Ask crash about hiking the Appalachian Trail

[crash]

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When you start, I assume you need winter clothes. How do you get rid of it when it gets warm? Also, how do you get them back when you get up to Maine and it's starting to get colder again? Or do you just carry it with you the entire time. Doesn't hitchhiking and going to motels and restauarants kind of defeat the purpose of hiking the whole trail? Or is it standard among hikers? What about cleaning your clothes? How much clothes did you pack for the trip? Did you set a goal for the amount of miles you hike per week? Let's say your goal is to hike 100 miles a week. Did you try to hike 20 miles a day for 5 days so that you had 2 free days to relax at the end of the week?

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so.. many... questions....

you'd be surprised; you don't need too many clothes in the beginning. On the cold days (20-30 degrees for a high) I would wear a long sleeve cool-max shirt, a fleece pullover, and a vinyl jacket (very lightweight), one layer on legs. Hat and gloves too. After hiking for 30 minutes I'd ditch the jacket. After one hour I'd ditch the fleece. At night, you don't need many clothes if you have a decent sleeping bag. If you don't need something anymore you can just mail it home. It helps to have a go-to person at home who can mail stuff back to you if you need it. Maine wasn't that cold in August/Sept. (my year at least) so I didn't need too much up there either.

I washed clothes maybe once a week or so. I suppose going into town may defeat the purpose for some hard-core people, but it was standard to take a day off now and then. Plus once I found my drinking buddies we were always up for a beer after a few days of sweating our asses off.

Toward the end all I had was two short sleeve shirts, one long sleeve (all of those synthetic material like cool-max), and a fleece pullover. Two pairs of Umbros (to use as boxers), two pairs of shorts. One very thin rain jacket which I never used.

I had a rough idea of when I needed to finish (mid september) and made sure I kept that in mind. I didn't keep to any schedule too much. For example, I spent two days at dartmouth playing beer pong and ogling the college chicks, I just needed a break at that point.