How far did we hike?
How many states did we go through?
How long is the AT?
What was our average mileage per day?
What was our longest day?
Why do hikers have trail names?
What is our best memory?
What is our worst memory?
Did we see any bears?
How many people hike the AT each year?
Why did we hike southbound?
What did we miss most about civilization?
How heavy were our backpacks?
What did we carry?
What did we eat?
Are bikes allowed on the Trail?
Did we clean our water? How?
499.8 total miles.� If you only count miles hiked on the AT (we took lots of little side trails to view points and other cool stuff), we hiked 485.9 miles - 22.4% of the entire Trail.
How many states did we go through?
3 - Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
How long is the AT?
The length of the Appalachian Trail changes often as a result of re-routing along the corridor.� The best-estimate of mileage is currently 2172.6; however, in 1999, it was 2160.2.� If you're thinking about hiking, I'd do it soon before it gets even longer!
What was our average mileage per day?
Counting all the "zero" days (during which we sat on our butts in town and pigged out), we averaged 8.6 miles a day.� Without counting zero days, we averaged 10.2 miles per day
What was our longest day?
We hiked 22.1 miles on August 12, just before Hanover, NH.� If you're wondering, our shortest day (besides the zero days) was a whopping 1.9 miles outside of Gorham, NH.
Why do hikers have trail names?
I don't know who started it or why (it'd be a good research project in subcultures), but it's now a long-standing tradition for long distance AT hikers to have trail names. Each shelter has a register and we always wrote a brief entry (trying to give the next person a few chuckles and passing messages to other hikers), signing off with our trail names. After a certain point, around 3 - 5 weeks, people stop going by their real names and are just known by their trail names.
What is our best memory?
Mary:� It's hard to pick just one out of the slew of fabulous times - like when we had a gargantuan burger at White House Landing, or when some dayhikers gave us fresh fruit, or the all-you-can-eat breakfast at Shaw's in Monson, or the Wolf Burger in Stratton (OK, I'll stop talking about food now).� I think the day that tops my list is our 22-miler on August 12.� We had a wonderful time hiking with Medicine Man and Sunshine, and, even though we were all completely drained and exhausted by the end of the day, we proved to ourselves that we could do it.
Kevin: Hiking into N. Woodstock, NH. Ignoring my Dad's advice to "not do anything stupid," we night-hiked with Medicine Man and Sunshine in the rain down Franconia Ridge to get into town. To make the situation more complicated, Mary did not have a headlamp and had to rely on MM and me to help her see the trail.
What is our worst memory?
Mary:� The day after Stratton. I just had no energy and did not feel like hiking at all; however, the trail continued to go straight up on a continuous 5-mile ascent, and I had no choice but to just keep walking.
Kevin: Andover, ME to Gorham, NH. We carried 5-days of food for a 4-day hike into Gorham, but our hiker appetite kicked in and we ate more than we planned. Each day we took food inventory and ate any excess because we were so hungry. This section ended with a 17-mile hike in the rain and mud into town. We had to make it because we had no food left. By this time, I had become malnurished and my muscles were very weak. In addition, my pack was very uncomfortable to wear and almost drove me mad. Also, my leg had a large open wound from Mahoosuc Notch the previous day and I kept on scraping it into rocks and bushes.
Did we see any bears?
We only saw 2 at a fairly long distance away - a mama and her cub. Other wildlife we encountered includes one moose (in the wild - we saw more while in cars in town), several rabbits, partridges, grouse, lots of snakes and toads. Oh yeah - and millions of black flies and mosquitoes.
How many people hike the AT each year?
According to the Appalachian Trail Conference, about 3 to 4 million people hike a portion of the Trail each year.� As for people that are crazy enough to thru-hike - last year, 1,875 people started the Trail going northbound and 286 started southbound.� Of the 1,875 NOBOs, only 356 reported finishing (about 19% of the original crowd).� Of the 286 SOBOs, 52 finished (18%).
Why did we hike southbound?
Aaahh... the ultimate question.� In our case, the timing worked out so that we could start in June and we wanted to be with a "starting class."� (There is a definite hiking season for north- and southbounders because of winter.� SOBOs normally start in May/June, with some of the later ones taking off in August.) I think the main reason we went south is that the idea of going against the grain and hiking in the direction that only a small handful of thru-hikers choose was exciting to us.� (Only 400 thru-hikers have completed a southbound trip - ever.� That's almost as many NOBOs that finish the Trail per year.)
What did we miss most about civilization?
Mary:� Showers.� Even though we would swim and the rain cleaned us off pretty well, I sorely missed the refreshing feel of being dirt-and-sweat-free.
Kevin: Family and friends.
How heavy were our backpacks?
Mary's averaged around 33 pounds, loaded with 4 days of food and 1 � liters of water.�Kevin started the trip with a 51 lb pack which included 12 days of food and 1 gallon of water. Half-way through the trip he sent home his Kelty 50th Anniversary POS external frame pack for a smaller MountainSmith internal frame. In Glencliff, his pack weighed 43 lb which included 4 days of food and 3/4 gallons of water.
What did we carry?
Food, water, clothes (minimal amount), first aid kit, stove and gas, small mess kit, sleeping bag and pad, journal, maps, tent, water filter/chemicals, TP, hand sanitizer, camera and hiking poles (invaluable for us).� That's it.� No cell phone, GPS, compass, PDA, MP3 player or any other electronics.
What did we eat?
Breakfast consisted of PopTarts... everyday.� We didn't stop for lunch.� Rather, our routine was to stop around 9:30 for second breakfast, at 11 for 'elevensies', around 2 for an afternoon snack, and then we would eat dinner around 5:30 or 6.� If we weren't at the shelter by then, we stopped for another snack around 4:30 and keep on trucking to the shelter.� Snacks consisted of GORP in the beginning - then we got tired of it.� We switched to Clif bars, Snickers, Pay Days, cookies, granola bars, Pooh gummy fruit snacks and anything else we could get our hands on.� For dinner, we had the choice of ramen noodles, macaroni and cheese or Lipton meals (flavored noodles or rice dinners).� Do you now understand why we looked forward to the food so much in town?�
Are bikes allowed on the Trail?
Nope.� Just hikers and the occasional crazy dude who runs the Trail.� Also, Dartmouth Outing Club (maintains 70 miles in NH-VT area) posted a warning against unicycles.� So, leave your unicycle home OR ELSE.
Did we clean our water?�How?
Yup.� The chances of obtaining giardiasis (also called "beaver fever") from contaminated water are just too high, although some diehard (aka old school) thru-hikers have never caught it and don't treat their water.� At first, we carried a filter; however, because of the time it took to pump and the weight, we switched over to a chlorine dioxide treatment - AquaMira.� It tastes better than most treatments (like iodine), but is more expensive.