The trail was the brainchild of pioneering land-use planner Benton MacKaye early in this century. Hiking the entire 2,000 miles typically takes four to six months. Us, we had enough trouble packing for five days. We would, after all, be carrying everything we needed on our backs. Everything was as lightweight as possible, be it essential sleeping bag, clothing, food, medical supplies or luxury books, a journal, a good cigar.
Serious hikers weigh each item before it goes into a pack, then weight the packed pack.
We forgot to weigh our packs but guesstimated they topped 50 pounds. In hindsight, that was a good 10 pounds too many. Much more sensible were dehydrated staples such as macaroni and cheese, beans and rice and Ramen noodles. We also brought along four grapefruit, which we later regretted. Actually we thought they were oranges.