Originally Posted by
Mags
I personally would not suggest putting on extra weight. Fat is just something you have to carry up and down the hills and taxes your body more.
Here's a good article that should help:
http://andrewskurka.com/2006/how-to-...ast-thru-hike/
My advice? If you can, try to get a week's backpack in doing the pace you plan. Not only is backpacking fun, but you'll get a chance to dial-in your gear and see if that type of pace is good for you.
~25 MPD is NOT super human (hell, I can do it), but it does require some discipline and experience that many first time AT thru-hikers do not necessarily have.
A one week backpack will help see if this pace if for you.
EDIT: HEre's my own take on water treatment
http://www.pmags.com/a-drop-in-the-w...eament-methods
As I always like to say
"There is no best gear!"
Great advice about the one week trip. If you are going to school in Charlotte, I would strongly recommend going to Springer and hike as far as you can Spring Break. This will do several things for you: experience on the trail you will be doing a couple month later,
shake down on your gear,
see if you really feel like those kind of miles,
meet a lot of "potential" thru hikers and see what their challenges are (at your pace you should get to meet a lot in a week)
chance to even meet some people who have previously thru hiked the AT,
great way to spend a spring break.