What advice would you give to someone thinking about hiking the

>>834161
My advice would be for you to contact your therapist, because your bipolar is in an upswing and you are having visions of grandiose

>>834167
I've day hiked before and realize it's a hell of a challenge but is it conceivable in the least?

>>834161
sell you're house and go for it!!

>>834161
i did it, only had spent 2 nights innawoods before hand, only had climbed 1 mountain, its really not physically hard, more so a mental game, like a 2200m ultra marathon

>go light
>take 10 min breaks every 50 mins
>hammock+tarp > tent
>trail running shoes > boots
>running shorts > tactical pants
>you dont need a knife/gun/etc
>youre going to get wet, youre going to be hungry, youre going to be bored
>peanut butter+raisins+chocolate chips+tortilla is the best trail food

ama really

>>834171
just realize what youre getting yourself into, its not the physical part that gets to you, its the mental

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>>834202

>ama really

Any hospitable/cheap hostels/work-for-stays/overnights you'd be willing to recommend?

What month did you start your hike and did trail runners serve you well through the Smokies?

Any tips or recommendations for shipping things to yourself besides not using the post office?

What would you say your most valuable "luxury" or "personal" item was?

>>834161
Get some overnight expirience.

>>834202
>not carrying an AR and side arm
>getting raped on the Appalachian trail

Dont do it, senpai

>>834161
My advice would be get some real experience first, see if you can even handle a week alone in the woods. Humans are social creatures and the isolation gets to you fast

Take care of your feet

>>834203
nah op will probably have problems with the physical part too.

do the presidential run over a long weekend and see how you feel after that. then multiply that by 6 months without the 5 day recovery time.

>>834374
running and hiking are not really comparable. I was one of the worst runners in my unit, but was the second best at rucking. I can airborne shuffle all day even with a 40 pound pack. but ask me to keep a 6 minute mile and I am done by mile 3. I think it is because I have short legs. I dunno. but there is a definite wall there for me.

>>834379
Get the sand out of your pussy

>>834389
first sarn't? is that you?

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>>834305
not same bro, but differernt AT thru hiker. AMA here too.

>hostels/work-for-stays
get the guide book by AWOL and talk to ppl along the way. You'll find good places to stay. My fav was the cabin at upper goose pond in MA, it's free, comfy and they make pancakes on the weekends.

>start
March 17. tons of people at the start, Approach trail looked like a war zone. Started in nike runners, blisters fucked me, got keen boots that lasted 500mi, then went to solomon trail runners- still rock solomons for runnign and hiking on my 8th or 9th pair. Smokies are rough, I lucked out and only saw snow the last day. The town nearby is cheap and easy to kick around a few days in if a storm rolls through.

>Shipping things
I wouldn't bother except to send shit home. I sent my sleeping bag home in PA and got a walmart blanket further north when it got cold again. Packages seemed like a big burden, some friends I met did the packages thing. It was a bitch to make it to town before the weekend if it's small and the post office closes. Packages get delayed. It's more expensive to buy food and ship it in almost all cases than to just go to a grocery store.

That said, do have friends and family send you care packages if they volunteer it. That's definitely worth it.

>Luxury item
everyone's different. I carried a martin Backpacker the whole way, lots of people enjoyed playing since they hadn't in a few months. Music at the end of the day is nice in an environment where you're not constantly inundated by it. Definitely would pay attention to others, and would be considerate about playing loudly or when late. I've seen all sorts of things carried by other thru hikers. Coffee makers, bb guns, fishing rods, pillows, whatever you deem worth it. At one point, five of us bought sling shots and would set up shitty ranges at camp. Sometimes, the luxury was booze or heavy food items- I loved packing out steak and fast food.

>>834398
How did you get food without shipping packages?

>>834305
>Any hospitable/cheap hostels/work-for-stays/overnights you'd be willing to recommend?
most of the hostels are okay, and if theyre not youll hear about it/read it in trail logs along the way.

> What month did you start your hike and did trail runners serve you well through the Smokies?
middle of may, nobo, trail runners were fine the whole trail, youll go through 4-5 pairs

>Any tips or recommendations for shipping things to yourself besides not using the post office?
i never did this, you go in town every 50-75 miles, and after you get your trial legs this will be every 3-5 days and the trail is pretty commercialized so you wont have a problem getting resupply

>What would you say your most valuable "luxury" or "personal" item was?
phone/battery pack, i had books and music on it, also carried a bottle of caffeine pills (100mg) took one every 4 hours, this is probably what helped me the most

>>834374
you get your trail legs after 2 weeks, if you can stick that out, the walking is the easy part

>>834397
Idk why but you saying that reminded me of a plt sgt i had. When we were in the field he would yell at us to "get out of our fart sacks" when it was time to wake up every morning. If you didnt get wake up he would threaten to climb in your sleeping bag with you

>in the nude

Funniest guy. Damn good leader too. Think he's a 1sg now too. Definitely deserves it

>>834408
How much money would you say you spent?

What was the situation for getting water like?

>>834421
~$2800

i never filtered, most people did, just use your brain. Drink a liter, refill, move on. Only places that were hard to find water were va and ny, so i carried an extra gatorade bottle through them.

>>834411
good times.

there was s thread on here last month saying the army now issues 2 man tents. can you beleive that shit? one of the best parts of field problems was watching the new privates set up the giant tent.

>>834450
Not surprised. Part of the reason I got out is because the army was gettin too soft.

I was 11B. We got a new CO about 2 years before I ets'd and he started a new rule saying no more tents in the field, sleep in patrol bases, etc. He didn't even make us pull security at night. Literally just sleep in a patrol base. It was fun and EASY. You just go outside for a few days to train and shit.

The new privates complained so fucking much, man. When not training they were constantly on their phones and complaining about everything. It was horrible.

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testing

>>834161
Get some overnight experience.

>>834548
If you followed that bit in red on the bottom then there'd only be 2 or 3 threads on /out/ for you

>>834548
Nice
Can you post the blank?

>>834548
>mgtow
at is 90% males at the beginning, 25% at the end

>drugs/drinking
very prevalent, pretty much all there is to do at shelters

>mora/multitools/knives general
not needed

>hammocks
these are the way to go, just go off the trail 100 steps when youre too tired to continue for the day, though not needed if you plan on going shelter to shelter

>uv-5r
radios not needed

>pepsifag
theres some french canadians on the trail, mostly in the whites though

>mres
too heavy, go with peanut putter

>run away/off gird/homeless/stealth camping/ train hopping
everyone on the trail is running away from something, your never off gird, about 10% of the people you meet on the trial are legit homeless trailbums, stealth camp every night unless you like crowds and drugs, no train hopping, though you cross quiet a few of them

>cairns
something to kick when youre pissed off at the puds

>bears
youll see bears starting in tn up through nj/ny

>first aid kit
not needed

>ultralight
you pack should be sub 20 lbs dry

>edc/bob
used by silly larpers, 90% of what they carry would never be used

>shitting into a water source
please dont do this senpai

>geocache
youll probably hitch a ride from someone geocaching, youll have to listen to them talk about their bullshit hobby and pretend to be interested

>chirs mccandles/into the wild
more like a walk in the woods

>infographics
mostly useless


:^)

>>834548
>giving a tripfag even more attention

drop p****fag and replace him with gunz vs nogunz

and bears should include wolves and cougars

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>>834548
superior

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>>834779
hmm, inferior. trying again...

>>834779
I like it!

>>834161
Don't think about.
Definitely don't do it.
Walk away dude. Walk away.

>>834161
>advice to someone with virtually no overnight experience.
Don't die.
Oh wait, pretty sure you're gonna die.

Turn GPS tracking on your phone to "on". Plug it into one of those recharging bricks for extended life so volunteers can find your body easier. Your parents will need closure.

>>834379
A 6 minute mile for three miles is pretty damn good. That's an 18:20 5K, which you definitely need to practice to do.

>>837379
I was in a fairly elite unit. yea, I could.run better than most of the army, but a 6 minute mile was not very good for these ass holes. not on long stuff, but for the short stuff. if you didn't get sub 12 in your 2 mile you got flagged.

like I said though, it is a shit metric. I can ruck all week at airborne shuffle pace. I cant explain how, but rucking and running are just fundamentally different.

>>836059
>>835456
Don't listen to these idiots
>>834322
The AT is a very social trail with over 5k people starting every year

Go for it OP. I made it 1600 miles on the PCT before I got injured. No hiking experience whatsoever and I started doing 13 miles a days then was hitting 30's pretty consistently after the sierras. Try and go as light as possible and

>>834161
Don't

>>834579
>at is 90% males at the beginning, 25% at the end
So all the guys drop out later on? Fucking sweet, I just gotta make it to the end and then I'll be drowning in unwashed pussy.

>>834202
>>you dont need a knife
wew lad

>>837379
>A 6 minute mile for three miles is pretty damn good.
6 minute per mile isn't even got for 6 miles let alone 3.

>>834161
>app trail
Euro here.

If i want to hike the entire trail when and where should i start? At the leisure pace of 20 miles per day that it would take 110 days so obviously i have to take seasonal changes into account.

Maybe start in the north in spring so i go south as it gets colder?

>>834161
just started reading the book a walk in the woods by bill bryson. he pretty much does this and goes out on the trail with little experience and no real idea of what he's getting into. worth the read i would think if you're interested

>>840549
If you start North during Spring, it's still nearly winter and the weather can be terrible.

Most people start in the south and head north. That way the weather is already nice and warm when you start, and by the time you finish, the weather is just starting to cool down a little. Sometimes there can be snow at the end of the trail in fall though.

>>834161
Camp in your yard for a month. Gain experience.

>>840634
Alright. Thanks.