Preparation for a 2000 Mile Thru-Hike?

[Erik 1]

Thank you guys. This thread has been very helpful. I really appreciate the info.

[Heavy Metal]

^This was not a light pack. On purpose! These pictures were taken on Caturday.

In the summer, I hike a local stretch about three evenings a week That takes me about 45 min to get to. I have a 4.2 mile circuit I hike with a 45lb pack including going up around 800ft from 2300 to 3100 ft ASL. My personal best is about 1hr and 32min for that 4.2mile circuit and that included a 5 min hydration break at the summit.

Took me two and a half hours Saturday with no break. The uphill part took about 45 min longer than normal. Parts were frozen and treacherous. One really steep part had an amalgam of frozen leaves and snow and the slope was 45 degrees. One slip would have put me way down the mountain in that section. Not steep enough to kill me but it would have been very difficult to get back up.

Just wearing smartwool socks and Gore-tex lined Danner TFX boots along with Swiss snow-gaitors. After 20 min, I had unzipped my coat and removed my gloves. Temp was in the 20's.










The 5th of December 09, I did it in the snowstorm at the very end of the storm, it really smoked me good that day! I was well-conditioned that winter, hitting the treadmill with my pack three time a week and it smoked me royally. Snow was about 5-6 inches at the top.

[91Bravo]

You're backpack is your survival kit. You won't need a seperate survival kit. Weight is the trip killer.

Food. We spent roughly $650 last year on 32 days of Mountain House meals (breakfast and dinner) and beefjerky, powerbars, Cliff bars etc for lunch and snacks. About $20 a day to eat well. But our resupply situation was different. We had to mail 5 gallon buckets of food to 7 different places (A fishing camp, general store, dude ranch and post offices). On the AT you can buy basics in towns or general stores along the way. There is a list of Post Offices near the AT that you might consider. It's on one of the Appalachian Trail Conference sites. Just mail a 5 gallon bucket to yourself c/o General Delivery. Be sure to have a drivers license along to ID yourself to the postmaster. Logistically you might just buy things along the way. You're not likely to find good Mountain House though.

If you need logistic support in Pennsylvania PM me.

[LowSpeed_HighDrag]

Ive only done 4-8 day backpacking trips in the past, but I am a gear queer and this have some very nice packs. My favorites so far are:

for 40-60 lbs I love my Osprey Aether 70.

For deep winter trips or anything that may cause me to pack in over 60 lbs I use my Arc'Teryx Bora 95.

For the last 100mi hike we did, my Osprey felt great and was nice to have when coupled with a fanny pack.

This is about the only advise I can give as Ive never attempted such a feat, but it sounds amazing.

[LaVista]

^^The Pennsylvania A.T. Section is a huge pain in the ass. For literally a hundred miles in either direction the shelter trail registers warn you to "Get ready for PA's rocks!". I'll never forget the misery of hiking through the lehigh gap exposure zone, or the knife's edge.

I still preferred to have a small survival kit, along with some EDC items that I pocket carried. My packing philosophy loosely follows the concept of 1st, 2nd, 3rd line equipment. While out on the appalachian trail I did hear of one hikers backpack getting stolen. It wasn't known if people took it or if an animal got it, but his gear was gone either way. Additionally while very rare, if you are attacked by an animal you may have to ditch your pack just so that you can run away/survive. Bears out west in Yosemite know about backpacks and will steal them to get at food, or mock attack hikers to get them to drop backpacks. I can only assume that bears on the east coast have or will eventually have this knowledge.

Every day as soon as I woke up I'd put my pants on and immediately make sure that my Garmin Foretrex GPS was affixed to my wrist, that my Nitecore Defender tac-light was in my left cargo pocket (140 lumens high/low/strobe modes off 1 AA battery), that my Leatherman Wave was in my right cargo pocket (and lanyarded), and that I had a couple of powerbars/granola bars on my person. I also carried a "rite in the rain" pad & pencil. I would write down our plan of action, and any waypoints we were using for the day and the distances involved. The GPS had resupply waypoints as well as every previous nights campsite, so that if I did get badly lost I could backtrack to a previously known waypoint & try again. In addition to those items I also pocket carried a Defense Tech pepper spray. They make a small cannister with built in belt-clip that is the perfect size & weight for a backpacker who wants to be able to fight back but not necesarily carry a 2-3lb concealed carry piece.

In addition to my pocket carried equipment I did have a small Outdoor Research dry-sack with some basic survival gear to supplement my loadout. At night I would hang my pack from a tree adjacent to my hammock, and would bring this small stuff sack into my sleeping bag with me. Inside was batteries for my GPS, light & blackberry, water purifying tabs, fox-40 whistle, signal mirror, and a couple of fire starting tabs, bic lighter, and a sharpie marker. Between the gear in that stuff sack & the contents of my pants I would probably be able to make the next town or major road for a self-rescue.

[EchoMirage]

dont forget tens of thousands of people have been through hiking the AT long, LONG before anyone had cel phones, sat phones, ham radios, etc. you dont 'need' any of them. nice to have, sure, but 'needed', no. last summer i met a guy through hiking the AT. he was in his late 50s, and has done it 6 times. the most hi tech thing he has was a plain cel phone, which he only recently started using.

read up from people who have done it, paying most attention to the 'old timers' who have done it without anything new or tacticool. youd be amazed at what you can do with so little.

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/index.php?

[serevince]

dont forget tens of thousands of people have been through hiking the AT long, LONG before anyone had cel phones, sat phones, ham radios, etc. you dont 'need' any of them. nice to have, sure, but 'needed', no. last summer i met a guy through hiking the AT. he was in his late 50s, and has done it 6 times. the most hi tech thing he has was a plain cel phone, which he only recently started using.

read up from people who have done it, paying most attention to the 'old timers' who have done it without anything new or tacticool. youd be amazed at what you can do with so little.

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/index.php?

SACRILAGE! You must have the latest, coolest gear out there. Preferably before anyone else.

ALL of my gear is either cuben fiber, or Ti.


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[91Bravo]

Your trip has me intrigued. I dug this out from my long distance trip. Sorry about the formatting.

John Muir Trail Gear List

Revised 9/10/2008

Wear

Poly shorts Rinses out and dries quickly.
DriLite T-shirt
Drilite jockey shorts
1 pr hiking sox
1 pr Mountaineering boots I could go lighter but I feel safe in these.
Web belt w plastic buckle The plastic buckle gets thru airport scans
Sun hat Light color wide brim, sprayed with DWR waterproofing
Hiking Poles I felt these helped us dramatically on ups and downs allowing 2 65 year old guys to walk 240 miles without any injury whatsoever. They better balance a top heavy pack.

In Pack

Lowe Contour IV back pack Latest technology pack bought last year just for this trip
Camelback bladder 2 liters w tube My partner used 2 liter Lexan bottles
2 Additional 2 liter bladders Used every evening to make filtered water for meals
Water Filter – MSR With fresh filter
Lexan Bottle 1 liter Needed for filter to work – Used my partners
Sleeping bag – rated to 15deg Down - 2 lbs on the AT a 30 deg bag would be lighter
Thermorest Pad – 3/4 length Lighter and more comfortable than foam
Thermorest repair kit We needed this.
Black Diamond Mountaineering Tent “Firstlight”
W pegs, poles & lines 2lb 6 ozs. Cozy but light and strong. Carry only 4 pegs. Cut off extra buckles and straps. Also well seam sealed by me.

First Aid Kit Built from an REI backpacker kit
Aspirin For heart attacks & hangovers
Ibuprofen For old mans aches & pains
Tagamet For the cooks errors
Water purification tabs Needed for viri that filter doesn’t get
Tylenol Codine #3 My family MD gave me this in case of major pain. Rx attached.
Imodium For dishwashers sloppinesses
Pseudofed For dusty trails
Battle Dressing No former Army medic goes anywhere without one of these.
4x4 surgical sponges For bloody injuries
Triangle bandage Excellent for sprained ankles and broken arms
Ace bandage
Butterfly sutures Lacerations
Bandaids
Moleskin For feet and chafe spots
Blister pads Duct tape worked for blisters too.
Neosporin
Tweezers
Chapstick 2 tubes We used this daily last year
Small tube Vaseline For dried out noses in desert conditions. Maybe not for AT
Etc.

Pack rain coat Use this for my feet when sleeping under the stars as well as covering the pack left outside the tent
Tea candles 2-3 to warm the tent on a cold nite
MSR Propane stove
Propane gas tank (2 8 ozs per 6 day resupply leg) Can’t take these on the plane so we needed to buy them locally, perhaps in Vegas. Plan 1 cyl per every 4 days for 2 guys.
Foil wind shield
Matches in a plastic bag Can’t fly or ship these either. Coghlin’s were best
Pot MSR Titanium 2 qt
Pot Lid We were boiling water at high altitude. Lid w a rock on top adds a bit of pressure and increases the boil temp.
Pot gripper
Bowl Actually a big measuring cup
Spork Lexan spoon-fork
Dish soap For laundry and bodies too
Scrubber
Salt & Pepper shaker
Paper Towel 1 “machinist” towel/person / day
Toilet Paper – unscented in baggie 1 roll for me lasts a week. Include a small tube of Purell for washing hands after using toilet paper. Purell cures crotch rot too.
Leatherman knife Has scissors and small screwdriver to repair glasses
Waterproof match box with matches
Headlamp & 3 spare AAA batteries I carried the spares for both of us
Toothbrush
Toothpaste sml
Sunglasses Required at high altitude.
Bug juice Required for sanity some evenings.
Snake bite kit Sawyer Extractor
1 Tube of Sun Lotion #50 I carried for both of us
D300 Camera w cover has an all purpose18-200 zoom lens.
5 camera batteries
6 memory chips in pouch Good for 750 pictures (RAW).
Polarizer filter 72mm
Camera/Lens cleaning kit use on lens daily.

Food in Bear Cans My partner was the food humper. 1.5 lbs/man/day. 2 bear cans fit 6 days food.

3 pair spare sox I wore out 2 pair last year. The sox can double as gloves.
1 pr spare jockey shorts I could wear a pair of u-trau 2 days before crotch rot set in.
1 spare tshirt Also good for massive bleeding.
1 spare shorts
1 long pants – lite weight Patagonia adventure pants – lite wgt for sun or cold mornings or rainy days.
1 long sleeve sun shirt Duluth
1 Goretex rain/wind pants
1 Goretex jacket Patagonia
1 Patagonia Sweater Insulation -good to freezing in damp cold. Wore this nitely last year
1 down vest Add warmth to sleeping bag & cold evenings. With Goretex suit sweater and down vest I am good to 20 degrees F
Running shorts For swimming & hot days. Wear w/o underwear to hike on really hot days
Warm ski hat Used daily last year especially good for sleeping
Pack towel for padding straps, drying inside of tent, etc
Personal medications
$300 cash, credit card, drivers license & health insurance cards, return plane ticket in a baggie - can’t leave this in car.

For the AT I would eliminate the down vest and ski hat. It's much warmer than the Sierras.

In Overnight bag to be left in car

Day pack with the following in
Airport Clothes and hi altitude acclimation days clothes. 7 days ?
Camera battery charger
Toiletry kit
Running shoes
Cell Phone and charger
Bag that we put pack in for airport. Mine is an ugly laundry bag that Red made. Ugly reduces the probability of theft. My partner used an Army duffle bag.

Hope this helps.

[91Bravo]

Maps
Compass Set the local declination in correctly. Remember in 2000 miles it will change frequently
Guidebook One that specifies good campsites is most helpful.

A GPS is quite unnecessary on the AT.

Can't believe I forgot these Duh!!

[serevince]

I would shoot for under 30lbs with 5 days food and water as ideal.
That will take very careful consideration, lightweight gear and a thorough shakedown of your equipment.

Places to save big weight:
The pack! You can easily save several pounds here. Size it properly to the load you are carrying. No need for a 8lb 70l pack when a 3lb 50l pack will do the job.
Save an easy pound by ditching a water filter! Bleach or micropur tabs. Nothing to break, no filter to clog and weigh mere grams.
Stove: Most are boat anchors. Get over to BPlite and order a Zelph Venom Stove. Then actually use it a bunch before you go to learn the ins and outs. Once you go this route you will never look back. (I still keep other types for extreme cold. )

Tent:Are you freaking kidding? Tents are for car camping or when you have a Sherpa hauling it Go with a silnylon or cuben fiber tarp or if you have the money a silnylon shelter. Mountain Laurel Designs and Z-packs both have awesome Ultra light gear. You can also make your own for cheap. There are several plans on the web.

I used a Hennessy Hammock on my last trip (first hammock trip) and was very happy. Great if there are bugs, or poor ground sleeping options.

Under 40 as easily doable, with much less effort/ cost. And still manageable for that distance.

I would consider that my TOP end. If you are 50lbs you carrying things you don't need AND overweight gear.

Cheers

Vince