Date: 2005-02-07
To: AT Hike: Frequently Asked Questions
Miles today: 0.0

An alert reader has called to my attention that I have not provided answers to the most frequently asked questions about hiking the Appalachian Trail.   Inquiring minds want to know, so here are MY answers to the top 10 FAQs:1.        Am I really going to go alone? No, not exactly. While I¢m not taking anyone with me, I will hardly be alone. Somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000 hikers are likely to set out from Springer Mountain between March and May. Mid-March, when I¢m planning to leave, seems to be quite popular. We already have an email list going of about 25 mid-March hikers, which we¢ve named M Company. Each week is a separate ¢Battalion¢, so I¢m M Co. Battalion 2. And that list is only based on folks who have journals up on TJ.Com, not to be confused with all of the other hikers out there who are planning to leave in that same time period. Note that the Springer Mountain Shelter has a capacity of only 12... It won¢t be as bad as that herd of 750,000 Wildebeests I mentioned in Post #19, but anyone looking for solitude will have to be patient. A quarter of the hiker herd is likely to be gone by the time we reach Neals Gap, some 31 miles from Springer, and the herd will continue to thin after that.2.        What will I eat? Dehydrated food, mostly. For dinners, I will start out with some commercially prepared dishes from companies like Mountain House that I have in my pack already, but as I start to re-supply from grocery stores along the way it¢s likely to be mostly a combination of Rahman noodle soups, Lipton Noodle or Rice Side dishes, Macaroni and Cheese, etc., supplemented by foil-packages of chicken and tuna. Breakfast will be cereal with milk and raisins, or pop tarts, and coffee. Lunches will be things like crackers and cheese, bagels and peanut butter, or peanut butter and jelly on pita bread. Morning and afternoon snacks will consist of ¢gorp¢ (good old raisins and peanuts) or candy bars. My favorite is Snickers Crunch ¢ yummm! Because I will be burning 5-6000 calories a day, and will be lucky to replenish 3000 calories a day with the amount of food I¢ll be carrying, I expect to lose a significant amount of weight over the course of the hike. Many hikers start out losing a pound a day, which would be great, in principle. As a result of the diet, however, hikers are very keen to visit ¢all you can eat¢ restaurants when they get to town, and the location of these establishments are clearly identified in all of the AT hiker guidebooks.   3.        Where will I sleep? In most sections of the trail, there are huts or shelters spaced about ever 7-13 miles apart. These are normally three-sided log structures with a roof that extends out over the front of the shelter where, normally, a picnic table is located. They usually also feature a fire ring, and ¢ if you¢re lucky ¢ a latrine or outhouse of some sort. (If not, then you may wish that you had checked out the famous ¢How to S**T in the Woods¢ book before leaving for Springer. Priceless advice for the uninitiated!) As noted above, however, the shelters are often crowded, especially early in the season. When it¢s raining, the general principle is that ¢there¢s always room for one more¢, but even Noah had his limits. One other feature of most shelters, however, is the shelter mice population. As soon as it gets dark, out they come. The bain of the hiker¢s existence, their purpose in life is to get to the food bags. To foil them, each shelter has ropes hung from the ceiling, at the end of which is a stick for hanging your pack, and just above that is an orange-juice can lid strategically placed to thwart the intentions of said mice. From what I¢ve read, however, you really can¢t count on those to work. At a minimum, the local herd will be running all over the shelter, checking out every nook and cranny they can find in their quest for food, which they will inevitably discover ¢ and may well chew their way through packs, food bags, sleeping bags, etc. in order to get at it. Frankly, it is mostly for that reason that I plan to use my tent most nights. I just have this thing about rodents crawling over me while I sleep. That and the little snoring thing I mentioned in Post # 8. (Stay tuned for an update on that, shortly, in which I will introduce you to one of my new best friends at the Doctor¢s office!)   4.        Where will I get my water? Shelters are located at or near a water source. It¢s normally a spring or a stream, and should be ok in the spring of the year, but can be a problem in dry years and may well dry up altogether in July and August. Some folks live dangerously and drink from such sources without treating the water, but most use one form of purifier or another. Some just use household bleach, others use iodine, others a commercially available water treatment called Aqua Mira, and some use a mechanical filter, usually containing chemicals as well. Being conservative, I have opted to carry a filter, a PUR brand device which I have had good experience with. My pack would be lighter if I went the chemical approach, but I¢ve got a lot riding on this little hike in the woods, and have had too much experience with what can be in water sources not to take this issue pretty seriously.5.        How long will it take me? I wish I knew! My ¢plan¢ is to average about 13 miles a day, so I¢m looking at about 155 days, give or take. Eventually I expect to get up to 20 mile days, but I hope to stick with an average of about 10 for the first month, and 8 or less for at least the first week. As one of my M Company colleagues suggested, ¢Just let the miles come to you.¢ Sounds like a plan to me. 6.        How much does my pack weigh? I¢ve got it down to about 26 pounds, with five days worth of food. With the amount of water I normally carry, the full-in pack weight should be about 35 pounds. That¢s winter weight, and includes more and heavier clothing and sleeping bag. As I get into May, and begin to ship some things home, the weight should come down a bit.7.        What about the bears? Bears?? What Bears?? Oh, you mean the Care Bears on my jammies? No, I¢m leaving those at home. Not those? The REAL ones? Oh¢¦.those. Well, you know what. I¢m just not going to worry about those. It¢s a statistical thing. There hasn¢t been a single hiker attacked by a bear on the Appalachian Trail in recorded history. Oh sure, there was one guy who woke up in a shelter with a bear straddling him, and more than one has been ¢bluff charged¢, but the reality is that most hikers rarely even get to glimpse a bear, much less encounter one up close. I was lucky enough to see four or five during my 104 mile hike of the Shenandoah National Park a year ago last summer, but they all fled when they saw me coming. 8.        What about snakes? Pretty much the same answer as for the bears. The fact is that people who are not familiar with the woods tend to worry about the wrong things. They worry about bears and snakes, when the really worrisome things are rocks and roots that will trip you and end your hike, or not having enough water and suffering the ill effects of dehydration, or getting wet and/or chilled and suffering from hypothermia. Those things I worry about. Bears and snakes are way down on my list. For now. If I do encounter either one, however, you can be sure that I will make up a very elaborate journal entry, probably including a heroic role for yours truly, so stay tuned!9.        How will you stay clean? I won¢t. If I¢m smart, I¢ll try to wash my hands before eating, but other than that, hikers usually don¢t get to take showers or wash their clothes unless and until they get into a town. Which means that they are basically hiking in the same clothes day after day, and getting stinkier and stinkier with every passing day. The same sweaty, smelly, clothes they took off at the end of the day yesterday are the same ones they are going to climb back into for today¢s hike, and tomorrows hike, etc., etc., etc. Even if I can manage to get a sponge bath for myself, I can¢t wash my clothes and expect them to dry overnight. In fact, on my 8 day hike through the SNP, it rained every day for the first six days. I was wringing the water out of my socks twice a day, and they never did dry out during the entire hike. So the bottom line is that long-distance hikers stink. No, actually, they go beyond stink to what is popularly known as ¢hiker stank¢. That can make it hard to hitch a ride into town, unless someone with a pick up truck lets you ride in the back. On the other hand, locals who know what the through-hikers are up to will sometimes stop and pick you up. They just know to keep the windows rolled down and drive as fast as they can into town. 10.        What about S E X on the trail? See answer to question #9. Well, assembled eyes, with those explanations, you can pretty much understand why it is I am so anxious to leave my warm house and comfy bed, my wife¢s good cooking, the convenience of running water, and hot water for showers no less, clean clothes every day, and the night-time companionship of my spouse, with nothing more dangerous lurking in the dark than Katie the overweight cat, and hike up and down hills for 6-8 hours a day.   Who wouldn¢t want to do that??? Stay tuned,