Well, it’s getting close to June and northbound thru-hikers still on the Appalachian Trail are probably somewhere in Virginia by now. I took a look at the Applachian Trail Conservancy’s 2000-miler data for the year, and they’re showing a slight dip in thru-hikers starting out this year. According to folks at Amicola State Park, 1,350 [...]]]>

Appalachian Trail

Well, it’s getting close to June and northbound thru-hikers still on the Appalachian Trail are probably somewhere in Virginia by now. I took a look at the Applachian Trail Conservancy’s 2000-miler data for the year, and they’re showing a slight dip in thru-hikers starting out this year. According to folks at Amicola State Park, 1,350 hikers started from Georgia heading north to Maine. This is a tad under last year’s number (1,425) by still well over the numbers in 2006 (1,150) and 2007 (1,125). You can be a numbers dork too by checking out the stats on their site!

I wrote earlier on how to send a maildrop on the Appalachian Trail to any post office via General Delivery. Now that there are enough stores near the Appalachian Trail (and Pacific Crest Trail for that matter) to get buy food along the way, I typically just [...]]]>

Picking up a Maildrop on the Appalachian Trail

I wrote earlier on how to send a maildrop on the Appalachian Trail to any post office via General Delivery. Now that there are enough stores near the Appalachian Trail (and Pacific Crest Trail for that matter) to get buy food along the way, I typically just recommend that hikers largely dispense with maildrops for the most part unless they have specific dietary needs.

That said, there are a still a few towns you may want to consider sending a small maildrop to because of limited grocery store access. You’re likely going to have the home crew send maps and mail every once in awhile anyway, so these towns are as good as any.

Here’s the Post Offices (and their zip codes) I’d probably use if I were to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail again:

Fontana Dam, NC 28733
Harpers Ferry, WV 25425
Port Clinton, PA 19549
Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327
Glencliff, NH 03238
Monson, ME 04464

One strategy that works well is to send your maildrops directly to a hostel or motel instead of the post office. This way you avoid the need to rush into town to pick up a package before the Post Office closes. I always recommend that hikers send their packages Priority Mail, as they can be forwarded up the trail at no additional cost as long as the package has not been opened.

Speaking of resupply options, Baltimore Jack’s article on Resupplying on the Appalachian Trail is the best I’ve ever read. If you have any interest at all in thru-hiking, do yourself a favor and visit that link.

Take care,

-John

Bog log on the Appalachian Trail

Though the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plane, it seems as though a bit has fallen in Maine, which brings me to my [...]]]> I wrote this about two weeks into my Appalachian Trail thru-hike. There’s nothing more bracing them putting on wet hiking clothes first thing in the morning!  -JP

My Wet T-shirt

Bog log on the Appalachian Trail

Though the rain in Spain
falls mainly on the plane,
it seems as though
a bit has fallen in Maine,
which brings me to my moment of pain,
of putting you on,
My Wet T-shirt.

This lack of sunshine,
means my clothesline
don’t work as well as it should.
You can’t drip-dry at night,
which would be to my delight,
as I think of donning you,
My Wet T-shirt.

Yes we’ve been friends
through snow, sleet and ice.
Sometimes I think
a portable dryer would be nice,
to warm you up a bit,
just a bit would suffice,
to knock the edge off of you,
My Wet T-shirt

There’s really no way
to make this thing better.
Try it slow, try it fast
you just feel wetter and wetter.
But you’re mine, all mine,
and that’s just fine by me.
It’s just you and me,
My Wet T-shirt.

Raleigh – March 23 Wilmington – March 25

Come on out to one of the following Great Outdoor Provision Company locations and catch my slideshow and prep talk on Thru-Hiking the Appalachian Trail. I spent 6 1/2 months hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2000 and it was a life-changing experience to be sure (My journals are here.) I’ll [...]]]>

Southbound on the Appalachian Trail

Come on out to one of the following Great Outdoor Provision Company locations and catch my slideshow and prep talk on Thru-Hiking the Appalachian Trail. I spent 6 1/2 months hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2000 and it was a life-changing experience to be sure (My journals are here.) I’ll be giving the full slideshow of my southbound thruhike, and a question and answer session afterward with tips and tricks for a successful thru-hike.

Greenville, NC February 25, 2010

Chapel Hill, NC March 3, 2010

Greensboro, NC March 9, 2010

Raleigh, NC March 23, 2010

Wilmington, NC March 25, 2010

Charlotte, NC April 6, 2010

RSS

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rasudduth/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

These are some responses to one question on my Appalachian Trail Thru-hiker Study relating to Sex on the Appalachian Trail. The question, (from Meusser’s 1989 study) was “The challenge to do the whole trail, the miles, being really tired, dirty and lacking amenities or privacy prompted one couple to say, “There’s [...]]]>

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rasudduth/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

These are some responses to one question on my Appalachian Trail Thru-hiker Study relating to Sex on the Appalachian Trail. The question, (from Meusser’s 1989 study) was “The challenge to do the whole trail, the miles, being really tired, dirty and lacking amenities or privacy prompted one couple
to say, “There’s no sex on the trail: Do you have any comments?”

Overall, most respondents agreed that, yes, sex actually exists on the Appalachian Trail. Some folks weren’t so convinced, and a few folks had some “mixed messages” about the whole matter. Enjoy!

Disagree – Of course there’s sex on the Appalachian Trail

• These people were clearly having difficulties before beginning their hike. There is, in fact, plenty of sex on the trail.
• there is sex on the trail, there is privacy (heck your in a wilderness) i loved the lacking amenities, the miles, the dirt the mud
• there is sex on the trail… it’s not pretty, but it’s primal
• They’re weak minded and should stick to the shopping mall.
• Funny… I remember a friend saying something like ‘You know, the guys I talk to say there’s no sex on the trail, but that’s not what I hear from the women’. Of course, that probably has nothing to do with the gender distribution on the trail.
• Um…I’d say that statement is not entirely accurate. I mean, there’s no privacy in shelters, but there’s a lot of forest between GA and ME. And trail towns with hotel rooms.
• lies, dirty filthy unshowerd lies

Agree – There is no Sex on the Appalachian Trail

• There was indeed no sex being had by me on the trail.
• Sounds about right.
• I know of no “hook ups” during my entire trip. Just too tired and dirty.
• There was not sex for ME on the trail
• I didn’t have any!

Neutral?

• no comment
• No going there
• I began the hike with my fiance and we got married halfway through in harpers ferry. There is no sex, unless you are in town. You are just too damn tired to do anything but eat sleep and set up camp once you get there. More sex would have been great – especially for newlyweds – but it wasn’t happening!
• was never in that situation, but I honestly cannot imagine having any desire to be intimate during the hike!
• They pretty much had it right, but once you get to town
• if you aren’t tired by the time you stop, you need to keep hiking

So, what do you think? Do blue blaze trails serve multiple purpose? No-way, no-how?

This was taken about halfway into the Great Smoky Mountains, around December 15, 2005.  From reading my journal, I was at least a month behind schedule at this point, and was just looking forward to finishing up at Springer Mountain in Georgia. The weather had other ideas. It had been cold and rainy for the [...]]]>  

This was taken about halfway into the Great Smoky Mountains, around December 15, 2005.  From reading my journal, I was at least a month behind schedule at this point, and was just looking forward to finishing up at Springer Mountain in Georgia. The weather had other ideas. It had been cold and rainy for the previous month with scattered snowstorms, but nothing too serious.

Things changed once I hit the Smokies. Rain turned to snow, and temperatures dropped to around zero at night. We were breaking trail the last forty miles through snow drifts and ice. Can’t say it was alot of fun at some points, but I’ve still got all my fingers and toes and all’s well in the end.

First let’s take a look at the Packs by Brand graph. Bear [...]]]> Just following up on my post from last week on Thru-hiker Backpacks. This was part of a large study I bagan in 2007 on Appalachian Trail Thru-hikers. Over 540 long-distance hikers, with more than a million collective trail miles were part of this study.

First let’s take a look at the Packs by Brand graph. Bear in mind that about 84% of the responses were from folks hiking from 2000 or later. I’ll get into that in a bit…

Let me explain how these numbers were broken down. This graph includes all responses to the question “What model and brand of pack did you carry?” There were 439 completed responses, many of which needed to be cleaned up before they could be sorted and analyzed (misspellings, etc.) Many responses only listed the manufacturer of the pack, but not the model, so I analyzed the data with this in mind.

I sorted all brands, then filtered for all brands with less than 5 responses. These filtered responses make up the “Other” (34 responses) category, which includes brands like Jack Wolfskin(2), Coleman (1), and the venerable US military ALICE pack (2.) The “Switchers” category (27 responses) is composed of all the folks that started with one type/brand of pack, then switched packs during their thru-hike. These responses had no real pattern (external to internal, bought a Gregory, etc), so I’ve split these responses from the others in order to keep the data as clean as possible.

I’d like to further break down some of the numbers concerning type of packs while getting into more into brand specifics and preferences. As I mentioned before, all the packs in this dataset prior to 1982 were external frame packs. This shouldn’t be all that surprising, as internal frame packs were not commonly available commercially until the mid-late 70’s. Fifteen thru-hikers in this study completed their hikes from 1969-1982. All of these hikers used external frame packs, and of these, seven used a pack made by Kelty. It’s been said by more experienced hikers than I (*ahem*) that you couldn’t swing a cat on the Appalachian Trail in the seventies without hitting a Kelty Tioga, and this data seems to bear that out.

The shift toward internal frame packs starts in the mid-eighties, and continues rapidly from there. Overall, about 73% of all thru-hikers used and internal frame pack, with internals (43) doubling the number of externals (20) from 1985-1999. Kelty was still the largest manufacturer of external frames, with a smattering of Jansport, Camp Trails, and other external frame packs filling in.

From 1985-1999, internal frame packs came from a number of manufacturers. Dana Design’s (12 packs) Terraplane, Glacier, and humongous Astralplane were joined by Gregory’s (10 packs) Palisade, Reality, and Shasta packs. Lowe Alpine brought some of the first internal frame packs to market, and five thru-hikers from this timeframe used their packs.

A number of new companies came onto the market around 2000 with newer pack designs. There’s been a decided trend toward lighter packs, and in many cases, smaller capacities. Packs made by ULA-Equipment, GoLite, Osprey, Arc’Teryx, Granite Gear, and Gregory either came on the market during this time period or shifted their efforts toward the nebulous direction of “ultralight.” A popular pack in the early nineties was Dana Design Terraplane, weighing in around seven pounds and 5,800 cubic inches of capacity. By comparison, in 2005 many thru-hikers were carrying a Gregory Z Pack (3,300 cubic inches, 3.25 pounds.) One thing I want to look into is whether or not hikers are actually carrying overall lighter loads, and if so, has their daily mileage increased as a result. I’ll get more into that as I process the numbers.

The Most Popular Pack on the Appalachian Trail

I started my data collection for this study at Trail Days (May, 2007) and continued to collect responses through September 2007. As such, the last year for completed thru-hikes in this study was 2006, although many 2007 hikers submitted their surveys during their thru-hikes. Pack preferences come and go, but the Granite Gear Vapor Trail was the most popular pack among Appalachian Trail thru-hikers based on the 2006 and 2007 data. About 15% of the hikers (14) in the 2006-2007 cohort group reported using the Vapor Trail model specifically, although a majority of the hikers just submitted the brand of pack they were using.

Rather than concentrate on the specific model of pack, I believe what is more telling is the overall trend toward lighter, smaller packs. ULA Equipment’s P1 and P2 packs, Osprey’s Atmos series, Gregory’s Z and G packs, and GoLite’s offerings were all strongly represented. The Appalachian Trail’s first thru-hiker,  Earl Schaffer, used a small, frameless army rucksack back in 1948 and carried a light load by anyone’s standards. Maybe the more things change, the more they stay the same?

What kind of pack do you carry? What’s your “perfect” pack? I love to hear from ya’ll, and feel free to contact me with any questions.

I started my data collection for the Appalachian Trail Thru-hiker Study at Trail Days (May, 2007) and continued to collect responses through September 2007. As such, the last year for completed thru-hikes in this study was 2006, although many 2007 hikers submitted their surveys during their thru-hikes. Pack preferences come and go, but the Granite [...]]]>

I started my data collection for the Appalachian Trail Thru-hiker Study at Trail Days (May, 2007) and continued to collect responses through September 2007. As such, the last year for completed thru-hikes in this study was 2006, although many 2007 hikers submitted their surveys during their thru-hikes. Pack preferences come and go, but the Granite Gear Vapor Trail was the most popular pack among Appalachian Trail thru-hikers based on the 2006 and 2007 data. About 15% of the hikers (14) in the 2006-2007 cohort group reported using the Vapor Trail model specifically, although a majority of the hikers just submitted the brand of pack they were using.

Here’s the chart of the 434 responses.

Let’s dig into the numbers a little bit and see what we find.

As you can tell, internal frame packs were by far the most-used by thru-hikers (72.6%), followed [...]]]> Just wading through some more data from my AT Thru-hiker Study today and wanted to share some info on pack types.

Here’s the chart of the 434 responses.

Let’s dig into the numbers a little bit and see what we find.

As you can tell, internal frame packs were by far the most-used by thru-hikers (72.6%), followed by external frame users (13.1%), frameless packs (8.1%), and the ubiquitous “Other” category. In looking at the data, “Other” users were typically hikers that started with one style of pack, then switched to one or more styles before completing their thru-hike. There was no real pattern to this switching, as some switched to internal frames from external or vice-versa.

Some interesting tidbits:

• Prior to 1982, ALL thru-hikers in this sample used external frame packs.
• 32 out of the 35 frameless pack users thru-hiked since 2000
• From 2000 on, internal frame use constituted 78.2% of all users

Satisfaction Ratings

I’m always interested in seeing how satisfied people are with their gear selections. There are as many ways to hike the trail as there are hikers, and there is more selection now then there has ever been. Let’s take a look at the satisfaction ratings for backpacks.

Well, it looks like thru-hikers were almost universally satisfied with their backpack selection, regardless of type. 90.9% of all thru-hikers sampled reported either being Very Satisfied (68.8%) or Somewhat Satisfied (22.1%.)

Looking into things a little closer, there was a weak relationship between Very Disatisfied and the “Other” category, suggesting that hikers found some sort of replacement pack during their trip. Anecdotally, it isn’t entirely uncommon for thru-hikers to replace gear along the way as they find other approaches that may work better for them.

I’m digging through the Brand and Model numbers now, and will try to report the results shortly. From just a quick eye-balling of the data, there is a definite trend towards smaller, lighter packs, with Granite Gear and Gregory being two of the most popular pack manufacturers.

UPDATE:  Make sure to check out Part II of this section on Thru-hiker Backpacks. I get more into differences by decade, weights, and present The Most Popular Pack on the Appalachian Trail!

Trail Days, 2003

Trail Days, 2003, Ox and Johnny Swank (John- younger and no beard)

Getting Soaked Outside of Minneapolis

Floodgates Opening

St. Anthony’s [...]]]> OK, so I’m kind of a slacker when it comes to getting disposable cameras back to the photo lab. Finally took a handful of these things in and man, there were some cool photos on them!

Trail Days, 2003

Trail Days, 2003, Ox and Johnny Swank (John- younger and no beard)

Getting Soaked Outside of Minneapolis

Floodgates Opening

St. Anthony’s Falls, MN

For more oldies and goldies, check out the Older Pics Album