I present several slideshows on both our Mississippi River Expedition and Appalachian Trail thru-hike every year. I love these presentations and especially enjoy the question and answer sessions. Each time I give the Appalachian Trail talk, I always know I’ll spend some time talking about footwear. Some folks hike in boots, some in trail runners, but I ended up hiking in Chaco sandals for the entire 2,170 miles.

Backpacking in Chaco Sandals

Before my Appalachian Trail thruhike, I scoured the Internet for any info I could get my hands on for information. One site I often visited was Michael McCormick’s Ultralight Backpacking page (now defunct). Michael was one of the first folks that turned me onto the idea that yes, it was possible to backpack in sandals as long as you kept your pack weight down. I had to try it out for myself to see what the fuss was about. At this time in my life, I only owned 3 pairs of shoes – my Chaco sandals, running shoes, and one pair of rarely used dress shoes. 95% of the time I wore my Chacos – not out of some misplaced sense of asceticism, but because I simply loved how they felt.

I was also working for Blue Ridge Mountain Sports at the time, and as luck would have it, I ran into the Chaco representative about a month before leaving. We talked a bit, and once he learned of my plans to hike in Chacos, he offered me the chance to prototype a new type of sole they were playing with. It was a win-win for everyone – Chaco got the data from a long hike, and I got 2 pairs of sandals for the trip. Excellent. Because we were starting in Maine and going south, I did bring a pair of ruining shoes with me in case I decided make a last minute change. Just before leaving the motel to head to Baxter State Park, I decided once and for all to go all the way in sandals, so my shoes were left behind. The first day was a little scary, but I made it up and down Katahdin without killing myself or twisting anything.

Chaco Sandals on right had 1,200 miles on them

I only needed two pairs of sandals over the course of six months, and the first pair made it over 1,200 miles. After that thru-hike, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to hiking with boots, with the rare exception of winter hiking. For what it’s worth, I never had a blister the entire time I was out. Everyone has to find what works for them, but I’m sold on my sandals.

Advantages

• Highly breathable
• Long lasting

Disadvantages

• Less ankle support
• Less protection against rocks, sticks, and thorns

More info:

www.chacousa.com

My personal favorite I’ve always had good luck with the Z/1 model.

www.keenfootwear.com

First came out in 2003, but have expanded rapidly. Lots of shoe/sandal hybrids available.

www.teva.com

One of the originals on the market. Thousands of feet are running around in Tevas.

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1. Eat In: get in the habit of taking lunches to work and eating at home. A crockpot is your best friend (cook dinner while you’re away!) Take the time to perfect 10 trail recipes that you won’t get sick of.
2. Avoid “Aspirational Overbuying”: I worked in outdoor retail for 10 years, and know full-well the perils of needing “just one more thing” before going on a trip. Your gear doesn’t get you to Katahdin, you do. Have a plan, then wait for a killer deal to come along. Check out Sierra Trading Post before buying anything. Hint: this $12 headlamp is a steal, and has gotten rave reviews from hikers I’ve talked too.
3. Cut your cable: you won’t die, I promise. Between Netflix and other internet content, you can watch almost everything cheap or free.
4. Quit drinking soda: I’m guilty of this, but really, soda is nothing but empty calories and money out of your pocket. I guarantee you’ll drop weight within the first two weeks of quitting, and every pound off your body is a pound you won’t have to drag up and down the mountains.
5. Quit smoking: easier said than done, but again, this is one very fast way to put money in the bank and years on your life.
6. Take a very small second job: this is your gear-fund job. Every dollar from this goes into your trip fund, not into your beer fund. Be creative here – odd jobs, writing gigs, anything goes.
7. Craigslist all your extra junk: Take a good look at all the crap you’ve not touched in your house in years. Get rid of it on Craigslist or Ebay. Bonus – the less you have, the less it’ll cost to store while you’re gone.
8. Minimize your car insurance while you’re gone. Talk to your agent about your situation. You may be able to cut your insurance bill in half by temporally increasing your deductible, changing to Leisure use, or other means.
9. Train locally: You’ve got plenty of time to train now that you’ve cut out the cable TV. Go on as many overnights as possible, but be wary of spending your hard-earned cash on traveling to far-flung places for awhile.
10. Be a homebody: That $20 you spend at a bar could buy you one night in any hostel on the trail.
11. Make your own coffee: A cheap coffeemaker or French Press can easily replace the coffee bought on the way to work every morning.
12. Learn to sew: careful with this, as it’s easy to go overboard. If you shop around for fabric and notions and don’t go nuts with a fancy sewing machine, you can save some real money though. My cheapy sewing machine has turned out $30 backpacks, $1 stuff sacks, $40 silnylon tarps, and scads of other gear.
13. Put off some costs till you get to the trail. Consider buying only a quarter of the maps you’ll need to complete the entire trail. Buy food as you go.  [ insert B Jack's food article ]
14. Travel cheap to the trail. Post your need to get to the trail on www.Whiteblaze.net or the local University’s Ride board. You’d be surprised how my people may be willing to split the gas to get you to Georgia or Maine.
15. When hiking, stay out of towns when possible. This is the Number One way to cut trail expenses while actually on the trail. Every night spent in town costs far more then a night on the trail. Get in, do your errands, and get out. It doesn’t matter if it’s a half-mile out of town, as long at it’s not in town.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I’m always happy to help potential thru-hikers.

Frameless packs aren’t for everyone. Carry more than 20-25 pounds in one for too long and you’ll wish for something else. If you can live with their limitations, I think they’re great. I hiked 2,150 miles down the Appalachian Trail with a frameless pack, and would choose to go that route again.

Advantages of Frameless Backpacks

• Cheaper: many packs in this category can be found under $100
• Lighter: frameless packs rarely weigh more than 20 ounces!
• Smaller: less room to cram stuff means (usually) you’ll carry less overall weight. It also means more room in your gear closet.
• Supports small companies: many frameless packs are made by small operations with great customer service.
• Easier to construct: simple pack designs are much easier to sew if you are making your own gear.
• Easier to wash: I routinely just toss mine in a front-loading washer to get the funk out. Try that with a big internal frame pack!

Manufacturers of Frameless Backpacks

• Gossamer Gear
• Six Moons Design
• Golite
• ULA Equipment
• Granite Gear
• Osprey
• Fanatic Fringe
• Mountain Laurel Designs
• Moonbow Gear

Examples

Granite Gear Virga

Six Moon Designs Starlite

Osprey Talon33

Golite Jam2

• Cheap, cheap, and cheap. I’m not dropping $18 on a pair of socks again.
• Dry very fast
  
• Easily replaceable
• Long-lasting
• A Fashion Statement. The single fastest way to get that Retiree-living-in-a-RV vibe is to rock a pair of black socks with your sandals.

Disadvantages

• Usually need to wear two pair at a time
• Not as much cushioning as wool or high-tech synthetic socks
• The ultra-thin sheer types of dress socks wear out quickly

Now that your sold on the idea, here’s a few tips to keep in mind

• Don’t get fuzzy, thick dress socks. They don’t dry as fast and leaves stick to them. A mid-weight ribbed sock (black, always) has worked the best for me.
• Try out a few pair and see which ones work best for you
  
• Keep your toe nails trimmed for best wear
• Hiking socks + separate cozy sleeping socks = happy feet
  
• Dress socks generally work best with lighter-weight hiking shoes, trail runners, and of course, sandals.

Try ‘em out, and let me know what you think. Anyone else have any sock preferences that work well?

Wrong.

Here are five good reasons to consider thru-hiking southbound from Maine to Georgia of the typical northbound hike.

1. Weather: Starting in Maine around June 15 – July 15 gives you plenty of cool nights at the height of summer. You’ll have cold weather down south if you finish at Christmas or later, but nothing you can’t handle. You’ll also be Walking with Fall, and have about 2-3 months of leaf changes as you work your way down.
2. Solitude: no hordes of hikers hogging the campsites and shelters. If you want more solitude, a SOBO is the only way to go.
3. Knock out the hard part first: “Getting to Maine means you’ve done 90% of the miles and 10% of the work” as the old saying goes. Come prepared to hike from day one though, because the hike up Kathadin is the largest single day of vertical gain of the entire trip.
4. No end dates to worry about: while it’s technically true that you can climb Kathadin after October 15, realistically your chances of doing so dwindle with each passing day. Springer Mountain never closes.
5. It’s all Downhill: Maine is higher than Georgia, so it’s all downhill. That’s what I told myself at least.

What do you think? Agree or disagree?

This is the address format for sending USPS packages by general delivery.

Your Name
c/o General Delivery
City, State, Zip Code

“Please hold for hiker/biker/paddler. Estimated arrival date XX/XX/XXXX”

Your best bet is probably Priority Mail, because you can forward them without cost to the next town as long as they have not been opened. With recent postal increases, there isn’t much difference between Priority and regular Parcel Post anyway, and the Priority Mail box and mailing labels are free at any post office.

While on the Mississippi River, we had some of our food and supplies sent via the postal service. Mailing bulk supplies to post offices along the way allowed us to budget our money a little better and get specialty supplies, maps, and other goods that weren’t available in smaller towns. We used the post offices in Red Wing, Hannibal, and Vicksburg and planned to take rest days there to regroup. It also gave our moms an address to send chocolate chip cookies and snacks their starving children. Got to have those chocolate cookies.

During my Appalachian Trail thru-hike, I used a total of 21 maildrops. If I had to do it again, I would cut that down considerably. Food and supplies are far easier to get along the AT than I expected, and now I would just send a package of maps every month or so and use a bounce box to send them ahead.

Overall, we averaged about about every four or five days between full resupplies, augmented with several smaller purchases along the way. Stopping in towns had a tendency to eat time, energy, and money, so we tried to not hit every town along the way.

There are a number of options for resupplying on the river. There are numerous towns and marinas all the way to St. Louis. After St. Louis, we started to go farther in between supply stops. The first stretch of the river was quite shallow in many areas, so we carried the lightest load we could. After getting past all the dams (and portages), we carried much more food at a time.

Food is the biggest single thing we had to stock up on. We each burned about four to five thousand calories daily, which meant we plowed through groceries quickly. We ended up with four five gallon buckets with special screw-off lids to keep our food in, and bought some food along the way to adjust for what whatever we we were craving at the time. The cravings were crazy–I felt like I was pregnant, except for that whole not being female part.

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When hiking or paddling, make sure you bag is always kept in a waterproof stuff sack. Stuff sacks that you get with your bag usually are only water-resistant and not waterproof. The easiest solution is to line your stuff sack with a plastic trash bag. Compactor bags work great for this, as they are both thicker and more durable than ordinary trash bags. You can usually find these at most larger grocery stores.

Put your compactor bag in the stuff sack, stuff you sleeping bag in, twist the top of the plastic bag and tuck to the side, then cinch the drawstrings of the stuff sack. With the compactor bag protected from punctures, you could throw your sleeping bag in a river and it won’t get wet. One compactor bag lasted me for over six months when I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, but small holes are easily repaired with duct tape if necessary.

You can also buy waterproof stuff sacks from a number of manufacturers. Lightweight dry bags used for paddling work great, and we’ve had good luck with the WxTec Pneumo series of dry bags made by Pacific Outdoor Equipment. Outdoor Research’s Hydrolite Dry Sacks are also a good choice. These types of drybags have a roll-top closure that assures that no water will get though under normal conditions. Both these dry bags are usually available at discount at Sierra Trading Post.

Now that your sleeping bag is safe during the day, there are a few things you can do while in camp. Most important is to choose a campsite with good drainage. Areas with hard-packed soil turn your campsite into lake when it rains. A campsite with porous soil on a slight incline is ideal. Next, make sure to tuck your groundcloth completely under your tent, otherwise rain will fall off your rainfly, collect on top of your groundcloth, then puddle underneath you. Also, use all your guylines to spread the fly out. This cuts down on condensation that can eventually get on your bag. Last, keep all wet clothing and gear in the tent vestibule cut down on moisture inside the tent.

A dry sleeping bag isn’t just a matter of comfort-it’s a matter of safety. Keeping your sleeping bag dry takes only a few precautions and will make your outdoor experiences much more enjoyable.

One teaser – water treatment and it’s relationship to illness is going to be a hot topic!

-John

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I was thinking about the Appalachian Trail on the way to work today. I did a southbound thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2000, and if I were to do it again, I’d change up a few things.

Have a bigger budget

Worrying about every dime spent is a drag on a long trip. I’m still a cheap dude and would like to do it on the cheap just as a challenge, but knowing you have some extra money to fall back on gives some good piece of mind.

Take less zero days

On my thru-hike, I took at least 30 days completely off over 6 months. On the Mississippi River trip we took off 6, 3 of which were to dodge a hurricane. On the AT, I got into a bad habit of doing big miles for a few days, then having to take a day off to recover. I think you’re better off doing a more moderate pace daily, and hike farther between resupplies. Big mile days beat the hell out of you.

Make More of my own Gear

So far I’ve sewn our packs, stove, windshirt, stuff sacks, and few other things. I still use an 8×10 silnylon tarp that’s in good shape, but I’d consider making an oversized poncho for use with a hammock.

Carry an Email Device

I would certainly carry some way to email and post photos instead of dealing with public access computers. I wasted a lot of time on the computers in towns, both finding the libraries and mindlessly surfing around. I’m writing an article about the setup I’d use, but in a nutshell it’s a Palm Treo with a folding keyboard. Bear in mind that I’m usually writing a newspaper column while I’m hiking, so my needs are a little different. A Pocketmail system is the way to go if you’re not doing overly long posts or need internet access. Write your emails, go to a pay phone and send/receive emails, and then be on your way. Simple, easy, elegant – but I’d hate to try and hammer out a bunch of pages out on that thing. We used one on the Mississippi but depended on our Gmail account for most stuff.

Use a Hammock

There’s a weight penalty, partially offset because I could use the down underquilt as insulation and ditch a jacket. I don’t know how much I’d actually do that in the winter, but I’ll be damned if I’m carrying another fleece jacket through the late spring through early fall again. A hammock opens up a ton more places to sleep each night, as well as being more comfortable once you get the learning curve down.

Carry Less Weight

I probably had about 18-22 lbs in my pack before food and water. I think I can easily get that down to 10 pounds with just a few changes. Once your base weight is in the low teens, who cares about adding an extra couple days of food?

Cook on a fire more often

I’d just put 3 stakes in the ground and build a tiny fire between them. In decent weather, I could see doing this about half the time. The rest of the time I’d use my trusty homemade alcohol stove. I’ve got 1,500 miles on a Frito-lay refried bean can stove so far. Stupid simple to use, because I’m a simpleton.

Wear Trailrunners instead of Sandals

I thru-hiked in Chaco sandals, but getting a system together for cold-weather use was interesting to say the least. Still have all my toes though. Trail runners are also a lighter option.

Gcast Audioblog

I’d use a Gcast Audioblog instead of emails just to stay in touch. I used this on my recent Cape Fear River trip, and it worked great. All you do is set up a free account with Gcast, call in to there 1-800 number, and leave a message that shows up as a podcast on their website. It was a super easy way to let everyone know where I was at, and give them a real-time taste of what was happening.

The amount of time you spend in town can often send your hiking budget through the roof. Lodging, meals, and all sorts of other small things can add up to a hefty “town tab” in short order. Here are some simple ways to cut your costs during a hiking trip by cutting down on your “town time.”

• Longer Resupplies
• Nearo instead of zero
• Make Lists
• Set yourself up
• Email devices
• Zero in the field

The fastest way to cut down on your town time is to go farther between resupply stops. Food weighs about a two pounds per day, so you’ll need to have a light pack weight to pull this off. It’s much different starting with a fifteen-pound base weight and adding twelve pounds of food compared to a twenty-five pound base weight. As for myself, I’d rather carry a few less items in my pack and have the ability to carry more food if I want to.

A “zero day” refers to taking a day off and spending the night in a town at a hostel or motel. Sometimes you need to take a full day off to rest, but what often happens is the complete opposite. A hiker comes into town, walks all over the place doing errands, walks to several restaurants getting meals, then walks back to their motel to stay up late watching television. Then they’ll sleep in, requiring another breakfast. Pretty soon it’s noon and you might as well eat lunch while you’re in town, right? All those “town miles” add up quickly and don’t get you any farther down the trail. Another strategy to consider is to camp near town the night before and walk or hitch in first thing in the morning. Go to the closest diner for a big breakfast, run your errands, grab a “luxury meal” on the way out of town, then camp a few miles up the trail. Like the saying goes-It doesn’t matter how far you get out of town, just get out of town.

Making lists for shopping and errands can help cut down on your town time. Do an inventory of your food and make a detailed shopping list. Think about all the other errands and supplies to need to buy (post office, laundry, checking email, finding stove fuel, etc.) Doing these errands efficiently not only cuts down on you town miles but also cuts down on overall town time.

Before leaving town, I like to prepare for my next resupply as much as possible. Little things like buying stamps, withdrawing cash, and clearing your camera’s memory cards can be done once every few weeks instead in each town. At the very least, make sure you have enough cash or traveler’s checks on hand to cover your next town visit in case something happens to your ATM or credit card. There are still several smaller towns on the trail where it is easier to just deal in cash, and besides, paying in cash makes it easier to budget.

Carrying an email device can be a great time-saver because you can send and receive your email remotely instead of hunting down Internet access. We used a Pocketmail unit when we paddled the Mississippi River with good results and I really wish that I had used one during my thru-hike in 2000. While I wouldn’t want to write a book with one, they weigh only eight ounces and have been proven in the field for several years . Sometimes, what begins as a simple email check turns into hours of Internet surfing for me. Just like in the “real world.”

One last strategy is to take your days off in the field. What could be better than relaxing at a great campsite and lounging around all day? Think about all the people who would love to have your view. Carry in a pizza from town, read the paper (and use it to start the campfire), do your laundry in a ziplock bag, and take a nap. Sounds like paradise to me.

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