<p>My S1 set out to through hike the AT before beginning law school 4 years ago. He lasted three weeks and 225 miles - no, blistered feet did not do him in, boredom did. He had prepared meticulously, had his resupply packages all prepared for me to send at the appropriate times and was an experienced hiker. In retrospect, he says that he’s glad he planned and began the trek and intends to complete it in sections over the rest of his life. However, when faced with the reality of the project, he realized that as much as he found the experience fulfilling and satisfying, waking up each morning to start the whole process over and over again did not do it for him. The one thing he said immediately after heading home was that he was glad he listened to those who said that the most important factor in his physical comfort would be his boots. So if you’re heading out in a year, I’d start breaking in those boots now! Good luck.</p>
<p>My husband and I are going to do this together, so I’m not too worried about boredom, but you are right about the boots. I have a pair, newish, or less worn. I’m going to take them over to the REI and ask the guy/gal there if I need different ones or if these will work.</p>
<p>I like the idea of starting to do some hiking now to “see.” Just a few days out here and there. The backpack thing is the one thing that has me a bit on the fence, but a lot of people do it and don’t mind it. Wayoutwest mom, you sound experienced. Do you find that you can carry enough without it feeling as if you are too weighed down? Or is that a big issue?</p>
<p>poetgirl
I think you’ll have fun. My H and I hiked across England on Wainwrights Walk last year. It was wonderful. We did about 10-15 miles per day, but we stayed in BnB’s and shipped our tent and bags home at the first town big enough to have a post office (most of the walk is in national parks, hence no postoffices). But I suspect you are younger than I am (61). And we took about 6 months of dedicated walking every day…not too far usually, but every day nearly as prep. We were in pretty good shape as well; I am a backpack leader for girl scouts still. We got stronger on the trail, too. So you can start slow and then plan longer trips.
ENJOY! It is great to have a goal to keep you moving.</p>
<p>I am an experienced backpacker. Dh was even more so. Both my kids have been backpacking since age 3 and starting carrying their own packs at 5.</p>
<p>Weight is matter of personal preference. I’ve carried as much as 55 lbs. Can’t say I enjoyed carrying that much, but it was only for the one day. (I was carrying an extra 1.5 gal of water, ~12-13 lbs, which was cached at the end of the first day. ) My limit for comfortable carrying is about 40-42 lbs. But I never object to carrying less. :)</p>
<p>DH routinely carried ~50 lbs. D1’s SO carries 65+ lbs routinely–but he’s a big strapping guy and firefighter to boot.</p>
<p>The important thing with a pack is to get one that’s well fitting. About 3 years years ago I finally replaced my 30 year old basic external frame Kelty with a new designed-for-women internal frame pack. What a difference! Much more comfortable to carry the same amount of weight.</p>
<p>And another thing to remember that as the trip progresses and you eat the food you’re carrying the pack weighs less at the end of the trip than it does at the beginning. By the end of a long trip, that 5 or 8 lbs makes a huge difference.</p>
<p>When you’re preparing for a trip, you have to make choices–weight vs. what’s important to you. I actually know one fellow who saws off the handle of his toothbrush to save a half oz of weight, but also carries his own espresso pot, gourmet coffee beans and bean grinder.</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>I too would recommend starting out the a few shorter trips to see what you’re comfortable with, both in terms of creature comforts (how warm you like your sleeping bag, whether you can do without a pillow, how thick of sleeping pad you prefer, etc) and also in terms distance you can walk with a pack. Lately I’ve lowered my ambitions and now plan on doing only about 3-5 miles/day. Like I said–knowing your limits is important.</p>
<p>You also want to leave time for things like setting up camp in the afternoon, breaking down camp in the morning and taking numerous rest breaks/snacks during the day. You also want time to just be one with the scenery and environment, as corny as that sounds.</p>
<p>I also need to say that attitude is important. Carrying a pack is never what I’d characterize as completely enjoyable experience. It’s heavy; it’s sweaty; the straps rub; it throws your balance off. But if you expect it to be an oppressive burden, it will be. If you practice a certain mindfulness of the gesalt of the experience–the beauty of your surroundings, the small unexpected surprises (flowers in bloom, a pretty stone, ripe wild berries, the vanilla scent of pine bark, the taste of cool water on a hot afternoon), the rhythm of your breathing, the pride of achieving your goals-- the sense of the “burden-ness” of the pack fades. It simply becomes the price you pay to have the experience.</p>
<p>Which is not to say that when you finally reach your camping spot that you’re not delighted to drop the pack and be done for the day. Nor that you won’t groan at the thought of heaving the pack back on the next morning.</p>
<p>I just do day hikes, but have hiked some of the trails that are part of the Appalachian Trail in New Hampshire. The terrain in the White Mountains is pretty challenging hiking. I ran into one guy on a trail in Franconia Notch who had hiked all the way from Georgia. He said the trail we were on was the hardest hiking he had encountered the entire way.</p>
<p>Most of the Appalachian Trail in the White Mountains is above treeline on trails that I view as too challenging for a new hiker such as myself. Hiking at the summit of Mt. Washington is no place for an inexperienced hiker, IMO.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would start day hiking now, at least once a week, and get your equipment, technique, pacing, load carrying all sorted out – pack, boots, clothes, trekking poles, water, etc. If you don’t really, really love it, you probably would hate through hiking…</p>
<p>I personally would not be interested in a through-hike. All things being equal, I like hiking in nice weather, so I prefer to pick and chose my outings. I’m fortunate to live within a couple hour drive to the White Mountains.</p>
<p>I’m not a backpacker, but I’ve done tons of loaded bike touring, which has a lot of similarities.</p>
<p>I agree with my fellow Westerner WayOutWestMom that the most important variable is attitude. In my experience, people who are casual, roll-with-the-punches types do well on long bike tours, and people who are, I don’t know the exact terminology but maybe high-strung, do not. You have to realize that there will be emotional ups and downs. You have to be able to put up with some discomfort. Things will go wrong. People who react badly to setbacks poison the trip not only for themselves, but for everyone with them.</p>
<p>One morning you’ll be riding (in your case hiking) along, the sun will be shining, the birds will be singing, and you’ll come across a beautiful waterfall that you can enjoy all alone. Life will be fantastic! Another day, raccoons will get your food, and you’ll have to have plain lentils and rice for dinner, while it’s raining and you’re soaking wet. You have to have a sense of humor, and realize that temporary problems are temporary.</p>
<p>A year is certainly enough time to get ready. But you should do some shorter trips to find out if you like extended backpacking, and test out your equipment. </p>
<p>I rode from Mexico to Canada last summer, more or less following the Pacific Crest Trail, but on roads. Because we crossed the Pacific Crest Trail dozens of times, we often ran into through-hikers. They seemed uniformly laid-back. Also very grubby-- don’t do a through hike if you’re the type who needs two showers a day.</p>
<p>One of the ‘easiest’ parts of the AT in terms of lodging options is in New Hampshire. You can stay in the High Mountains Huts operated by the Appalachian Mountain Club. This will save you from carrying a tent/bivi, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, cooking gear, etc. That said, for a week trip, my pack typically weighed 25#, including 3 liters of water. You wear the same clothes to hike in every day and just learn to live with your aroma. (a fresh set is what you wear in the hut at night). </p>
<p>One advantage is you will meet several ‘through hikers’ and get their first hand views of how they have done it. They will tell you, however, this section of the AT is some of the most challenging in terms of footing and lousy weather. </p>
<p>The huts are spaced 6-8 miles apart, which is nothing for a through hiker. The Greenleaf to Galehead stretch, however, is probably the toughest. Zealand to Mitzpah the easiest. </p>
<p>[White</a> Mountains NH Lodging - Appalachian Mountain Club](<a href=“http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/whitemountains/index.cfm]White”>http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/whitemountains/index.cfm)</p>
<p>I hiked part of the AT in Harriman (NY) last weekend. I have met people that are ‘section’ hikers. They take 2 weeks every summer and pick up where they left off the prior year. (That’s what Bryson did).</p>
<p>While it’s not the AT, you can read the challenges of doing the Pacific Crest Trail in the following book. (I read it a few months before Oprah picked it). </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Found-Pacific-Crest-Oprahs/dp/0307592731[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Found-Pacific-Crest-Oprahs/dp/0307592731</a></p>
<p>As another poster said, you need to practice heavy duty hiking before undertaking this. Just being in shape and/or being a distance runner does not tax the same muscles you need for up/down hiking. For a distance, you need hiking poles to save your knees. I forgot my poles last weekend and my left knee is still reminding me!</p>
<p>…I keep thinking of stuff to ad! If you stay in the Highland Center of the AMC, you have access to the LL Bean gear room in case you forgot something or want to try something out. (my friends & I typically stay in the bunkhouse our first night, so we can access this room!)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/whitemountains/highland/highland-gear.cfm[/url]”>http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/whitemountains/highland/highland-gear.cfm</a></p>
<p>Laughing at CF’s comment about the grubby!</p>
<p>That is so true! </p>
<p>When D2 thru-hiked the John Muir Trail, her sorority sisters were astonished! Not at the fact she managed to walk 221 miles in 22 days, but that she didn’t have a shower for 23 days…</p>
<p>As far as hiking with a pack:</p>
<p>I used a very popular “smallish” Appalachian through-hike pack this winter, the [Osprey</a> Atmos 50](<a href=“http://www.rei.com/product/828428/osprey-atmos-50-pack]Osprey”>http://www.rei.com/product/828428/osprey-atmos-50-pack). I wasn’t quite up to through-hike weight, but between water, and all sorts of extra clothing and flashlights and batteries and first aid kits and gloves and hats and snacks and microspikes and snow shoes lashed to the outside, I was probably getting close. I have not found the pack to be an insurmountable problem. Adjustment to the weight has been fairly quick – just a few hikes to learn to balance the load so it doesn’t pull you over backwards while scrambling up rocks and so forth. I do find that my shoulders start to get a little tight at around the four to five hour mark.</p>
<p>There’s a website/forum dedicated to Appalachian Trail hikers:</p>
<p>[WhiteBlaze</a> - Appalachian Trail - Appalachian Trail News, Announcements and Articles](<a href=“http://www.whiteblaze.net%5DWhiteBlaze”>http://www.whiteblaze.net)</p>
<p>The forums are particularly useful for getting information, although they tend to be a bit fanatical about “ultra-light” gear and so forth. I know that I’m not cut out for it. I would much rather plan a week long trip to New Hampshire and spend it doing day hikes or some overnights at the AMC huts with some showers and restaurant meals interspersed. I find hiking, at least in this terrain, to be a pretty comprehensively tiring activity. I’m going to do some three-day camping trips this summer, but I’ll car camp at a campground – set up the tent as a base of operations (with showers) – and then do day hikes (and restaurant dinners). That’ll be “roughing it” enough for me, I think… It’ll let me do some longer day hikes that are just too much with drive time on both ends.</p>
<p>For hut-to-hut hiking, also check out [Maine</a> Huts & Trails](<a href=“http://www.mainehuts.org/]Maine”>http://www.mainehuts.org/). The lodges are beautiful, the food is excellent, there are hot showers, and the hiking is mellow.</p>
<p>^My husband did the structural design of the first Maine hut! When they built the second one, they didn’t ask for his help. They made a lot of changes, too. Oh, well, their risk, I guess. The second hut is only a few miles from our cabin.</p>
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<p>H has either read about or been told about the shelters and was told not to use them as the mice frequent them at night. </p>
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<p>That is very cool. Do you know how long it takes them to do it?</p>
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<p>ummm, what is a bear bag? Off to google that now.</p>
<p>A bear bag is a storage sack tied to the end of a long rope. You throw the rope over a tree limb and hoist the bag high enough off the ground that bears can’t get to it.</p>
<p>There are also bear cannisters – big storage cylinders that are bear proof.</p>
<p>Since the Appalachian Trail goes right through the Dartmouth campus, you can stop and tour the beautiful campus, chat with the kids, and and eat at the local college hangouts while you are there.</p>
<p>The bears in the Northeast are getting very smart and the Adirondacks no longer allow bear canisters. You must use a bear bag.</p>
<p>Are there more bears on the northern or the southern part of the trail?</p>
<p>How many bears are there? Is this considered to be seriously dangerous? I had no idea.</p>
<p>I guess when I think of bears I think of grizzlies out in Wyoming or Montana.</p>
<p>Oh lord. NJ is crawling with bears–some of them in rather urban areas. My D’s camp was constantly scaring them away. There have not been any stories of human attacks as far as I know; mostly they’re after your food, or, off the trail–the contents of garbage cans.</p>
<p>Edit: I believe there has been at least one bear attack on the trail, possibly Virginia though I’m not sure. But there are thousands of peope on it at any moment, and hundreds of bears nearby, and that kind of occurrence is extremely rare.</p>
<p>Yes there are plenty of bears in the part of NJ that the AT runs through. That is basically Warren and Sussex counties. I see them now and then on the farm where I work and sometimes they pass through our yard at home. They are looking for food. If they don’t find it, they keep on moving. There have been attacks on farm animals (a mini horse, pony, goats) and small animals (dogs, rabbits, etc.), but they are not frequent.</p>
<p>H says the bears have not been an issue on the AT from what he has heard. He knows to put his food in a tree. It just worries me with him sleeping in a tent. Not to mention the other wildlife that could be encountered.</p>
<p>When my son was a cub scout, they were at the Cub Scout camp in Mahwah. One boy had some candy in his sleeping bag, and woke up to find a raccoon sitting on his bag, looking at him.</p>