First few days - Appalachian Trail

imported
#1

I hear that people tend to overpack food and other things when they start there thru attempt, any other advice for the first few days of transition would also be appriciated.
I might have packed too much food…

David

#2

Yes and no. We heavy hungered day one.
A good way to judge is to lay out portions before you pack them and see how much you have. A light breakfast, three snacks + lunch and a filling dinner for the each day to Neels. About three pounds of food-ish. A little hunger is good.

Bramble 01

#3

Hiker boxes close to the biginning of the trial were STUFFED full of food and if memory serves I do recall a bunch of hikers stating they’d packed far too much at he beginning.

Personally, we didn’t have too much, but we completely overestimated how much time we’d have/want to take for making hot drinks and the like. Once we got into the swing it was rare that we’d heat anything up other than dinner time, so a bunch of tea, hot choc, oatmeal, etc got dumped.

Otehr advice for starting out, don’t try to do 20 miles on day one! :expressionless:

toes

#4

You know…the flavored oatmeal wasn’t all that bad just mixed with water. If you don’t want to take the time to boil water for your breakfast–God knows I didn’t–you could give that a try.
Advice for the beginning? LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! Don’t worry about keeping up with the friends you’ve made in the first couple of days. Chances are good that you’ll see them again. You just never know on this trail. If your knee starts SCREAMING in pain in the middle of the night to the point where you can’t fall asleep without a bottle of advil…you’ve already overdone it. GO as slow as you need to at the start. I agree with Toes; you can do 20-milers in Virgina and Pennsylvania if you really want to.

Leki-Less

#5

I think everyone packs too much food to start. 1 1/2 to 2 lbs a day is a goos start. The more you carry the more you burn the more you need the more you carry the more you burn etc etc etc. I started carrying what I thought was 8 to 10 days worth… Way too much. It will all come to you with time. Hell, I was a pro by the time I got to er Vermont?

Virginian

#6

Consider that your backpacking appetite that you are packing so much food for will probably take 5-10 days to really get going. So, all the food left behind at the beginning is probably due to people counting on that appetite at the start.

zach attack

#7

I’m with Zach. I was never that hungry the first week and couldn’t even finish a packet of Lipton noodles for dinner.

For the next start I’m going with more snacks and less bigger meals, then try to eat throughout the day.

Everyone takes too much food, but then again you can’t go crazy and count on your not being hungry, run out of food, then have to crawl into Neels. Besides, Walasi-Yi ain’t cheap anyway, so it’s all the more food you won’t have to buy from an outfitters.

0101

#8

the first few days even maybe more I was living and hiking on adrenaline…it’s such a fun time and the rewards and expectations of what or who might be just up around the next corner was pretty intense…thus i carried quite a few extra pounds of food. It’sa great time…later, no matter how much i ate or carried i felt like i was starving to death…you know you have been hiking a minute or two when your body anialates whatever you eat in 30 seconds…demanding more. enjoy…it’s all gonna be good…best advice i could give is take it as it comes, enjoy all the emotions and challenges…looking back, even the prehike jitters was sweet

burn

#9

the first few days even maybe more I was living and hiking on adrenaline…it’s such a fun time and the rewards and expectations of what or who might be just up around the next corner was pretty intense…thus i carried quite a few extra pounds of food. It’sa great time…later, no matter how much i ate or carried i felt like i was starving to death…you know you have been hiking a minute or two when your body anialates whatever you eat in 30 seconds…demanding more. enjoy…it’s all gonna be good…best advice i could give is take it as it comes, enjoy all the emotions and challenges…looking back, even the prehike jitters was sweet

burn

#10

When I go backpacking the first week its like my body shuts down my appetite and I have to force myself to eat. I’ve heard of other hikers that this happens too. I now pack about half of what I use to carry for the first week. The other item most people carry too much of is clothes. My first long distance hike I probably sent home ten pounds of clothes I didn’t need when I got to Neel’s Gap. I also way over packed fuel. After a couple of weeks I ditched the extra fuel bottle.

Big B

#11

As a section hiker I never get beyond the “first week out” but I find about 28 oz/day of assorted foods is about minimum. Granted the first day or two I’m not that hungry, but after a couple of days I do begin to feel the lack of energy. Take into account I’m real close to 60, moderate shape, a bit overweight, and 12 miles is a good day.

Dioko

#12

you will overpack. you will underpack. you will hurt, be cold. several peices of gear may prove inadaquate, or entirely extraneous. perhaps you will feel like your body and mind are at their braking points and this thing was way too big. you may have too much food. you may miss your family and friends. a cold georgia wind may whip over that barren brown ridge on the fifteenth climb of the day and you may just want to collapse.

keep going. it will work out. this is how growth happens.

milo