Date: 2015-12-21
To: ...but wait! There's more!!!
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Have been answering emails for 2016 thru-hikers and will share some of what I've been telling them. If y'all have more questions, just send me an email and give me a couple of days to respond.My original gear list (and some hike pictures) can be found on my thru-hike blog:http://zipperthruhike.blogspot.com/Start back in the November '14 posts to find gear list. I noted changes in journal entries. Ended up switching boots, gloves, tent, and poles.Early starters should seriously consider spikes. Much of the trail in the Smoky Mountains was iced over and we struggled through it without them. Picking some up at an outfitter on the trail will be tough, as they'll be sold out if the weather's crappy. Same goes for quality gloves. Don't expect to find them locally if the weather turns bad. Both locals and hikers will buy them out.Combine cold temps with altitude and you'll find your canister fuel (and cig lighters) won't do well. You might want to select gear (and food) that will allow you to get by without a fire and/or a way to cook.Even in good weather, I didn't cook breakfast. I'd usually just have a candy bar, tortilla w/peanut butter (pretty solid in February), chocolate covered coffee beans, or a burrito including all of that stuff. I wanted to pack up quickly each morning and get moving, as I was the slowest hiker in history.Leaking boots in freezing temps are pretty bad news. Once mine started leaking, the water would freeze overnight and the expansion would make things worse day by day.Advantages to starting in February are smaller crowds at shelters and on trail. Something few ever talk about is that this means much more available fuel to start your fires. Lots of dead branches around and not a lot of folks using them up. Can't imagine how hard it must have been to have fire as the bubble went through and burned it all up.Be prepared to abuse your knife if you need to use it to split wood. Lining it up on an end and hammering the blade down with another stick worked well but was rough on the knife. Went through two.Another advantage to early start is bears aren't all that active. We saw signs earlier, but didn't actually see a bear until Virginia (Shenandoah National Park).We had the AWOL guide in print and on devices. When I was trying to lighten up the pack weight, I ditched the print version. Bobby had one on his phone and I had one on my Kindle. If one device crapped out, we had a backup.My rain gear was big enough to fit over all my clothes and cut the wind. Even thought my Frogg Toggs ended up shredded, it was worth it to have them in the really bad weather at the start. In warmer weather, rain gear is pretty useless. You'll sweat like crazy in it and be better off just letting the rain soak you instead.Hope this info helps y'all in planning your hikes.Make sure you keep your B.S. meter on at all times. We ran into a lot of guys who sounded like experts but turned out to be imposters. Maybe they'd stayed at a Holiday Inn Express the night before...Clare and I will be driving the trail in '16 (June or July). She can see the highlights without sleeping on the ground and pooping in the woods. I'll get to see some of the things we missed as well. Many times, Bobby and I bypassed short side trails and nearby attractions. Some views were nonexistent due to weather (or we were just so danged miserable we wanted to get somewhere to make camp or hitch into town).Best of luck to all you Class of '16 Thru-Hikers!