Backpacking Appalachian Trial

[MystyPines]

Merry Meet!!!

My husband and I are planning to celebrate our 1 year anniversary in September by backpacking the Appalachian Trail in the White Mountains Wilderness in New Hampshire. Although I have been an avid camper for 15 years, mostly camping using an "lifted" off-road truck to access primitive trials and roads to primitive camping I could use any advice from anyone who knows about backpacking, packing for such a trip, items to pack, "freeze-dried food" to pack, and the weight of the pack. We are planning on a 6 day trip, doing only 10 miles a day. We are just starting to investigate purchasing Packs, Tent, Sleeping bags, etc. Are there any brands I should look for? We just purchased (2) "0 degree" Mummy bags weighing 4 lbs each. We have our eye on a Knollwood 2 person backpack tent which weights 3 lbs. What about internal frame packs or external frame packs?

Bright Blessings!

[Danustouch]

I don't know much about frame packs. But I do know the appalachian trail. It winds through CT, too, did you know? Up near cornwall and dudleytown! Hubby and I love Newhampshire. The white mountains are beautiful. I hope you have a WONDERFUL time. Don't forget the bug spray though. Be careful for ticks. Tell us all about it when you get home! Best of luck!

[MystyPines]

Hello Danustouch!

We did the Appalachian Trail quite a few times in CT up near Cornwall/Sharon area. It is beautiful. I was never able to get to the haunted DudleyTown. We have attempted on several occasions to access it from Bald Mountain Road, and each time a a truck pulled up and said it is not open to the public and is owned by the Dark Forest Group. I have heard so many things about DudleyTown. Have you been there?

[Danustouch]

Yes..I've been there. And yes..it is eerie. But I think it's eeriness is easily explained. I had a site bookmarked a while ago, about it...debunking the myths of dudleytown. But..I don't know where it went to :(... anyway...The myths of dudley town , mostly, can be explained through natural phenomena. Everyones' always spooked out because you cant hear any birds or animal life there. Well..There really isn't much for them to feed on. There isn't much grass..because of the trees being so thick. There is no vegetation, besides trees and brambles. You'd have to experience it to realize how densely forested it is. The reason it became a ghost town, IMO...is because the ground was not fertile. It is mostly rock there. So it didn't yield a good crop. Not to mention, for it ever to be inhabited again, sooooo much deforestation would have to be done. I'll see if I can find the story that I had bookmarked...and I'll post it here. As I said..it WAS an eerie feeling, being there. But..i think it was my own fears that made it eerie. In other words, It's kind of scary, for a human, walking in such an overgrown, wild, unpopulated place. It makes us realize somewhat, our own inadequacy. SOME places, just refuse to yield themselves to mankind, and progress. Dudleytown is just such a place.

As for the other..."Activity" there, talk of black masses being performed there, etc. I'm sure there HAVE been. There is evidence of it around. But..my opinion of it is this. A place retains the energy of the folks that dwell there, and the folks who come in and out of that place. If people CAME to dudleytown, with the expressed intent of conjuring something dark (not that all dark masses are like this..but there are fringe groups who try to do stuff to scare themselves and others...)...that energy remains there. So..yes..there's a little bit of negative energy surrounding it..but...i think it's more due to what people have come and gone through there over time. They sought something scary..and left that "Fright" energy around. Etc.

[Danustouch]

go to....

Http://www.ghostvillage.com

That should get you to the article debunking the dudleytown myths!

[slvr_phoenix]

Hmm. I've been on only one really "roughing it" camping trip, so I don't know much about what to suggest to pack for sleeping bags and tents.

I do remember though that our food consisted a lot of freeze-dried stews and sandwhiches. :) You'd be amazed how small of a space a loaf of bread takes up when you squish it REALLY flat. Heh heh heh. Wee had a lot of squished cheese sandwhiches. :) Of course, the bread is permanently squished then, but a squished cheese sandwhich is better than nothing.

Just be careful when you cut the cheese (no puns intended) in the wild. Without a cutting-board, most people tend to cut towards themself or use their finger to hold the cheese in place. This can lead to some people accidentally cutting themself with their own knife, which is a bad thing to do out in the middle of nowhere. Heh heh.

But at least you're hiking. It could be worse. I was on a canoe trip when my mom cut herself doing something like that. We had one heck of an interesting time figuring out how to paddle against the wind and waves without her support. Heh heh.

Just be sure to avoid heavy packaging, like cans of soup. (Especially if there's no proper place to throw them away, or else you'll be stuck carrying the empty containers.) We made sure everything was in bags. They're lightweight and collapsable, so once you eat your food, they take up almost no room and weight virtually nothing to carry around the empty containers. (And you could even burn them if you don't mind the thought of burning plastic.)

Oh yeah, and don't forget a first aid kit or at least some first aid supplies. Hmm ... and flea/tick collars to wrap around your ankles if there are ticks in the area.

[Danustouch]

For Food when you are roughing it...instead of bringing canned soups, you might try to just pack some bouillion, in cubes or packets, some orzo or rice, a sandwhich baggie filled with diced carrots, onions and celery, and other veggies. This will make a nice vegetable soup, and its portable. You might also try putting a couple of veggie burgers in a ziplock storage bag. They take up little room. And they won't spoil too quickly. I was told that you can also get a kind of ziplock bag, that you can actually boil with. In other words, if you had macaroni and cheese in a box..dump the macaroni in one of these bags, and put the macaroni in a pot with some water, and it would boil right in the bag. Also..I find Raman noodles to be very convenient on such trips. again..take them out of the original package, pound them very small and tiny, put in a ziplock bag with the spice mixture. And there ya have it. Then there's the granola bars....etc.

PS..DON'T, whatever you do, Forget to bring a flashlight of some sort!

[gunner]

and things that go 'bump' in the night.

thanks for the url danustouch, i've seen a couple of write ups on dudleytown but it's still an interesting story. there's a book listed on that site that i recommend highly, "mysterious new england" it's quite good, full of the legends of new england.

[Danustouch]

You are welcome Gunner....and thank you for the book reccomendation. I'll have to check it out!

[MystyPines]

Thanks Slvr_Pheonix!

I am getting dribs and drabs of information from books and research. I read that a backpack should not be more than 25% of your weight. I am going to look into those freeze-dried foods they sell at the camping store, although they can be quite expensive. I was going to bring those Lipton noodle packages they sell at the grocery store, but I am now told that they don't contain any meat and that is why I need to get the freeze-driend ones.