Thru-hiking The At

[Gris]

The completion of "Dave & Michelle's most excellent adventure" got me to thinking. For those of you that have actually thru-hiked the AT, if you could only give three pieces of advice/suggestions to a prospective thru-hiker what would they be...?

 

[chomp]

1) When the weather is nice, cook low and camp high. Sure, staying at a shelter with water nearby is very nice, but you can miss out on a lot of great campsites when you constrain yourself to camping with water. Instead, cook at a water source, fill up on h2o, and camp up high with a view.

2) Do a "nero" instead of a zero day in town. A lot of time, I would push hard to get to town, then be so tired that I would take a day off in town. Instead, camp out a mile or two away from town. Then, in the morning, walk in and take a virtual zero day. This way, you only have to pay for lodging for one night. If you do this, take a lazy day on the second day and just hike a few miles out of town.

3) Carry a NASCAR baseball hat. It makes hitchhiking in the "red" states a lot easier. But whatever you do, don't mention Jeff Gordon.

 

[post'r boy]

#1- no pain...
#2-no rain...
#3-no maine...
the hardest thing about hiking the A.T. is staying on it.
stay focused at all times.
wake up and hike.
alot of people lose focus,thus lose interest.
stick to your plan.

 

[Michelle]

1. Don't mail home that winter gear (if Nobo) until Pearisburg....we ran into snow flurries on Mt. Rogers (May 2)

2. Be on the lookout for poison ivy and deer ticks, check every night for those little buggers, amazing how small they are.

3. Take lots of pictures and get e-mail address of people you meet, you never know when someone will get off the trail and all you know is a trailname and the state they live in!

 

[John H Swanson]

not quite 3

1. Go lightweight but not ultralight. Optimize your gear before the trip and limit your pack weight without food or water to 20 pounds. Bring tough durable gear that won't fail. Don't compromize by leaving our essentials. You don't want to be sitting around camp in your smelly hiking gear because you decided to leave out your camp clothes. With lighter weight, you can do high milage days so you don't have to carry alot of food. 5 days at 20+ miles per day will get you to the next town with less food weight in your pack.

2. Mail supplies to yourself, but also mail a box from town to town with some back-up basics. This part costs some money as you will need to send the town to town box by priority mail to get it to the next town in time but it is good if you don't have a support network at home that can send out gear in a heatbeat. When you get to a town you want to wash everything so you see alot of hikers in the laundrymat wearing raingear. You know they're completely naked under that trenchcoat. Instead I would mail a set of comfortable cotton town clothes to from town to town. In this box you can also include some new socks, maybe a spare 256mb card for the camera, extra first aid supplies, boot laces, small replacement bottles of insect repellant, sunscreen, shoe grease, boot sole adhesive (shoo goo or barge cement), the summary copies of the databook so you can take the next sections you need, packing tape for mailing home gear as the seasons change.

3. Enjoy the town experience. Some of my best memories are from the towns, It truly compliments the trail memories. Plan to hit the town and relax and rejuvinated for a day. Get there when the post office is open (not sat pm or Sun) The guides and word of mouth will advise you of the "must do" facilites.

 

[Puck]

2. Be on the lookout for poison ivy and deer ticks, check every night for those little buggers, amazing how small they are.

Are chiggers a problem in the southern States?

Sorry to hear about the poison ivy problem. I have found the best treatment is jewelweed aka spotted touch me not. crush the stems and smear it on the rash. I have found that it works better then OTC ointments. It grows in moist soils.

 

[Peaks]

Well, let's see what I can add for suggestions.

First, minimize the number of mail drops. Try to resupply as much as possible along the way from local stores.

Second, hike your own hike.

Third, buy the ALDHA Companion or Wingfoot's Handbook.