This time next week I will be in the air and on my way to Atlanta and the start of my Appalachian Trail trek. I am looking to start walking on March 4.

Crazy.

I have gotten many questions about the trail so for my first blog post I thought I’d collate them all together as a sort of mock interview.

What are you doing again?

The Appalachian Trail (A.T.). It’s the longest hiking-only footpath in the world and goes 2190 miles through 14 states, from Georgia to Maine across the Appalachian mountain range.

The elevation gain/loss of hiking the entire Appalachian Trail is the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest 16 times.

2190 miles? That sounds like a long way.

2190 miles is 3524 km. To put that into some context that would almost be like walking from the Canberra to Perth, which according to Google maps is about 3513 km.

In ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Frodo and Sam walked 1350 miles to Mordor.

So yeah, it’s a long way.

For the love of god, why?

I’ve always wanted to do a big trek. My initial plan was Kokoda, but then I started researching big trails around the world and fell in love with the A.T.

I love visiting America and the fact I will be walking through some great towns and historical places I would never get to see otherwise only added to the appeal.

Also, I’m turning 40 soon and as I like to say to my wife, “It’s cheaper than a sports car!”*

Are you training? How do you train for this?

Yes, and no. The best way to train for a big trek is to…do some big treks. Or at least a few overnight trips. I did a few walks to test out my legs and my gear in the cooler months last year: A section of the 6 foot track, Mount Solitary via Ruined Castle and a couple of sections of the Great North Walk.

Since Christmas I have backed off the training. Why? There are not many challenging walks in Newcastle so I’d have to travel to the Blue Mountains or Barrington tops to get some decent training in, which means more time away from the family. Given that I will be away for more than a wee while, I chose to spend as much time as possible with them.

My main training will come in the first few weeks of the trail itself.

Will I regret that decision? Probably. From what I can gather, the first two or three weeks sucks anyway, regardless of your fitness.

You are some sort of super-hiker though, right? Obviously you’ve done this kind of thing before…

Ah…no. I am not a super hiker. I have hiked before, not as much as I would have like to mind, and nothing even close to the undertaking this will be.

But you are going with a group is like-minded (mad) people right?

Well…kinda. I’m starting out on my own, but there will be folks at pretty much every campsite I will stop at. I’ll have some company, even if its only at night. I’ll be fine.

If it helps, they will all obviously be likeminded (mad) people.

How long will it take?

Most folks take between 4-6 months to complete the trail. Some do it in sections over many years. Personally, I have 148 days to complete it. I would really like to do it in 120 days though. Which would mean I would need to average about 30 km per day.

Most folks start the trail slow, doing 13 to 16 km’s per day but by the middle they are punching out 30 to 40 km days.

What about food? How will you get food for all those months on the trail?

The A.T. actually passes through or close to a town every 3-5 days. There are also numerous road crossings with access to a service station or supermarket. So all up, I’ll be carrying about 5 days’ worth of food when I start the trail and whenever I leave a trail town.

Water is plentiful on the trail, usually.

I am not 100% sure what a typical day’s food will look like just yet. For the first week my menu should look something like this:

Breakfast

Granola with powdered milk

Instant Coffee

Lunch

Tortilla with peanut butter and jam

Dinner

Ramen noodles

Tuna pouch

Hot chocolate

Snacks

Snickers bars

Jolly ranchers

Cliff bars

I don’t get very hungry when I hike, but I am told ‘hiker hunger’ will kick in after a week or two. Once that happens I will probably look at upping the amount of food.

How heavy is your pack?

I haven’t done the final weigh in yet, but I think it will have a base weight of around 6.5kg. By base weight, I mean the weight of all my items minus food and water.

What kind of gear are you taking?

Not as much as you might think. I’ll do a separate post about all my gear.

BEARS!! What about bears? Are you taking bear spray or a big knife?

I will probably (hopefully) see a few bears on the trail. Generally black bears are more frightened of us than we are of them. If I find one that isn’t…well that will be an interesting day.

Thousands upon thousands of folks walk the A.T. every year, and bear attacks are very rare. I’ll be fine.

One thing we have to be careful with is our food. It has to be put in a bear bag and hung from a tree. I have a special food bag called an Ursack, which is made from Kevlar or something usually used to stop bullets.

Apart from bears I will probably encounter a few rattlesnakes, some copperheads, maybe a moose or two, and wild hogs. The main thing that everyone is wary of though, is the common deer tick.

A tick?

Yep. They carry Lyme disease, which is easily treated (if caught early) but can really knock you around for a few days.

So bears, ticks, and endless walking…why are you doing this again?

*I still reserve my right to buy a sports car