Last summer (June07) I decided that I was going to plan to hike the 100 mile Wilderness of the Appalachian Trail in September of 2009. Yes that is a long way off however, I consider myself new to backpacking after not backpacking for almost 15 years. I have gear now to do most week or less backpacking trips, however I still need some more items for the trip.

I plan on asking multiple questions in this thread as time goes by and I would be grateful for any tips. I have been doing research as far as searching around on the net. There are so many questions I would like to ask, but to start off I will only ask a few right now.

1) Have any of you ever hiked the 100 mile wilderness?

2) My pack is a Granite Gear Nimbus Access 3600, (I assume 3600 is the cu. inch of room in the pack.) Is that too small since I have to pack about 10 days of food plus whatever other gear?

3) I heard June is a bad time because of black flies. Is September a good time or should I go earlier?

Usually I am a type of hiker that like to go at my own pace, and stop to admire the beauty around me, however I know that how many miles I hike a day is of course extremely important, so I am conditioning myself when I can.

I don't know why but when I saw pictures of this part of the AT, something inspired me to challenge myself and want to do this. I feel like this is something I have to do. I guess you can say this is one of my "Things to do before I die list."


Again let me state that any advice would be much appreciated!!!


Tom
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"Let's not miss the beauty of the forest by the ugliness of some of its trees." Bill W.