Hitting The Trail

Last summer I made a 5 day 90+ mile backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail in Maryland, going from the PA line down to Haper’s Ferry and back, and I wrote about it here.

Well, I’m hitting the trail again. In a couple of weeks, I’ll once again start at the PA MD line, but this time I’ll be heading north through Pennsylvania. I’m taking 14 days to cover 230 or so miles, for an average pace of about 16 miles/day, which is actually slightly less than I was covering last time.

I’m still in the process of sorting out what I’m going to bring with me. I know my pack is going to be heavier. More food for one thing. But the basic list will be the same. One thing I have to consider is the weather. Since I’ll be going in April, it’s going to be cooler. I probably won’t have to deal with snow or ice, but it’ll still probably get down to 40 or so at night, and can get pretty warm during the day. Keeping that in mind I picked up a couple of things that I didn't have last time.

First up is a new hat. My usual headgear is a Orioles baseball cap which was once black, and is now a brownish grey. To replace it, I ordered a 4 Panel Large Bill Flap Hat. It might be a bit overkill, and certainly looks pretty dorky, but if I end up getting a lot of sun and/or rain, I think I’ll appreciate having it.

I also picked up some new convertible pants that have removable legs. I only wore shorts last time, but I figure there’s a good chance I might want actual pants at some point on the trip.

About food… That’s harder to figure out. I’ll be bringing plenty of GORP (Good Old Raisins and Peanuts), oatmeal, instant coffee… I’m not sure what I want to do about hot dinner type foods, or if I even want to bother. Some pasta with olive oil and seasoning might be a good option? We'll see.