Hi all!
I'm a college student planning on doing a 2.5-3 month section hike with my girlfriend this summer. We have from mid-May to late August off school (total of 104 days), but want to be home for a few weeks towards the end. We both have hiking/camping experience– she grew up hiking in the Whites near her home in New Hampshire, and I did a NOLS course (30 days) in Wyoming a few years back. We plan to hike northbound, and want to make it to Katahdin by the end of the summer. We were wondering:
Where would be a good place to start? Some ideas we had were:
- near McAfee Knob, starting around Catawba, VA (too far to make it all the way?)
- near Harper's Ferry (would we be starting with a less-amazing part of the trail?)
- somewhere in between?
For those of you who have thru-hiked the PCT as well– is there any reason you recommend we do that instead? AT is logistically easier for us, being on the East Coast, but we realize that the PCT has perhaps more dramatic views and nicer weather, and we would be really excited to do that as well.
What would y'all recommend for food planning? We would love to cook nutritious meals– should we plan on mailing ourselves a bunch of stuff, or on buying bulk staples every week (grains/cheese/veggies)? We also have access to a dehydrator.
Gear questions: Trail runners or boots? Tent, 2 person bivy, or hammocks? Do we need puffy/down jackets, or will a simple mid-weight insulated jacket+layers underneath suffice? Can I bring my Whisperlite Universal (I like flame control for frying/baking) or should we go for a different stove? Is there any other gear you LOVED that we might not have thought of beforehand?
Thanks so much for answering whatever you can we are so excited for this experience and to join this amazing community of people!