Hiking the Appalachian Trail

i'm cheap as well lol, and I think your set up looks pretty good. I might try something like that. I'm not really worried about bugs..I usually just throw a sleeping bag on top of a tarp and don't even fool around with a tent, but I definitely want to take some kind of shelter for just in case incidents.

Since we're just starting off with the first thirty miles, I think we can do that in 3 days, although we're going to plan on five just in case. I dont really know how difficult the trail will be. I won't really need that much gear....enough water to last 3 days, a change of clothes in case I get wet, a couple of thermal shirts in case it gets cold at night. A tent or some kind of lightweight shelter. I'll probably get those instant meals you can get at outdoor outfitters, the ones you just add water and heat. those are pretty lightweight. I don't think the weight of all my gear will be a problem for the first section, but its something i'm going to have to give more thought to when we do longer sections. Doing the first section should give us a pretty good idea as to how much supplies we'll need for longer sections.
We'll also be taking two dogs and I plan to get them cute little doggie packs so they can carry their own food and water.

I KNEW this was the time of year for blueberries! I wanted to go up there and pick blueberries on labor day weekend but my friend kept telling me they were already gone..i cant wait to rub it in his face that i was right haha. I picked blueberries last year and put them in a bottle of southern comfort and let them soak for a few days...delicious! a pie probably would have been a healthier alternative haha

thank you everybody for the help and good wishes!!

One thing no one has really touched upon that I'm really concerned with is conditioning. I want my body to be in shape so that I can handle any type of terrain on the trail. I hiked a 3 mile trail a couple of weeks ago that was almost completely uphill and it kicked my ass. I'm in good shape compared to a lot of people but I want to be in good enough shape that miles of uphill hiking won't even faze me. I've been running to get my endurance up but running on flat ground doesnt really compare to hiking up a mountain. I tried a treadmill on elevated mode, but I didn't feel like it was very challenging...does anyone have any conditioning exercises they could recommend? Ideally I would like to go on a hike at least 3 times a week but I live an hour away from the closest mountain so that isn't really realistic.

 

I dont know how far you are from the lakes up there, or if they have sandy beaches, but running in sand is an awesome workout for your legs.
Im in pretty good shape with good muscle in my legs and running in sand for a while sets my muscles on fire, more then a lot of the strenuous hikes Ive done.

 

anytime I go to the beach I make sure to go for a run, sand really does do wonderful things to your legs! There aren't really any sandy beaches around here but I did find a pretty good place to do some trail running