kjoyce4Last month I set out on my first thru hike, an attempt of the Vermont Long Trail. Four days later, I came home, with a lot of pain and a list of things I would do differently.
Truly, there are a million things I could have done differently with this hike, so I’m going to break it down into a couple categories. If you want to read about my prep and hiking experiences, check out these posts.
- Oops She Moved Halfway Across the Country
- What I’ll Miss About Boston (and What I Won’t)
- A Dog Friendly Guide to Burlington, VT
- She’s in Her Bread Making Era
- Another Life Update: Let’s Make This an Annual Thing
Dialing in my Gear
There were some major pieces of gear I switched for this hike. Some worked really well and some didn’t.
The biggest piece of gear that contributed to the end of my hike were my shoes. I used the Altra Lone Peak 5’s, which are a holy grail for many a thru hiker. I loved my Altra Superior 4’s, but after two years they were too worn to take out on the trail for a couple hundred miles.
After a lot of back and forth, I ordered the Lone Peaks and took them out for a few test hikes. Even though they’re supposed to have more support, I felt like they had less than my Superiors. The heel area was too big and the insole would start to pinch after five or so miles.
So I strung the laces through the extra holes and wore thicker socks. That worked for about a day. Once I got more than a dozen miles under my feet and hit some mud, it was a recipe for blisters and ankle pain that I’m still dealing with three weeks after getting off trail. The lesson here? If the shoes don’t fit on a shorter hike, they won’t on a longer one.
The second piece of gear that I’m planning to switch out before making another attempt is my tent. I got the REI Passage 2 person tent a year ago, and couldn’t justify spending hundreds on another tent when this one had only seen a few days in the woods. Now that I’ve taken it out, I can’t justify lugging a 5 pound tent through the state of Vermont. Especially when getting a lighter, smaller tent means I could fit everything in my 45 liter bag and cut out 5 pounds.
Timing is Important
While planning this hike, I was really excited to get on the trail. That impatience had some unexpected consequences in terms of weather. The past few weeks have been very damp in New England. Vermont is already well known for its mud, but with rain almost much every day, hiking gets gross pretty quickly.
Early summer sounds like a good idea until you realize it means bugs, humidity, thunderstorms, and temperatures that change from the 40’s to 90’s within days. If I could go back and convince myself to start this hike in the early fall, I would.
I also wouldn’t put such a strict timeline on my hike. I only had three weeks off to complete it and I was already behind schedule on day 2. Since I had a dog, and knew it would be harder to catch a hitch or even go to a grocery store, I did a lot of planning. While I’m glad I was prepared, I underestimated how much circumstances like the weather could prevent me from doing the milage I had planned.
