READERS COMMENTS

I know few people will likely see this comment, so I am going to put this in all caps. NO MATTER HOW ULTRA-LIGHT YOU WANT TO BE, IF YOU HAVE ANY KIND OF BOWEL PROBLEMS YOU'RE GOING TO WISH YOU HAD MORE TOILET PAPER. I pulled out the cardboard tube and just took a portion of a roll. I was stupid. Fortunately, I came upon a park-maintained visitor center with a facility from which I took a small portion of toilet paper. Had this not been available, I would have had some of the worst rear-end problems. On a similar note, chaffing is oftentimes helped by applying neosporin. Just a few tips from a section hiker.
Posted: May 06, 2011 TRUST ME!!!!

I don't fear the bears getting at my food as much as I do the mice. I bought a Grubpack mouse proof food bag specifically for my treks on the Appalachian Trail. It's a lightweight, rodent proof backpacking food container. I hang it like a usual food bag. It's not a bear bag, but mice and squirrels can't chew through it. They are sold online. A yahoo/google search will find it.
Posted: Feb 11, 2011 Lauren Ryan

Hey Eric, don't think so much about bears. My experience has been the only way I see them is if they didn't see me first. Hang your food bag though. I use two pieces of kernmantle 3mm line 30 feet long and hang the food bag between two trees. Nothing has ever gotten it. I eat a lot of Mountain House, Ramen Noodles, Nutrigrain bars, some GORP. Get to a trail town and it's burgers, pizza, anything. Cook on an Etowah Outfitters alcohol stove with Heet in the yellow bottle as fuel. My pack with one to two weeks worth of food will weigh 30 to 35 pounds. I could get it down even lower than that because there are some wants in there along with the needs.
Posted: Jan 08, 2011 Rick a.k.a. Woollyworm

@Old Dog Dave
Hey I grew up hiking the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and am also a weekend warrior myself. The area has a lot to offer in terms of trails, and other places of interest. 7 miles south is Kirkridge shelter, super nice and clean. Heading north you will go through Delaware Water Gap. Stop by Edge of the Woods Outfitters if you need any supplies or information, they are located in town. The AT will cross the Delaware River via Rt. 80. From the Dunfield Creek parking area you can take the red trail hiking up the relatively steep Indian Head. That will loop back to the trailhead and the AT. Water Gap to Culvers Gap is a nice weekend hike, about 30 miles. North of Water Gap is Worthington State Forest. They have a designated backpackers site about 3 miles north of the trailhead @ Dunfield Creek, plenty of grassy tent sites, bear boxes, and an outhouse. Head north and you will see a sign for Mohican Outdoor Center which is run by the AMC, they offer a lodge and rooms to stay. The next shelter is Brink Road shelter about 24 miles north of Water Gap. New Jersey is full of Black Bears so watch your food. I also believe open fires are prohibited along the AT in New Jersey.
Posted: May 09, 2010 c29368

@Old Dog Dave
Hey I grew up hiking the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and am also a weekend warrior myself. The area has a lot to offer in terms of trails, and other places of interest. 7 miles south is Kirkridge shelter, super nice and clean. Heading north you will go through Delaware Water Gap. Stop by Edge of the Woods Outfitters if you need any supplies or information, they are located in town. The AT will cross the Delaware River via Rt. 80. From the Dunfield Creek parking area you can take the red trail hiking up the relatively steep Indian Head. That will loop back to the trailhead and the AT. Water Gap to Culvers Gap is a nice weekend hike, about 30 miles. North of Water Gap is Worthington State Forest. They have a designated backpackers site about 3 miles north of the trailhead @ Dunfield Creek, plenty of grassy tent sites, bear boxes, and an outhouse. Head north and you will see a sign for Mohican Outdoor Center which is run by the AMC, they offer a lodge and rooms to stay. The next shelter is Brink Road shelter about 24 miles north of Water Gap. New Jersey is full of Black Bears so watch your food. I also believe open fires are prohibited along the AT in New Jersey.
Posted: May 09, 2010 c29368

Is there anyone out there who is a weekend warrior like me? I only get Fri-Sun for Backpacking trips. Harriamen State Park is the closest AT connection for me. I have no desire to do the whole AT. But I Love 5 to 7 mile days with a nice secluded campsite. Does anyone have an opion about visiting the Deleware Water Gap area? What is the camping overnight in this area like? I love the outdoors, I just don't like focusing on getting from point A to point B before sundown. I like to experience nature not break the land speed record to get to the next shelter. Is this real Backpacking or should I keep my day job? I'm 60 years young.
Posted: Apr 26, 2010 Old Dog Dave

Hello All;

I could use some advice. I'd like to go on one last camping trip with day hikes. My wife is due in July with our first child so I feel the need to get this out of my system before it's too close to be able to leave for any length of time when she's near her due date. I live near Madison, Wisconsin and would like some advice on a great camping area with awesome views and hiking. I'm leaning towards the Appalachian Trail at this point. I don't have anywhere near the time for hiking it all, but if someone could recommend a few breathtaking areas where me and a buddy or two could camp and hike for a week to ten days I'd be grateful. Thanks!
Posted: Feb 28, 2010 Mike McKuen

Start slow 10miles/day for 30 days.
Wear lightweight knee braces, til you lose weight.
Eat cold food on trail. No need for cookware.
Just carry a spoon & Titanium cup.
Treat water as needed with ultraviolet treatment.
Carry chemical water treatment as backup.
Nylon shorts,UnderArmour tank top, one set long underwear and Montbell light down jacket with best lightweight rain gear you can afford is all the clothes you need. If pack weight is over 20# you're carrying too much.
Posted: Feb 15, 2010 2008 Thru Hiker Sitesee

Mice! They're the most obnoxious critters along the trail. They are voracious. To foil them try this.

Get two pieces, 3-4'long of 30lb. test monofilament line and tie a loop at each end. When you stop at night, eat, drink and be merry and then hang your pack and your food bag from the monofilament line in any shelter or in your tent.

Mice cannot climb the line. They will everything else.

Thus, foiled, mice will leave you alone.

I carried traps too and bated them with peanut butter and enjoyed ridding shelters of the critters. My record was 6 mice in 25 minutes in one shelter in the Great Smoky Mountains.

See you down the trail...

Shadow

PS...Enjoy!
Posted: Dec 31, 2009 Bert Nemcik, AT2002

All this advice is great. Everybody's right. I'm again attempting a thru hike come March, so being a hiker, I also have some opinions. If you take the approach trail from Apalachicola State Park, the big stream is the last water until Springer, so carry 3 liters. It's 8 miles but it feels like 20 up hill mostly. Better to skip the approach trail. Pee bottles are not a good idea. I would carry an additional light cheap bag that you can donate to a church for the early cold. Use your jet boil to turn your water bottles into a hot water bottles to sleep with. Jet boil is coming out with a lighter weight unit next year, but you can cut it down, drill out the plastic, ditch the cup.
Information makes the difference, where you are how far you need to go, next water, etc. Get the companion book. GPS with topo maps would be nice, too, if it is light enough.
You don't eat much food on the trail if you're a heavy man. 1 mountain house a night is sufficient to start with.
Be adaptable, shelters are removed, hostels close. Hammocks are the best sleep in warm weather. Take a syringe without a needle to clean/irrigate wounds & blisters. Wear nylon shorts, capaline shirt, nylon socks with nylon liners, no cotton. polypropylene long underwear while it's cold. Baklavas would be best, but you can't find them down South much.


Posted: Dec 30, 2009 Bubba

Having spent a few thousand miles on the AT I feel like an expert like everyone else. The most I did was 1000 in one summer. My opinion- take several weekend trips and a few week long vacations on the trail to tune up the gear you'll take. Food takes care of itself. The young can digest anything and turn it into miles. The older you get the better you must think about nutrition. When I went on the 1000 mie trip I was in the best shape of my life. Biked, hiked, ran, black belt, yoga. The trail whooped my ass. Period. The only way to get in shape has been spoken before here. Take it slow and hike your own hike. Also- life is good, the trail is good. Don't be afraid. It's the east coast and people are never far away. Emotional control is by far the deciding factor on who stays on the trail. It's an experience that will be the best time of your life, so rest when you have to and move it on down the trail when your body and mind says go. Love life and expect the best and you will have something inside you that will last the rest of your life.
Posted: Oct 04, 2009 daverep

Having spent a few thousand miles on the AT I feel like an expert like everyone else. The most I did was 1000 in one summer. My opinion- take several weekend trips and a few week long vacations on the trail to tune up the gear you'll take. Food takes care of itself. The young can digest anything and turn it into miles. The older you get the better you must think about nutrition. When I went on the 1000 mie trip I was in the best shape of my life. Biked, hiked, ran, black belt, yoga. The trail whooped my ass. Period. The only way to get in shape has been spoken before here. Take it slow and hike your own hike. Also- life is good, the trail is good. Don't be afraid. It's the east coast and people are never far away. Emotional control is by far the deciding factor on who stays on the trail. It's an experience that will be the best time of your life, so rest when you have to and move it on down the trail when your body and mind says go. Love life and expect the best and you will have something inside you that will last the rest of your life.
Posted: Oct 04, 2009 daverep

Thankx 4 the help. im 17 and just packed my bag lastnite. I live in Sc bt i Gtt walk there

Posted: Sep 30, 2009 Ninja

Also, yes, hiking the AT is not a complicated prospect. Pack like you normally would for any backpacking trip, head to one terminus or the other (south if it's March to mid-May or later if you push, north if it's mid-May or later, but note you need to reserve a spot in Baxter for the latter), get enough food for the first bit of trail (don't be afraid to be generous so you'll learn how much you need and so you can go slow if you want), and hike until the resupply point. Lather, rinse, repeat. I made my site reservation at Katahdin Stream a week in advance, packed and bought food the day before my bus ride to Medway, and was hiking up Katahdin the day after. Prepare to be slow at the start, adjust to the pace you prefer, and just keep at it; there's nothing complicated about a thru-hike except possibly getting enough time for it.
Posted: Mar 28, 2009 Jeff Walden (Mercury '08)

To ericleeobrien@hotmail.com:

Don't worry about bears. Really. At all. Every bear I saw on the trail bolted the other direction as soon as it knew I was near save for two that watched me from fifty or a hundred feet away and then wandered off. This included several that were thirty feet up in trees when they heard me (see one of them and you'll laugh uncontrollably at anyone who suggests climbing a tree to escape a bear) who were on the ground in two seconds and gone before I even thought to pull out a camera. Use bear cables/boxes (when available) or hang your food when you're in bear country (or when shelter registers note bear activity in the area) and you'll be absolutely fine. Appalachian Trail bears are more afraid of you than you are of them, period, full stop.
Posted: Mar 28, 2009 Jeff Walden (Mercury '08)

You all make it sound so complicated...One set of clothes,1 spare socks, long johns,Thermawrap jacket,Versalite bag,Z-rest pa (cut down)Golite Jam pack,rain gear,balaclava,sun hat and a pair of Chaco Z1 sandals. 11 and 17 lbs packs WITH food and water!!No stove,cold food bought along tha way and we had a GREAT time!

Chaco and Toesocks NOBO 2008
Posted: Feb 27, 2009 Steve "Chaco" Chase

I hiked the trail in 2008. It took seven months, but I took a lot of side trips to large cities for weekends and then some music festivals or fellow thru-hiker's homes for celebrations.

The best part about a NOBO thru-hike is the camraderie. You can't read about it and understand, but all thru-hikers feel a kinship with one another that might be similar to say, war veterans.

About the article, I agree with your take on food and planning. I'd say 1% of the people I met out there were successful in planning their trip. I gave up after two weeks. On food, it's the same, your tastes shift so drastically from week to week. You might dream about bananas one week or tortillas or ground beef. But if you only have some dried cous-cous casserole coming in your dropbox that you planned out seven months ago, something's going to either be dropped in a hiker box or shipped ahead at an extra and useless expense.

What I disagree with is your section on fitness. Sure, some fit people took to the Trail, but I also saw some downright skeletal people finishing, and I witnessed people in Damascas, VA popping out of the complimentary Trail Days wellness testing with 7 and 8 percent body fat, with the outlook grim that they would be able to eat enough in calories to sustain themselves.

Is it good to be in shape? Sure. But what that study you cite doesn't account for is the factor of "drive." It only stands to reason that people who can stick to a workout routine pre-Trail and be in superior shape will also stick to their thru-hike, but other people have drive besides the fit ones. I lost 25 lbs. on the AT. My girlfriend lost 20. Our friend DahWeHe lost over 50. Burrass over 50, as well. I can keep going ...

Stoves, too. Alcohol is correctly listed as the number one, but let's be real. The envy of the Trail? JetBoil. It's a lil' bulky, but it was awesome to behold and a constant source of wonder in the shelters. Shoes: switching out every 250 to 400 is needlessly wasteful, unless you're wearing reg. ol' trailrunners from Nike or something. Most mid-boots like the Keen Voyageur should last a hiker at least 600 miles. My girlfriend's ASOLO boots - it only took her two pairs to make the entire trail, and she didn't switch out the old ones until she'd made it all the way to Dalton, MA.

Anywho, there's a lot in here that's good, but there's a lot more that you can't know until you make it out there and try. With that said, go on and hike, dammit. It's the chance of a lifetime.
Posted: Feb 25, 2009 Voodoo

You people are amazing, telling someone they are completely wrong about trail food.
Food is personal, food is intimate.
Obviously people should stay away from processed foods.
Foods that are more like the ones that grow out of the ground are the best. How do you do this on the trail?
I recommend doing some dehydrating of things in season, it is worth it. Your body will thrive as opposed to breaking down.
At the end of the day you will be stronger as opposed to full of sugar, refined flour, and stimulants.
Take care of yourself, put real food in your body.
And if you feel that a map is helpful and might save your life, I say take one.
Hope everyone enjoys the trail, and support the causes that you love, buy local, eat less meat, recycle, and support other hikers.
Thanks
Posted: Feb 07, 2009 BS_hikestuff

Thank you to all you experienced hikers for the advice; I'm still in the dreaming stage myself for an AT ThruHike. I've contacted Harpers Ferry and received some preliminary information (including a surely someday-valuable hand-written letter), started a file, read and saved several long articles on the TH, and read an awesome book on "ThruHiking the Appalachian Trail" (exact title unsure). Thanks to your advice in these comments, I'll certainly adjust some of my original starting plans, such as starting in at least early March instead of April 1st and adapting a custom pace rather than a pre-planned 14-mile-a-day goal (it's easy to divide 2,180 miles by 150 days and come up with a cold number to use as a goal). As a push-mower grasscutter, doing about 500 lawns a season (April--November), I feel I have the capability; what I worry most about is bears. I'm surprised people don't write about their bear encounters more often, and would appreciate any comments to my email address. Should I carry pepper spray? A USMC fighting knife (is this even legal)? Do we have a backup plan for defending our lives as a last resort, or just have faith? I definitely don't want to wear a cowbell, as suggested in some articles so you don't spook a bear. My dream is to hike the AT, then move on to all the others: Lewis&Clark, Pacific Crest, Continental Divide, and the new American Discovery Trail. Then canoe the 1,000-Mile Waterway through the Everglades along south Florida's gulf coast. I don't need the rest of the world (foreign countries) with all we have right here in America to explore. If I was rich and unfettered with responsibilities, and had gotten America's adventures over with when I was younger, then maybe I'd have kayaking/trekking The Amazon River on my radar (read a great book something like "Rafting the Amazon", highly recommend, a documentary-type about a group of National Geographic writers/adventurers who wanted to find the source of the Amazon, all the way over on the west coast of South America, at first thought to be trickles of water and a small stream from snow melt high in the Andes, but turning out to be the less romantic, barely-perceptible drips from a huge, high glacier in Chile...still cool though...where they started their adventure as a hike and put in kayaks as soon as the drips turned into running beads of water and then tiny streams then rivulets and finally into the first large-enough stream to hold a kayak. It was like a prehistoric adventure, similar to the original Lewis & Clark Expedition, that is harder and harder to find in this day of expanding global inhabitation and "civilizing" the natural world). Anyhow, just thought you seasoned hikers would enjoy hearing a frame of mind from someone yet to strike out on The Trail and remember that stage of your pursuit(s). Do any of you thru-hikers want to do the other major trails someday?
Posted: Jan 30, 2009 ericleeobrien@hotmail.com

Oh yeh. For food, make sure you add stuff that makes food taste good. 50g worth of flavouring sachets isnt going to hurt you, and good tasting food goes down easier.
Posted: Jan 10, 2009 Rob

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