Electricity along the trail.

[zenribbits]

We have the need to recharge some batteries along the way. (About 10 a week) Does anyone know of some campgrounds or of any hostiles that have electricity? We don't really want to stay in many hotels along the way if we don't have to and we don't want to have to mail drop a rotation of batteries due to cost of mail and buying them in the first place. Also don't want to tax home anchors more than we have to. We will have a couple chargers to aid in recharge time, but will be planning on staying where we recharge. Any suggestions for any part of the trail would be very helpful.

[orangebug]

I can't recall any hostels without electricity, except for Rusty's in VA.

What sort of batteries are you recharging, and how long do you expect that chore to take each time?

[zenribbits]

We will be recharging camcorder batteries. It takes about 45 minutes to recharge each one, so about five hours or so of charging.

[orangebug]

And what do they weigh, including the recharger?

[zenribbits]

Not sure of the weight. They can't weigh much because the whole camcorder with battery and tape and memory card only weighs a combined pound three oz. *a pound and a half with "proper trail packing". I would guess somewhere between 5-10 oz/battery. The camera can recharge a battery in about 45 minutes. I am sure I can get a rapid charger to charge about twice as fast. I am not so worried about weight. Don't think it will be hard to keep this main portion of my gear under 7-8 total pounds. We are replacing our core gear with lighter alternatives to compensate for the extra weight and utilizing more mail drops.

[TDale]

Just get a solar cell charger and mount it on your pack!
http://www.batterymart.com/battery.mv?c=solarchargers

or one of these little hand crank chargers:
http://www.dynaco.com/Merchant2/merc...Category_Code=

Aaah, technology.

[SavageLlama]

Electricity on the trail? Yeah, about every fifth maple tree has an electric socket.

[orangebug]

I wonder how long the camcorder will last in the humidity and water of the AT. I've drowned my share of electronics.

[zenribbits]

We were looking more for hostels along the trail that people enjoyed and had electricity. Thank you for the links. They are, however the wrong type of chargers. They would be great for AA and AAA batteries, or if you had some electronic that would recharge off of a standard cell phone type jack. Unfortunately the Cam has a funky plug. Besides, I don't want the extra weight or bulk of a solar setup on my back. We think finding hostels we can recharge at will put the least impact on our hike and our wallets.



Orange, I plan on placing the cam in a waterproof-is three layer Ziploc system. Sucking out the air will save some space, and placing it in the middle of my pack should keep it padded enough while not in use. This should also keep it safe when fording even if the inside of my pack gets wet.