Appalachian Trail Hiking Gear & Planning

I’m planning to hike parts of the Appalachian Trail (AT) this summer. I am unsure at this point where I’ll start and stop, but it’ll be in NH / ME. My notes are below. This is mostly for my personal use but could be useful for others to see what I’m planning to bring for longer treks. I’ve hiked many parts of the Whites with my family, so I know the terrain and area well there.

gear7-modified
Gear. This pic is old and out of date – I decreased some of this load.

Gear

7.5 lbs: “Big 4” Large Items

1.5 lbs: Packed Clothing

List includes worn & not worn, weight only includes what’s packed in backpack. I’ll be treating much of this with Permethrin and/or Nikwax.

14 lbs: Food & Water

3 lbs: Electronics, Med Kit, Other

Electronics & Navigation

Medical, Toiletries, Other

Advice

I put a lot of notes and other advice in this post.

Food

Click here for a pic of the general types of foods that I’ll be bringing.

food2 What I packed for 3days/2nights in the White Mountains. ~7,000 calories. The trail mix is ~1,500 calories alone. Snacks for breakfast or cook oatmeal if I want to spend the time. Tuna wraps for lunch plus candy and snacks. Trail mix all day to keep fueled up. Dinner is ramen + potatoes + chicken. Should have a good handful of snacks left over.

Drinks:

Snacks/Breakfast/Lunch:

Use tortillas/english muffins to make wraps with anything

Dinners:

Generally, mix potatoes/stuffing/ramen with some meat for protein. Add olive oil for extra calories.

Training

“The better part of valor is discretion, in the which better part I have saved my life.” - Shakespeare

I plan to be overprepared for this, so I’ll be doing various training hikes beforehand. I cycle a lot too to keep up my endurance. :)

– Begin NH AT sections –

mehiker
Feeling strong, out on a training hike in the Blue Hills.

My knee’s IT band has been stiff, so I am losing training time to let it heal. This is a common overuse injury and something I’ve had issues with before. I may have needed to ramp up my hiking activity slower, and/or stretch more. My plan is to use resistance bands and a roller ball to strengthen and loosen my legs/hips area a bit more and reduce this pain, alongside stretching / ice / compression / foam rolling.

Update: the solution for the IT band was to roll it out with a ball massage roller (mine is 2.5in. diameter and made of rubber), this way I can really target the tight area. The regular sized foam roller didn’t get deep enough into the muscle/tissue(?) to make a difference. Once I started rolling it out with the ball, I immediately got pain relief. I’m going to bring a lighter weight cork ball with me on the hike. Also, I found that working on my posture (fixing anterior pelvic tilt) significantly helped my knee.

NOBO NH AT Route Shelters / Campsites

NOBO ME AT Route Shelters / Campsites

Cheers,

Daniel