the middle is easy, and the whites are hard- but what is interesting is that the average NOBO actually moves slower from Fontana to Springer(11) than they do in the Whites(11.4). While a SOBO hiker is nearly 53% faster than a NOBO on the Fontana to Springer section. For the average NOBO, the whites are 4% faster (easier) than the start. But averaging the best times, you can see that the speed hiker finds the start 47% faster (easier) than the whites. Even the queen of the trail dropped from a 46MPD average down to 33 MPD- a roughly 30% drop in speed.

Interestingly in the whites both groups were nearly equal (11.4 vs 11.1) which proves the old adage- you can only go as fast as the trail will let you.

The 18.25 MPD sheet is the average calculator, the 25MPD sheet is the speed sheet. I picked a number that would finish in 90 days (hiking days to complete). You can see though that a slower start (18.25) is a harder trip. You have to travel faster in the hardest parts and pull a 28 mphd average (lots of 30's with resupply) in VA and hold nearly 20 through the rough stuff. But hitting the trail in shape and going steady means you can go strong but not crazy (minimal 30's) and be closer to 17.5 MPD in the tough stuff.

Why you need it-
The reason I shared this is so you can better set up your daily itinerary and better set your resupply's up. Your "average it out" strategy is setting yourself up to fail. If you keep your effort steady and "take the miles the trail allows you" then you will fight the trail less and enjoy the effort more. You can then set up your daily goals more in line with the relative difficulty of the trail and not fight your schedule as hard. Eerily this "formula" is within 3% of JPD's 46 day hike. Unlike Matt Kirk, Jen had a more typical "up and down" hike regarding daily miles.

As you said- no you won't camp exactly where you plan every night. But if you know yourself and the trail well enough then you will hit/time your resupply's better, which is important. The daily's get you in the ballpark and then the law of averages kicks in and covers your real life mileages. If those daily miles don't match the section of trail you will fight your schedule the whole time.

MOST IMPORTANT-
Be honest with yourself. I recently nearly destroyed a very good LT trip by trying to set a record. You can read the trip report for more details if you like, but moral of the story- Whatever number you plug into the spreadsheet make sure it's a real number that you are comfortable with. Last season I was focused on putting together a 60 day trip, if I would have settled on a 90 day and the trail was kind to me I could be telling you all about it instead of cautioning you in your attempt and crying about my failures.

If 90 days is real, if 25mpd start in Georgia makes sense- AWESOME! If you think you'd rather go easier and ramp up, then the 18.25 trip makes sense. But if 95, 100, 120 days makes sense that's still pretty damn fast and a fine effort. Looking back on my last season I wish I had a ninety under my belt instead of a busted 60 day attempt.

Sorry to cry in your beer or project my worries on your hike- I'll get off the barstool now.

I wish you the best of luck in FINISHING your hike- no matter how fast it is.

The OP and spreadsheet for the average calculator-
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...to-hike-the-AT

The OP and discussion for the speed hike sheet-
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...-is-this-right

[Lint]

Don't let the fearmongers cramp your style! I did the AT in 98 days one year, and plan on an even faster finish this year. Sub 90 days ain't that difficult if you aren't partying and wasting time in town. Hell, in 2010 I got drunk ALL THE TIME and still finished in less than 100 days.

But be prepared for a bunch of nerds telling ya "you can't enjoy the trail going so fast", "you're cheating by going so light", and my personal favorite...."No way you're a thru hiker, you look like a day hiker!".

All your gear/resupply info looks tight. Now go mash the miles!

[Kc Fiedler]

Lint, you just became my favorite Whiteblaze member.

[Kc Fiedler]

Thanks to Just Bill for giving me the hiking speed data tables. My itinerary has been completely redone.

My itinerary now includes every instance of short and long term resupply available (within my requirements of being on or very very close to the trail, and avoiding hitching) and has zero post office resupplies.

For anyone looking to do a fast thru hike this year, this itinerary would be an excellent starting point. You can find it here if it will help anyone. (Same link was posted on the first page).

If anyone has time on their hands to do a review of my itinerary and check for errors or make suggestions, please do.

Thanks everyone, I'll be on the trail in two weeks!

[showtime_]

Thanks to Just Bill for giving me the hiking speed data tables. My itinerary has been completely redone.

My itinerary now includes every instance of short and long term resupply available (within my requirements of being on or very very close to the trail, and avoiding hitching) and has zero post office resupplies.

For anyone looking to do a fast thru hike this year, this itinerary would be an excellent starting point. You can find it here if it will help anyone. (Same link was posted on the first page).

If anyone has time on their hands to do a review of my itinerary and check for errors or make suggestions, please do.

Thanks everyone, I'll be on the trail in two weeks!

Hey KC,

Thanks for the itinerary. I am planning a very similar hike this June and was wondering how it worked out for you?

[Kc Fiedler]

Hey KC,

Thanks for the itinerary. I am planning a very similar hike this June and was wondering how it worked out for you?

Hey man. I didn't make it through, I ended up pulling myself off due to a knee injury that refused to improve. Since I'm a full time ski instructor, I had to make the decision to be conservative with my knee. I'm glad I did.

Everything about the plan still should work fine. Tailor it to your own needs.

One thing that I learned about myself while limping along on my bum knee for a few weeks was that I ended up enjoying the company on the trail as much or more than the hike it's self. Just my two cents.

Have fun out there!

[showtime_]

Hey man. I didn't make it through, I ended up pulling myself off due to a knee injury that refused to improve. Since I'm a full time ski instructor, I had to make the decision to be conservative with my knee. I'm glad I did.

Everything about the plan still should work fine. Tailor it to your own needs.

One thing that I learned about myself while limping along on my bum knee for a few weeks was that I ended up enjoying the company on the trail as much or more than the hike it's self. Just my two cents.

Have fun out there!

You don't work, you don't eat! Wise choice, IMO. Was it from overuse or did you bang it up?

I've been hiking most days to get my ligaments, muscles and joints used to it, and trying to get the harder hikes with more elevation change and distance in on the weekends. Plenty of people say you can't start off hiking 20s, but if you're already in shape and have trained for it I don't see why not, barring injury.

[Kc Fiedler]

You don't work, you don't eat! Wise choice, IMO. Was it from overuse or did you bang it up?

I've been hiking most days to get my ligaments, muscles and joints used to it, and trying to get the harder hikes with more elevation change and distance in on the weekends. Plenty of people say you can't start off hiking 20s, but if you're already in shape and have trained for it I don't see why not, barring injury.

It was an overuse injury. I even got off trail for a full 5 days to let it rest and it still just wouldn't heal up.

I agree that it's possible to start out with 20's but when I do it again, personally, no matter how much training I do before hand I'll be more conservative out of the gate.

I think my biggest mistake was not being cautious on my down hills when I was still fresh. At the time it felt fine but I'm fairly certain that my lack of caution (lots of relatively high impact downhill walking on the knee) eventually was the precipitating cause of the overuse.

Walk like lightning on the flats, and up hills of you have the aerobic capacity, but take the downhills at a snails pace.

Anyways, I'll be back in sections of the trail this summer. Good luck out there my friend!