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.

Camping Essentials

Camping is a fun sport and can be very adventurous. In today’s day and age, camping is mostly done in campers and “rouging it” is now defined as not having an air conditioner. However, I consider camping to actually be out in the sticks without the luxuries of home. 

When you start out camping, it can sometimes be overwhelming as to what to get, where to go, what to bring, etc. If you don’t know what you’re doing, the expenses can add up and you can gain a large gear closet trying to figure out what you need.

So, what do you need to start out? First ask yourself a few questions. What’s the purpose of your camping? Is it to have something to do on the weekend with the family? Are you wanting to start backpacking? Do you want the high adventure and survival? The kind of camping you want to do will determine what you get. Also ask yourself what kind of camping you’re interested in. What are you comfortable sleeping in? If you want to just go out on weekends with the family or if you have never camped before, you may want to consider tent camping. If you are interested in backpacking and spending a lot of time camping, you could consider a hammock. If you want the adventure and survival feel, you could think about tarp camping. Think about what you are comfortable in before buying. If you have a bad back and can’t sleep on the ground, there’s ways to work around it. So just think about it before deciding. 

Now you know what kind of camping you want to pursue. Next comes deciding what to get. I advise sticking with cheaper gear to start out with, then move to better stuff when you decide you like it. If you have camped before and kind of know what you’re doing, you may know a little more about what you want.

If you go with a tent, you have endless options. Tents come in all shapes and sizes for different climates. If you are planning on just having something for casual camping with the family on weekends, you can just run to Wal Mart and get an Ozark Trail or Coleman brand. I recommend staying with those two brands. There’s many others, but some are junk and won’t last. 

If you are planning on backpacking, you want a smaller, lightweight tent. This can start to get pricey. The brands that make lightweight backpacking tents can charge quite a bit. Ozark Trail does make a small, lightweight that is reasonably priced. Big Agnes, Eureka!, and Hilleberg are great brands, but again, you will pay a small fortune for some of these.

When deciding on what size to get, try to stick to a general rule. Tents are rated at their sleeping capacity. However, I recommend getting a tent that holds one more person than you are planning on having. For example, if there’s two of you camping, get a three person tent. This gives you some wiggle room and allows room for gear. 

If you are looking at hammock camping, you may have a fewer options than with tent camping. There aren’t a whole lot of brands that make camping hammocks and the ones that do, don’t make twelve different styles. Hammocks are different from tents in the regard that you don’t have cheaper brands and expensive brands. If you want a comfortable hammock to sleep in, try to stick with ENO, Hennessy, or Hammock Bliss. They are the better hammocks that are comfortable and that will last a while. Most hammocks are customizable so you can essentially get a setup that you want. You can get one brand that you find comfortable, but a tarp from another brand that you like better. You can mix things up to make a custom hammock. 

Tarp camping is a little different. You aren’t sleeping in a well established shelter and away from the elements. Imagine taking a tarp, making a floor, then draping one over a ridgeline. That’s essentially it. You are under a single tarp. That’s why I urge you to not go with that unless you are adventurous like me or like survival type stuff. The upside is price. Tarp camping is the cheapest because all you buy is a tarp, rope, and stakes. You can use a regular utility tarp from a hardware store, to a couple hundred dollar tarp from a good brand. Hilleberg makes great tarps designed for just tarp camping, but they are very expensive. If you want a tarp that’s easy to set up, you can simply buy a hammock tarp. Some good hammock tarps only run $20.

OK. So you have your shelter. What next? You need something to sleep in. You probably already have a sleeping bag, so you’re halfway there! I recommend looking at the temperature rating on your bag. Every time I buy a sleeping bag, I look for a specific temperature rating. Assess what temperature you may be sleeping in, then get a bag that is rated for about 10 degrees colder. This gives you some room there in case it gets colder. Deciding on whether to get a down or synthetic bag is totally up to you. I recommend looking at my previous post (Down vs. Synthetic). Like tents, there are several brands out there that make sleeping bags. If you want a good brand, I would get Big Agnes, Slumberjack, or North Face. There are other good brands out there and Ozark Trail makes some good, cheaper ones as well.

To compliment the sleeping bag, consider a sleeping pad. This is also preference. Some people like sleeping on the ground, other can’t tolerate it. I don’t have a whole lot of experience in these because by time I started to get into them, I went to hammock camping and haven’t used a sleeping pad since. I do know that an air mattress is much better than foam. Foam sleeping pads are great for insulating, but air mattresses are much more comfortable. Again, what kind of camping are doing? If you are with the family, you can get large, queen sized air mattresses. You can also get compact backpacking ones. If you get a backpacking one, decide what style works for you. There are different shapes and sizes and some have different contours than others. If you get Big Agnes, you can match the pad with the sleeping bag and the pad will slide into a slot on the sleeping bag. But again you have to buy all Big Agnes to do that and it gets expensive. 

We now have what we need to sleep, but what next? Well, there’s some essentials for camping, whether you’re camping on the weekend or backpacking. I will only give you what’s essential. There are so many options out there that you can get and other cool gadget. There are some things you can get that, in my opinion, start to add luxuries and take away from the camping experience. 

If you are camping overnight, more than likely you will be cooking. Therefore, you need cooking gear. If you’re getting into backpacking, refer to my previous post “My Gear List for Backpacking”. If you aren’t backpacking, you will probably be cooking over a fire and not with an ultralight camp stove. A lot of people just take hog dogs camping and cook them on the end of a skewer. But if you want to actually cook something, you need some extra stuff. A skillet is a good thing to have. When not backpacking, I like using cast iron. You may also need a cook pot. You can find some smaller ones at Wal Mart that work just fine. Of course, you can’t forget the most important thing: a stainless steel coffee kettle. In addition to all these things, you need something to hold these utensils over the fire. You can get a stainless steel wire grate that goes over the fire. These work great, but I prefer to use cast iron. Don’t forget the essentials such as silverware and other utensils you may need for cooking. Of course, when backpacking, you really condense these down. 

In addition to all you need, there are some things that do make life easier. Flashlights are important for the obvious reasons. You can also add in some camping chairs, lanterns, toilet paper, trash bags, wipes, paper towels, and folding tables. This is not a comprehensive list of what you need, just the essentials. Now that you have what you need, it’s time to find a camping spot. 

(stay tuned for part 2)