Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Planning a Summer Thru Hike (updated 2010)

Flashback: It's early on the morning of July 21, 2003, and Rough and Tumble (that's us) have hiked up the Pine Cobble and Appalachian Trails from Williamstown, Massachusetts. We're standing at the Long Trail Southern Terminus sign on the Vermont-Massachusetts border, ready to start our thru hike. All the planning is complete, drop boxes distributed, gear selected and practiced with, and conditioning hikes finished. With great anticipation and a touch of trepidation, we're about to take our first steps on the Long Trail on our way to the Canadian border.
You can take advantage of some of our experiences before starting your own end-to-end by listening to our podcast "Planning a Summer Thru Hike of the Long Trail" at longtrailpodcast.com . Don't forget your camera ... and have a great hike!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Self-prepared Trail Meals

There they are - the finished products. Tumble's prepared trail meals are stacked up and ready to go into our re-supply boxes and backpacks prior to our Long Trail end-to-end hike. She made enough meals for our planned 38 days on the trail, put them in ziplock bags, and labeled them with instructions and their individual weights.

Listen to her podcast "Preparing Your Own Trail Meals - for vegans and non-vegans" and you'll learn how she did it, including tips on your trail kitchen, what foods to carry, cooking, and determining your serving size. She made it look easy and so can you.