I thought I would bring this 78 mile trail up to date, as I hiked it last week, from the beaches of Charlestown north to the Massachusetts border. Note: once you reach the Mass. border, there is a 2 mile hike out...
First, sources. There is an excellent book by Cliff Vanover, called "The North South Trail." 180 pages long, it has 2 sets of maps, 1:120,000 and 1:24,000. These were very accurate. The book details the walk northbound in detail, including historical information. Alternate paths are also reviewed. Unlike the AT guides, however, there is no information on resources for a thru-hiker, such as water locations. The trail is well marked, but at a few intersections, the map and description kept me on the correct path. In addition, rigreenways.org has some online maps, though not much more information.
As I said, the trail is well-marked, with a combination of blue blazes and/or plastic N/S trail logo signs. About a third of the trail is made up of paved and unpaved state roads, another third of 4-wheeler or worse dirt roads through overgrown woods, with many rutted and rocky sections, and the remainder nice hiking paths through the woods. Though there is little vertical (800+ feet) in RI, several stretches were somewhat technical, enough to keep it interesting.
This was a warm-up hike for me. I'm doing the AT next year, bought most of my gear, but had only done some overnight hikes and Mt. Marcy this year. I averaged 16 miles a day, stealth camped twice, stayed in two campgrounds, got rained on one night, and had temps from 40 degrees to 95 degrees on my last day.
Lessons learned:
- I'm 61. My starting pack weight, with 8 pounds of food and 2 liters of water was about 32 pounds. Regardless that I was stronger on day 5, I found that for me, 5-6 pounds was MAJOR, the difference between a leisurely jaunt and a burden.
- Clark NX-250. I love this hammock! At 3 pounds with whoopie sling, it's heavy, but the comfort plus 6 storage pockets is a good tradeoff. I use a Hammock Gear cuben tarp, which is awesome, and an HG 20 degree quilt, also awesome at 20 ounces!
- My ULA Catalyst is "heavy" at 3 pounds; I'm going to try Chris' OHM 2.0 and Circuit to check the tradeoff of comfort and support vs. weight.
- I need to work on my clothing weight. I have the right materials, Merino, etc, but perhaps not the right weights.
- Cookware. I erred on the large size here, buying an Evernew 1.3 liter pot, with the complete Caldera Tri-Ti, wood burning setup at $180. Though is works fine, I'm a canister person, so will sell this alcohol/Esbit/wood setup for 25% off, at $135 shipped. Comes with a cozy for free.
- Trail runners. I'm sold. I hiked all summer with high top boots, and decided to give low cuts a shot. Well, to me, the weight difference and quick to dry is worth the protection trade-off.
To-do
- Reduce pack weight.
- Get in better shape. I need a plan to work out over the winter here, with a late March launch. Any suggestions?
- Insulation: I have some 1/8" foam that works great below 40 degrees for me, but sucks on the ground if I go to shelter. My air mattress comes in at 20 ounces. I want the flexibility of both, but not the weight... Thoughts?
- Practice: breaking down camp, from crawling out of the bag until pack on the back, took me about 90 minutes each day with a hot breakfast. I want to get that down to under an hour. Is that reasonable?