I've decided to do a spend my precious few vacation days hiking in the rain around the wonderful Pemi Loop. My backpacking experience is not the Whites and thus I want to make sure I am fully prepared. I want to preface this by saying I do have experience, I pack smartly, and I heed warning signs. Just in case anyone things I'm young and dumb haha.
My main questions are:
- Do I need boots? I typically backpack in the Berkshires on the AT in sneakers and have no issues.
- Do I need a sleeping bag? I see most gear lists have around a 35 degree bag included. Most of the time in the Berks I slept fine with a fleece liner and a silk liner, plus I carry midweight base layers/socks/hat.
- Can I use my hammock? I've read reports of their use, I plan to camp at Liberty Spring, Garfield, and Guyot most likely.
- Bear bag? Its not a whole lot of extra weight but I read some of the AMC sites have bear boxes.
Any and all helpful tips will be much appreciated.