The view at sunrise from Mt. Liberty, NH. For some amazing, full resolution panoramic shots, click here.

I’ve been preparing extensively over the last 4 months to hike parts of the Appalachian Trail. I’ve recently completed a few sections of it and plan to do much more. This marks my entry into learning trail backpacking, a step up from my day-hiking and camping experiences. Through the training process, I iteratively tuned my gear loadout and gained valuable strength and experience. Here is my advice on multi-day hiking, my opinions on gear, and other bits of information that may be helpful to know if you are planning to do something similar.

Advice & Tips

• Get a pot a little larger than 750ml. 1000ml is a lot easier to work with to make meaty dinner meals. I use a 1100ml Toaks titanium one. Get a spoon with a silicone base or a pot scraper so you can get out all the excess oatmeal or whatever is left in the pot. You can also add water and drink it to reduce any food scraps tossed (and potentially smelled by bears).

• Using a collapsable water filtering bag like the CNOC Vecto was great, but it was hard to store so the weight would be in the center of the pack. Having something bottle-shaped would make more sense so it can fit in the side pockets of a backpack. If you want a bottle to filter with as you drink, get a collapsable bottle like the CNOC Vesica or something similar. You don’t want to filter directly from a Smart Water bottle, because it’ll just crumple unnaturally (there’s no air inlet while you squeeze the water out, and eventually you’ll have to take the filter off and let air in) – the Vesica will still crumple, but it’ll be a lot less annoying to deal with, and you won’t have to let air in at any point.

• You are going to twist your ankles a few times if you switch from hiking boots to trail runners. There is a period of time when your ankles build strength while handling the trail environment without the ankle support that you’d get from stiffer hightop boots. Use trekking poles to catch your slips as you get used to not having that ankle support.

• Wear synthetic shirts and undies, no exceptions. Sweaty cotton will make you feel and smell disgusting. For socks, Darn Tough hiker cushion socks (merino wool, not cotton) are amazing. Note that if you wear boots, your feet will sweat a lot more than if you wear trail runners. This will make your feet more prone to blisters.

• Packing out trash, as in, keeping it in your backpack until you reach a garbage can back in civilization, is both important and difficult to manage as the days add up. Pick foods that come with minimal packaging. Take foods like stuffing mix out of their original cardboard boxes and even into smaller plastic bags if desired.

• My Nylofume pack liner bag instantly broke, so I can’t recommend them. I switched to a SeaToSummit eVac 35L dry bag. Pack liners don’t have to line the entire inside of the pack, they just have to be large enough to fit all the things you want to stay dry inside, for example, sleeping bag, extra clothes, inflatable mat. Your tent and bear bag/can will get wet regardless and don’t need to be inside the “dry zone” of your pack.

• If you want to carry electrolyte powder for a day hike or two, consider using one of those waterproof match cases (like a tube with a screw top). This way you can carry a few good scoops of it, it’s easy to pour into water when needed without zipping open a bag or scooping from a larger tub, and it’s small to carry (and waterproof). For the long run, you’ll want to add a desiccant to any container you store electrolyte powder in.

Up at 5,000’ on New Hampshire’s Franconia Ridge. It was sunny, windy and beautiful!

• Wearing a sun hoodie is highly recommended (see pic). Not only will it stop sunburns, it also works well to keep bugs off the back of your neck and getting in your ears.

• Bringing a quick-drying camp towel/rag is highly recommended. Great for sweat, use as a headband to hold down your sun hoodie in wind (and for head/ear warmth) (see pic), drying hands after washing, drying cooking pots quickly to put them back in your bag, wiping pine needles off tent before rolling it up, etc. I have a basic $8 microfiber one from a military surplus store – you don’t need anything ultra fancy.

• I didn’t pack extra undies. Instead, I packed a pair of running shorts that have the thin underwear liner built inside them. These work as regular shorts if I don’t want to wear pants, and as extra underwear in an emergency.

• Correct backpack fitment is incredibly important. Go to REI and have them use their little device to measure your back so you get the right size backpack (or have a friend help). Pick the smallest size backpack that fits (as in, the one that you adjust bigger. Don’t buy a large sized pack and adjust it to be smaller, if you can help it). I picked two larger-sized packs in a row that did not fit, and it took me a few hikes to realize it. Chafing on the hip bones is a dead giveaway that something isn’t fit right – in my case, I had too large of a bag.

• Pay for the FarOut app. It has a ton of information about the routes, campsites, water, etc.

• Park at the trailhead you’ll finish at and set up a ride to your starting point for smoothest results.

• Carrying backup water purification tablets alongside your regular water filter is a must. Not only do you need an emergency way to purify water in case your regular filter cracks or something, but you may find yourself wanting to double-filter some of the water you find, ie at dirty ponds or in shallow creek environments. Kinsman Pond water was quite literally brown, and I was very happy I had Aqua Tabs to use alongside my regular Sawyer squeeze filter because there was no other option to descend to the next water source that night. Note: if you drop water purification tablets into a dirty water container, remember to “burp” the bottle (hold it upside down and let out a little bit of water) so that the chemicals get into the threads of the bottle’s cap area. Otherwise, you may get sick anyways since there will be remnants of dirty water on the bottle threads where you’ll put your lips.

• Water filters can freeze overnight. Find a way to insulate it if you’re camping in colder environments. I wrap mine in my camp towel inside a plastic bag and throw it in the bottom of my sleeping bag.

• “Leukotape” is what you want to treat blisters, preferably before they form. Once you feel a “hot spot” or chafing on your feet (or hands/fingers due to trekking pole handles), put a piece of Leukotape on. You don’t want cheaper “blister tape” from the drug store or anything like that. Get Leukotape, it’s much stronger. It’s so strong that it can be used as duct tape too.

My tent set up on a tent platform in the White Mountains.

• Tents that use a trekking pole to hoist the ceiling / “non-freestanding” tents are lightweight, but can get finnicky trying to set up on a tent platform (see pic), since they expect you to guy-out the walls. You’ll probably have to compromise some room inside because you won’t be able to get the maximum volume perfectly. This is because the geometry is designed to have the guylines at certain angles, which is simply not possible with the limited number of hooks and notches to secure the lines to on a tent platform. It’ll work well enough to get the tent up, but be aware, it may not be easy like on soft ground to get that nice roomy shape. You can also consider getting “anchor stakes”. Consider getting a 2P tent instead of a 1P if it’s non-freestanding, so that even if you set it up poorly, you’ll have room inside for everything.

• Squirrel’s Nut Butter (or similar salve for your feet) really saved me once my feet got soaked. I put some on at camp overnight and arrived home with no blisters. Your feet will get wet, regardless of what you do. Prepare for it by using a salve to help re-hydrate the skin and protect it from chafing. You can use the salve before your feet get wet too, it works as an anti-chafe solution in general.

• Bringing a travel bidet for after using the bathroom worked out really well. No toilet paper needed and it only takes a few seconds (plus ~150ml? of water) to clean off. Note that hand sanitizer doesn’t kill Norovirus - it must be physically removed from the hands via soap.

• Consider a sleeping quilt instead of a bag. My quilt (REI Magma 30 quilt) has drawstrings to make it into a mummy-style form if needed for colder nights. I found it hard to sleep with my feet pushed in towards each other in a regular mummy bag. Generally, quilts are also lighter weight than bags.

• I have no idea how people can sleep on non-inflatable mats (like the NEMO Switchback). The inflatable ones (NEMO Tensor, etc.) are at least 10x more comfortable. Note that the inflatable ones are easier to slide off of while sleeping, so it’s a good idea to source out a quilt or bag that can attach to the mat itself.

The view from Mt. Garfield, NH.

Try not to over-optimize or rush your route to bag a thousand peaks in a weekend. Enjoy the views and give yourself time padding in case you move slower than expected.

Happy hiking!

Daniel