John: Thanks for your note and your kind words!Your name came on my radar through the recent backpacker mag article. While the article was at times less than flattering, it did spotlight your backpacking accomplishments, your steadfast commitment to live a non-materialistic lifestyle, and your ability to consistently push boundaries, all of which I was thoroughly impressed with.
Not surprisingly, I ended up buying "Hike your own Hike", which tuned out to be a more sophisticated and philosophical read than is indicated in the article.
Currently I'm in the midst of preparing to hike the Long Trail in Vermont and as such want to lighten my load as much as possible. I will however be making some compromises relative to the consummate "ultra light" thru-hiker, in that I plan to carry a tent and probably a more substantial pack (osprey aether 70). After all, we all have to hike are own hike. Anyway, unless I missed something, it seemed that you went without a sleeping bag on your AT thru-hike, something I'm considering. I'm curious how that went and if in fact you missed having one. Also it appeared that you relied on trail towns for re-supply and I'm interested in whether you had difficulty finding food that you could take backpacking in a typical supermarket.
Thanks in advance for your help.
By the way, the photos in the article made you look very intense, a tait I would expect of someone who yo-yoed the CDT.
John Caldas
I'll clarify two things.
1. I always had a sleeping bag with me on the AT. I'm guessing you looked at my AT gear list and you noticed that I wasn't carrying a sleeping bag. What is not clear is that Lisa carried a two person quilt, which we shared at night! GoLite no longer makes this 2-person quilt, but Jacks 'R Better does. Quilts are great for the AT since some nights are so hot that you don't want to be stuck in a hot sleeping bag.
It is possible to hike the AT without a sleeping bag! Turn to page 136 in my book and read about the guy who did go without a sleeping bag!
2. We rarely relied on towns for our resupply; instead, we had about 22 food drops along the way. However, if I had to do it all over again, I would rely on towns for all but perhaps 5 resupply points. Indeed, it's pretty easy to avoid shipping boxes completely. Even though I'm vegetarian, I find there's plenty of options in the towns along the way. Therefore, unless you have a very restrictive diet, I would encourage you to shop locally as much as possible and avoid shipping boxes.
I hope that helps!
Good luck and tell me how it goes!