Date: 2017-08-29
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

After unwinding for nearly two weeks, I wanted to take some time to share a few of the lessons we learned on our journey. Best Practices:1. Don't start out too fast. Don't start out too fast. Don't start out too fast!!! Almost without exception, the people who quit the trail in the first few weeks all pointed at injuries brought on by trying to hike too many miles before their bodies were sufficiently trail tough. What's the correct amount? It's a very individual thing, but I recommend 8-10 miles a day for the first two weeks and then building on that. Your cardio vascular system and muscles might be ready from day one for 20 mile days, but your connective tissues won't be ready...only time on trail can prepare them.2. Keep your pack weight down. It seems obvious, but you wouldn't believe the things people were carrying early on. A pack weighing more than 35 pounds with 5 days of food and 2 liters of water is totally unnecessary and counterproductive to enjoying your hike. Remember, this is a thru-hike, not a backpacking trip. The vast majority of your time while not sleeping or eating will be spent walking. All of the extra items you think you need for comfort in camp will see little or no use. In fact, you should aim for a pack weight below 30 pounds at all times. 3. You'll bring too much food at first, so keep this in mind when planning your initial meals. For the first week or so, your body will be so busy hiking and repairing itself, it will not channel much energy into digestion. After a few weeks this will change and eventually you'll want to eat everything in sight. Until then, don't worry about the lack of hunger. Just realize your shorts are going to get a little loose...4. Hike your own hike! Don't allow your pace or destination choices to be dictated by fellow hikers. If you want to stop for the day, stop. If you want to hike long, hike long. Think you need a zero? Then you should absolutely take one. Listen to your body...it should be the boss.5. Take your time, especially over the last month. You'll probably only do this once...live it up!Gear which worked and didn't:1. My Zpacks Arc Haul was excellent as long as I kept the weight around 25 pounds or less. Once it got above 30 pounds, I had a hard time staying comfortable. This was especially true once my waist size got pretty small. Caboose started out with the identical model Zpacks Arc Haul and she was never able to get it to fit in a manner she was comfortable with. She was just too small. Zpacks does make a model for smaller people now, so that might work for some. She switched to an Osprey Ace 50 in Damascus and it did the job the rest of the way to Katahdin. 2. We both used Enlightened Equipment Revelation quilts and they were FANTASTIC! I carried a 20 degree quilt and Caboose used a 10 degree. With a Sea to Summit liner, they were all we ever needed from temps in single digits to nights in the low 60s.3. We started out with an alcohol stove and Caldera cone...that lasted 3 days before we switched to an MSP Pocket Rocket 2 canister stove. The alcohol stove never got hot enough in the extreme cold of February, nut the MSR performed flawlessly all the way until the end. We used a 1.3 L titanium pot throughout and it was perfect for the two of us. A typical meal was 2 Knorr rice sides with some chicken or tuna thrown in for protein. Many hikers used other systems which cooked a tad faster, but weighed considerably more...everything is a compromise I guess.4. Our Zpacks Triplex tent was without question our favorite piece of gear! Room for both of us and all of our gear and a total weight well under 2 pounds. NOTHING else available could touch that and we heard time and again how jealous people were of our tent. Expensive? You bet it was. But when you're going to be spending that much time in your tent, it's money well spend. Also, it looks as good now as it did when new, so durability is no problem.5. When our first Sawyer Squeeze filter froze in the Smokies, we switched to the new MSR model which allows for one handed use by squeezing a built in bulb on the filter. The MSR failed completely within weeks. We got another Sawyer and never looked back. They work well and when set up as a gravity filter in combination with an Evernew bladder the Sawyer is a hands free method of obtaining safe drinking water...just don't let it freeze.I'll add more information in the future.