The Appalachian Trail

Welcome to the Appalachian Trail Home Page. What, you may ask do I have an interest in the trail for? Well, last summer, from April 4, until September 1, I hiked on it, starting in Georgia and ending in Hanover, NH (and I would have finished had I had enough money). I have plans to go up and finish the rest at the earliest possible moment, most likely during the summer of 1999.

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Contents

1. Trail Info.
2. What's went in my pack?
3. AT links

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Trail Info

The Appalachian Trail is a continuous system of hiking trails running from Springer Mtn. in Georgia, to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. It goes through 14 states; nahhhhh, I don't want to list them. Look at an atlas. Anyway, most people hike from south to north, taking an average of (very roughly) six months. This hike is begun by around 2,000 people each year (although rumor has it that nearly 4,000 started with me last year, with only about 10% reaching Mt. Katahdin. This isn't to say that the other 90% don't reach their goal, but that's a whole different story. The Trail is maintained by volunteers all along the way, be they members of the local AT clubs, the ATC (Appalachian Trail Conference), or just past thru-hikers giving back to the trail.

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What's Going In My Pack?

In response to all the questions about pack stuffer's on the AT-L (a mailing list I subscribed to), here's what went into my pack.

Important Stuff

• Well, first, my pack; I had a Camp Trails Catskill, which I'd had for about five years. Nothing fancy; internal frame, about 5,000 cu. in.,sleeping bag comp., big main comp., top flap with storage. About half way through the hike this pack blew out and so I replaced it (thanks to a generous contribution from my parents) with a Dana Terraplane. And oh how much nicer life became. I didn't really believe that a pack could make so much difference, but I think that I could carry probably 5 more pounds than before.
• I carried my tent for about the first half, a Stansport. Same style as the Clip Flashlight by The North Face, only about $200 cheaper. I have no idea how much it weighs, nor do I really care. (the same as with all the rest of my stuff) I got it on sale at The Sports Authority about 3 years ago, and have had no problems since. I didn't use the tent very much, so somewhere in PA, I sent it home. The shelters were fine, and I did still carry the ground-cloth, for emergencies.
• A Moonstone sleeping bag, I forget the model. It was rated to 20 degrees when I bought it, but over the 5 years since, it's probably lost about 10+ degrees. This went home during the mid-atlantic states, and the 95 degree weather.
• For that reason, I made a flannel liner to carry through the colder states and which ended up being all I used during the warmer months.
• Thermarest Standard 3/4 length.
• And my ThermarestR chair kit. IMHO, it's well worth the weight.
• A PUR Miniworks water filter. I had never used a filter before, but this one worked excellently. About halfway through, I had to replace the cartridge, but this was no problem, since every outfitter carried them.
• An MSR Whisperlite Internationale.
• And a 22 oz. bottle of white gas, which wasn't necessarily be full all the time
• An old aluminium pot that is quite small; about 4 cups worth of small.
• Probably take a plastic bowl. And a spoon. My lucky hiking spoon (it's only lucky because I never remember to take it out of my pack, so it goes everywhere).

Clothes

• My coat is a Red Bluff Rain Coat. Got it at Popular Outfitter's.
• I carried some Columbia Snow Pants (for rain) during the very cold months, and then sent them home.
• I carried some REI fleece pants. The warmest things I own!
• For my upper body, I took an REI fleece pullover.
• I ended up carrying only a Patagonia capilene shirt as thermals, relying on my fleece pants and rain pants to keep my legs warm.
• Two pairs of Adidas soccer shorts, until one of them blew out, at which point I replaced them with some poly hiking shorts.
• A couple of t-shirts, probably just stick to cotton, rather than buy expensive polypro.
• Some wool hiking socks. No liners, they give me blisters.
• I started out in my Nike Air Terra-Tor trail-running shoes, and worked through three other pairs of trail runners through the trail. All just slowly wore out, which I expected.
• An cheap fleece hat.

Misc. Stuff

• A petzl headlamp, the big one that runs on the big battery.
• A REI candle lantern.
• Some sort of cheap backup light.
• Small First Aid Kit including some band-aids, some neosporin, some paper towels (serves numerous purposes; add tape and get a blister protector, gause, etc.), some exedrin, and some medical tape which at the risk of sounding blasphemous I think is more useful than Duct Tape, since it sticks to everything that Duct Tape does plus skin which Duct Tape doesn't and it is as strong as well.
• A small journal.
• I ended reading several books on the trail, I bought some at a used book sale in a trail town, and then exchanged them with other books in shelters along the way. Sort of a book exchange program.
• My manual SLR camera and a few rolls of film.
• And of course my trail guides. The AT Data Book, and The Thru-Hiker's Handbook.

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AT Links

I most ofthese links by doing an Yahoo search, then weeding the ones out that I liked. Some of these, are from the Alta-Vista link from that search.