Hiking the AT

gatorzingo

gatorzingo

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Jul 9, 2006
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A couple of buddies and I are planning a hiking trip on the AT spring 2013. Starting at the southern end of the AT in Georgia. We are conducting some day hikes in FL to prepare for a 3 day in, 3 day out hike. We are accumalating gear and such. I have wanted to do a hike/campinig trip but this is my opportunity to do so. Any advice is appreciated.
 
Get into peak physical condition and really toughen up your feat. They will take an incredible beating. Through Pennsylvania and Maine, the trails are very rocky.
 
Thats very cool! This will be one hell of a vacation!
Some tips,
I finished most of the AT when I was a teen with my family and we were living in Florida at the time. The number one thing that I remember from the beginning of the trail is how ill prepared physically we were for the mountains. We tried to offset that with longer hikes with heavier packs, but it didn't seem to work as well as we'd hoped for. I'd suggest climbing stairs with a weighted pack and to run long distances. This should get your calves and thighs in decent shape.
Distance, I'd recommend starting off the first few weeks with lower miles than normal. IIRC, the biggest quiting rate is the first 10-20 days, largely due to injury and muscle soreness. Remember if one in your party is hurting, it will slow all of you down and create friction between you.
Plan your meals, box them up and have a friend ship them at predestined post offices. You can go to the AT website now and plan your trip much easier.
Remember that the AT is a super highway of trails and very little is actually needed to pack. I'd go to BPL dot com and see how to minimize your load (within reason).
Have fun! I am planning to do a thru hike with my boys in about 5 or 6 years and cant wait!
 
I've never done long distance hiking, but I have done some "long endurance" work cycles (21+ days living away from home) and I did learn a couple of things. Good socks are very important, high end wool socks are $$$ but stink less, dry fast and feel great.
When living on the same food for a long time, a little variety goes a long way to help the sanity. Even a couple of oreos, or something rationed out breaks up the monotony if you are otherwise eating the same stuff every day. (also, little sauce packets are great to change things up a bit) I lived off cous-cous, canned tuna and veggies for a couple months while working in the north as the camp food did not agree at all with my digestion (way too processed, caused major IBS troubles) and eating the same thing every day gets old, very fast.
With that said, also give your planned trail food a try before you go, just to make sure there isn't anything weird when you change your diet.

the only other thing I can think of, is do a really good gear shakedown, get very familiar with all the features of your gear and its operation. Make sure your pack fits perfect, and don't leave anything as a "good enough" fix it up at home, once you have your gear load, unpack and re-pack your bag a few times, you might find ways to streamline it, or "prioritize" your pack so you can get the things you want in the order you'll want them.
Depending on the mileage you are doing, you might want to plan for worn out shoes as well.

Again, none of this is thru-hike experience, just living out of a duffel bag in a truck cab for two months experience. but I figure, wilderness is wilderness no matter how you spend your time.
 
What kind of advice are you looking for? Since you've got tons of time to plan in advance, you might consider taking two vehicles and staging one 4-5 days up(instead of 6, as you may not be making miles the way you hope), so you can see more. A few extra hours of driving beats 3 days of hiking back over the same ground again. Maybe Dick's Creek Gap? That's 67.5 miles. There's three more places between miles 50-54 that would only put you at 10-11 miles per day...
http://widgo.com/trail/
Dick Creek's Gap would be the northernmost parking area designated on this map:
http://www.trailsource.com/appalachian-trail/appalachian-trail-map.asp?state=Georgia
 
I'm also leaving for Georgia in spring to hike the AT, aside from hiking as much as you can I've watching all the AT videos, I think the advice and mind set of people that have done it will help, and probally don't carry more then 4 or 5 days of food to keep weight down,, Good luck and mabey we will meet on the trail.
 
Best advice I can offer, is lighten your pack but don't go overboard (shoot for no more than 30-35lbs fully loaded). Largely, I feel that this is a forum of gearheads and the best thing to do is to leave it all at home. There is nothing you can do to prepare for a thru-hike, physically. The trail will beat you into appropriate shape as you go. For a short section hike, bring lots of ibuprofen and stuff to treat blisters. The Georgia section has mountains, but the trail tread is generally just dirt and would not be too rough for those well-accustomed to day hiking. Ill-fitting shoes and socks and/or a heavy pack are your worst enemy.

For prospective thrus, it is as much a psychological challenge as a physical one. Take your time and go into towns. There are very few bad days that a shower and a cheeseburger can't fix. Don't try to hike with people you know from the get-go. You will not all hike the same pace and have different capabilities/preferences for mileage/start time/etc. and will want to split up or kill each other before getting to North Carolina. Unless you're a crotchety old bastid, you'll quickly make plenty of friends who hike the same pace as you.

How very appropriate a thread, as this was taken yesterday morning (I started on the approach trail in Georgia on March 28th):

387557_739128238959_626693862_n.jpg
 
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I think the OP is only doing a 3 day in, 3 day out trip. Congrats Ferrousknight!!
 
Thanks for the replys.

We are planing on 3 days in and 3 days out bringing all of our food with no resupply. As of now, I am planning on bringing Mountain House dehydrated food packs (and similar), zip-lock bags of snacks, energy bar type stuff. I have a 70+10 pack, and a Hennesey hammock (to reduce weight).

Last weekend we hiked 13 miles. I took my 8 year son who hiked with us, what a trooper he is. Also I am working out in the gym to strengthen my legs and core and to loose some weight.

We are planning on 10 mile hikes per day, resuplying water at shelters and where we can. We have water filters and purification tabs. Not sure about weather gear yet.

Thanks.
 
Pretty awesome man. I'm planning a 5 dayer for next winter (it will be too hot for me shortly) but since its been so long since Ive done any real trips (not out of a rubbermaid in the back of the car) I've got to get the fitness level, and the gear sorted. I'm in a weird spot of "just do it" and wanting to plan every step. kinda funny, all these practiced skills, and I never go anywhere!
 
Are you just going to turn around at Neel's gap? The outfitter there has a decent resupply and your body will thank you for having a ~6lb lighter pack the first three days. Check the calorie count on everything. The mountain house are often skimpy on calories and you should supplement them with a few hundred extra calories in the form of candy, clif bars, dried fruit, or whatever floats your boat. You'll have lots more energy in the morning if you eat well the night before.

Also, try to drink as much water with dinner as possible. I usually drank 1-2 liters, but I was also sweating heavily most of the time while hiking. Consider packing some crystal light drink mixes or a bottle of that Mio liquid stuff. Water goes down much faster that way. You will start the day well hydrated and feel a lot less sore than you could have been.

As far as water treatment, I got through 90% of the trail with aqua mira drops and never got sick. After someone gave me a sawyer squeeze, I switched to using that to avoid the wait time for aqua mira (package says 15min. I always gave it at least 30.) and it's tolerance of nearly any water source (as a filter, it takes out the chunks...) Both are very light. Full bottles of aqua mira treat 30 gallons and weigh 3 ounces. I believe the sawyer squeeze filter is also about 3 ounces. Most people get a Platypus 1L soft sided bladder/bottle thing to use instead of the bags it comes with.
 
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That's a trip I'd like to do at some point. I'd love to see your prep and progress in this thread.
 
For long distance walking, I lightened my load as much as possible
It is quite revealing how little gear I needed

But
I take my end of the day recreation, when I was not walking, quite seriously
So I carried journal, reading books, recorder, and recently paints.
And this is an investment of weight, that I have pared away on my camping gear.

Oh
And who said..
Good wool socks and spares, talc, and moleskin
 
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