Hiked 6 miles today, with a full pack. I didn’t have much food in the pack, but I did have 3.5 liters of water, which is quite a bit more than I’ll be carrying at any point on the AT. The pack weighed 25 pounds, so that should be pretty representative of the real upcoming hikes. Most of the hike was on gravel roads, so I had to deal with small rocks underfoot quite a bit, particularly since I’m wearing sandals. Feet held up fairly well. I’m going to hit the trail in sandals after all, though I may decide to swap them out for some shoes at Neel’s Gap. We’ll see. The biggest problem turned out to be my shoulders of all things. I think I need to raise the shoulder straps on my pack. I’ll make the change and see if it’s any better tomorrow.
I used to do a ton of hiking and camping when I was younger. One of the things I learned about backpacks is that you can set the straps so that it’s a lot more comfortable to carry, but if your pack doesn’t have metal binders that will SERIOUSLY hold the straps in place (so they don’t get loose) you’ll end up spending more time getting it comfortable than walking.
If you pack doesn’t have super strong clips to hold your adjustments in place, use a safety pin and run it through the strap just before the clip / binding so that it can’t pull looser and change the way the pack carries during your trip.
Andrew, how much of the AT are you planning on doing? How far are you planning to hike each day? Have you thought about elevation change between IA and the AT (I don’t know if there is one, but I went hiking with my sister in CO when I went out there to visit her and that kicked my ass.)?
I’m heading north until I reach Katahdin or until something breaks. I hadn’t considered the elevation change because it largely doesn’t matter – I’ll walk as far as I can, and if I reach my goal then I’ll sleep there, otherwise I’ll pitch my tent wherever I fall. The elevation shouldn’t be as severe as the Rockies – Iowa is around 600 ft and Springer’s peak is 3700, then the trail bounces between 500 and 6000 ft the entire distance. It’s not a sustained mile-high hike. No one mentions elevation as a problem in their trail journals, and I’ve never had a problem with elevation sickness myself.