6 Things to Know Before Hiking the Appalachian Trail

Many of my past posts have revealed how I pack for backpacking trips and little tricks I follow. As I started hiking more, some of those have changed significantly. How I pack for overnighters or even 3 day trips in the Midwest differ from how I pack for a 7 day section hike or even future thru hikes. My section hike of the A.T. revealed to me that many of the things I've done in the past aren't feasible or convenient on long distance hikes. This article will be more geared toward those who are looking to do a section hike or even a thru hike on the Appalachian Trail. I have yet to do a "long distance" thru hike (Peru was only 4 days) so I cannot say this will be 100% for thru hikers, but most of this will apply to thru hiking as well.

As I started this article, I tried to decide how I would write it. I was going to title it "Things I learned on the AT", then thought I would make it a post on things that would be easier on a long hike, or possibly "What I would do different". I decided to try to combine all of these into one post. These are some of the things I've learned to make long distance hiking easier that I would do differently next time and would make the hike a lot easier if you follow. Enjoy!

1. Packing

Some of the ways you pack for an overnighter change when you decide to hike long distances for multiple days. I used to religiously follow the rule to not hang anything on the outside of the pack and rightfully so. Things that "flop around" on your pack can throw you off balance, not to mention it's annoying being hit by things hanging on your pack and eventually snagging on things. That being said, on long distance hikes, this just isn't always possible. When you are hiking a ways, there are lots of bigger things you will be taking that make it hard to pack everything (primarily food). 

Being our first section hike of the A.T., we took a little more than needed, but not all that much and still had troubles packing things. With everything packed, I still had to carry my tent, camp shoes, jacket, and chair on the outside, not to mention our trash bag and wet clothes and socks. The trick is to keep everything as tight to your pack as possible. If you have a pack with compression straps, that is ideal. You can traps things tightly to the outside without them moving around loosely. Try to secure larger items that don't matter so much if they get wet (tent, rain jacket, etc.).

While we are on the subject of packing, remember to PACK LIGHT. You will have to carry everything and when you are just starting and don't have your hiking legs yet, it can be a bear. After a few days, you start to gain your "mountain legs", but still have to carry all that weight. Granted, as you eat food, your pack gets lighter, but you will have to eventually restock. Ryne and I had our packs between 45 and 50 pounds to start. Jim's was around 35 pounds, but many of the thru hikers we met had theirs near 25 pounds. We packed 8 days worth of food which was excessive. If you hike more than 10 miles a day, you really only need about 4 days worth of food because you will eventually come to a town or road where you can restock. In addition, there are many things that can be left at home. As you hike, each day, you find what works best for packing and where you want each item in your pack.

2. Water

Since this was our first trip, we didn't know what to expect as far as the water situation. We learned quite fast that on the A.T., you won't run short of water. We brought several bottles and always had them full, which added A LOT of weight to our packs. Realistically, you only need 1 full bottle of water each day (maybe 2 on a hot day). I had a Lifestraw bottle which is a filter bottle that weighs about the same as a Nalgene. This isn't really necessary unless your pack is under 25 pounds, then you can afford to carry the extra weight.

We also carried multiple Smart Water bottles. I think these are ideal and most people carried the same. They come in 2 different sizes, which is useful, and are rugged but lightweight. I had one of these along with my Platypus. To do it over, I would carry one of these bottles to collect water to cook with and my Platypus bottle as a backup. It's not a bad idea to have a designated "dirty" water bottle and marked somehow. I used my Smart Water bottle for dirty water that I filtered into other bottles.

I would also bring my Camelback next time. Yes, it is extra weight, but after cutting weight in other areas, it would definitely be worth it's weight, not to mention it holds the water closer to your back which makes the pack lighter and more balanced. I would carry this for drinking water and the Smart Water bottle for dirty water.

It is also essential to have a good filter. We used the Sawyer Mini, as did most people we met. Platypus also makes a good filter system, but is heavy. Lifestraw is a great one as well. The Sawyers can by screwed onto the top of a water bottle and drink from it directly or filter into another bottle. These filters can also be placed in-line on your Camelback hose so you can fill your Camelback with dirty water and not have to mess with filtering it. I highly encourage to buy a good, lightweight filter. 

Tip: One of the things we discovered would have been handy is a short 1-foot section of PVC. Each shelter and campsite had its own water source (some good enough to shower under) that was easy to fill water off of. We ran into many other spots on the trail with running water, but difficult to fill our bottles. With a short section of PVC, we could essentially make our own "faucet" to use for filling our bottles.


3. Shelters

We overestimated how much shelter we really needed on the trail! We had shelters or campsites each night, but could have easily had a shelter each night if we would have reserved early enough or registered as a thru hiker. Some places along the A.T. require you to reserve shelters and campsites and obtain a permit if you are a section hikers. Thru hikers can pretty well stay where they want, but if shelters fill up, section hikers get precedence over the shelters. 

Jim and I brought tents and Ryne brought a hammock, all of which added unnecessary weight. To do it over, we would have registered as thru hikers and would have stayed at each shelter and bring a lightweight bivy for when shelters fill up. you really don't have to worry about storing your pack because there's the option of storing it in the shelter, even if you're not staying in the shelter. If sleeping primarily in a tent and you are in a group, it's best to have a larger tent for everyone, then split the load. One person carry the tent while another carries food, while another carries cook set and stove, or some variation. We found splitting loads and sharing loads helped immensely.

Remember to bring a good sleeping pad. Most shelters have wooden floors which can be uncomfortable. I saw many people who used foam sleeping pads and others who used air sleeping pads. I prefer the air sleeping pads because they are more comfortable and pack down smaller and don't add much weight. Your sleeping pad can then, be used for your bivy or in the shelter.

Most shelters also have bear cable systems for hanging your food, but be sure to also bring some sort of cord. All of our shelters had cable systems, but we talked to people who stayed at other shelters that did not. Paracord is also useful (as we found) for hanging your backpack in an overcrowded shelter. Most shelters have nails or hooks to hang your pack to keep mice out of them, but in an overcrowded shelter, those get used up fast. (BTW, be sure not to have ANY food in your pack or the mice WILL get to it). 

To hang our food, we used dry bags from Wal Mart. These work great for keeping things dry in your pack, but don't work as well for hanging food. We kept our food in these and hung them on the cables but when storms hit, the bags leaked a little and soaked our food. You're better off using a good dry bag of container such as a bear canister or Ursack. 

4. Conditioning

One of the most important things to do before a long distance hike is to condition yourself. This would include loading your pack and going for multiple hikes involving lots of hills. If you don't live around hills (such as in the Midwest), use a stair stepper with your pack on. I also use and elevation mask to train. We found that it is essential to condition if you aren't used to hiking to this capacity. After about 4 days, Ryne and I got our mountain legs, but Jim struggled on the ascents. Be sure you are in condition for the hike. The ascents can "wind" you and the descents are hard on the legs and knees, not to mention with a heavy pack on. And trekking poles are essential on the descents. 


5. Leave Stuff Behind
There are quite a few things that we brought that we could have left behind and wish we would have. The A.T. isn't true wilderness and many of the survival items you would need in the wilderness, you don't really need on the A.T. Here is a list of things we brought, but never used or needed:

1. Tree saw
2. Multiple lighters (only need 1)
3. Sunscreen
4. Rain pants
5. Compass
6. Large knife
7. Water purifying tabs (unless you don't have a filter)

The following are things we brought that we didn't need but were glad we brought them:

1. Camping chair (Alite, Helinox, etc.)
2. Camp shoes (sandals, Crocs, etc.)
3. iPod, radio

4. Gloves

6. Cooking

We had a couple options for cooking and next time, depending on how we are hiking, we may do things differently. If you are soloing or cooking for yourself, make sure to have a small cook set and small stove. I brought my MSR Whisperlite which was too much stove for myself. Something like a Jetboil or the MSR Pocket Rocket would be good choices of stoves. Canister stoves would be better than white gas stoves because the fuel lasts longer and canisters are pretty universal with any stove. The GSI soloist or microduelist or some similar cook set would be best. 

However, If cooking for the group, it's probably best to bring maybe 2 stoves and 1 larger cook set such as an MSR stowaway pot. Our initial plan was cook our own meals, then decided as a group, it was easier to fix one large meal for all of us. If we would have followed this, one of us could have carried the food, while another carried the stoves and fuel and the other carry the cook sets.

These are some tips we found would have been useful to us before our section hike. All of these suggestions are based on a 7 day section hike in the Smoky Mountains and not a thru hike of the whole A.T., though I believe these would be just as valid for a thru hike. And these tips are for just the A.T. Other guidelines would be different for say the PCT or Superior Hiking Trail. Thanks for reading and I hope this has been a help to you.

First Experience On The A.T.

Doing a long multi-day hike is not only a fun experience, but gives you a different perspective on things. We discovered this on our first section hike on the Appalachian Trail. We hiked seven days from Newfound Gap to Fontana Dam, North Carolina. It was a learning experience to say the least and the multiple things we experienced, from overcrowded shelters to storms, definitely led us to adapt to the hike. I decided to keep a log of each day and looking back, it really was a good experience.

Day 1:
We drove about 12 hours down to Fontana Village, NC from Southeast Iowa. Actually, we first drove to Cookeville, about 2 hours from Fontana where we stayed at a hotel to be well rested for our first day. On our first day, we finished the drive to the Fontana Dam visitor centre where we parked the truck for the week. It took us a little while to find the visitor centre after stopping twice for directions.

We went to the visitor centre and asked the volunteers for contacts for a shuttle. Those contacts didn't work out, so we drove back to the gas station where we had wifi to look up a directory of shuttles and finally was able to line one up. We drove back to the visitor centre and waited longer than we expected for the shuttle. During this time, we looked over our packs to make sure they were good to go. When our shuttle driver arrived, he said there was a wreck which delayed him. This week was a motorcycle and Mini Cooper rally, so that didn't surprise us.

We left the truck at the Fontana visitor centre as we took our 2 hour ride to Newfound Gap, seeing one bear on the side of the road. Our driver, Mike, told us stories of bears, snakes, and other experiences he had on the A.T. as well as giving advice.

We arrived at the trail head around 5:00, though we were hoping to be on the trail by noon. After searching for the trail head, we found a ranger who pointed us there and gave us a map which was invaluable while on the trail. The first day was an easy day with only 5.1 miles. We had some hills, but not too bad. We were in a hurry to get to the shelter before dark, so we didn't enjoy much scenery. We actually made good time, arriving at Mt. Collins shelter around 8:20.

Unfortunately, most people were already in bed, so we were quiet while making dinner which, for me, was a Prego pasta dish. A couple people had a fire going as we walked up, so we were fortunate to have that warmth. After dinner, we had our hot chocolate before finding our spots in the shelter. We were lucky enough to find 3 spots right next to each other. The shelters were different than we expected, with 3 walls and the front open with a roof over the front and an eating area. Behind the shelter was a bear cable system that we used to hang our food. Felt pretty good after this hike but was ready for bed. We were in bed around 9:00 and slept pretty well.

Day 2:
After a good night's sleep, we woke around 8:00 for breakfast which consisted of coffee and oatmeal. Only a few people were left, all through hikers. They hung around as we ate and we talked with them for a while. Some people, however, were gone and hiking before sun up. We enjoyed the morning as we packed for our first full hiking day of 7.3 miles. Before taking off, we headed to the nearby stream to collect water, which we filtered with our Sawyer Mini filters. Each shelter had a log where hikers can write journal entries so we put something in each one. 

We were on the trail by 9:45 and had a good hike with LOTS of ascents. Jim had a hard time with the uphills and none of us had our mountain legs yet, so we took it easy. Initially, Ryne and I had our packs around 50 lbs and Jim's was around 35 so we were a little slow to begin. 

Our lunch destination was Clingman's dome. As we asked northbound hikers (we were southbound), they told us it was "less than a mile". After a couple miles, it was apparently still "less than a mile". This became a joke for the majority of the trip.

We finally made it to Clingman's Dome and were feeling pretty good. We ate lunch there which consisted of tuna on a tortilla with fajita sauce followed by our regular desert of Nutella on a tortilla and few snacks. At the dome, they have a tall tower that we took advantage of to get a 360 degree look of the mountains. This is supposedly the highest point of the A.T. We could definitely feel it and Jim and I attempted a quick nap while we were there before taking off again.

We hiked a nice ridge with great views with multiple stops for breaks and pictures. The hike seemed easier from Clingman's to Double Tree Gap shelter. We arrived there around 5:00 and everyone was up and making dinner. We staked out our sleeping spots then made dinner of rice with fried salmon. We hung out for a while with some great people, exchanging hiking stories. We met a guy named Mark who told us of his experience with a bear in the middle of the trail who was kind enough to move to the edge of the trail to watch him pass. As we hung out food, a deer came around the shelter. Most deer seemed comfortable around people and let us get pictures. Everyone hung their food and headed for bed around 9:00. Ryne and I hung out at the fire pit for a while longer, playing harmonica, before turning in for the night.

Day 3:
We woke fairly early the next day and hung out with our fellow hikers as we fixed coffee and oatmeal for breakfast. We had a slight rain in the morning which died down to mist by time we were ready to leave. As we were ready to start the day around 11:00, I found that someone took off with my trekking poles, so I ended up with theirs (I think I got the better end of the deal).

We had some pretty hard hills with misting, cloud cover, and heavy fog. We took quite a few breaks before stopping at the intersection of the A.T. and Lynn Camp Trail. We stopped here for lunch of salmon on a tortilla with fajita sauce, followed by our Nutella desert. We spent some time there to rest before continuing. We even took our boots off for a short time to air out our feet. By this time, my feet started to get sore. My boots were broken in but the insoles weren't that great for long distance hiking. 

As we continued, we actually went off the A.T. onto the Lynn Camp Trail. This trail was not well maintained and was a challenge to hike. From overgrown brush, to down branches, it was work to get to our camp spot. Along the way, we found a small stream where we filled our water bottles since we heard rumors that we may not have good water sources at the camp site. We even had the opportunity to drink from the stream using our filters. As we finished filling our bottles, a couple French guys came upon us and we encouraged them to fill up as well.

We continued on and it wasn't long before we arrived at campsite 26. We had a small trail to follow before finding our site. After looking a bit, we found the ideal spot to set up. While looking for a site, Ryne found a perfectly good tarp that he decided to pick up and bring along. Ryne brought his Hennessy hammock while Jim brought his Contrail tarp tent. I decided on my MSR Faststash tent. As we finished setting up, the 3 French guys arrived and set up their camp. We were able to find a good water source where they showered.

We hung around to rest a while before making an awesome dinner of noodles and pan fried chicken with cayenne. That hit the spot and we were ready for bed. We fixed our hot chocolate before hanging our food and discussed the next day's route and whether we wanted to stay on course or not. We were supposed to follow the same poorly maintained trail to multiple other campsites for the rest of the trip. Even though it could mean a heavy fine, we decided we would backtrack and stay on the A.T. and stay at shelters. Section hikers are supposed to reserve shelters and campsites and stay where they reserve while thru hikers can stay at or camp at any shelter they wish. But we made the decision we would try for the next shelter. We were all in bed by 9:00 that night.

Day 4:
We were up around 9:00 to fix breakfast of coffee and oatmeal with a little barley. We decided to have an earlier start. After tearing down camp, we filled our water then started hiking around 10:00. We backtracked to the intersection where we rested and had our snack before continuing on the A.T. This day was a fairly easy hike, 6 miles to Derrik Knob shelter. When we arrived at the shelter, we hung out for a while, eating snacks and talking to other hikers who gave a heads up that there would probably be a lot of people staying there that night. As more hikers started to show up, we decided to camp there instead. We set up my tent and Jim and I slept there as Ryne slept in his hammock.

The water source at this shelter was down a long hill, so Ryne and I went down to retrieve water and found that it was a great place to shower. After bringing the water back, we grabbed our towels and went back to wash up. The water was freezing, but felt so good.

Lunch was a salmon burrito followed by Nutella. We hung around as more and more hikers flowed in. By time nightfall came, we had tents everywhere and a full shelter. This made it a little crowded to fix dinner which was Jameson marinaded chicken with noodles. This was probably our best meal on the trail. Hot chocolate was soon to follow after dishes were cleaned and we had a short social time as more hikers arrived. I played harmonica for a bit before we decided to head for bed. During the night, More hikers flowed in, making almost 30 people at the shelter.

Day 5:
We were up early for breakfast which was the same as every other day. By this time, we were getting tired of oatmeal. After filling water, using the "toilet hill", and tearing down camp, we were off around 10:00. This day was a hard, long hike up Thunderhead Mountain. As we climbed higher, the scenery changed to almost dessert-like plants with a couple salamanders. As we hit the top of the mountain, we rested for a bit before continuing to Rocky Top.

Rocky Top was an awesome spot to stop and rest with a great 360 degree view of the mountains. The weather was hot and sunny so we didn't stick around long before heading down the other side of the mountain. We had many stops on our way down with lunch being tuna, jerky, cheese and other snacks.

Along the way, we passed Silers Bald shelter where we retrieved more water and continued to Spencer Field Shelter. This shelter was originally closed but was reopened for thru hikers who can't continue. They have an electric fence up with 2 rangers present. About a week before, they had a "bear attack" at that shelter and are trying to catch that bear. The rangers were cool about letting us stay there after our 8 mile hike, so we found our sleeping spots and hung our food. Ranger Joe and Ranger Greg had some live traps out with a dummy tent to catch the bear. They said that if they catch one, they will let us see it.

For dinner, I fixed a couple tacos and a mountain house meal. After dinner, Jim headed to bed so we didn't fix hot chocolate, but had our Nutella. Ryne and I hung around the fire that the rangers started and talked with other campers: Zeta and a French guy. There were actually 7 of us staying, but most went to bed early. When the sun went down, Ranger Joe let us look through their thermal imaging scope which was awesome. After that, we headed to bed around 10:30.

Day 6:
This day was exciting for all of us. We were up at 7:00 after the rangers took off at 6:30 to check the traps. Ranger Greg came back and said they caught one as he retrieved a collar to tag a bear. When Joe returned, he said he would take us to see they bear. They carry a tranquilizer gun and an AR-10. After explaining how to act around the bear, he took us through to woods to the bear which was lying on the ground. One of the rangers said the bear was a male about 250 lbs. He described how they obtain DNA and track the bears, then let us get pictures of us petting the bear. It was awesome!

After seeing the bear, we went back and had hot chocolate and granola bars for breakfast. After breakfast, we filled our water and packed up for the 2.5 mile hike to Russell Field shelter. Unfortunately, this shelter was closed because of all of the bear activity. We stayed here to rest and eat, then continued 3.5 miles to Mollies Gap shelter. During the hike, we had quite a bit of rain and at the shelter, a lot of people were in there to dry off. One of the girls said that she missed oatmeal, so we gave her our 6 lbs of oatmeal. As the shelter cleared, we claimed our sleeping spots. Ryne hung the tarp he found to keep the wind out of the shelter, which was really nice and warm. People started flowing in and the shelter began to fill up.

We fixed lunch of taco flavored rice with hot sauce on tortillas. After doing our dishes, we hung around the shelter. I met another cycler there and a girl with the trail name "sloth" who had a stuffed sloth, named Echo, to keep Adventure Bear company. This night, we discussed whether we would go on to the next camp site the next day or finish by going on to the dam. We decided we would see how Jim felt the next day because he was having leg issues. As the evening went along, more people showed up and we had about 20 people by the end. We were in bed by 10:00.

Day 7:
We were pumped this day as we got up at 7:00. Ryne and I had our mountain legs and were ready to keep hiking. Hot chocolate was for breakfast and after packing up, we started hiking at 9:00. This day seemed a lot easier, probably because we decided to finish our hike this day. We had mostly descents so it was an easier hike.

We stopped at campsite 113 for lunch which was salmon and desert of Nutella. The rest of the hike was mostly downhill until we got towards the end. When we were about 2 miles from the end, we saw a black bear about 75 feet off the trail in the woods. We stopped to get a picture of him then moved on. 

We climbed the top of a ridge which was quite rocky and had a great view. We also got to drink from a stream with our filters again. It didn't take long to reach the trail head and we were all motivated by this point as we hiked almost 2 miles of road to the dam. We had an awesome view of the dam and lake before crossing it. As we crossed, we were able to get our ending selfie. Luckily, the Fontana Dam visitor centre has showers so we were able to shower and change into clean clothes. We went to the gift shop and bought our patches to prove we hiked the A.T. and Adventure Bear even got his souvenir. I have to say, soda has never tasted so good.

This was a great experience that really can't be explained. There's just a feeling when hiking long distances that you don't get anywhere else. The sense of accomplishment finishing high miles. I recommend anyone to hike this section of the A.T. We plan to go back and finish the whole A.T. at some point so I'll see you all out there.